Fisher Tiger

Fisher Tiger, known as the Adventurer, was a sea bream fishman and the founder and original leader of the Sunny Pirates.

Appearance
Tiger, as a sea bream fishman, had round eyes, a flat nose, wide lips with slight peach fuzz above, a thick dark beard and sideburns, and a spiky dorsal fin on the back of his head, sprouting from under his long, curly hair. He was an exceptionally large fishman, being at least a full head taller than Jinbe, coupled with a broad and muscular physique, with his long legs being quite thin in comparison. The crew's tattoo was in the center of his chest.

As an adventurer, he wore a light bandanna and a dark-colored T-shirt with a picture on it portraying an hippo with its mouth wide-open, which read: “'''Frog? No - Hippo'''”, paired with plain pants held up by a belt and simple sandals. He was also seen carrying around a large backpack, with many pockets and a coil of rope attached to it.

As the captain of the Sunny Pirates, he switched to a military spotted bandanna, paired with a sleeveless, open shirt with the same pattern, revealing his muscular chest and his crew’s tattoo, and darker pants, but retained his sandals. The most visible addition was a captain’s coat which hanged from his shoulders like a cape.

Personality
Tiger is said by Hancock to be a reckless person, and very brutal, seeing how he challenged Mariejois and burned the entire city down to free all fishman slaves. However, this was only due to Hancock's first impression, and contrary to it, Tiger can be compassionate and very merciful, as he ordered Jinbe and Arlong not to kill any humans.

While Queen Otohime wished for the coexistence of fishmen and humans, Fisher Tiger believed that fishmen and humans should remain separate. Even though he hated humans, he did not discriminate when it came to slavery, and freed every one of them during his raid of the holy city. He also did not believe in revenge on the humans for their discrimination as he believed that it would only cause more trouble. His compassion to humans is further demonstrated when he vowed to take a child who was a former slave back to her hometown.

Before he attacked Mariejois, he appeared to be friendly, greeting Jinbe and Arlong as close friends after returning to Fishman Island from an adventure.

Abilities and Powers
Tiger is a legendary figure amonst fishmen, Even before achieving his legendary status, he was a famous adventurer in his own right, kept in high regard by the inhabitants of Fishman Island, who were more than willing to hear of his numerous adventures. Known for his many feats and his amazing will: he was able to climb the Red Line with his bare hands (which is 10,000 meters from the ocean surface) and attack the the Holy Land of Mariejois all alone. Without fear of the consequences of challenging the World Nobles and their guards, he then proceeded to rampage across Mariejois and free all the slaves kept prison there, fishmen and human alike. Not only did he succeed in performing such an astonishing deed, he also founded and became the captain of the Sunny Pirates, the strongest and largest pirate crew composed of fishmen to ever roam the Grand Line; it was from such a group that all of the fishmen pirate crews in the current storyline came from this one. His notoriety from the events at Mariejois and his status as the captain of the Sunny Pirates eventually earned him a bounty of 230,000,000, an impressive act, considering it was his first bounty.

As a fishman, Tiger was born with ten times the strength of the average human, and double that underwater. However, considering all of his feats, which showed amazing strength and will, and that he was the captain of an enormous fishmen crew, in charge of both Arlong and Jinbe, he is considerably stronger since he was able to defeat Kadar, a Marine Rear Admiral, with just one kick in the face.

Weapons
During his attack on Mariejois, he was seen carrying many weapons: he wielded a large saber and a massive pistol, had two more sheathed swords by his side, and a bazooka-like weapon strapped to his back. It might be assumed that he used all of these weapons proficiently, having been able to attack the extremely well-guarded Holy Land and freeing the slaves all by himself.

The Sunny Pirates
In the past, two people made a stand against the discrimination towards fishmen: Queen Otohime and Fisher Tiger. While Queen Otohime wished to promote friendship with humans, Fisher Tiger believed that fishmen and humans should remain separate.

He committed a taboo against the world by climbing up the cliffs of the Red Line with his bare hands to Mariejois and attacked the holy land to free the fishmen slaves from the World Nobles. While he hated humans, Tiger did not discriminate when it came to slaves. He freed slaves of all races there. Among these other slaves were Boa Hancock and her two sisters, Marigold and Sandersonia.



