User blog comment:Ranger94/The Best moment in one piece/@comment-2226235-20150913153113/@comment-8823907-20150914121012

It could have been a horrible subplot ... yeah so a ship that can move on its own and has a spirit and can talk ... it sounds dumb when you say it ot loud ... and yet ... it never was cheese, or ridiculous ... Oda didnt overuse it ... He kept it a mystery and foreshadowed it since Jaya ...Who repaired their ship on sky island ?

Oda gave us a new Strawhat and made us emotionaly invested in it ... it wasnt just a ship .. it was the going merry ... and it was handled amazingly as you said :)