Warning! Contains spoilers for One Piece chapter #1061One Piece’s cyborg shipwright has gone far too long without a new and interesting power of his own, and the series’ latest arc may be looking to rectify this. For a pirate literally made out of weapons, Franky’s arsenal has remained pretty confined to a few iconic moves, but the mysterious machine mayhem brought about by the World Government’s top scientist, Dr. Vegapunk, may be just what the mechanic ordered.
“Iron Man” Franky, as he has come to be known, is one of the most boisterous and over-the-top Straw Hats in the entire crew. Born as “Cutty Flam,” Franky was forced to discard his identity to hide from the World Government after an incident where his mentor was killed. Franky’s past with the World Government as well as his passion for engineering and craftsmanship should have put him in the position to be one of the strongest and most influential Straw Hats a long time ago. This clearly hasn’t been the case in recent years, however, as Franky has more than fallen out of the spotlight, often being relegated to support roles with little to no meaningful character development or increase in power.
This may all change after One Piece’s chapter 1061, titled ‘Egghead- The Island of the Future.’ Towards the end of the chapter, readers learn that the island known as Egghead is under the supervision of the World Government’s scientific ace, One Piece's Dr. Vegapunk. Over hundreds and hundreds of chapters, Dr. Vegapunk has been built up as a completely unrivaled scientific mind who has recently discovered the ability to tap into an organism's “Lineage Factor” which lets one manipulate the very blueprint of life itself. It should be noted that Vegapunk has also had access to the work of other notable scientists in the One Piece world like Caesar, Queen, and Vinsmoke Judge. With the Straw Hats finally at the epicenter of the scientific world, one crewmate stands to benefit from these technological marvels the most- Franky.
Dr. Vegapunk is Key to Unlocking Franky's True Power
Franky’s overwhelming knowledge of battleships and weaponry puts him in the perfect position to benefit from Vegapunk’s decades of research in One Piece. Currently, Franky’s strongest weapon is the General Franky which took a severe beating during the battle with Sasaki, one of Kaido’s top henchmen. This pitstop at Egghead Island would provide the perfect excuse to finally give Franky a machine or upgrade that would let him truly contend with the higher ups of the One Piece world. If Franky is going to be fighting characters like the Admirals or Seraphim anytime soon, he will most certainly be needing some kind of technological upgrade.
Some Straw Hats have really fallen behind in power as more prominent ones like Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji continue to rise head and shoulder above the rest. Franky should be getting a massive power-up within the next couple of chapters in order to not be completely left in the dust. As far as One Piece fights go, Franky hasn’t always been able to shine much either but the myriad of new powers he could find on Egghead Island open the door to so many new possibilities…