Fish-Men

Fishmen are one of two species that dominate the seas (the other being the merfolk). In terms of leadership, none are mentioned. However, Fisher Tiger, Jinbe, and Arlong were said to have the highest respect amongst their people.

Appearance
Appearance-wise, they are more "fish-like" than merfolk, looking like a cross between a man and a fish of the ocean such as a whale shark, manta ray, or sawshark; however, they still have legs (in fact, Decken has four). They also have gills between their shoulders and necks, sometimes covered by their clothing, as well as most having webbed hands. Depending on species, they may have multiple limbs (mainly extra arms).

Size may also differ greatly between individuals, as Arlong was much taller than any of his crew members, while Wadatsumi is easily larger than the giant-sized Shirahoshi.

For fishmen pirates in pirate crews that are primarily fishman based, (Sun Pirates, Arlong Pirates, and New Fishman Pirates) it is customary to have that crew's jolly roger tattooed somewhere on the person's body, showing allegiance to a crew.

Biology
Fishmen have their gills near their necks which only work when they are in water. On land they can breathe with their lungs like humans do. However, their gills cannot breathe in air, like a normal fish cannot breathe in air through their gills.

Even though fishmen are part fish, they are still mammals and give birth to live young. Fishmen can also interbreed with other races: as was revealed during the Davy Back Fight arc with Big Pan, fishmen can breed with giants, producing a hybrid who the has biological abilities of a fishman and the huge body of a giant (but still smaller than a full one, as related by Robin), they are known as wotans. Pappug explained that fishmen (fishmen and fishwomen) can have children with merfolk (mermen and mermaids); however, the child's race is up to chance between fishmen and merfolk. There are many merfolk who bear physical traits normally unique to fishmen, like Den's webbed hands and Shyarly's fangs. Furthermore, fishmen can sometimes demonstrate powers usually unique to merfolk, such as Jinbe's ability to communicate with whale sharks.

Even with merfolk and fishmen in the same immediate family, the primary species (merfolk or fishman), subspecies (type of fish) and appearances may differ. The reason is that they still carry the genes of their ancestors, so the species is not determined only by the parents, but it can be any one type among all the species of the ancestors. It is also possible for humans and fishmen to interbreed, as Sapi is a result of such. Humans, fishmen, and merfolk also share the same blood types.

The fishmen's subspecies have many variations, just like merfolk, being many types of fishes. So far, all known fishmen fish-halfs are based on real-life fish species and not on any of Oda's made up species. Also, their size may vary greatly, with Wadatsumi being a fishman the size surpassing that of an average giant. Unlike merfolk, fishmen eat meat including fish.

Known Fishmen and Their Species

 * Arlong: Sawshark
 * Chew: Smelt-whiting
 * Hatchan, Octopako: Octopus
 * Kuroobi: Ray
 * Kaneshiro: Goldfish
 * Pisaro: Ocean sunfish
 * Take: Carp
 * Shioyaki: Salmon
 * Macro: Pelican eel
 * Gyaro: Pop-eyed goldfish
 * Tansui: Arowana
 * Capote: Billfish
 * Tom: Cowfish
 * Jinbe: Whale shark
 * Hammond: Daggertooth pike conger
 * Hody Jones: Great white shark
 * Dosun: Hammerhead shark
 * Zeo: Japanese wobbegong shark
 * Daruma: Cookie-cutter shark
 * Ikaros Much: Giant squid
 * Vander Decken IX: Japanese bullhead shark
 * Wadatsumi: Giant tiger blowfish
 * Fisher Tiger: Sea bream
 * Willy (Film): Orca
 * Jube (Filler): Squid

Inter-species Relationships
Despite their beliefs, usually they get along well with the merfolk who share the opposite view on life, however it is not unknown for fishmen to take advantage of the merfolk's nature.

