To succeed the Going Merry in their adventures, Monkey D. Luffy and his Crew opted for a new ship 🚢 which they called the Thousand Sunny. This is their second and current boat in which the crew has added different features to help them in their various adventures.
Sunny design and appearance
Nicknamed Sunny by its designer, this Brigantine Sloop -type ship was designed and manufactured by Franky, the cyborg carpenter of the Luffy Pirates . The latter was helped by Icebarg, the director of the very famous shipbuilding company Galley-La Company, the mayor of Water Seven as well as by the sumo frog Yokuzuna. This is a strong ship, twice the size of the Going Merry. This large boat was built with Adam wood, a precious and very rare wood capable of withstanding even natural disasters such as hurricanes, 🌪️ tsunamis or underwater pressure. And thanks to the giant masts this boat has, it is extremely easy to maneuver.
The exterior of the Thousand Sunny
Just like the Vogue Merry, the figurehead of the Thousand Sunny represents the head of an animal, and more precisely that of a lion, 🦁 the particularity of its mane and that it represents flower petals. This is why, during its construction, many considered it to be a sunflower or a sun. The lion's head also comes with two intersecting bones similar to a Jolly Roger. After the two-year timeskip, floodlights were installed at eye level of the lion to make it easier to navigate dark areas. And it is at the mouth of this lion that one of the boat's two special aerial cannons, namely the Gaon Cannon, was placed. As for the second, the Burst, it is located at the rear of the ship. The latter also has 7 other traditional cannons on each side, making a total of 16 cannons.
The Thousand Sunny operates thanks to the skills and knowledge of the navigator. The rudder is at the front of the ship like modern boats and not like those with traditional sails. And a Log Pose has been added to the navigation bar. This navigation device resembling a compass allows the pilot to know the direction to take without bothering the navigator. The bridge has been decorated with a lawn, some fruit trees 🌳 as well as a plot of land for gardening. On this same bridge stands the main mast with an observation tower equipped with loudspeaker, binoculars and telescope. This covered lookout is a weight room and is mainly used by Roronoa Zoro to train. There are also towels, a cushion for taking a nap and a very long bench going around the room. As for the anchor and sails, the systems are motorized. Simply use a lever to lower or raise the anchor ⚓ or the sails.
The Sunny neighborhoods
The men's and women's quarters are separate, the first being located on the first floor of the boat while for the women, it is on the second floor. Accessing the men's quarters through the door on the first floor, you come across a kotatsu-style Horigotatsu (coffee table) surrounded by sofas right in the middle of the room. 🛋️ There are also barrels for the crew's laundry in a corner as well as the collection of their capture bonuses with the exception of Sanji's (photo problem) hanging on the wall. Next come lockers and bunk beds.
The women's quarter is very different from that of the men. It feels more like you're in a room on dry land than in a boat. In particular, we discover a large wardrobe, comfortable armchairs 💺 with a round table, a chest of drawers and even a small bookcase. The room also includes Nami's treasure chest , two beds and a bedside lamp. After the timeskip, a single large bed was installed in place of the two beds.
Note that each room has a bathroom at its entrance. The men's room is rather rustic with only a sink, a mirror, toothbrushes and an emergency alarm bell. As for the women's bathroom 🚿, it is more furnished with a sink, a mirror, but also a small cabinet where wine and a tea set are placed.
Kitchen and dining room
The boat also has a large kitchen including a refrigerator closed with a padlock. Only Sanji, Nami and Robin know the code to open it. There is also a huge oven allowing you to cook whatever you want as well as all the utensils that Sanji, the crew's designated cook 👨🏼🍳, needs. A dumbwaiter was installed there to send dishes to the aquarium bar. Those who want to order just need to shout loudly and there is also a escargophone in this kitchen. Next comes a small bar separating the kitchen area from the dining room. And in the latter, we find a large table made for eight people as well as a large sofa placed against the wall.
Sunny Aquarium Bar and Library
As mentioned above, the Thousand Sunny is twice as large as the Vogue Merry , to the point that it also contains a large room used as a library and another large room used as a bar 🍻 aquarium. Large in size, this library contains a large number of books belonging to the entire crew. There are cookbooks with notes and erotic magazines for Sanji as well as books relating to legendary swords. In addition to the bench that goes around the room, Nami also has her own desk where she can keep her logbook.
In the other large room a bar has been built surrounded by a giant aquarium where Luffy and Usopp place their fishing catches, 🎣 with the exception of the sharks which eat all the fish already caught. These fish then wait to be cooked by Sanji. On the bar side, bottles of wine have been placed there as well as a huge sofa going around the room again and a few armchairs. There is also the dumbwaiter connected to the kitchen.
