One Piece: 10 Things You Never Knew About The Going Merry - CBR

The Going Merry was the first ship of the Straw Hat Pirates that they received as a present from Kaya. Merry journeyed with the Straw Hat Pirates through most of the East Blue, all the way to Enies Lobby. Being one of the Straw Hat's ships, it's not a surprise that it is one of the most incredible ships that we've got to witness in the entire One Piece series.

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While The Merry might not have been a ship as good as the Sunny, in terms of skill, it is definitely a ship worthy knowing more about, especially if you're a Straw Hat fan. Here are 10 things you probably didn't know about the Going Merry.

10 The Type of Ship

The Going Merry was a caravel class ship. To put it simply, a caravel is a type of ship that was developed by the Portuguese in the 15th century. The size of a caravel is small when compared to, say, a Galleon, but at the same time, it offers much more maneuverability.

As such, the Going Merry was based on a real caravel by Eiichiro Oda and he gave the ship all its attributes keeping the real caravel vessels in mind.

9 Its Designer

Almost every fan knows the Thousand Sunny was created by Franky, Iceberg, and the members of the Galley-La. However, few know about the creator of the Going Merry. As seen towards the end of the Syrup Village arc, the Going Merry was designed Merry, one of the butlers of Kaya.

Who created the ship after Merry drafted the design isn't known. It is possible that Merry did it himself since he was skilled enough to draft a design for the ship. An answer might be provided by Eiichiro Oda on this in the future.

8 Its Funeral

Throughout its lifetime, the Going Merry took one hell of a beating, especially once it entered the Grand Line. With the crew lacking a proper shipwright at the time, Merry was damaged severely and its journey to Enies Lobby was its last.

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After saving the crew, Merry was given a Viking Funeral, which is a burial custom of the Viking Age. To date, Merry is the only crewmate the Straw Hats have lost and will likely be the only one they'll ever lose.

7 Its Mechanics

Although a state of the art in its own right, the Going Merry wasn't as 'modern' a ship as the Thousand Sunny. While the Thousand Sunny had a steering wheel to make it easier for the Helmsman, the Merry had a jib and a central steer rudder, making things a bit more complex.

Nonetheless, the Merry was actually a highly maneuverable ship and it carried the Straw Hats to safety on more than one occasion. Eventually, it was replaced by Sunny, which was crafted by Franky.

6 Its Firepower

The Going Merry didn't possess any top-notch firepower as expected of a ship as small as her. However, that's not to say it was defenseless. The Merry had four cannons, out of which one was in the bow that pointed forward. Two cannons were on each side of the ship, and the remaining one was in the stern.

The cannons weren't used extensively by the Straw Hat crew as they usually avoided naval combat by fleeing or by redirecting the fired cannonballs by using Luffy's body.

5 Merry's Doom

The Going Merry took a lot of damage throughout its journey. Its figurehead was damaged on countless occasions, as was the mast when the crew reached Skypiea. The guardrail was patched up several times by Usopp, and the sides were fixed a couple of times as well.

Thanks to Usopp's care, Merry was always patched up when it was hurt, for the most part. However, when the keel was damaged, it had reached the point of no return. As explained by Iceberg, a damaged keel meant the ship couldn't get repaired. Rather, it had to be built from scratch which wasn't simply possible at the time.

4 Its Resilience

Although the Merry wasn't crafted with high-quality material, such as Adam Wood, it was quite durable. In fact, its durability can't be explained by even the most experienced of shipwrights. The Merry survived a massive fall from the sky after the crew descended from Skypiea.

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Even after Kaku declared it as good as dead and released her from the waterfall at Water 7, the Merry survived and sailed to Enies Lobby somehow, all by herself. Being a Straw Hat, the soul of the ship always wanted to help the crew out and it did just that.

3 Luffy's Seat

Although the crew didn't particularly have fixed spots on the ship, Luffy certainly did. As seen various times in the series, Luffy preferred to sit on the figurehead of the ship. According to Oda, this is rather weird since Luffy is a pirate who can't swim. However, that's Luffy's seat, nonetheless.

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Luffy preferred to sit on the figurehead and the Merry also seemed to enjoy having him sit there. Luffy's habit of sitting on the figurehead hasn't changed as he's often seen on the figurehead of the Sunny as well.

2 The Real-Life Merry

Going Merry has its own replica in Japan. This isn't all that surprising, considering the fact that One Piece is immensely popular in the world. Although it may not be fully functional, it has been used in several exhibitions in Japan, usually those sponsored by Shueisha and Toei Animation.

This replica was designed in early 2003. In 2005, the replica's design showed how tough a beating the ship had endured throughout the entirety of its journey to Water 7.

1 Color Scheme

The Going Merry's a rather colorful ship when it comes to the representation seen in the anime. The ship is seen to have a white figurehead, streaks of white running down the sides, and brown wood. In the manga, this color is absent as Eiichiro Oda has gone for a much simpler tone for the ship.

As seen in several color spreads, the Merry is simply brown in the manga. There's a distinct lack of color when it comes to the manga, but it certainly does have an aesthetic sense to it. Nonetheless, the Merry certainly looks great in both the anime and the manga.

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