Merry felt it the moment it happened.

Her keel just broke, something she knew to be a death sentence to a ship and those sailing on it if they didn't reach land in time.

She'd always been semi-aware, even before being given to Luffy.

The love and care Kaya's family and her designer Merry showed her on the few times they sailed on her before Kaya got sick after her parents died made sure of that. But it wasn't until she became the home of the Strawhat Pirates that she truly came alive.

They took care of her, she was their home. Usopp and Luffy considered her to be one of them, and not just a ship for getting them from place to place.

When Nami 'stole' her, she felt the Navigator's pain at leaving the boys behind and purposely kept her sails from filling with wind like they should have, purposely slowed down to give the boys time to catch up, or for Nami to change her mind and turn around.

She'd worried when those two pirates tried to burn her in Logue town, she wasn't strong enough yet to do anything about it for herself, but she knew it was happening.

The current by Reverse Mountain was too strong for her, and the steering stick breaking when the men tried to help her was when she truly started to worry about the journey ahead. If she wasn't strong enough to even get them in the Grand Line, then how far would she be able to carry them in the Grand Line itself? She put it out of her mind, though, once they arrived.

Getting her figurehead broken off hurt, after all.

The Captain breaking off her mast hurt even more!

Was the rubber idiot even thinking?!

Well, probably not. This was Luffy, after all.

He helped Usopp put it back where it belonged afterward, even though she could tell Usopp didn't repair it correctly. There was a near constant ache there now, and she had to 'think' about keeping it together when it wanted to break further in the rough winds.

Even just getting to the first island proved to be a challenge, and she knew without a doubt that she was not going to be able to carry them the entire way. But she was going to carry them as far as she could, for as long as she could. She refused to just roll over and let these seas win. She may not have been built for such rough waters, but she was going to get as far as she possibly could. She did have to think of the safety of her humans, though, in that regard.

She felt it the moment Nami came onboard in Little Garden, she felt that something was wrong. When Nami started to get sick, she started angling the sails just right to capture as much of the wind as she possibly could, so they could go faster and reach an island that hopefully had a doctor who could help. She felt useless when Nami only got sicker and sicker, but reassured herself that she was going as fast as she could, they didn't even know if there was an island nearby.

The guy that ate part of her railing? If Luffy hadn't sent him flying off her deck, she would have strangled him. She was just manipulating the rigging into place to do just that when her captain acted and literally punched the fat walrus off.

Being pierced with all those spikes while they escaped Alabasta was painful, and she almost sank right there, would have if the boys hadn't acted so quickly to bail out all the water and patch up the leaks before the water became too much, they would have been in trouble. Thankfully they got away and found somewhere where they could haul her up and out of the water to make better repairs.

This time, though... this time she knew that her time was truly running out. Her keel was broken, damaged when that springy man used her as a springboard. She was going to keep going for as long as she could and still keep her crew safe, but she couldn't go much further. The monkey men had patched up the damage while they prepared her for the Knock-up Stream, she could only hope that their patch job held up against such a current, she didn't want to leave them stranded in the sky. She felt the cracks spreading out from the break, and desperately tried to keep herself together. She was relieved to feel how calm the 'waters' in the sky were, it was a welcome change of pace from the unpredictable and rough waters of the Grand Line. She could hold herself together more easily up here. The higher altitude and thinner air also helped to take some of the pressure off her damaged keel.

That stupid lobster thing coming up from underneath her, twice, and grabbing her like it did, did not help. Sitting on that stone altar like that did not help take the pressure off, either. Instead, it made the cracks worsen, and the patch job over the break was starting to come apart now.

She didn't begrudge Chopper for ripping her mast off, again, because she would have been nothing but a pile of ashes if he didn't. That stupid priest was the one who set her on fire (which, by the way, hurt), not Chopper, Chopper did what he could to save her.

She was able to manifest her physical form that night, and reinforce the patch job over her keel, and put the mast back into place, but she didn't have the materials to do it properly, not like she somehow knew it needed to be done. Oh well, she could keep it together until they found an island, hopefully one that would have a good selection of new ships they could choose from to continue their journey on. (She tried not to be jealous of the future home of the Strawhat Pirates, she really did. But that new ship was going to get to do what she couldn't, what she wanted so desperately to do for herself.)

She was pleased when they got her off the altar, and without ruining the limited repair work she'd been able to do to her keel. At any rate, being off that stone felt a lot better, it certainly took the pressure off the break.