The other pieces
There are still several other rooms on this boat such as the infirmary, 🤕 two workshops and a large bathroom. Missing on the Going Merry , the infirmary is accessible either via the dining room or through the door at the rear leading to the exterior of the boat. This room contains a lot of medical equipment as well as furniture such as a bed, a desk, and crew doctor Tony Tony Chopper 's favorite chair. This is why the latter considers it to be his room.
Then come the two workshops, the first of which is used by Franky and the second by Usopp. These two characters use it to develop their respective inventions, which is why both pieces are downright messy. The ship also has a rather luxurious bathroom on board including a thermal bath. 🛀🏼
The powers of the Thousand Sunny (Soldier Dock)
In addition to everything listed before, Franky also inserted one of his inventions into the Thousand Sunny: the Soldier Dock system . This is a high-performance system relating to 6 different compartments located on the sides of the boat ⛵ and designed to improve different aspects. The control buttons for this system and a lever were installed at the rudder wheel. These buttons allow you to select the desired compartment and the lever is used to open it.
Compartment 0:
This compartment conceals powerful paddle wheels that extend out from either side of the ship. These wheels run on cola and allow the ship to move forward in the event of bad weather ⛈️ or to escape at full speed. The crew also uses them on Calm Belt where, as the name suggests, the sea is calm because there is no wind blowing to move a sailing boat. These wheels were removed after the ellipse to accommodate compartments 5 and 6 and they were replaced by a hydrojet thruster which deploys under the hull
Compartment 1:
In this compartment we find the Shiro Mokuba which is the waver (a kind of sea scooter 🛵 exclusive to the Celestial Islands) belonging to Nami aka La Chatte Voleuse. Containing one or two places, this waver was decorated by Franky who, because of this, received a rant from Nami.
Compartment 2:
There is a small steamboat there also designed by Franky which was inspired by the old crew ship Vogue Merry. It is in homage to the latter that Franky reproduced the figurehead of the Vogue Merry and they named it Mini Merry II . It can carry four passengers and serves as a resupply shuttle.
Compartment 3:
This other compartment contains the Shark Submerge III which, as its name suggests, is a submarine shaped like a shark. 🦈 Also built by Franky, this exploration submarine offers three seats and can descend up to 5000 meters below the surface of the sea. A Escargophone has been added allowing passengers to communicate with the Thousand Sunny.
Compartment 4:
In the fourth compartment was installed the Kurosai FR-U IV , a giant black motorcycle 🏍️ designed with three wheels. This is one of Franky's inventions during his two-year training which, thanks to its armored rhino head and its great power, can rush through a whole bunch of enemies during clashes. We can see a star drawn on each of the two rear wheels.
Compartment 5:
Next comes in the fifth compartment another of Franky's creations during these two years of training: the Brachio Tank V. It is a tank designed with Wapométal and taking the shape of a dinosaur. 🦕 Like a brachiosaurus, it is possible to raise or lower the barrel with which you can shoot while being well protected. Additionally, the cockpit can be expanded just by pulling a lever. This tank moves thanks to tread belts running on Cola.
Note that the Kurosai FR-U IV and the Brachio Tank V can be combined to become the Iron Pirate Franky Shogun , a giant combat robot inspired by Franky.
The Thousand Sunny Creation Arc
Throughout its many years of loyal service to the Straw Hat Pirates , the Going Merry has suffered quite a bit of damage. Among other things, he was blown up, skewered and even cut up on numerous occasions. Thus, upon arrival at Water Seven, the ship was no longer able to continue following the crew on their adventures. Luffy and his crew therefore granted their ship Viking-style funeral rites. ⚰️ It should be noted that the Going Merry was so loved by the entire crew that he had his own personality and was considered a full member.
A few days after this funeral, while the crew members were resting at Water Seven, they met Cutty Flam alias Franky , a naval engineer very gifted in boat building. The latter had stolen all their money and offered the Mugiwara in exchange to build them a ship with Adam's wood, a tree reputed to be the strongest in the world. This new boat would therefore be a dream boat 🛥️ that could withstand the New World. His offer was received by the crew with great joy and elation. Once the boat was built, Franky was recruited into the Straw Hat crew as a Carpenter. This recruitment was carried out at the request of the Franky Family to prevent Franky from being killed at Water Seven because of his new capture bounty now amounting to 44,000,000 berries.
All these events took place in the Post-Enies Lobby Arc which is the fourth and final part of the Water Seven saga. It is also the 17th story of the One Piece manga and anime. Discover the different Mugiwara ships .
The Klabautermann of Vogue Merry
For any ship loved and cherished by its crew in One Piece, a water spirit 👻 or fairy may make an appearance. It represents the very essence of the boat or rather its soul . This type of magical being is called Klabautermann . It represents a joyful and diligent creature. Known as Klabautermann, the latter takes the form of a small marine humanoid dressed in a marine raincoat, wearing shoes and holding a small wooden hammer. The Klabautermann usually appears when the ship is in danger to warn the crew. He also sometimes helps them maintain or repair the boat.
