Fisher Tiger

Fisher Tiger, known as the Adventurer, was a sea bream fishman and the founder and original leader of the Sun 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 Sun Pirates, he switched to a military spotted bandanna, paired with a sleeveless, open shirt, which bore the same pattern as his bandanna during his first appearance, but was later changed to a simple striped one, 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, and sported the crew's jolly roger on the back.

Personality
Tiger is said by Hancock to be a reckless person, and very brutal as he was believed to have 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 could be compassionate and very merciful, and did not approve of senseless violence, as he ordered Jinbe and Arlong not to kill any humans. He was very idealistic, making the principles of liberation and freedom the basics of the Sun Pirates, and worrying that Queen Otohime might have compared him to the bloodthirsty and cruel Arlong, seeing them as similar individuals.

Before he broke free from Mariejois, he appeared to be friendly, greeting Jinbe and Arlong as close friends after returning to Fishman Island from an adventure. After the attack, he got more serious, yet remained friendly enough to treat others with respect.

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 (at least according to Hancock's first impression), 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, thinking that it would only cause more trouble. His compassion to humans was further demonstrated when he vowed to take a child who was a former slave back to her hometown, going as far as to mark her with his own jolly roger to lift the burden of slavery off her back.

I've tried... but after all this... I just can't ever... love a human!

There apparently was a darker, yet unknown side to Tiger's personality, as he claimed that the "demons" residing inside him were the most terrifying ones; a statement which left Jinbe blank, suggesting his crew didn't know about this trait of him. This, along with the depths of his personality, were all revealed in his deathbed: after being captured and enslaved by the World Nobles and escaping, he saw the madness of humans, and grew to hate them for it. Despite this, he agreed with Otohime's ideology of improving relationships between the two races, and regretted on making it difficult with his own actions. He tried to befriend humans, but being betrayed by Koala's townspeople, it drove him to realize that no matter how hard he tried, he could never love a human. To this end, he refused a blood transfusion from a human due to it being tainted with hatred for fishmen. Since he could not accept humans despite trying his hardest, his last hope on changing the inter-species relationship was the next generation, such as Koala, who does not know about the hatred, and asks his crew not to reveal the tragedy that befell the Sun Pirates, nor their hatred towards humanity.

Abilities and Powers
Tiger is a legendary figure amonst fishmen, known for his many feats and his amazing will: he was believed to have been 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. However, the truth of the matter was that he escaped from Mariejois after being enslaved for a number of years and in the process of his escape, 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 Sun 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 Sun Pirates eventually earned him a bounty of 230,000,000, an impressive act, considering it was his first bounty.

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.

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, and that he was the captain of an enormous fishmen crew, in charge of both Arlong and Jinbe, he is most likely considerably stronger. He was able to defeat Kadar, a Marine Rear Admiral, with just one kick in the face. Even after being shot many times that created to a blood loss that would lead to his death, he managed to resist and fight back against the ambushing Marines to the end.

Weapons
During his escape from 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 escape the extremely well-guarded Holy Land and freeing the slaves all by himself.

The Sun 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.

While he returned to Fishman Island from what seemed to be a long voyage, the truth was that he was captured by the World Nobles and became a slave for years at Mariejois. He barely escaped, but seeing all the slaves left behind, he cannot bear and decided to return to free them. Thus, he committed a taboo against the world by climbing up the cliffs of the Red Line with his bare hands (this part, however, was fabricated, as he was already in Mariejois at the time) 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 Sun Pirates. Fisher Tiger is seen sitting in between Jinbe and Arlong. It is here where he is surrounded by the Sun 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 Sun Pirates battled numerous Marines including those led by Rear Admiral Kadar 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. This did not go over well with Arlong and he suggested to Tiger that they should instill fear in humans by using ruthlessness and extreme brutality. Later on that night, Tiger had a private conversation with Jinbe, saying that the "demons" in his own heart was the most terrifying of all.

The Sun Pirates later 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 Sun Pirates to take her. After taking her on his ship, due to her continuing to submissively act as a slave, fearing the pirates as if they were her former masters, and refusing to cry, afraid that she would have been killed if she had, Tiger put the mark of the sun on her to cover up the slave mark, "freeing" her of the slave condition. He then told the girl that she was allowed to cry if she wished, and vowed to return her to her home, to which Koala finally burst into tears of joy.

Death and Legacy
After returning Koala to Full Shout Island, the citizens there betrayed him by reporting his presence to the Marines, in exchange for overlooking Koala being the property of the World Nobles. Tiger was shot many times, and the Sun Pirates' ship was destroyed. However, the crew managed to steal a Marine battleship and escaped. Aladdin tried to give Tiger a blood transfusion with a pack of human blood they found on board, but Tiger refused it, being unable to accept the thought of surviving on blood that is tainted with hatred. With his dying breath, he told his crew about the truth of his previous "adventure." He revealed that we was actually captured and spent years as a slave at Mariejois. Although he eventually escaped, a deep seeded hate was ingrained in him after witnessing the human madness there and that no matter how hard he tried, he could never bring himself to truly love or accept humans. As a result of his convictions, he died whilst begging his crew not to reveal to Fishman Island his past as a slave, nor of their ambush or of their rage towards humans in his last attempt to stop the cycle of hate between both races.

Respecting their captain's wish, the crew never revealed the truth to Fishman Island. As such, many believed that Tiger was denied a transfusion due to humans' refusal. There was actually human blood of his type on a Marine Ship the fishmen pirates stole but he refused the transfusion. Without the necessary fluid to save his life, Tiger ultimately died and he was succeeded in his command of the Sun Pirates by Jinbe.

Arlong, furious at the betrayal, returned to Full Shout Island in an attempt to murder the ones who betrayed Tiger, and his hatred to humans intensified to an absolute level, ignoring Tiger's last wish of ending the cycle of hatred.

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, especially since they do not know the truth behind Tiger's reason of attacking Mariejois and death.

Major Battles

 * Fisher Tiger vs. Mariejois
 * Sun Pirates vs. Marines (numerous times)
 * Fisher Tiger vs. Rear Admiral Kadar
 * Fisher Tiger vs. Rear Admiral Strawberry

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 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.
 * Both Tiger and real-life African-American doctor Charles R. Drew were falsely believed to have died because they were denied blood transfusions due to their race. Both were well cared for when they died; Tiger refused a transfusion and one would have only killed Dr. Drew sooner due to a superior vena caval syndrome.
 * The problems of Fishman Island and the racism that the inhabitants suffer from closely parallels those of African-Americans in the early 1900's. Fisher Tiger's belief that fishmen and merfolk should stay separated from humans resembles that of Malcolm X, while Queen Otohime's beliefs resembles 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