A stereotypical fishman considers humans an inferior, weaker species. However, this does not apply to all fishmen. For example, the cowfish shipwright, Tom, cared and looked after two human children (Iceburg and Franky) and even protected them from the actions of Spandam and CP5, and even the Shichibukai, Jinbe, considers the Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace an equal and holds the Whitebeard Pirates as a group in high regard because of Whitebeard protecting Fishman Island; he would later place Ace's younger brother, Monkey D. Luffy, under the same treatment. Fisher Tiger was noted to hate humans, but not discriminate when it came to slaves. When he broke into Mariejois to free the fishman slaves, he also freed the other races as well. Boa Hancock was noted to have called Fisher Tiger "that man", which shows the respect and gratitude towards the debt she owed him for freeing her. Furthermore, when the Straw Hats were suspected of having kidnapped several mermaids from Mermaid Cove (actually Caribou's doing), it had been seen that at least some fishman citizens insisted that the pirates should not be convicted without solid proof, implying that at least some fishmen are willing to grant humanity the benefit of a doubt.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, human relationship to the fishmen was defined with their definition of both them and merpeople as "fish" instead of "men". This lead to centuries of discrimination as the fishmen fought to prove their worth to the world. Only two hundred years ago did the World Government begin to bridge the gap, making an alliance with Fishman Island to remove the problems between the two sides; Jinbe's appointment to the Shichibukai was an attempt to strengthen the bonds between the races, but due to his resignation, ended in failure. While attempting to fix the problem, centuries of bad relations remained. Many humans continued to see fishmen as freaks or, in the case around Sabaody Archipelago, slaves for the World Nobles. Such bad relations between the races would influence certain sects of fishmen, these fishmen would even go so far as to return to the humans what had been done to them. This was seen once in the series with Arlong Park in East Blue where Arlong attempted to enslave the humans as they had enslaved his men and he succeeded in doing so for eight years. Humans have also made a law that forbid humans from donating blood to fishmen, and vice versa, something that led to Fisher Tiger's death (though the truth was Tiger refusing the donation due to the blood belonging to "bad blood", in other words the humans whose blood it was taken from were of bad ideals). Fishmen are worth an average of 1,000,000 in the slave market.

Because of their huge biological differences, they fail to understand completely the human view of family and the habit of categorizing individuals. Humans also fail to understand the fishmen and merfolk differences.

After the death of Queen Otohime, Prince Fukaboshi told his people the time to repair the damage was too soon for the people to cope with. However, he noted that time will heal the pain they have experienced and that one day they will be able to do what she set about to do and destroy the circle of hate between them and the humans. He told all the people of Fishman Island to dream of the sun.

However, it was later revealed in the conflict with Hody Jones and the New Fishman Pirates, that despite all their efforts, the Fishman District had been a breeding ground for hatred for Humans. Even with the Straw Hats fighting for Fishman Island, an adult can be seen attempting to tell the children about the human oppression that has been occuring throughout history. Shyarly interrupted him and told the children to draw their own conclusions based on the events they were witnessing.

Overall Strength
Do you know the difference between you and I? It's our species! This is the strength of the fishmen species from birth. Heaven gave us the power to separate us from you. So we are different! Humans are lower and weaker since the day they were born.



They are physically ten times as strong as normal humans from birth and this difference is magnified underwater, where a human's power is cut in half, while fishmen not only are completely unhindered, but are even strengthened. Jinbe himself noted that on dry land he had little power to offer, which considering the strength that even a fishman as powerful as he has speaks volumes about the potential of any fishman in the water compared to being on dry land. As a whole, in the midst of battle, the fishman race can be considered unstoppable in their natural habitat - the sea. As well as being powerful they can still talk under water and cannot drown. However, breathing air into their gills makes them suffer like a normal fish would. While they can use their gills to breathe in water, they have to switch back to their lungs to breathe in air. However, a fishman who has eaten a Devil Fruit loses its ability to swim, and seemingly their ability to breathe underwater.

The Fishman Dojo of Fishman Island is also where they learn Fishman Karate, a number of fishmen have displayed skill in this fighting style already within the storyline. This fighting style in particular has both land and sea based attacks, a style suited to the fishmen's advantage in the water, but does not leave them completely unable to defend themselves on land when they have to. Their most effective weapon is the sea itself as the most powerful fighters can take a few drops of water and hurl it so hard the impact is as hard as a bullet. To this extent, at the hands of a powerful fishman, even a small splash of water becomes a lethal weapon. As expected they are excellent swimmers they are capable of swimming through the water at a great speed and force, their speed however is no match for the mermen who are the fastest.

Fishmen often have unique abilities, matchings those of the species they are based on, that make them further superior to ordinary humans outside of the physical strength difference. Hatchan's six arms give him a huge advantage over most fighters with just two arms and he can spit ink. Chew as an archerfish could shoot water from his mouth like a bullet. Arlong as a sawshark fishman could regrow his teeth after they broke. Though only a half breed, Big Pan inherited slippery skin from his mudfish fishman heritage. Members of the shark family have been seen as particularly fearsome fighters and Arlong, Jinbe, and Hody Jones, three of the strongest known fishmen are all shark-based breeds. The New Fishmen Pirates have a notably large number of officers that are shark breeds and the only fishman amongst the Whitebeard Pirates, Namur, is also a shark fishman. The shark based breeds were confirmed to be considered a fear to the other citizens on the island when Daruma attacked the candy factory, the citizens also expressed concern over the squid fishman in the crew, Ikaros Much, indicating that this type of fishman was also a cause for concern.