Merry wasn't so sure about using an octopus as a balloon to get back to the Grand Line, especially with somebody as childish as Luffy around... once again Luffy just demonstrated that he didn't always think. She groaned when they slammed back down into the water, and felt the cracks worsening. The worst part was that now the cracks were forming in a completely different part of the keel. The initial break was towards the figurehead, while the new cracks were forming closer to the rudder, the first point of contact when she hit the water again at speeds she wouldn't have been going at if Luffy hadn't accidentally deflated the octopus balloon they were relying on to get them down safely.

She groaned when she suddenly ran aground on something, it scraped at her already fragile keel, and threatened to tear off the patch she had over the break. She was barely able to get out of the way in time before being run over by what Nami called a train. What something like that was doing on the ocean, was a mystery that she wasn't really interested in solving, she was too busy working at staying together after that.

Hearing that Water 7, their next destination, was an island of shipwrights was... bittersweet. She knew that any half-decent shipwright would take one look at her, and tell her crew that it was her time. Luffy was going to have to consider the safety of everybody, otherwise she knew what his answer would be. But, he was a good captain, which meant he was going to choose getting a new ship. It was bittersweet, because she knew that sailing on her just wasn't safe for them anymore and their safety was her priority. But she also didn't want to be left behind, she didn't want them to need a new ship, she didn't want some other ship to be the one to carry them from now on. She wanted to be the one to carry them throughout their journey! But she knew it had to be this way.

This wasn't right... why were Luffy and Usopp fighting over her?! Didn't Usopp know that Luffy hated making this decision? Didn't he know that she was too damaged to continue? If he sailed on her again... The captain won, like she knew he would. And he left her to Usopp, like she knew he would. He just could not risk the lives of what was left of his crew by continuing to sail her, no matter how much he loved her, no matter how much he hated the thought of leaving her behind.

Hearing that Robin was in trouble, and that she'd willingly given herself up to the government to ensure the safety of the rest of the Strawhats stirred something in her. Suddenly, she didn't feel so tired and worn out, suddenly, she was ready to sail one more time... if only she wasn't currently laying on her side in a scrap pile! She hated having to beg, hated asking for help, but she couldn't get back out on the water on her own, and she was currently too damaged (broken keel notwithstanding) to sail one last time.

As always, she knew exactly where each and every one of her humans were, it was a simple matter to locate them. If only getting to them without falling apart were so easy, but she managed. 'Let's go back to the sea of adventure! I've come to get you!' She was relieved when they heard her, she wasn't sure they would with all the noise the idiot Marines were making and with how weak she was from the damage and forcing herself to sail in her condition. She was even more relieved to see them all jump from the towers, all relatively unharmed (except for Luffy of course, but she had no doubt that Chopper would take good care of him).

She'd hoped, though, to at least make it back to Water 7 before her keel finally just couldn't take it anymore, and she broke apart. She panicked for a moment, thinking that they'd escaped the Marines only to go down with her, but relaxed when she saw Iceberg had apparently followed her, and he was on a fairly decent sized ship of his own, one with plenty of room to take her Nakama onboard.

She was pleased that her captain chose a sea-burial for her, instead of towing her back to be turned into scrap, or to rot in a scrap pile like she'd feared when that government agent pushed her out of the indoor dry-dock Franky had hidden her inside of. She regretted not being able to carry them further, and made sure to tell them so, but she was also grateful for the time she did have with them, even if Luffy was correct in saying he should have been more careful with her. The damage to her keel wasn't his fault... it was that springy guy on Jaya that used her as a platform to spring off of that caused the crippling damage.


Luffy sat on the figurehead of the Thousand Sunny, their new ship after being forced to give Merry a funeral at sea.

He smiled sadly and patted one of the 'tufts' of mane framing the lion head. "Hey, Sunny, I suppose you might not be really alive, yet, being so new and all? But let me tell you about Merry. She was..."

The Sunny stirred, a conscious mind forming slowly. By the time they reached Sabaody, she was awake and aware enough to howl at the loss of her crew when they were all sent away from her suddenly, and for two years all she had were those protecting her from those who would wish harm on the Strawhat Pirates or those that just saw an abandoned ship just ripe for the picking, those talking about her crew and telling her that they would be back, and the stories her captain told her about a little caravel from the East Blue. She almost set sail for Luffy's location when Reyleigh came by one day to tell her the good news, that her captain was alive and would be back in a few weeks, but who would the rest of the crew come home to while she was gone?

She had to continue what the Merry started, it was her job now to carry the crew safely through the rough Grand Line, through their battles, through their adventures. She wasn't going to let the Going Merry down.