New Fish-Man Pirates

The New Fish-Man Pirates were a pirate crew led by Hody Jones. The crew was comprised almost entirely of fish-men residing on Fish-Man Island, though they also included several merfolk, sea beasts, and enslaved humans. The New Fish-Man Pirates were the most prominent figures in the long history of human/fish-men hate over their hero Fisher Tiger's death. They carried on the legacy of Arlong, having established their crew based on Arlong's ideals. Like Arlong, they wished to make fish-men the supreme race and aimed to sink the humans into the ocean. Due to their actions and role, they are the main antagonists of the Fish-Man Island Arc.

Following their defeat at the hands of the Straw Hat Pirates and the arrest of their captain and officers, the New Fish-Man Pirates are no longer active. The remaining crew members were allowed to live on the mainland of Fish-Man Island under the supervision of the Royal Army while their human slaves were freed and allowed to leave the island.

Jolly Roger
Their Jolly Roger consists of the Sun Pirates' sunny rim, with a crossed out decapitated human within.

Hammond and Hody both bear the Arlong Pirates tattoos on the left side of the neck and left arm respectively, to signify their respect for Arlong's ideals and actions. None of the crew members seem to be from the original Fish-Man Pirates or Arlong Pirates.

Crew Strength
Prior to their defeat, the New Fish-Man had a grand total of 100,000 crew members; about 70,000 of them were fish-men from the Fish-Man District and 30,000 of them were human pirates that were captured and were used as slaves. Aside from fish-men, the crew also appeared to consist of an unknown number of mermen. However, 50,000 of them were taken out in an instant by a blast of Luffy's Haoshoku Haki and later the New Fish-Man Pirates began to break up during the battle when the human slaves were freed by Robin, who then retaliated against their former slavers. This was followed by the lower echelons of the New Fish-Man Pirates abandoning the crew after Hody Jones' defeat and realizing that the officers were insane and were the ones truly involved with the death of Otohime; this belief was reinforced by the officers attacking them and Brook saving their lives, for which they were grateful.

They also had control of several giant sea monsters, all extremely large in size. The sea beasts alone (all boosted with Energy Steroids) were enough to defeat Neptune's Army with ease, though they were no match for the three princes. They used to control the Kraken as well until he befriended Luffy. As the bulk of the crew were Fish-Men, most crew members are already ten times stronger than average humans and double that underwater.

However, their main source of strength (and ultimately what stripped the officers of their strength) came from the "evil drug" known as the Energy Steroid that Hody Jones stole from Ryugu Palace, which was then mass produced by Zeo to enhance their strength to greater levels. The crew's captain alone was enough to overwhelm an entire pirate crew with the help of this drug. Their willingness to use this drug, knowing the cost it brings, showed that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for their own cause.

They demonstrated high levels of brutality and were not above resorting to violence or murder. However, sometimes they also allowed their victims to live so that they can retell their encounters to others and spread their reputation and cause fear. Luffy himself acknowledged that their assassin Hyouzou was quite strong, because he was able to block one of Luffy's punches (although Zoro defeated him easily).

In comparison to the Arlong Pirates, they were much fiercer and a much greater threat; Jones himself claimed that this was due to them learning from Arlong's mistakes. Furthermore, the fact that they were willing to have mermen and captured human pirates as part of their crew means they were far more diverse tactically (although Arlong originally wanted to recruit Hyouzou, as well as forcibly taking Nami), but not culturally as the humans are used merely as shock troops and bullet sponges.



However, due to their heavy reliance on the Energy Steroid, it is unknown just how strong the main crew naturally was prior to becoming old, aside from their natural born strength. What is clear is that the officers needed these drugs to be more than a match for the Ryugu Kingdom princes, and based on a comment by the king they likely would be defeated without the drug's assistance. Furthermore, it seems that most of their 100,000 men have weak wills as half of them were taken down by Luffy's Haoshoku Haki, and the other 50,000 were spared purely for sport and could have easily joined their unconscious allies.

The New Fish-Man Pirates also made an alliance with the feared Vander Decken IX captain of the Flying Pirates, who, with the aid of his aiming and tracking abilities, and the giant creatures at his service, makes for a powerful ally and asset for the crew. However, this alliance was voided when Decken sent the ship Noah after Shirahoshi and Hody Jones attacked Decken.

After their defeat by the Straw Hat Pirates, the human pirates were therefore freed and returned to their old crews, reducing their size to 70,000 pirates; however these pirates (save for the leaders) were forced to do work under the supervision of the Neptune Army. After Hody, Hyouzou, Decken, and the officers were imprisoned, the New Fish-Man Pirates' leaders became old and frail due to the negative side effects of the Energy Steroids, stripping them of the power they naturally had forever and making them enemies no more.

Subdivisions
The New Fish-Man Pirates had four known named subdivisions:

Bombardment Squad
The Bombardment Squad (砲撃部隊) was composed of cannon wielders, they tried to take down Shirahoshi from afar. This squad was taken out by Brook. They are called the Artillery Unit in the Viz Manga and the Artillery Squad in the FUNimation sub.

Iron Shell Squad
The Iron Shell Squad (鉄の甲羅部隊) was made of members who wield iron turtle shells as shields while attacking with blades. Some members of this squad were taken out by Roronoa Zoro, who used Kokujo O Tatsu Maki to slice them up in a tornado. One of the members was also defeated by Luffy once he used Gomu Gomu no Kane after coating his forehead in Busoshoku Haki. More members were also cut down by Hyouzou when he went on a rampage after an Energy Steroid overdose. They are called the Iron Shell Unit in the Viz Manga.

Sea Urchin-Armor Spine Squad
The Sea Urchin-Armor Spine Squad (ウニ衣トