A/N: For tumblr's 20 years at sea, Day 4 Prompt: Moments you cried (cross-posted). Chose this moment because the only other major one is one I refuse to think about too often. And I've had less time to come to terms with it, and even setting this up had me crying.

Final Voyage

When the Going Merry was born she was a small caravel. Designed and built for short pleasure trips in the calm of the East Blue.

She was well cared for and maintained, for all she wasn't let free of the port often. She liked the human Merry who had designed and looked after her but she had yearned for more. What? She hadn't known.

Not until she had met her crew.

Four humans (then more, five, six, seven and guests along the way) all of whom were willing to let her be their home, and sail with her as far as they were able.

Occasionally there were accidents and she was damaged, but they always tried their best to fix it. Whether it was from the sea, attacks they couldn't defend against, or even their own hands. They always did their best to help.

And they travelled, from the safe East Blue, over a mountain, into the belly of a whale, through all the weather the Grand Line could throw at them, up the Knock Up Stream, through the sky, and back down to the blue sea again.

Through it all they laughed, cried, partied and fought together. Each member of the crew doing their part.

Merry knew it was coming, the time her journey would end. Had known for some time, felt it in her boards, felt it in the cracks the crew couldn't quite fix, couldn't quite see. But she wanted to journey with them as long as she could.

So, in the sky she manifested herself and tried to fix enough of herself to travel just a bit further. Just a bit longer.

She got them to the shipyard island, just in time, as hers was running out. But something happened there and they set off without her, without a new ship either.

So, she asked the ship builder for help. Just one last time she would bring her crew to safety.

And she did, it took all she had left but she found them. She collected them and carried them out of harm's way. But she hadn't been sure she could make it back to the shipyard island.

So, she breathed a sigh of relief when the ship builder arrived, on a ship big enough to also carry her burden. She allowed herself to break.

It took some time and explanation, but her crew finally understood that this was as far as she could go. She could travel with them no further.

"Merry," He Captain said, lowering the flame that would be her end in truth. "The bottom of the sea is dark and lonely. We'll see you off here." Her crew had all gathered for the final goodbye, no matter the incident that had cleaved them earlier. "Thank you for carrying us all this time, Merry."

"I'm sorry," she told them. "I wanted to carry you all just a little further... I'm sorry. I wanted to go on more adventures with you. But I…"

She was interrupted before she could continue.

"We're the ones who should apologise, Merry." Her Captain yelled. "I'm not good at navigating, and I crashed you into an iceberg! I even ripped your sails sometimes! Zoro and Sanji are idiots and so they broke many things too! Usopp tried to fix you every time but he's not good at it either! We're so sorry…"

She had to interrupt him, to tell them the last of it before the end.

"But I was happy. Thank you for taking good care of me until now. I was so happy."

This was my final voyage.

Goodbye.