Ship Design and Appearance

The Going Merry has a jib and a central steer rudder. The ship's armaments consisted of four cannons, one in the bow pointing forward, one in the stern, and two pointing to either side. They were rarely used, as the Straw Hat Pirates usually prefered to run away or engage in hand to hand combat. After the Arlong arc, the Going Merry gained three tangerine trees from Bell-mère's grove, a memento of Nami's home. As the series continued on, the ship received more and more damage and gained several metal patches to hold it together at places that could not be nailed back together, like Merry's figurehead and the mast, which was torn off several times. In the Skypiea arc, the body of the ship had wings and the sheep figurehead was dressed as a chicken

In volume 11 of the manga, Oda presented various schematics and explanations of each part of the ship. These included everything from Merry's figurehead to its kitchen.