Thousand Sunny

The Thousand Sunny is the second ship of the Straw Hat Pirates that they are now using as their main mode of transportation after the Going Merry was lost. It is a Brigantine Sloop type ship designed and built by Franky with a little help from Yokuzuna, Iceburg, and the remaining Galley-La foremen. Built from Adam Wood, it is a magnificent ship that is at least double the size of the Going Merry and apparently contains the requests the Straw Hats wanted.

Ship Design and Appearance


The Thousand Sunny is a Brigantine Sloop, which relies on the skills of its navigator. The ship has a lawn on it's deck, complete with a swing and a slide, as well as an observation tower for a crow's nest. The masts are huge, and help make the ship extremely maneuverable. The figurehead, like on the Merry is an animal's head, only this time a lion (although the face looks more like a bear's) with its mane in the shape of a flower's petals. There is a giant "1" on the side of the ship.

In Volume 46 of the manga, a complete set of blueprints of the Thousand Sunny was given in same fashion of the Going Merry's.

Figurehead, Helm, and Anchors
The figurehead of the Thousand Sunny is a large lion face with two crossbones beneath it resembling a typical Jolly Roger. The mouth of the figurehead can open in order to reveal the Gaon Cannon for frontal attacks, meanwhile the lion's "mane" can rotate similat to a propeller to move the ship backwards if need be. Due to its color scheme and shape, the figurehead can be mistaken for a flower.

The Thousand Sunny's helm is located at the front of the ship. Unlike the conventional steering wheels found on traditional sailing ships of olden times, the Sunny's steering wheel's position on the ship resembles those found on modern ships. On the steering wheel is a device that controls the Sunny's Dock System. By turning the knob to a certain direction, one can choose which compartments can be opened at the side of the ship. A lever situated next to the steering wheel can then used to open the compartments. A bench is also located near the steering wheel for comfortability.

The anchors of the Thousand Sunny are positioned at each side of the front of the ship. They both resemble large lion paws. The rope used for these are stored inside the metal ring positioned behind the figurehead.

Mens' and Womens' Quarters
The mens' quarters is located on the first floor of the fore of the ship, while the womens' quarters is located above them on the second floor.

The men's quarters can be entered from either door on the first floor. In the middle of the room is a horigotatsu type kotatsu, a traditional Japanese fireplace setting, complete with a sunken table and low sofas. Within the room also are three two tiered bunks which the men sleep in. These are like wooden hammocks. Behind these bunks, at the back of the room, are six lockers where the men can store their clothes. Posted on the wall of the room is a collection of the mens' wanted posters. Only Sanji's poster isn't found here.

The womens' quarters can be entered through the door on the second floor. The room is more bedroom like than the room the boys sleep in. It contains two beds, a closet, a dresser, and some comfy sofas among other things. A treasure chest belonging to Nami can also be found.

At the entrance to each room are two washrooms. The room by the mens' quarters entrance is a typical household washroom setup. It contains a regular sink and some toothbrushes. The only other unique feature in this room is a bell to wake everyone up in case of emergencies or other important situations. The washroom by the women's quarters entrance however, has several other things other than toothbrushes. It contains a closet where wine and a tea set can be stored. Hot water for the tea set must be retrieved from the kitchen.

In front of these rooms, on the lawned deck, is the hatch leading to the room where the Soldier Dock System is stored.

Kitchen, Dining Room, and Sick bay
The kitchen, dining room and sick bay are located on the second floor of the aft of the ship.

The kitchen and the dining room of the ship resembles a regular restaurant scene. The kitchen has a professional setup and cooking equipment. This includes a giant oven which can bake anything, and a giant fridge with a lock. The fridge is locked by a four digit code. This code "7326" is only known by Sanji, Nami, and Robin. This is because the code is combination of their names. 7 and 3 can be pronounced as "na" and "mi" respectively in Japanese and thus refers to Nami. Likewise, 2 and 6 can be pronounced as "ni" and "ro" respectively and thus refers to the two first syllables of Nico Robin's full name. 3 and 2 can also be pronounced as "san" and "ji" and thus refers to Sanji.

A Den Den Mushi can be found near the coach in the dinning room.

The ship has a sick bay, which the previous ship lacked. It can be accessed by going through the dinning room. Chopper was seen lying in it, relaxing in it, as the room was his (seeing as he is the ship's doctor).

