St. Briss

St. Briss
Statistics
Japanese Name:	セントブリス号
Romanized Name:	Sento Burisu-gō
Official English Name:	St. Briss
Debut:	Chapter 218; Episode 143
Affiliation:	Briss Kingdom
Status:	Destroyed

The St. Briss was an exploration ship that came from the Briss Kingdom.

Design and Appearance

The St. Briss was a great, brown ship, rigged with three masts: two bearing twin sails, and a third set with a solitary sheet. Upon the foremost mast, the largest of the sails bore the ship's name, St. Briss., emblazoned boldly on the lower part of the topsail, while the lower, broader canvas displayed the royal emblem of its kingdom: a disc surrounded by a thin circle with four arrowheads emerging on each side. At the prow loomed the figurehead—a reptilian head, with its scaly neck arched forward and its jaws and teeth bared in a silent snarl. The teeth were also darkened with tar in accordance with that nation’s curious custom for their preservation.

The ship became a wreck and was ultimately destroyed by the assault of a giant sea turtle.

History

Past

More than two centuries past, the St. Briss and its crew voyaged to Skypiea. However, it was condemned to Cloud Drifting, leaving its crew abandoned to perish above the world.

Sky Island Saga

Jaya Arc

The St. Briss falls from the sky.

The St. Briss, now a wreck, fell from the sky in front of the Straw Hats Pirates, causing them to panic. A skeleton and other debris from the wreck fell on the Going Merry's deck, scaring Usopp. Robin explained that the ship must have fallen from a sky island, and Luffy and Usopp explored the surface wreckage. She went on to explain one of the crew member's timely fate prior to the ship's wreckage, and Luffy and Usopp returned from the flotsam with a map from Skypiea. After the St. Briss sank, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji dressed in makeshift diving gear and went down to look for more clues and treasure. They found several items, including a vase that disintegrated, an old Waver, a katana that shattered when Zoro tried to remove it from its sheath, and a picture of a woman with a harpoon stabbed through it. They came upon a treasure chest and opened it but were perplexed to find only a feather inside. Suddenly a large hook broke through the wall of the ship, as Masira and his crew began their operation trying to lift the wreckage back to the surface and salvage it.

Masira, employing the force of his own breath, raised the wreckage from the sea floor and tried to haul it toward the surface. As the wreck ascended, Luffy and the others became entangled in a confrontation with Masira's underwater salvage crew. Masira plunged down into the depths, landing squarely atop the wreck. Within the air bubble that had formed around the ruined vessel, Luffy’s group had already removed their diving suits and begun discussing the ship’s condition. Their discussion was cut short when Masira crashed through a wall of the wreck and accused them of trespassing. After mistaking an insult from Luffy as a compliment, he became friendly with the crew. As the two groups exchanged stories about the East Blue, a colossal sea turtle came along and bit down on the wreck.

The sea turtle came to the surface with the St. Briss' wreckage hanging out of its mouth, terrifying the Straw Hat and Masira Pirates. The skies above grew darker; Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Masira resurfaced, having narrowly escaped the turtle's assault. The creature chewed through the last remnants of the St. Briss before fleeing in fear from the projected "monsters" from Skypiea.

Skypiea Arc

Upon reaching Skypiea, the Straw Hats Pirates were confronted by God's Guards—McKinley threatened to sentence them to Cloud Drifting. Conis explained the nature of the punishment, and Robin deduced that this was, in all likelihood, the very fate that had befallen the St. Briss and its ill-fated crew so many years before.

Translation and Dub Issues

• In the Funimation English dub, it was stated that the St. Briss had set sail on its exploration mission 208 years ago.

Trivia

• The name Briss closely echoes the French word bris, meaning "breakage"–a name prophetic of the vessel's fate.
• The emblem on the sails of the St. Briss bears a resemblance to the tattoo on the arm of Saint Shepherd Sommers, although the connection, if any, remains unspecified.