With the fishmen slaves he freed, Tiger changed the shameful hoof mark branded on them (it signified slavery) into a symbol of a sun. He also took them in as part of his pirate crew, creating the Sunny Pirates. Fisher Tiger is seen sitting in between Jinbe and Arlong. It is here where he is surrounded by the Sunny Pirates when he is shouted at by Hatchan trying to inform him about an enemy ship. Tiger wonders if it's a Marine ship.

During their time roaming the seas, the Sunny Pirates battled numerous Marines including those led by Rear Admiral Kadahl of G-2. When the Rear Admiral demanded the former slaves, Tiger counter him saying that he had no proof that there were former slaves on his ship. Tiger then witnessed Arlong's brutality towards a Marine. Some time after the battle, Tiger had a discussion with Arlong and Jinbe, telling them that not to kill humans. Otherwise, they will stoop to their level. Tiger went on saying that their ultimate goal was freeing the oppressed and not becoming cold-blooded murderers much to Arlong's dismay. Three years after the attack on Mariejois, the Sunny Pirates visited an island where a former slave named Koala resided. The inhabitants there had no way of returning the girl to her homeland so they asked the Sunny Pirates to take her. After taking her on his ship, Tiger put the mark of the sun on her to cover up the slave mark. Tiger told the girl that she was allowed to cry if she wished and vowed to return her to her home.

Death and Legacy
In time, however, the prejudices he continued to fight against ended up taking his life. Tiger suffered a massive amount of blood loss after a battle and needed a transfusion to save his life. But even though fishmen and humans share the same blood, the humans refused to perform a transfusion. Without the necessary fluid to save his life, Tiger ultimately died and he was succeeded in his command of the Sunny Pirates by Jinbe.

Many fishmen seem to look up to Tiger after his selfless efforts at liberating the imprisoned members of his race, so much that Hammond likened Luffy to him since the Straw Hat captain also assaulted a World Noble. The New Fishman Pirates in particular thought of Tiger as a hero and the circumstances of his death furthered their hatred towards humans.

Major Battles

 * Fisher Tiger vs. Mariejois
 * Sunny Pirates vs. Marines
 * Fisher Tiger vs. Rear Admiral Kadar

Translation and Dub Issues
His name comes from tai (タイ), the Japanese name for sea bream. Hatchan called him Boss Tai (タイのお頭) and this is a pun off of Tai no Okashira-tsuki (鯛の尾頭付き), which means a whole sea bream.

Trivia

 * Tiger currently holds the highest known starter bounty in the series so far: 230,000,000.
 * His death was a result of a denial of blood transfusion because of his race. A popular, yet fallacious, urban legend in the real world surrounding Dr. Charles Drew was that he died because the hospital refused to give him a blood transfusion because of his black heritage (as the myth details, the hospital was "whites only").
 * The problems of Fishman Island and the racism that the inhabitants suffer from, strongly resembles that of African-Americans in the early 1900's. Fisher Tiger's belief that fishmen and merfolk should stay separated from humans resembled that of Malcolm X, while Queen Otohime's beliefs resembled that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who famously dreamed of peaceful unity. All four of them died prematurely out of malice.
 * In China, tigers have always been a fiercely bitter rival to the dragon. In the original folklore, Queen Otohime's namesake sea-goddess turned into a dragon after giving birth to her son. While Otohime and Tiger both wanted peace and don't seem to be particularly resentful towards each other, their different views on how that peace should be made somewhat mirrors that of their animals: tigers are usually depicted as lunging ahead to bulldoze through their opponents while dragons are revered for fighting using their patience and wisdom.
 * Like their animals, both Fisher Tiger and the Celestial Dragons are considered "noble" for different reasons (freeing slaves and ancestry respectively). Ironically, while Tiger's boldness mirrors that of his animal's, the World Nobles seem to be far from wise or patient. And while the eternal battle between the animals represents balance and Tiger's actions threw Mariejois into disarray, it can be argued that it was already in turmoil by the World Nobles' slavery, prejudice and arrogance; Tiger set it straight by objectively freeing their slaves and bringing about one of the greatest challenges to their authority.

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Fisher Tiger