Sitting on the Strawhat’s ship as the crew began to gather materials to depart, a couple members of the crew sat with him. Namely Nami and Luffy.

Nami- “So what was it like growing up here Franky? Did you have any friends other than Iceberg?”

Franky sighed, thinking about his childhood with a fond smile, sure, it wasn’t great. But it had its shining moments

Luffy- “OH! Or partners?!”

that struck a chord in Franky — “partners..? Not quite, well… there was one, I was close, but i never managed to get ‘em…” he smiles, thinking about the person he grew up with “Suppose you could call them that one that got away huh? Water 7 has its share of good looking dames, but they were a stunner…”

Nami- “what happened?”

— “Well, the whole faking my death. They came to my ‘funeral’, they were the only sweet thing to leave a rose… everyone else just saw me as a nuisance… but they didn’t, the only darlin in tears when my casket was lowered… I couldn’t face them after that, not after watching the heartbreak in their eyes…”

Robin- “so you intend to leave them here without saying a final goodbye? That doesn’t seem like something franky would do at all.”

Nami- “Robin’s right, are you seriously going to leave water 7 without even giving it a shot?”

That got him. They were right. Franky wasn’t the type to let someone go like that. He had to go say goodbye. He had to tell them how he felt, he knew being a pirate was potentially life threatening, he couldn’t die with his signature smile without knowing his childhood sweetheart knew how he felt.