Aquarium Bar
A great place for keeping fish so they stay perfectly fresh once caught. The aquarium in which the fish are kept surrounds the whole room. It surrounds the bar and continues on the ceiling of the back of the room. Luffy and Usopp foolishly put a shark in there, which devoured all the fish they had previously caught. When one wants to take a fish out of the aquarium for food, they have to net the fish out from the hatch on the second floor deck. If that doesn't work, they'll just have to dive in and grab the fish themselves. In the middle of room is the mast of the ship. It contains a small cupboard for storing alcohol and a dumbwaiter which leads to the kitchen above. Due to the room's atmosphere, Franky says it's a good place to eat dinner.

The energy room of the Thousand Sunny can be entered through a ladder at the back of this room.

Library, Workrooms, Bath, Crow's Nest, and Survey Room


The large hut like structure at the end of the ship contains the bath and library. At each side of this building is a large lamp. The library, within this structure, is a large circular room with several books. Except for Luffy, everyone has books stored in here. Circling together with the room's shape is a long bench for people to sit on. In the middle of the room is Nami's mapping desk and contains the Ship's Log and other things. The library, according to Nami, is the "Sunny's Brain".

On top of the library, located in the attic like section of the building, is the bath. It contains a much larger bathtub then the previous ship. As Nami commented, taking a bath there while the ship gently rocks gives it the feel of a high end spa.

On top of the foremast is the crow's nest. It is a ball shaped hut with several windows on the sides. It can be entered by climbing up the ropes surrounding the mast and then climbing a ladder up through a hole below the nest's metal carpeted floor. It contains some advanced telescopic equipment and a loud speaker microphone. The microphone is connected to a loud speaker located below the crow's nest. The crow's nest can also be used as gym and contains exercising equipment such as dumb bells.

On top of the kitchen and dinning hall of the Thousand Sunny is a little area that mimics the area on top of the Going Merry. This area, which can be accessed by passing through the library, contains Nami's mikan trees, Robin's flower garden, the chimney for the kitchen below, and the office branch for Usopp's Factory.

Located below deck, to the aft of the Soldier Dock System, are the two room devoted to creating tools and other things, Usopp's Main Factory and Franky's Weapon Development Room; both are complete with drawing boards and tolls for the creation of blueprints nad contrations for the Straw Hats use in the near future. Both can be accessed by climbing down the stair leading from the Energy Room.

Features
The Thousand Sunny features many additions which the crew have long awaited for, and some nice additions Franky added himself. These additions include the Soldier Dock System and other internal contraptions which make the ship unique.

Soldier Dock System


The Soldier Dock system is a special system built within in the ship represented externally by the two giant plates marked with giant numbers on either side of the ship. It is a turn table of compartments of sorts that each contain a special device or vehicle that the Straw Hats can use. It is named like this because the vehicles stored within are, as Franky calls them, the soldiers of the Thousand Sunny.


 *  Channel Zero: Two compartments containing the paddle wheels to change the ship into Paddle-Wheel Sunny. It is powered by Cola. The wheels can rotate in reverse and are not connected to one another. With these wheels, the Thousand Sunny's heading can be changed easily. This was first seen being used in the manga when Franky showed use of it in order to pass a raging storm. In the anime, it was first seen being used to escape from an illusion of a fleet of Marine ships.


 *  Channel One: Contains Shiro Mokuba I


 *  Channel Two: Contains Mini Merry II


 *  Channel Three: Contains Submerge Shark III


 *  Channel Four: Currently empty except for a inflatable swimming pool that can be deployed if the Straw Hats want to swim around. Franky stated he'll probably fit the Channel with weapons.

Coup de Burst
The Coup de Burst (風来砲バースト (クー･ド･バスト)) is a maneuver used by Franky that was first seen in order to escape Vice-Admiral Garp's attack. Basically, Franky uses three barrels of Cola to fire a giant cannon downward and rocket the ship into the air, making a great escape, or as he calls it, a "Water Escape". The maneuver mimics the Going Merry's escape from Enies Lobby. It also mimics the various other situations in which the Going Merry flew across through the sky.

Gaon Cannon
The Gaon Cannon is powerful cannon hidden within the lion's mouth in the prow of the ship. The cannon is aimed in a room within the prow itself. It has so far only been used once by Usopp and Franky to take out most of the Flying Fish Riders, along with obliterating nearly half of Duval's base The one drawback of the Gaon Cannon is the amount of cola it takes, 5 barrels in all, 2 to fire the cannon itself and three to fire a rear cannon, the same one used in the Coup de Burst, to stabilize the ship. This means that the cannon can only be used sparingly.