Like giants, they have yet to display the use of skills such as Haki. Their reaction to consuming a Devil Fruit is the same as it is for humans, rendering them unable to swim, and must wear a bubble to compensate. However, their water-based abilities prove most helpful considering that in water, Devil Fruit users are rendered completely powerless. The Devil Fruit Kage Kage no Mi in particular has little advantage at all against a fishman who knows its fatal weakness, salt. Arlong commented on Nami's navigation skills, stating that they can learn about navigation very easily, but they cannot find a good navigator. This remains unexplained as to why they are particularly weak in this area but does indicate their race has an overall weakness in skillful navigation. Arlong himself in particular came to admire Nami's own skills, and in a rare act considered her skills on par with the fishman "superiority", confessing that she simply couldn't help what species she was.

Because of their strength, they appear in the series on a regular basis. However, Jinbe was noted to have acknowledged the strength of Sea Kings on one occasion, thus proving even their race is aware of the danger of Sea Kings in the Grand Line.

Beliefs
Their view of life under the sea is dominated by their views that they should rule over all other fish in the sea. They also hate humans for the years of oppression and slavery that they suffered. This is not shared among all fishmen, though, as Tom, Jinbe, and Fisher Tiger have respect for humans and other races. It can also be assumed that Namur, as a commander of the mostly human Whitebeard Pirates, does not share this prejudice against non-fishmen. However, the New Fishman Pirates, specifically the officers and captain, took this hatred to irrational levels, due to being raised in an environment that basked in the hatred, despite not being subjected to any oppression themselves, and they were fully willing to die and destroy their own bodies to achieve their "revenge", in fear of the day that humans and fish folks would coexist and cease their animosity.

Many of the fishmen, particularly of note the pirates, also adorn symbols across their bodies to represent their group association. So far the marks they have adorned include the Sun Pirates' "mark of the sun", the Arlong Pirates' jolly roger, a tattoo of unknown significance, and the New Fishman Pirates' jolly roger of a beheaded human crossed out with the "mark of the sun" surrounding it. Kaneshiro, Pisaro, Take, Shioyaki, Namur, and Tom also had other tattoos on their bodies.

Translation and Dub Issues
The kanji for fishmen (魚人) is the reverse of the name for mermen (人魚). They are often incorrectly referred to by fans, and the English dub made by 4Kids, as mermen for that reason. As a result, mermaids were thought by some to be the female of the species while fishmen were the male, although this is not the case.

Anime and Manga Influences
Fishmen were developed from the concept of the reverse mermaid, who had a fish upper half and human lower legs. Oda confirmed details about their race in a SBS corner and how instead of the fish half being centered around the tail end, it was focused instead on the upper half of the body.

The Fishman and Merman conflict with humans bears a striking resemblance to the events of the Manga/Anime series Blue Submarine No. 6.. In the series, a scientist named Zorndyke had witnesed his own family killed via racial purging prior to the storyline. He created a new race that were hybrids of human and the DNA of various Marine lifeforms. Zorndyke started a war between his "children" and mankind as a form of punish to mankind for its immoralities. Zorndyke's "son" and general, Verg, had qualities shared by both Arlong and Hordy Jones. Verg preached and believed in superiority over humans and led a crew that wiped out many great cities, killing millions in the process while under the belief his "father" was creating a world for them. The reality was the new species was meant to rival, not wipe out mankind and the war was nothing but a test. When the conflict ended, Verg was given the chance to meet humans face to face, however, Verg decided humanity had nothing to offer him and refuse to speak to them rather then take the chance to settle their differences.

Trivia

 * Early on, Luffy drew what he though a mermaid looked like. The first was a just fish with four legs. The second was a fish standing up on two legs, looking more like a fishman than a mermaid. When Sanji wondered if Nami was really a mermaid, Luffy added hair to his second sketch and wrote Nami's name. Surprisingly, someone that looked like his drawing of "mermaid" Nami actually appeared in Chapter 626. However, it unknown if she was a fishwoman or mermaid since only the head and arms were seen.
 * Originally Oda planned on introducing fishmen as far back as Chapter 3. However, due to his editor he then put it back, ending up introducing the concept during the Arlong Arc instead.
 * So far, Vander Decken IX is the first and only fishman known to possess a Devil Fruit ability. He is also the only fishman who cannot swim (due to the Devil Fruit).

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