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The Going Merry was the first to appear to him.
A little sheep-like creature that liked to fumble about his legs while he worked on fixing up the holes in her side and the blown-out deck after a particularly nasty encounter with the Navy. She was quiet but peppered with bursts of energy and joy. She enjoyed accompanying him wherever he went, no matter her conditions.
He enjoyed her company in return, relieved every time he saw her after a heavy combat.
He tried telling others about her, but his friends never believed him, though they would smile at him when he told them he saw her again. Yet it was a sort of sympathetic smile he couldn’t stand, so he stopped talking about her.
This was not her only form. She had shown him another on Sky Island, long ago. A little human in a raincoat, he thought to recall. But she never assumed that form again after taking on this sheep-like coat. There, he knew she was injured and he did all he could to fix her up. She knew it as well, but her form stayed strong and never wavered.
Her presence made him happy, in a way; it filled him with joy.
When they eventually reached Water 7, she was in a tough condition and he knew it. He knew it like none of the others did. She knew it, too. But he wouldn’t let himself believe that it was her time to go. Not yet. When Merry told him she wouldn’t last long, he brushed her off and ignored her words even if they stung with truth.
When his Captain told him the same thing, he started a fight he knew he would lose. And he did.
But he kept fixing her up, ignoring what he knew and doing it again and again until there was nothing more he could do. Until she was taken from him and he was forced to believe it. Merry attempted to comfort him through his sorrow; it helped little. And when she was sent to sea to die, he cried, for the first time, over her.
He’d gone to save his friends, then. It took far too long, but they learned things about themselves and each other. The Captain didn’t recognize him with the mask on his face and he liked to keep it that way. He took it for granted if only a little bit. When, finally, the battle was over, and Merry had rescued them once more, relief flooded him.
But then came the moment he dreaded; feared, actually. He could do nothing but watch in grief as Merry was burned. The Captain apologized, and so did Merry. Having none of it, the Captain said it was their fault and that she was not the one who did this. Merry had smiled, then, the sheep standing by his legs still not wavering even as her original form burned away before their eyes.
She thanked them for the adventures they had taken her on, knowing she could no longer carry them across the oceans. He cried again, then, and the sheep had bumped his leg. He knew he would hear her voice again. Many more times.
When they returned to land, he disappeared, assuring her he would return to his crew. It made her jump in bliss, a big smile on her sheep face.
And return he did, with an apology and so many tears. He was welcomed back with open arms and more tears. It had taken a while for his pride to break but he apologized, and Merry was proud. She’d told him as much. He smiled at her when she told him and he ran a hand over her little head.
The new ship was remarkable and strong. Merry took a liking to it quite quickly and he found her lying on the grass of the main deck many times. She also tried touching his crewmates, but she always phased right through them. For a long time, she could not touch them.
A few months later, a new consciousness was born from the love their new ship received. Merry flew to him like her life depended on it and dragged him out to the deck in the early morning. The ocean was calm and peaceful. On the deck, curled in on himself, was a small lion, no bigger than Merry.
Said ship spirit bounded over toward the lion and attacked it with a playful pounce. The lion roared, high and sweet, rolling over in mock surrender. He couldn’t help but give a soft smile at the display. The ship had received the same love as Merry and had formed a Klabautermann. He was glad.
The lion introduced himself as Sunny, but they already knew that. Merry and Sunny became the best of friends quickly enough and were rarely seen without one another. When fighting, he spotted them, when partying, when resting, and when the day was as normal as any other, he spotted them always. They were a constant reminder of his friends and family, of the home he now had.
He would never trade it for anything in the world.
But then came their worst moment. The moment when they were too injured to fight. The moment when they were almost annihilated. The moment when they almost died.
Merry and Sunny had called for him, screamed his name as one of his crewmates disappeared with a pop. But he couldn’t move; couldn’t fight. And when it was his turn, Merry and Sunny both jumped and clung to his flying body like it was the only thing keeping them alive.
And that was true for one of them. Merry was anchored to him. Sunny came along because he wanted to.
After three days of constant flying through the air, they finally landed. The island they were at was one where he could refine his skills, one where he couldn’t keep his grubby hands to himself until he was as fat as a cow. He couldn’t go back to his friends like that and found a person to help him return to how he was before.
Merry and Sunny were slightly disappointed in him but he apologized.
When he got the newspaper, he cried. When he got the second newspaper, he cried harder.
In his newfound isolation, he found strength and determination, beginning to train himself. He trained until he couldn’t move and built himself up from the ground to the heavens. He made his goal and shattered it, growing past it and stronger than ever before.
And when he finally went home, he couldn’t help but miss the island he had spent the last two years on. The journey was a long and hard one, but it was worth every step when he finally returned.
Sunny cheered when they saw his main body again and he bounded right over to it. To their surprise, his little body bumped right into the Navigator. When she looked down, her face broke out into a smile of surprise and happiness.
He smiled at her when she spotted him and she motioned to the Lion and the Sheep. He explained to her what – who – they were. He told everyone and they believed him. Their spirits were finally able to be seen, the love the crew had for their home too strong to be ignored.