@thesamuraipanda:
Why did Roger need a new ship in the first place while traveling the Grand Line to Water 7? Probably to replace his old ship. Why would he need to replace his old ship? Probably because it was too battered and torn from traveling the Grand Line. How did it get this way? Certainly if the shipwrights Roger had, if he had any, were capable, he wouldn't have needed to replace his old ship.
Hmm, there's some interesting points there, but does it mean that the Oro Jackson never needed repairs? What happened to the Going Merry probably happens to many ships, after a certain amount of time and damage they all need to be replaced. Perhaps the shipwrights couldnt keep up.
Or Rpger wanted a ship from the shipbuilding capital of the Grandline. What bothers we about this in the idea of an indesructible ship. Zoro can cut through steel, or what, the ship would need to be made of diamond or seastone? Wouldn't that be too heavy?
I can't imagine anything in Op that's indestructible.
So after Franky builds his dream ship, accomplishing his dream, he'll stick around like some overbearing, overprotective parent, abandoning his other family who all seem to worship the man, all depend on him, would all sacrifice their lives for him (which they almost did), and are all willing to follow the man forever to the ends of the world. Not to mention, on top of all that, the FF members are now very wanted criminals. So basically, Franky will disband them, and abandon them all to their fates just like that, without a care in the world for them, destroying all the principles he had having to do with 'nakama' and loyalty just so he can baby-sit his creation for some odd possibly selfish reason. That would so make Franky quite the lovely human being. How did I ever doubt that such a great person would not become the next Strawhat?
You negative, negative bastard (jk). Who says that the FF family will be in trouble after Enies Lobby? The characters don't have the same onmipotent view that we viewers have. FF family and the Galley-La were never seen by the big-wigs in Enies Lobby, i.e. Spandam. He'll be more concerned with the SH and Franky himself. Also, notice how Franky has been with the SHs this whole arc while Galley-La and FF have been fighting together?
Here's how I see it. Franky and only Franky becomes wanted be the world gov. Also, his family learns of his dream to build a ship that reaches the end of the world. Also, Galley finally accepts the Franky Family as shipwrights (that was their dreams wasn't it?), and the FF after tearfully asks Franky to go accomplish his dream.
Meanwhile, Luffy asks Franky to become the shipwright that he said he wanted for his crew. Something like that.
In a sense a shipwright would be joining, only the shipwright would be the ship itself. And why are you assuming that the ship would need nanomachines in order to repair itself? Do human shipwrights in One Piece need nanomachines to repair ships? No. All you need are a good pair oo the ship. Furthermore, robotic arms do exist in One Piece. Franky's arms are robotic. Heck, nearly his entire body, save for his bacf arms, or in the ship's case, a good several pairs of robotic arms connected tk and parts of his head is robotic. Though it's One Piece robotronics, it's still robotics. And if the robotic arms aren't enough, the ship can still appear as a Klabautermann and work on the ship that way.
Yeah, but supposedly Franky's muscles move those arms. He's a cyborg, both flesh and metal. To me, he comes across as a normal (ish) man who put metal and weapons in his body. Not complicated robotic engineering.
God, a bunch of robo-arms goes across a ship would be creepy, and overly complicated. A shipwright is more simple. Something that big and complicated need foreshadowing.
As for sacrificing a character if the new ship joins as the next crewmember, or the point you try to make that the ship as a character would not be wacky or odd enough to be new member… First of all, the ship would be the new member, so you would be adding a character. You could say the Going Merry isn't really a new character, but it was harder for readers to connect with that older version of GM due to it being inanimate. Whereas with the new ship it would be easier to connect with it since it would no longer be an inanimate ship, but a thinking living ship. So it would be a new character in that sense. And a character that's a talking ship, built by a cyborg, who can appear as a ghost, walking through walls spooking people - this character isn't odd and unique enough for a One Piece character?
What the hell. Klaubeterman? Didn't he die with the Going Merry? That's just too out there. Oda's not pulling a Robin except for a ghost this time. Hell, why are we spending so much time with Franky right now anyway? They can get a ship and a shipwright anyway, just like in the Kuro arc.
Self-repairing ships already exist. The old ship was once for a time a self-repairing ship. So why would it be ridiculous if the new ship can repair itself?
Hmm, you have some point there. Except, the repairs by Klaubeterman weren't enough to save it, it was still unfit to sail at Water 7. Plus, how do you design a ship to be repaired by a ghost anyway?
And would Klaubeterman still be around to be repairing this ship? Franky said that he only appears when the ships are loved, and would Usopp love this new ship fast enough for the ghost to arrive for repairs? And if Franky leaves it to the SHs, would that be love for the ship too? It would be abandoned by it's father.
Yes, building the ship seems to be Franky's purpose as that's his dream. And the reason why he should be building the ship is that so we the readers can better connect with the ship. When it shows off its power, we'll understand why it's so powerful - because it was Franky who built it. And when it finally carries the Strawhats to Raftel, we'll understand why it was able to do so - because it was Franky who built it. That would be his purpose for the story, and why Oda is trying to connect the reader to Franky within this arc. To build the new ship and to give reason for why we the reader should believe the new ship is the strongest in the world. So once he builds the ship, and accomplishes his dream, there's very little reason story wise to keep Franky around.
Very little reason to keep him around? What about all the other characters, will we need to keep Usopp around after he becomes the brave warrior of the sea, or after Zoro becomes a great swordsman? No, when you get right down to it, we don't "need" to keep any of the characters around, we just want them there. And Franky dreams won't be accomplished until he reaches the end of the world.
However, there are reasons to keep Franky around after they get a new ship, they need someone to repair it. They need a cook to feed them and a doctor to heal them. Then again, why couldn't the SHs just never get sick, or why did Nami just happen to get sick just before finding Chopper?
Probably the same reason the Going Merry become unfit to sail before reaching Water 7. They're getting a shipwright here. Hell, Luffy said he wanted a shipwright, not a self-repairing ship.
Plus, I say that Franky needs to see that ship reach the end of the world to achieve his dream, what is he going to wait for the papers? It's like waiting for a child to return from war, and don't forget Franky's flahsback compared ships to children.