Arlong

"Saw-tooth" Arlong (アーロン, Āron) is the pirate captain of the Fishman crew, Arlong Pirates, and a former member of the Sunny Pirates.

Appearance
Arlong is a large bluish saw fish Fishman whose most distinctive trait is his saw-nose. He wears what appears to be a brown Ushanka. On his hands are what appear to be rings. According to Oda in response to a fan about these rings, these aren't rings at all but more like piercings that go straight through Arlong's fingers, as his hands are webbed and are incapable of wearing rings. His Sunny Pirates tattoo is on the left side of his chest, while his own Jolly Roger is on his lower left arm.

Personality
Money is the best, you can trust it more than the human.

-Arlong Deals with Nezumi

Arlong considers humans to be inferior beings, and is very cruel to them. He thinks nothing of killing a town full of humans, although he seems to prefer controlling people with money and deals (like Nami and Nezumi ). He is also rather easy to anger, going berserk after he was attacked by Usopp and having to be dragged back to his base by his crew to prevent him from destroying the whole town.

He does not seem frightened by anything, and his Fishman strength has made him extremely confident that he and his crew are virtually invincible. After Nezumi told Arlong he as a Marine wouldn't stay for fear of being seen in Arlong Park, at this point Arlong invited the Marine to a meal and offered to kill anyone who dared report him. He also has an eye for spotting exploitable talent that he can use for his goals and is an excellent planner; he spent years using Nami and her maps to plan their takeover of the East Blue. Nevertheless, any promise he makes, he keeps (the best example is when his crew urged him to keep Nami even if she brings the 100,000,000 however Arlong states he can't go back on his word), however, he has no qualms about exploiting loopholes in his deals to unfairly get his way.

Crew
He cares for his own crew (shown when he says he's sorry for accidentally biting them and becoming enraged at Luffy for using one as a Fishman shield), while many of his crew share his ideals. They would call him "Arlong-san" while Arlong would call his crew his "brethren". He can be very angry when someone hurts his crew rather similarly to Luffy's feelings towards his crew. However this is exclusive to Fishmen.

Of humans, the only one he ever had respect for was Nami. However, this was simply because of her skill to draw maps and mistreated her constantly while she was on his crew. Despite his treatment, Arlong considered her as one of his brethren and always celebrated her return to Arlong Park. Nami was expected to act how he wanted her to, however this led him to misjudge her character, this was mostly because of conflicts of his own ideals based on materialistic values and could not see how she wouldn't be happy unless she had clothes, money and a place to sleep. He also didn't see her betrayal happening until it was too late and even at the final stages of his fight against Luffy, still stated that he considered her crewmember.

Enemies
As a pirate with a bounty he is the enemy of the Marines and had the highest bounty in the East Blue until the Straw Hat pirates were announced to the world. As he had been paying off the Marines to keep quiet, it's likely that his bounty did not fully reflect all of his crimes. His cruelty against Nami and her village as assured him an enemy of all of them, as well as the Straw Hats who defeated him.

Other
It is unclear about any feelings between him and his "equal" Jinbei as of the current storyline, or the precise circumstances that led to Jinbei's decision to leave and become a Shichibukai while Arlong took over. It is possible that his extreme hatred towards humanity might have been caused by being a slave of the Tenryuubito before he was freed and became a pirate, however while its possible to confirm he was a Sunny Pirate its unclear as of now if he was a slave. However he has the mark of the Tenryuubito on his chest (as well as his former subordinate Hatchi) so that highly leads to that suspicion. It is also possible that since his (former) captain, Fisher Tiger, also hated humans, that trait might have rubbed off on Arlong.

In the fourth movie, Arlong has seen to have a rival named Willy.

When dealing with Nezumi, Arlong tells him he doesn't like humans, with the exceptions of Nami and those who understand how to do business like Nezumi.

Abilities
Arlong is one of the Fishmen, massive humanoids that are taller and stronger than any normal human. Arlong, however, is a giant even among Fishmen, and is the strongest fighter in the East blue, only second to Luffy. His power was remarked to be greater then Don Krieg, the strong (military) force in the East Blue. He is seen lifting a house with his bare hands in pursuit of Usopp, and his powerful shark-like jaws are capable of rending metal, stone and flesh alike. Predictably, as formidable an opponent as Arlong is on land, in the water he is nearly invincible.

It is said that Arlong was once Shichibukai Jinbei's equal. Whether this means strength or status is unknown.

Attacks
Shark on Darts (鮫・ON DARTS(シャーク・オン・ダーツ, Shāku On Dātsu)) / Shark Darts (Shark & Awe): Arlong shoots at his opponent like a torpedo with his apparently unbreakable nose. This attack is simply called Shark Darts in the Viz English Manga and FUNimation dub and Shark & Awe in the 4Kids dub.

Tooth Gum (歯ガム(トゥース, Tūsu Gamu)) / Tooth Attack: Arlong pulls out his own teeth and puts them in his hand to use them as a weapon, immediately growing another pair in his mouth. He usually uses one set of teeth in each hand. In the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub, this is called Tooth Attack.

Shark on Tooth (鮫・ON 歯車(シャーク・オン・トゥース, Shāku On Tūsu )) / Shark Tooth Drill (Shark & Destroy): Arlong opens his mouth and starts spinning towards the opponent and bites down on them. The kanji used for Tooth is that of Haguruma which means "gear" in Japanese in the manga. This is called Shark Tooth Drill in the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub and Shark & Destroy in the 4Kids dub.

