@onemoment:
Doesn't trust? With all that a ship can go through in the Grandline, it will be taking an unholy amount of peril and damage. Without a shipwright, a ship can't go forever. The fact that the Oro Jackson made it through the Grandline is what made it incredible. It would be damn arrogant to think that a ship could go through the Grandline unscathed..
Yes, the same way it's arrogant for a 'weakling nobody' like Luffy to completely believe he could become the Pirate King.
The same way it's arrogant for a swordsman from East Blue (the weakest of the four seas) to believe he could become the greatest swordsman.
The same way it's arrogant for Sanji to believe that such a thing like All Blue really exists.
And so on and so forth.
@onemoment:
No, he already said that the ship need to go to the end of the world. That little detail means that he needs to go with them to see his dream happen. And like many of the other Shs, his dream now lies in Raftel. Hell, that's probably where All Blue is too. Sitting and waiting for someone else to make his dream come true isn't a way to make it come true.
There's nothing wrong with having others carry your dream for you or having others helping you achieve your dreams. The swords dealer in Loguetown (I forget his name) entrusted his dream to Zoro. Does that make him less of a person? Montblanc Cricket entrusted his dream to Luffy. Did that make him less of a person? Heck, each Strawhat is helping every other Strawhat achieve their dreams. If you think having others help you achieve your dream makes you less of a person, then that would apply to each and every Strawhat.
IMO, there certainly wouldn't be anything wrong with Franky entrusting his dream ship to the Strawhats. Like a Parent, once Franky sees his child fit enough to leave, then all he can really do from then on is trust that his child will carry his dream forward.
@onemoment:
And I already brought up a reasonable way for him to leave. If the FF and Galley-La are unnoticed then there's no marine trouble. I can easily see the FF telling Franky to go live his dream, they're nice like that–they're willing to sacrifice their lives for Franky. The FF could live the rest of their lives fixing ships with Galley-La. Everyone's happy.
Fact is, as I already argued, Franky leaving his 'nakama' would completely go against his character and the theme of 'nakama' that Oda has so carefully built into the story. Here is a leader who feels completely responsible for his crew, and who completely loves his 'nakama,' who in turn completely loves him. If Franky is going to leave then there better be a damn good reason for him leaving. Baby-sitting the new ship just isn't one of them. In short, Franky is another Vivi or Bon-Clay.
You can bring up the point that Usopp or Sanji left people that were close to them behind, but the people they left behind are what I would call friends/close associates, rather than what I would call true 'nakama,' people with the same sort of close bonds as you would find in the Strawhat crew or the Franky Family crew.
@onemoment:
Now, having that ghost fix the ships with robot arms is just impractical. How do you build a ship like that anyway? A ship that channels a ghost and lets him repairs the ship with robot arms? Besides, it clear that he's not a pro-shipwright anyway.
Franky wouldn't be designing the ship around a ghost. He would be building the ship over an important piece of the old ship. And by surprise, like Robin, the Ghost just simply appears later on.
@Dixxy:
Obviously both of the examples I used were from science fiction stories and not fantasy stories (and I would classify One Piece as a fantasy story based on the Devil Fruits alone). Regardless, these are the kinds of things that could happen if the ship can repair itself or have any form of AI at all.
@Dixxy:
I think the reason most people aren't going with this theory is because of how different it is - it's not as if Oda has left us any hints about such a creation anywhere in the manga thus far, and most everyone who has a theory on the new crewmember - in most cases, Paulie or Franky - has made these theories based on evidence found in the manga. If I wanted to defend Paulie as the new shipwright, I could find specific pages out of the manga and say "well, here we see Paulie and Luffy are getting along really well, and here Iceburg says that Luffy can take any Water 7 foremen that is willing to go, so maybe Paulie gets along well enough with Luffy that he'd be willing to go on the new ship". If it's Franky I wanted to defend, I could point out his flashback (several chapters in itself) and all of his effort to rescue Robin.
With this theory, there isn't anything in the manga to suggest this is an option at this point in time. However, there is also nothing to prove this IS NOT an option, either. To my knowledge, Oda hasn't said anything like "no, I'm not going to make a self sufficient ship" and no one in the manga has frowned apon such an idea (largely because it hasn't come up, but no one has gone out of their way to say no to such a thing). This means that because it hasn't been eliminated as an option, it is an option - if only by a technicality.
You have to understand that this isn't just some theory I pulled out of my ass. The theory was made after careful deliberation over which the next crewmember would be. And after careful consideration, I concluded that the new ship with Going Merry's spirit, Klabautermann, infused into it would be the new member (this post explains why I think Going Merry's spirit, Klab will be the new member http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=315964&postcount=379)). While it's possible that we could have more than 1 character joining this arc, I just don't think Oda would have more than one character join in one arc, and I honestly don't think Pauly or Franky will join - Pauly for obvious reasons, and Franky for reasons I've already stated, and ones I may not have already stated.
Given that I believe the new ship will be the next member, there's still the problem of the Strawhats wanting a ship carpenter to repair the ship. And though I believe the Klabautermann could be completely capable as a ship carpenter given enough time and experience, I don't think any of the Strawhats at this point, other than Usopp, know of the existence of the Klabautermann. And I don't think Franky would design his new ship around a ghost carpenter.
That's where the ship's self-repair ability comes in. If the ship can repair itself, then the Strawhats wouldn't have to insist on finding a carpenter, and wouldn't have to add a second member after the Klabautermann. And really, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. A ship that can repair itself would really go a long way towards making it one of the greatest ships in the world. All the members of the Strawhat crew are the greatest (or will become the greatest) at something. They have (or will have), the greatest captain, the greatest swordsman, the greatest cook, the greatest sniper, the greatest doctor, the greatest navigator, and the greatest archeologist. With the new ship they will add the greatest ship as a new member. And to be called the greatest ship it will have to sail all the way to Raftel, go up against huge sea kings, and possibly go up against ships like Pluton, a ship which has already been built and hidden somewhere within the world of One Piece. While I don't think the new ship will be as strong as Pluton right of the bat, by the end of the series, I do expect that it will be able to go toe to toe with Pluton. This would be another use for the self-repair abilities, as tools used to repair, can also be used to modify and change. Self-repair abilities allow the ship to become a real character, who like all the other Strawhats, can grow, learn, and become stronger as the story progresses.
If Franky joins, then what would he be the greatest at? Ship repairing? Franky is the greatest ship builder, not the greatest ship repairer. Also, greatest ship and greatest carpenter are really two things that are opposed to one another. How can you be called the greatest ship when you need the greatest carpenter on board to keep it stable and running? Likewise, how can you be called the greatest carpenter if you're not working on a really crappy boat and keeping it afloat while traveling the Grand Line?