A Light Snow of Reminiscence Falls

Behind the Sogeking mask again, Usopp baffles both Luffy and Chopper, who cannot place where he went. Sogeking covers for him, claiming he boarded a different vessel, while Zoro marvels that nobody has yet seen through the disguise. After Nami reports finding no one aboard who could explain how their ship reached them, Chopper insists the voice they heard came from the Merry itself. A Galley-La vessel then appears ahead, Iceburg and his shipwrights aboard, glad to find the pirates unharmed.

The bow of the Merry suddenly snaps loose. Iceburg tells Luffy that nothing remains to be done except let the ship rest. Through a memory, the shipwright recalls finding her abandoned, hearing her plea for one last voyage, and toiling to make her fit to sail again before a swell pulled her seaward. He had called her a wonder that had finally exhausted itself.

Iceburg arrives aboard the Galley-La ship and reunites with the crew. His flashback shows how, after CP9 cast the Merry out of Franky's hideout onto Scrap Island, he heard her voice and repaired her well enough to carry the pirates toward Enies Lobby for their rescue. Convinced by Iceburg, Luffy at last lets the ship go. The Merry receives a Viking funeral, set aflame upon the water. Now audible to everyone, her voice thanks the crew for their shared time and admits the journey made her happy, just before she vanishes beneath the waves.

This installment ends the Enies Lobby Arc. Worn past any further use, the ship finally collapses and is laid to rest with a burial fit for a Norse vessel. The cover advances the Enel's Great Space Operations serial, its third chapter depicting Enel approaching a single crater during his exploration of the moon. Chopper, Franky, Nami, Usopp, and the captain himself break down in tears, while Zoro, Sanji, and Robin watch in silence.