Episode 543

"The Hero's Last Moments - The Shocking Truth of Tiger" is the 543rd episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
The Sun Pirates start making their way to Koala's hometown, while giving her a slight makeover, giving her new clothes and cutting her hair. While on their ship, Koala still acts like a slave would, doing chores without being asked and asking for orders.

When they reach her hometown, Tiger takes Koala to her home, where she is emotionally reunited with her mother while Tiger leaves, but not before Koala says goodbye to him, which he smiles at.

On his way back to the ship, he is ambushed by a fleet of Marines who were told their location by the townspeople and start to attack him. Meanwhile, Jinbe and Arlong hear the fighting and decide to go help, but are inevitably too late, as Tiger has sustained severe injuries from his encounter.

On a battleship Arlong earlier hijacked, the crew try to save his life with a blood transfusion (human blood) but Tiger refuses, stating he would rather die than receive anything belonging to humans, telling his crew about his harsh past then dying shortly thereafter, while the Sun Pirates grieve over his loss.

Long Summary
The Sun Pirates get the Eternal Pose to Koala's hometown. Koala has been given a new look and has lost some of her trauma, as Aladine notes that trauma is not something you get over so easily. Koala sails with fishmen and learns that they are not like the Celestial Dragons. Arlong does not get along with Koala, while Jinbe changes his views about human beings, recalling what Otohime said about them and realizing she may be right. Koala's time with the Sun Pirates becomes fun as all the members (except Arlong) get along.

Koala reaches her hometown and Fisher Tiger accompanies her. Koala reunites with her mother and cries after seeing her. She says to her mother that fishmen are nice people and says her goodbyes to Tiger stating she will never forget him with Tiger just smiling back at her.

Just as Fisher Tiger leaves, he gets attacked by Marines with Rear Admiral Strawberry stating that someone from the village has informed him about his arrival, but the people on the island were alright with the Marines attacking him in exchange that Koala will not return to the Celestial Dragons as property. He tells Tiger that his crimes are assault and evasion. Jinbe hears gunshots and sees Marine battleships arrive and start attacking the ship while Arlong comments on how this is what humans are. Meanwhile, Jinbe says to Arlong that they need to go and find Fisher Tiger to bring him back safely. Arlong hijacks one of the Marines ships and Jinbe and the others manage to save Tiger. Tiger however, has sustained several injuries with blood all over him from the bullet wounds while Koala is unaware of what happened and her mother not telling her what happened.

On the ship they hijacked, Aladine tries to perform a blood transfusion to save Tiger because human blood is the same as fishman's, but Fisher Tiger refuses to transfuse human blood into his body, stating it has the blood of humans who hate fishmen and that their blood is tainted and he will not give in to humans. Tiger explains to his crew that he was a slave and how he escaped and why he saved all the slaves. He says that both humans as well as fishmen need peace and admits that Otohime was right and that only the children of the next generation like Koala who aren't prejudiced, and asks his crew not to tell the island of what really happened nor of their grudge and hatred towards the humans for the sake of the future. He states that his body would reject that blood due to the demon that dwells inside his heart and he's tried but he just cannot ever love a human. Jinbe and Aladine beg Tiger to live and reassure him of how he's the hero of slaves and the greatest fishman ever, giving Tiger comfort as he remembers his youth and the episode ends with Fisher Tiger's death and his crew grieving the loss of their beloved captain.

Anime Notes

 * The scene of the people on Foolshout Island, when they are afraid of Fisher Tiger because he is a fishman, is further elaborated in the anime.
 * Fisher Tiger and Koala's farewell is extended.
 * In the manga, Tiger was completely covered with blood while battling the Marines. In the anime, less blood is shown.
 * The anime shows Jinbe directly attacking Rear Admiral Strawberry.
 * In the manga, when Tiger was being treated for his injuries, his body was covered in bandages while in the anime, he was not bandaged.
 * In the anime, Tiger's last flashback shows that he had to fight some people, like Jinbe and Arlong, to gain leadership of the Fishman District.