History
The concept of the Thousand Sunny was first thought up by Franky when he was young. Inspired by his mentor Tom's creation, the Oro Jackson, Franky dreamed of making a ship that would sail around the world. This dream however was shattered when Tom was taken away. Franky blamed himself for Tom's arrest and vowed to never build another ship ever again.

After the events in Enies Lobby, Franky's dream was revitalized and he decided to build the Straw Hats a new ship to replace the one that was lost. He felt he owed them for the things that had happened. With the Adam Wood his gang bought with the money they originally stole from the Straw Hats and some aid from Yokuzuna, Iceburg, Paulie, Peepley Lulu, and Tilestone, Franky toiled in making the new ship. After several nights of labor on Scrap Island, Iceburg revealed the new ship to the Straw Hats.

Voyage
After certain events in which the Straw Hats acquired Franky, the Thousand Sunny was immediately set a sail upon the news of Garp and his men coming back to capture Luffy and crew. As the Thousand Sunny was setting sail, Garp's ship appeared. Garp, feeling somewhat bad for going back at his word with his grandson about arresting the Straw Hats at Water 7, decided to attack the the Thousand Sunny all by himself. Using several cannonballs like baseballs, Garp laid an onslaught on the ship.

After the crew reacquired Usopp, they decided on what to call the new ship. the Straw Hats decided to finally leave Water 7 aboard the Thousand Sunny. As Franky made some preparations to escape from the pursuing Marines, Garp, angered by Luffy's comments towards him, decided to attack the Thousand Sunny with a gigantic iron ball larger than the ship. Just when Garp's iron ball was about to hit the Thousand Sunny, Franky activated the ship's special technique, "Coup de Burst", and blasted the ship out of harm's way.

With the Marines far behind and it's crew celebrating on board, the Thousand Sunny ventured forth on it's voyage.

"Eaten" by Thriller Bark
After sailing across the ocean for some time, the Thousand Sunny and it's crew came across a barrel that sent out a flare when the Straw hats opened it. After the sight, the Thousand Sunny was suddenly in the middle of a raging storm. It was then that Franky showed use of the Sunny's paddle wheels. With them, the ship was able to pass through the storm and into the Florian Triangle zone.

The ship next crossed paths with a ghost ship with a walking skeleton on it. The skeleton, Brook, initially accepted Luffy's offer to join to crew and came down to dine with the crew. As the skeleton explained himself to the crew and why he couldn't truly join them in the dining hall, a ghost came into the room. It was then found out that the ship was taken by Thriller Bark and trapped within its walls.

After Brook left the ship to deal with his business on the island and some preparations were made by the crew, the Mini Merry II was revealed and deployed from the Thousand Sunny's "Channel 2" compartment. After some time, just as the Straw hats on the ship were starting to wonder what exactly happened to the Mini Merry and the Straw hats on board it, an invisible opponent sneaked on board the ship and messed around with the Straw hats on board. This left them wondering what exactly had happened. After sometime, the Thousand Sunny drifted closer to the island and got stuck onto a giant spider web along with the Mini Merry II and Brook's ship.

Amidst the events that occurred on the island, a group of zombies, headed by Perona, came onto the Sunny and raided the ship in search for valuables. During the raid, the zombies left the sleeping shadow less bodies of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji in the dining hall and decorated them. The zombies, carrying most of the crew's rations, then left the ship in a mess with nothing but the three straw hats and some preserved food. After some events in the island, the rest of the crew, except for Nami, then came back aboard the ship and discovered the mess and the state their shadow less crew mates were in. After waking up their shadow less comrades and discussing some things about their current situation, the Straw hats departed from the Sunny again in order to take back what Moria, the Shichibukai who ruled Thriller Bark, and his cohorts stole.

After several events on the island, Perona and several zombie soldiers and wild zombies came back to ship. Due to her battle with Usopp and the current situation that was happening, Perona had become completely scared. She decided to use the Sunny as her means of escape and ordered some zombies to stock the ship with food and treasures from the storage. The zombies stocked the ship with so much food that there wasn't any more space in Sanji's giant refrigerator. As the zombies prepared the ship for Perona's getaway, Kuma, the Shichibukai, was noticed to be also on board the Sunny asking for Moria.

