Eiichiro Oda reveals why a touching scene almost didn’t make it into the One Piece story

One Piece has delivered plenty of tear-jerking moments across its storyline, and the Straw Hat crew saying farewell to their first ship, Going Merry, has always been among the most heart-wrenching. However, Eiichiro Oda has thought about the concept of a ship talking being a stretch even in the world of One Piece, and is concerned that readers might ultimately reject the idea.

But upon revealing this moment, the amount of emotion shared was overwhelming, making waves across fans all around the world, including people who have created amazing stories themselves, such as Masashi Kishimoto. This behind-the-scenes reveal gives fans an insight into how close fans came to missing a now unforgettable moment from the story.

---

Why Eiichiro Oda almost decided to avoid Going Merry's talking scene in One Piece, explained

sandman

@sandman_AP

Oda (2007): Going Merry speaking scene was pure fantasy, even for OP. If my audience had said, “Ship can’t talk,” that would’ve killed it. I didn’t know how attached they’d feel, but the reaction was far beyond my hopes. Even Kishimoto emailed me, saying he was deeply moved.🥺

Eiichiro Oda's decision to include the Going Merry's talking scene in One Piece was not as simple or easy as fans may think today. Oda has stated that he was nearly avoided from writing the scene altogether simply because it was so weird, even for the imaginative world of One Piece.

Although One Piece has always been set in a fantasy world, the idea of a ship, an inanimate object, talking to its human crew could potentially break immersion for some readers. Oda was worried that if fans thought, making a ship talk was too weird, his emotional punch and impact would be obliterated.

Going Merry's final goodbye in manga (Image via Shueisha)

The scene takes place when the Going Merry reaches the end of its life while the Straw Hat Pirates say goodbye to their first ship.

Rather than just showing the destruction of the ship and saying goodbye, he let Merry talk and express his appreciation to the crew, which changed the emotional punch of the scene from being just a plot point to one of the greatest emotional punches in the entire series.

However, before writing the scene with the Going Merry talking to the crew, he had thought there was a possibility that the readers might have seen it as overly sentimental or too unrealistic, which could have detracted from the overall experience of the story.

Usopp during Going Merry's farewell (Image via Toei Animation)

Even though Oda felt some hesitation, he proceeded with the thought of making Going Merry talk. The response from the audience was beyond what Oda could have hoped for. To Oda's surprise, fans did not question the reasoning behind the decision and felt the deep emotional connection between the crew and the ship.

Feedback like that reassured him that his artistic risk had paid off and that emotional connection was more important than adherence to strict realism.

---

Final thoughts

Oda’s risk in introducing the emotional scene of the Going Merry talking commended one of the most beloved emotional moments in One Piece. He had previously been concerned that it would seem ridiculous, but instead, it was received as heartbreaking, changing the iconographic relationship readers share with the Straw Hat crew.

The emotional farewell action showed that, at times, convention can be purposely broken to elevate a story. Oda trusting the emotional centerpiece of the moment led to a send-off as any reader or creator could hope for: unforgettable for the fans, and felt genuine by Oda as a creator.

---

Related links:

• One Piece’s endgame might secretly depend on Blackbeard’s fate (and the reason could change everything)
• Cross Guild’s next big move could turn them into the modern-day Rocks Pirates
• Loki's flashback proves that Tritoma was One Piece's greatest Amazon Lily Empress, albeit not the most influential