Beam Cannons Are Now Standard Attacks
Two years later, the Straw Hats reunite at Sabaody Archipelago — and Franky’s complete overhaul is nothing short of spectacular. His new features include:
- Massively oversized shoulders and arms
- A nose he can hold down to make hair grow at will
- Tiny hands hidden inside his giant arms
- Nipple lights
And his debut on Fish-Man Island: the giant combining mech Franky Shogun, with its massive Radical Beam!
From Sabaody through the deep sea to Fish-Man Island, Franky shines as the true star — so bright that even Luffy gets overshadowed.
…but once you get used to giant mechs and beam cannons, you start wanting more.
After the land-based Gaon Cannon on Punk Hazard, Franky seemed to have shot his shot — and then, in the second half of Wano and the early Egghead arc, characters started appearing who made him look outdated.
The Pacifista Mark III — of which 50 units have already been completed — can casually fire Franky’s ultimate “Franky Radical Beam” with one hand.
Queen can rapid-fire lasers from his compact launcher with ease:
Kid’s Damned Punk — powerful enough to defeat Big Mom and threaten Shanks — is an electromagnetic railgun: a weapon of pure science.
And then there’s Vegaforce-01, a colossal combat mech so massive that Franky Shogun would barely reach its palm — plus the Iron Giant from 900 years ago:
If Oda keeps introducing characters that outclass Franky one after another, there had better be an even bigger upgrade waiting for him.
And that’s the point — Egghead Island exists to give Franky his next model change.
So what might that upgrade look like? There are two possibilities.
Connections to Baldimore
The Egghead arc is packed with self-referential callbacks to previous islands. One of the most telling is the parallel to Baldimore — “Franky’s Weekly Favorite Island.”
Baldimore comparison:
Egghead comparison:
On Baldimore, Vegapunk left behind partially modified cyborg animals that Franky then upgraded. On Egghead, there’s the Sea Beast Weapon — a bigger, more powerful version of the same concept.
Baldimore:
Egghead:
On Baldimore, Vegapunk’s childhood “underfloor heating system” was an incomplete blueprint. On Egghead, he’d already finished the full-island air conditioner that turns a winter island into a tropical paradise.
Baldimore:
Egghead:
On Baldimore, Vegapunk drew up plans for a giant combining mech as a child but couldn’t build it because the right metal (Wapometal) didn’t exist yet. On Egghead, Vegapunk has completed the fully operational Vegaforce-01 — capable of land, sea, and air combat — that makes Franky Shogun look like a toy.
Baldimore:
Egghead:
On Baldimore, Franky accidentally hit the self-destruct switch that destroyed a treasure trove of Vegapunk’s irreplaceable blueprints. On Egghead, Vegapunk secretly replaced Kuma’s “self-destruct switch” (per Saturn’s orders) with a complete shutdown switch instead.
The pattern is clear: Baldimore is the sketch — Egghead is the finished painting.
This means Franky, who powered up on Baldimore using Vegapunk’s abandoned blueprints, is destined to get a direct upgrade from Vegapunk himself on Egghead.
So what exactly happens? There are two scenarios:
Scenario 1: Surgical Modification by Vegapunk
If Franky is getting a cyborg overhaul, handing him off to multiple Vegapunks is the most efficient approach.
Even if Stella dies, at least four of the satellites — Lilith, Atlas, Edison, and York (maybe) — would survive. Four Vegapunks working together could pull off a spectacular modification.
The original Pacifista took two full years to modify. But Mark III is already in mass production at 50 units — so the techniques are well-established.
That said, there’s probably a ceiling on how far pure cyborg enhancements can go.
Even if he fires lasers one-handed and adds a bubble shield… that feels like a letdown, doesn’t it?
Maybe it’s time for Franky to graduate from being “the cyborg character.”
And that panel of Vegapunk apparently reversing Franky’s self-modifications — restoring his internal organs — hints at something more dramatic:
Inheriting the Nikyu Nikyu Ability
Franky once completely dismantled himself and rebuilt his own body from scratch with his own two hands. Vegapunk reversing that work — restoring his human organs and skin — while simultaneously transferring the dying Kuma’s Devil Fruit power to him…
How about that for a storyline?
In the past, Franky was asked “Wanna eat the Mera Mera no Mi?” and flatly refused — because being unable to swim was a hard pass for him:
But he seemed to understand Luffy’s feeling that he didn’t want anyone else to inherit Ace’s power — because it was Ace’s memento.
If that’s the case, wouldn’t the warm-hearted Franky feel that HE should be the one to carry on the power of someone who did so much for him?
Kuma — Who Protected the Ship That’s Like Franky’s Own Child
For two full years while every member of the Straw Hats was away, Kuma stood alone and protected the Thousand Sunny.
For a shipwright, a ship is like a child.
Kuma is essentially the person who saved Franky’s child.
If Kuma were to die right in front of him —
And if Vegapunk knew a way to transfer the ability before it reverts to a Devil Fruit —
Franky just might want to inherit Kuma’s memento power.
Franky Merging With Kuma
What Franky and Kuma share:
- Both are cyborgs
- Both hide their eyes behind sunglasses or goggles
- Both use compressed air in their signature techniques
They overlap so much as characters that merging them into one feels natural. The hint appears in this illustration:
Franky drawn with Kuma’s ear-shaped hairstyle:
(Oda’s commemorative illustration for the Kumamoto Earthquake recovery project)
Franky in a coat that looks like a Kuma costume:
More Supporting Evidence
In the SBS corner of Volume 59: the reason Franky reacted that way was because it had already been decided that he would inherit the Nikyu Nikyu ability.
Volume 59 was the one packed with Pacifistas — and Bonney says “I’ll never forgive him” in that volume too.
Teach is becoming a Yonko using exactly the same trajectory as Luffy.
All the top officers of his crew are Devil Fruit users.
So will every member of the Straw Hats become Devil Fruit users too?
Franky first?
That’s all for this week. See you next week.