As a small scuffle happened between Kuma and the zombies, Nami arrived back to the Thousand Sunny and noticed Perona and her zombies stocking up the ship. Before the two women could confront each other with more than mere words, Kuma came down from the Thousand Ship and interrupted the two. Through a mere touch of the palm of his hand, Kuma sent Perona somewhere else using his Devil Fruit powers. The Shichibukai's powers over Perona and presence scared the zombies and they thus left the Thousand Sunny. After a short talk with Kuma, Nami went into the Thousand Sunny for a change of clothes, and then went back to Thriller Bark to help the rest of her crew mates. With that the Thousand Sunny was left with its compartments stocked up full of food and treasure.

After the Straw Hats defeated Moria, survived Kuma's vicious attacks, and slept for a whole day, they decided to reap the benefits that Perona and her zombies left behind on the Thousand Sunny. With the large load of treasure onboard, they decided to claim it as their own and use it for their fund. As for the food also onboard, they decided to use it in a party with the Thriller Bark Victim's Association for finally defeating Moria. After two days of partying in which the Straw Hats finally got their long awaited musician, the Thousand Sunny was stocked up for the continuation of its voyage. With some farewells from the crew to the Thriller Bark Victim's Association, the Thousand Sunny onto its next and original destination before Thriller Bark, Fishman Island, the underwater paradise of Fishmen and Merfolk.

Current Island
As the Thousand Sunny continued on its journey to Fishman Island, the ship and its crew aboard encountered many more of the mysterious and spectacular sights of the Grand Line. Among them were a rainstorm that poured down with candy instead of normal rain, a giant sea tanuki, a circular rainbow, and some serpent currents. Eventually, the Thousand Sunny finally reached the area where its next destination was supposed to be, the second half of the Red Line.

Unable to go any more forward with large rock wall in its way, and with the Log Pose pointing directly below the ship, the Straw Hats decided to deploy Shark Submerge III to investigate the depths below. Due to the extreme pressure of the depths below, the Straw Hats were unable to find anything below five thousand meters under the ship. However, their search brought up an enormous seaking that threatened to destroy both the Thousand Sunny and its crew. Though the creature was defeated, it spat two things that landed abruptly onto the Sunny's deck. These were Camie, a mermaid, and Pappug, a talking starfish.

Naming Issue
The name Thousand Sunny is a name suggested by Iceburg that describes a ship sailing through a thousand seas like the sun. However before the ship was properly named as thus, a couple of names were suggested by the crew. Most of which were suggested by Luffy and involved the word lion in it. The following are those names suggested by the crew.


 * Bear Polar Bear Lion: Luffy's first suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Tiger Wolf Lion: Zoro's first suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Squid Octopus Chimpanzee: Luffy's second suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Dumpling Gorilla Lion: Luffy's third suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Master Sleeping Lion: Zoro's second suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Darkness Pill: Robin's suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Monsieur Sunflower: Sanji's own suggestion for the ship's name.
 * Battle Franky, Lion Gang Champion: A name which Franky intended to call the ship.

This naming issue had also affected fans and readers alike before the ship was actually named. Many assumed that the ship's name was "King of Beasts" due to Iceburg's comment that the Pirate King should ride a ship with the theme of the king of all beasts, a lion.

In chapter 489, Brook called the Sunny "Lion-Chan", much to Franky's chargin.

Thousand Sunny Beach House
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of One Piece, a special beach house was created in Kamakura. The beach house in question was made to resemble the Thousand Sunny.

Trivia

 * During the Thousand Sunny's voyage to Fishman Island after being detoured in Thriller Bark, it encountered several more phenomenon of the Grand Line. The phenomenon, that the ship and its crew encountered, are based on Japanese puns and a Japanese mythology. When the ship went through the rainstorm that poured down candy instead of rain, the pun used was "ame". "Ame" means rain in Japanese, but it can also mean candy. Thus there is a pun when the Straw Hats stated candy was falling instead of rain in Japanese. They are basically saying that a certain thing is falling down instead of another thing that sounds exactly like the same thing in English. The name of the giant seaking that they encountered, the sea tanuki, is also a pun. "Umidanuki" (literally, "sea tanuki") means beaver in Japanese, however, the seaking they encountered was a more literal representation of its name. Finally, the circular rainbow and the serpent currents comes from ancient Japanese mythology and folklore. In ancient times, japanese often associated rainbows as bad omens signifying the coming of serpents. The scene where the Straw Hats see a circular rainbow just before suddenly encountering the serpent currents is based on this myth.