The Going Merry was not only the first official ship of the Straw Hat Pirates, but also their home. The Going Merry had been around longer than the majority of the crew. The ship was initially a gift from Usopp’s friend Kaya. She gifted it to the then Straw Hat Quartet after saving her life. Since then, the ship had sailed them up a mountain, outrun navies, survived monsters, bested pirates, made it to cities in the sky, and had brought on 3 more Straw Hats. When the crew arrived at Water Seven, The Merry had seen more in a short span than most ships would see in their crew’s lifespan. They had been operating without a proper shipwright, but Usopp had been doing his best to hold her together until they could find someone to provide her with proper care. Sadly, that wouldn’t prove to be the scenario they would be faced with.
They traded in all the treasure for cash and went to hire the best shipwrights the world had to offer. Upon examination, the Merry was beyond repair. Her keel, the very backbone of a ship, was broken, and that was a finality for a ship. This was heartbreaking for the crew. They had money, time, and the best help possible, but that wouldn’t be enough to rescue Merry. While the rest of the crew had time to mourn and process this, Usopp had been on a relentless and perilous journey to regain the crew’s pilfered riches back from the Franky Family. So, when he was finally safe back with his crew mates and was faced with the bleak outcome. He couldn’t accept it.
“I won’t let them take the Merry away from me. This is stupid. You guys are getting fooled by a bunch of salesmen trying to pawn off a used boat. The Luffy I know wouldn’t cave in to a sales pitch from a total stranger. He’d believe in the strength of the Merry and the strength of his crew. But here you are acting like you know everything and ignoring your friends. I can’t believe that’s the type of captain you turned out to be. I thought you were better than that.” - Usopp
Letting go is never easy. Especially when it’s something or someone we love. Solomon was one of the wisest but also most emo writers in the Bible. A man that literally had everything but managed to lose meaning. He made this statement;
“A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,” Ecclesiastes 3:6.
Having things, means a time may come when we have to let them go. That goes for friendships and actual ships.
Usopp just kept digging further and further, provoking Luffy.
“I see the Merry as one of our friends, and I won’t abandon her when she’s hurt.”
“Just get rid of your dead weight and move on before they can slow you down. If you’re gonna throw away the Merry, might as well throw me away too.”
Usopp can’t accept that their time with Merry is over. This isn’t an uncommon response to grief. Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression, and Acceptance are the widely accepted 5 stages of grief. Usopp was going through them all in a very short window. So much so to the point he’d rather fight Luffy than accept reality.
“Luffy, I'm sorry I can’t follow you anymore. And I'm sorry I was a pain to the bitter end. I know you’re the captain of this ship, so the Merry belongs to you. That’s why I want you to fight me, Monkey D. Luffy! I challenge you to a duel.”
We choose conflict, rage, aggression, and foolish actions rather than accepting painful truths. Because once we accept something, it becomes permanent, as long as we are fighting against it, even if it’s pointless, it somehow is less concrete.
When Usopp stepped onto the battlefield against Luffy, I don’t think many people expected him to put to put up much of a fight, let alone provide one of the most entertaining battles in One Piece thus far (still in the 200’s at this point). Usopp went full Batman with prep time and laid waste to Fluffy in ways that Crocodile didn’t even manage, but like Batman with prep time, all it took was one well-placed superhuman punch to win the battle.
Once Usopp was defeated and laid out in his own misery Luffy declared;
“Do whatever you want with the Merry. I won’t let anything hold us back. We’re getting a new ship, and sailing forward.”
As painful as this moment was for everyone one involved, Luffy was making the right choice. Because sometimes you have to let go of something good to be able to be part of something great. Sometimes you have to let go of something you love that doesn’t have the capacity to grow with you. Many of us are held back because we aren’t willing to let go of things which act as anchors in our lives. Things that are tying us to our past and restraining us from our future.
Scripture is full of reminders to not let this be the case for us.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” - Isaiah 43:18-19
“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.” - Proverbs 4:25
“Because brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” - Philippians 3:14.
Usopp wanted to paint Luffy as a traitor and a bad friend for being willing to part with the Merry, but for Luffy to force his crew to be held back and be in danger out of sentimentality would have been the true betrayal.
Jesus experienced a lot of people that wanted to be associated with Him, receive the miracles from Him, have the blessings and benefits of being close to Him. But most of the people didn’t have the commitment or the fortitude to let go of the things they were attached to in order to actually follow Him. In a statement that hits harder than Luffy’s fight ending punch to Usopp, Jesus makes it clear that letting go is a requirement to truly following Him.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” - Luke 14:26-27
Jesus was making it clear, that if you really wanted to follow Him, you had to be willing to let go of everything else. You couldn’t move forward in following Him if you have to bring the old things with you. I know this is a One Piece Chapter, but I’m going to make a Batman detour.
Tom King is one of my favorite writers ever. He’s a master story teller. But on the Pull List Podcast I co-host with Chris Poirier, one of his plot points is a recurring meme. In almost every episode of the Pull List Podcast since 2019, there’s been a reference to Batman #74 which features Batman, dragging his dead mother Martha’s body through the desert in a coffin. Like we may say “This new issue of Plastic Man is rough, but at least he wasn’t dragging his dead mother through a desert.” While that moment made sense in the issue, looking back it is the absolute epitome of not being able to let go. Of being held back by what is past, and being unable to move forward because of it.
