This list contains spoilers for One Piece
No One Piece fan will ever be able to forget the heartbreaking moment when Luffy and the Straw Hat crew are forced to say goodbye to the Going Merry, their very first ship. Though it was definitely the right decision for the Straw Hats to eventually secure a much more durable and stronger ship to carry them for the rest of the adventure, considering how dangerous the journey ahead of them was going to be, many fans still wish that the Going Merry could have survived the ordeal to reach the One Piece treasure, alongside its loyal nakama.
While there is a valid in-world explanation as to why the straw hats made the choice to give up Merry, Oda himself has also revealed some pretty fascinating details about why he himself decided it was time to give it up for good. His comments highlight yet another example of an author needing to adjust the story around their characters, and while it was definitely a risk to get rid of such a beloved ship, the emotional response it got out of One Piece fans was definitely worth it in the end. With that being said though, here is what Oda himself has stated about the reasoning for the Merry going up in flames after Enies Lobby.
Oda Didn't Want To Kill Off The Going Merry
But It Wouldn't Have Stood A Chance Against Enemy Ships
- Oda believed the Merry would have struggled to keep up.
- Other pirates were already beginning to upgrade their ships.
Giving up the Merry was far from an easy decision for the Straw Hats to make, and it seems though the same can be said for Oda himself. The author states that he initially had no intention of removing the Merry from the story, and presumably planned for it to carry the crew all the way to Laugh Tale as part of one big grand adventure. However, the primary reason he was unable to do this was because of how much stronger many of the enemy ships were starting to become by that point in the story.
"Initially, I had no intention of having the Straw Hats abandon Going Merry, but I decided it because the enemy ships were getting stronger" - Eiichiro Oda
It's completely understandable why Oda made the decision to kill off the Merry after seeing these comments. The author has made it clear in past interviews that many of his characters seem to have a will of their own, making it difficult for him to control their actions as a result. This meant that many of the stronger pirates, some of whom were still lurking in the shadows at the time, would inevitably be upgrading and enhancing their ships as they got closer to the One Piece treasure, so to avoid this becoming a problem for the Straw Hats, he simply needed them to level up their transport to keep up with everyone else.
It's highly unlikely that Oda expected the death of the Going Merry to have as much of an emotional impact on the fans as it did, with it now standing as one of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire series. However, Oda's comments do make it easy to wonder just how well the Merry would have fared against many of the ships seen after it was removed from the story, and the honest truth is, it probably wouldn't have lasted very long.
Would The Merry Have Survived Against Enemy Ships?
It's Highly Unlikely, And There Are A Few Reasons Why
Before a pirate captain can gather together a crew to follow them across the open sea, they first need a ship to even navigate the seas in the first place. While most pirates will start off with little more than a small wooden craft to move them from A to B, many will soon upgrade to something much bigger and more formidable; two words which are hard to apply to the quaint Going Merry.
There are many examples of ships that were seen after Enies Lobby that would have flattened the Merry if the crew who were on board became enemies of the Straw Hats. For example, the Moby Dick, the ship owned by Whitebeard, is so gigantic that it would probably obliterate the Merry just by brushing past it. The same can be said for the Queen Mama Chanter, occasionally used by the Yonko known as Big Mom, which the Merry would have a hard time getting away from due to its lackluster speed and durability. This isn't even mentioning the Marine ships, which tend to be kitted out with a few hard-hitting canons and floods of well-armed infantry units to take down anyone who is deemed an enemy.
Considering the Merry had already suffered a lot of damage until it eventually went up in flames in Enies Lobby, it doesn't seem far-fetched to claim that it would have had an extremely difficult time sailing through the rest of the Grand Line straight towards the One Piece. Therefore, while Oda may have his own reasoning for dealing with the Merry in the way he did, it also makes perfect sense in the story itself why Luffy and the others couldn't depend on it for any longer.
The Merry Held On For As Long As It Could, But The Damage Was Too Severe
It's Understandable Why The Merry Had To Be Put Out Of Its Misery
- The journey to Skypiea took a heavy toll on the Merry
- Antagonists like Bellamy and Wapol dealt significant damage to the ship
While Oda may have his own reasoning for removing the Going Merry, he also managed to make the decision extremely believable in the story, since there were many hints leading up to Enies Lobby that indicated this would happen sooner or later. A prime example of this can be seen in the Jaya arc where the good-for-nothing pirate Bellamy decides to almost break the Merry in two, just to show off his own strength by unleashing his Devil Fruit ability. He's not the only one who has taken aim at the Merry though, as Wapol, back in Drum Island, also decided to take the chomp out of the ship to satisfy his endless hunger.
Another moment which saw the Merry receive a staggering amount of damage was when the Straw Hats traveled up the Knockup Stream to reach Skypiea. While it was an epic moment seeing Luffy and the others finally find a way to travel to the mysterious Sky Islands, the Merry took quite a beating actually getting them there, to the point where it was barely hanging on once it finally reached Water 7. Of course, slamming into the water after leaving Skypiea also couldn't have been good for the poor ship's exterior.
"Thank you for taking good care of me until now. I was...really happy" - Going Merry
Therefore, rather than simply taking the Merry out in one big chaotic battle, Oda decided to take his time and essentially base an entire story arc around why the ship had to go. It's definitely fun to wonder how the story would have changed had the Merry never lost its luster, but when considering the staggering number of many dangerous pirates and Marines occupy the seas in the world of One Piece, it just would have been too much of a risk to take it any further.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