Weapons
Arlong's weapons are mostly natural features of his sawfish Fishman body. With his great strength, something as harmless as a handful of water can strike as hard as a bullet. Even his nose is a weapon. It is over a foot long and lined with razor-sharp points, and more than sturdy enough to use as a melee weapon. Swinging his head back and forth, Arlong defeated even Zoro (who was weakened by the massive wound given to him by Mihawk previously, to be fair) in a swordfight with this natural blade, he is very proud of his nose and claims his nose is unbreakable; however, Luffy managed to twist his nose in another direction during the fight with pure physical strength. In addition, he can remove his massive, needle-like teeth and use them as hand-held weapons, snapping them at opponents like castanets. The teeth are replaced by a new set in mere moments, each regrown mouthful stronger than the one before. Luffy demostrated however that these can also be used against him, either in the same manner or as he chose, to fit them in his mouth and bite his opponent with them. Arlong however states that only a Fishman can fully utilize this strength as he possesses much stronger jaws than a human and Fishmen are apparently ten times stronger than men from birth.

Near the end of his battle with Luffy, he uses a massive sawlike sword called the Kiribachi.

Past Story
In exchange for becoming one of the Shichibukai, Jimbei unleashed some monsters in the East Blue.

-Yosaku talks about the Arlong Pirates The Sawfish Fishman was once a member of the Sunny Pirates, of which Fisher Tiger was captain. But following Tigers death and the recruitment of Jimbei into the Shichibukai, the group split into pieces and Arlong formed his own "Arlong Pirates", before leaving the Grand Line for easier targets.

Arlong set up his domain on one of the larger islands in East Blue, with a number of smaller villages in the vicinity under his control. Arlong dismantled his original galleon and used the materials to build Arlong Park, an eight-story building that served as his headquarters. From Arlong Park, Arlong hoped to conquer all of East Blue using superior underwater tactics through maps drawn by Nami that charted underwater terrain.

When Arlong and his crew (consisting of Hatchan, Chew, and Kuroobi), first arrived on the island that would someday become Arlong Park, the first village he encountered was Cocoyashi Village (Coco Village in the English version), the home of Nami. Arlong then proceeded to extort money out of the residents of Cocoyashi Village. Adults would have to pay 100,000, children would pay 50,000 or be executed by Arlong's men. Bellemere (Nami's adoptive mother) only had 100,000 so she decided to pay for Nami and Nojiko and sacrifice herself. Arlong shot her in front of her children as an example of disobedience and then kidnapped Nami.

He forced Nami to become a part of his crew as a map maker, and told her that if she brought him 100,000,000 he would free her village and everyone in it, including her adoptive sister Nojiko.

Present Storyline
Years later, when Nami was about to fulfill her end of the bargain using money she stole from Monkey D. Luffy, Arlong arranged to have a corrupt Marine captain confiscate the money from her so she would be forever under his control.

Luffy, who followed Nami after being robbed by her, saw Nami brutally stabbing Arlong's tattoo on her arm in desperation. Angered by the obvious suffering Arlong had wrought against her, Luffy stopped her from hurting herself and unquestioningly accepted her plea for help. A long and arduous battle ensued between Luffy, Arlong, and the elites of their crews. While Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were able to defeat their opponents, in thier tired and injured states they were absolutly no match for Arlong, although they helped save Luffy from a pool of water, enabling him to challenge Arlong.

By the end of the fight, only Luffy and Arlong were left standing and Luffy was taking a beating from Arlong's high-speed diving attack Shark On Darts and his sword Kiribachi (Saw Shaped Sword), which resembled a long steel saw with teeth shaped like a shark's. Luffy seemed on the verge of defeat until the battle moved into the top of Arlong Park, where Nami slavishly made her maps for Arlong as a child.

After feeling the turmoil and desperation that had seeped into the room over the years, Luffy became enraged and the tables turned dramatically.

Using the full power of his attack Gomu Gomu no Ono/Gum Gum Axe, Luffy managed to send the full force of Arlong's attack Shark On Haguruma (Gear) attack through to the bottom of Arlong Park, breaking Arlong's cartilaginous back and destroying the building in the process.

It has been revealed by Hachi that Arlong and the rest of his crew is currently imprisoned by the Marines, and he (Hachi) is the only one to escape.

Major Battles

 * Arlong vs. Bellemere
 * Arlong vs. Sanji and Zoro
 * Arlong vs. Luffy

Dub and Translation Issues
Arlong's brutality was censored in the 4kids dub, as seen when he imprisoned Bellemere instead of murdering her for not paying her tribute. He does not offer to spare everyone except the other Straw Hats if Nami rejoins, or threaten to kill everyone in Cocoyashi if she leaves. During the climax of the battle, scenes of him slamming Nami's head against a desk for drawing a picture of Bellemere instead of a map, and threatening to kill someone from Cocoyashi Village if she disobeyed him, as well as Luffy destroying the maps, are removed.

He was also given a gargly sound to his voice in the 4Kids dub, and he refers to humans as "PU-mans".

In the Funimation translation they made Arlong's dialogue much more believable and accurate to the original translation, however Arlong's unique laugh "Shahahaha" was lost in the dub to English.

Trivia

 * Many of One Piece's characters are given an distinct laugh. Arlong starts his laughs with either "Sha" or "She" (i.e Shahahahaha!/Shehehehe!). At one point when fighting against Luffy, Luffy mocked Arlong using his own laugh.  (This is missing from the English Dub)


 * In a panel containing a small flashback scene of Hatchan's, Arlong's silhouette is seen alongside Hatchan's, Kuroobi's, and Chew's as they look upon Sabaody Park in a distance from the water.

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 * Coincidentally "Ah-long" which has the same pronounciation as "Arlong" means Loan Shark in Singapore Chinese-Hokkien Dialect. Loan sharks promise you loans with an exorbitant interest rate that you will probably never be able to finish paying. The "loan" in this case can be related to "Cocoyashi Village" and the interest is the 100,000,000 Beli + World Map that Nami will probably never be able to finish paying.