Like Luffy, Usopp, the would-be disciples, and even Batman; we can’t truly move forward if we can’t leave some things behind.
That ship was truly family, but the hard part is, even family goes sometimes.
Jesus makes a statement about material possessions and how we love.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21
The things in this world aren’t permanent. Even our relationships. As the crew was facing certain doom at the conclusion of Enie’s Lobby, they heard a voice calling out to them.
“Look Below”
“Jump Into the Sea”
The Going Merry had returned to rescue her crew (after a little love from Ice Pops). Their ship showed up to save them, but even in that moment, it wasn’t going to be permanent.
Shortly after their escape they run upon Ice Pops. Luffy who was so dead set before on moving forward and letting the past go, found himself just as painfully longing as Usopp.
As Luffy cried out; “Merry needs help, can’t you do something? I’m begging you, don’t let her die now. She’s more than a ship. She’s part of our crew. If it wasn’t for her, we all would have died back there. So come on, please do something.”
Ice Pops in turn reminds Luffy of the direction they are heading; “She’s fought hard for you, but it’s time to let her rest.”
They give the Merry a proper send off, as they all grieve, Usopp is in a better place with acceptance; “We must all say our farewell’s someday. Every man knows that. We must hold back our tears”
“Thank you for carrying us for so long, for so far Merry” - Luffy.
Merry in turn speaks to her crew as they say their final goodbye’s; “I'm sorry I wanted to carry everyone just a little bit further. We had so much fun, I wish our adventures would never end. I was happy. I know you always treated me with love. Thank you. Even if the time we spent together was short. I’m glad that I could spend it with you.”
It was hard to say goodbye to the Merry. But, because they did, they were able to receive a much better ship that would last them so much longer and further. The Thousand Sunny. Bigger, stronger, fiercer. This ship will provide and care for the Straw Hat crew in ways the Merry would never be capable of. They had to let go to receive what was more for them.
When Jesus tells us that we have to be willing to let things go, He also has better for us. We can’t know that in advance, but we can trust Him and His word.
Look at what He states in Mark 10:29-31;
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
For every Going Merry we let go of, there’s a Thousand Sunny to come.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” - Romans 8:28
The Going Merry wasn’t the only thing Usopp had to let go of. After Usopp’s defeat at the hands of Luffy, things would detour because Robin needed to be rescued. The crew was scattered in various places trying to free Robin before she was lost forever at Enie’s Lobby. As Sanji and Franky are heading in pursuit of Robin, Usopp turns to leave. Usopp states; “It’s not my job to save her anymore, I am not a part of Luffy’s crew”
Even though they were temporarily over the pain and conflict of the Going Merry, Usopp was still carrying the pride and ego that was cause for division.
Then 30 seconds later he popped back up as the Sniper King. Because it was easier to pretend to be someone else than to actually deal with the struggle and pain that had been in front of him. Many of us will mask ourselves to avoid actually dealing with what’s in front of us, and what’s hurting us. If we are bringing pain, bitterness, resentment, pride, and unforgiveness into a situation, that’s just as damaging as having a huge anchor. You can’t move forward carrying those things. While Sniper King was really cool and made for some great comedic bits, it also was a pretty honest depiction of the duplicity we force on ourselves when we carry those types of burdens around with us. Usopp would later state; “I may have worn that mask to protect my pride, but it was still me.”
As the Thousand Sunny was ready for departure, the crew found themselves in danger of Garp and the Navy, Usopp finally was making his way back to the crew with hundreds of excuses planned. What he wasn’t aware of was the fact that Zorro had defended Luffy’s honor by forcing him to hold Usopp accountable.
“Until he bows his head and apologizes for what he did, he can’t come back... If the first thing that comes out of Usopp’s mouth is an apology, then we’re good. But if he tries to make some excuse, then he’s not welcome here.”
While Nami protested and Luffy wanted to offer grace, the reality was, Zorro was right. When Usopp showed up, all he offered were excuses, and the crew was forced to leave him behind in that moment. He poured through hundreds of excuses, but if he wasn’t willing to take the right steps, he didn’t have a place there.
This isn’t far from what we see in scripture at all.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” - Matthew 5:23-24
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” - James 5:16
Letting go of our pride, our entitlement, our self-reliance, our ego; these things lead to true freedom and reconciliation. Once Usopp was out of excuses and options, he finally spoke truthfully;
“I’m sorry. I’m too stubborn I know! I take back every word I’ve said! I know I'm being pathetic; I know I already said I quit, but will you let me take it back please? I’m begging you, you gotta forgive me.”
Luffy with tears pouring down his face instantly reached over and brought his crew member back aboard.
While the Matthew 5 and James 5 passages were about our relationship with others, we see this same thing modeled in our relationship with Jesus in 1 John 1:8-9;
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
All it took for Usopp to be redeemed was to let go of what he held on to, and seek forgiveness. That’s all it takes for us as well. Jesus has arms wide open waiting to make us more than crew, but to make us family.
What do you need to let go of today?
What are you holding on to that’s anchoring you in the wrong place?
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