The Klabautermann of the Going Merry first appeared to Usopp during the Skypiea Arc after the latter noticed that the boat's mounting was seriously damaged. One night full of fog, 🌫️ Klabautermann hammered the ship's hull while saying that he would do everything so that the boat could sail for a long time. The next day, Usopp and the entire crew found that the boat was repaired. It was Franky who explained that it is the soul of a ship which manifests itself to its crew provided that they love and take good care of the boat. A second appearance took place in Water Seven when the creature expressed its desire to help the Straw Hat Pirates . She also spoke to them at the time of the Vogue Merry's cremation 🔥 at Water Seven to express her regret that she could not continue to stay with them forever.
However, in the seventh special episode of the One Piece anime known as One Piece Merry Episode: Another Friend's Story , the Klabautermann of the Going Merry was briefly seen sitting on the sails of the Thousand Sunny. He looked at the Mugiwaras while smiling at them. There is a theory that the creature eventually migrated from the Going Merry onto Luffy's crew's new ship. The hypothesis is based on the fact that the Klabautermann being capable of dissociating itself from its boat, it is also capable of searching for a new receptacle. ⚱️ He would therefore have been able to reincarnate in the Thousand Sunny in order to continue helping Luffy's crew find Gol D. Roger's legendary treasure, the One Piece .
The link between the Thousand Sunny and Pluto
In the One Piece universe, there are three ancient weapons of destruction about which little is known, aside from their names: Pluto, Uranus, and Poseidon . Pluto was a giant ship developed during the Missing Century and used as a weapon capable of destroying entire islands. Not much is known about Uranus other than it has a connection to King Neptune. Concerning Poseidon, it is a power in the possession of Princess 👸🏼 Shirahoshi which gives her the ability to control sea monsters. The latter are able to destroy several islands.
You should know that Pluto has been coveted by several people including the World Government, CP9 as well as Crocodile . It was later that we learned that Franky was in possession of the plans for this weapon ⚔️ but that he had burned them to prevent them from ending up in the wrong hands. But Franky is a cyborg, so he was able to take a look at his plans, analyze them and record their contents. So there is a theory that Franky built the Thousand Sunny using Pluto as inspiration.
This hypothesis is based on the fact that the Sunny is an exceptional ship and technologically advanced as seen above with the Soldier Dock system (motorcycle, submarine, waver, tank). Note also the other advances of this boat such as the Coup de Burst allowing the ship to fly one or two kilometers thanks to cola propulsion. There is also what is called the Chicken Trip which is a technique using the lion's mane of the figurehead to urgently reverse the boat.
Added to this, we must not forget that Franky was not the only one to have built the Thousand Sunny. There is also Icebarg who also held the plans of Pluto before Franky. Both of them could therefore have designed the Thousand Sunny based on the ancient Pluto weapon , both in the development and in the materials. This is of course not an exact replica but rather an inspiration.
The incredible Japanese replica of the Thousand Sunny
There is a theme park in Japan called Laguna Ten Bosch which is located in the town of Gamagori on the island of Honshū. This city is located southeast of Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture (Chūbu region). On the port of this theme park, you can find a life-size replica of the Thousand Sunny on which it is possible to take cruises of approximately 30 to 35 minutes. Made by a company located in Nagasaki, this replica of the second Mugiwara ship was made without a plan and without real dimensions, but only with 3 images from the anime.
You can find on this replica all the exterior characteristics of the real Thousand Sunny, including the figurehead representing a lion's head and its mane. There is also the small lawn with fruit trees, snails 🐌 and a representation of the Soldier Dock system. In different locations and rooms on the ship , life-size figurines of all the members of the Straw Hat Pirates have been placed . You should know that each of these statues speaks when you approach them. This replica has also been decorated in several places.
In addition to the boat, you can find restaurants and cafes in this park offering menus inspired by One Piece. There are also stores 🛒 selling Goodies based on the manga and in different places in the port, you can witness famous scenes reenacted by actors.
Join Mugiwara's Thousand Sunny now!
As we have seen, the Thousand Sunny is twice as large as the Vogue Merry, more powerful and resistant, more luxurious 🏰 and more sophisticated. In short, the new Mugiwara ship far surpasses the old one in every way. And how do you find it? Do you prefer the Vogue Merry or the Thousand Sunny ?
We invite you to give your opinion in the comments. But whatever your preference, you can join Luffy's Pirates on the Thousand Sunny today. Don't hesitate to help your crew to steer the boat or improve it with your own skills. Also find in our store all the Goodies dedicated to the Thousand Sunny.
