Franky, the cyborg and shipwright of One Piece’s Straw Hat crew, is a SUPEEEER well-done character (though not a SUPEEER-popular one). His backstory is tragic, his design is memorable, and he’s strong enough to stand alongside the rest of the future Pirate King's crew. He's also just fun to play in the One Piece games. However, Cutty Flam (otherwise known as Franky) wasn’t always a cyborg man built out of scrap and running on Cola.
During his time learning from the legendary shipwright Tom, Franky took on a project of his own called the Battle Frankies. They aren’t described in detail, but there’s actually a lot more to them than fans might expect.
10 Franky Built Them All On His Own
Fans should know that Franky built all 38 of these Battle Frankies on his own. He used a lot of what he learned from Tom to build them, but Tom nor Iceberg (his other apprentice) wanted anything to do with the Battle Frankies.
At a young age, Franky managed to build at least 35 different miniature warships. What's more, he did this just for fun.
9 Franky Himself Is A Battle Franky
"Battle Franky" doesn't necessarily refer to anything Franky builds. Only specific item can take on this title. From what fans can tell, it applies only to pilotable machinations Franky builds. And, since Franky's brain technically "pilots" his body, it makes sense that his cyborg body would be considered one.
Before the time skip, Franky was known as Battle Franky #36. After rebuilding himself over the course of his two years in Vegapunks Lab, his new gigantic body has BF-37 written on the shoulders. This new form is incredibly powerful, and helps him stand alongside the rest of the monsters in the Straw Hat crew.
8 General Franky Is Latest One
General Franky, the pilotable mech suit loved by boys and men everywhere, is a culmination of his own knowledge, Tom's, and even Vegapunk’s. It’s made of Wapol Metal, is almost indestructible (except to exceptionally strong Armament Haki), and even wields a giant katana.
General Franky is a fearsome weapon of mass destruction thanks to moves like General Cannon. In fact, it’s earned a spot on the Battle Franky lineup, making it BF-38.
7 Most Of Them Were Made From Spare Scrap
It’s not like Tom, Iceberg, and Kororo were living it up in style. Instead, they lived on Scrap Island. This small island outside of Water 7 consisted almost entirely of the wreckage of other Pirate Ships. While that may sound like a garbage dump, it was sort of a dream for a versatile shipwright. They were always surrounded by materials.
These broken-down ships and graveyards of wreckage were the fabric from which Cutty Flam was able to create his Battle Frankies. This only makes it all the more impressive they ended up so powerful.
6 BF 1 Through 35 Were All Incredibly Small In Size
While the name “Battle Franky” might evoke something like a battleship, these things weren’t large by any means. Most of them were only a bit larger than a lifeboat, and at max could only carry a few people.
While that sounds bad, it actually makes their destructive power even more inspiring. Anyone willing to face down a Sea King in such a small vessel is either reckless or stupidly brave — or a little of both.
5 They Were The First Ships Capable Of Felling Sea Kings
Just how powerful were the Battle Frankies? Their creator's goal was to make one powerful enough to defeat a Sea King on its own. It took years and over 30 tries, but #35 managed to do it.
This was a good number of years before the start of Luffy's seemingly endless story. There weren’t any other ships, even in the Navy, that could even come close to defeating a Sea King at the time — but Franky did it.
4 Most Of Them Had Animals As Part Of The Design
Cutty Flam has never clearly explained why, but almost all of his inventions incorporate some sort of “animal motif” into their designs. The Thousand Sunny has a lion, the Kurosai FR-U IV is based on a rhino, and the Brachio Tank is a brachiosaurus.
The Battle Frankies, at least the one viewers got to see, seem to incorporate animals as well. Clearly, Franky has some fondness or affinity for wildlife.
3 The Thousand Sunny Doesn't Count
Speaking of the Thousand Sunny, fans sometimes wonder why it isn’t it considered a Battle Franky. It has a laser, cannons, and all other types of weapons. It's pilotable and can easily take down a Sea King, yet there’s no BF to be found written anywhere on its hull.
The widely accepted theory is that this is because it’s “technically” Luffy’s ship, and also because Franky didn’t build it alone. The Thousand Sunny was a joint effort between Franky, Iceberg, and all the rest of the Galley-La Company, meaning it wouldn't fit in with the rest of the BFs.
2 They Emphasize "Guns Don't Kill People, People Do"
One Piece has a lot of different themes throughout, but one that commonly pops up in Franky’s story is the conversation of restricting what should be built or not. Iceberg represents the cautious side, and it's why he wouldn't help Franky build his BFs. Meanwhile, Franky builds whatever he wants, even if it's insanely dangerous.
Humans turn inventions into weapons, but the inventions (usually) can’t do anything on their own. Tom built Gol D. Roger’s ship, but is he responsible for what people do with his creation? By the same token, Franky built the Battle Frankies to beat Sea Kings. Spandam turned them into malicious machinations, not Franky.
1 They Inadvertently Led To Franky's Cyborg Transformation
Lastly, without the Battle Frankies, fans wouldn’t have Franky! As tragic as it was, the misuse of his creations at the hands of Spandam caused Franky to get hit by the Puffing Tom.
This led to his life-threatening injuries, and his rebuilding himself as a cyborg. Though it was indirect, if Franky had never built these machines, his life would have gone down an entirely different path.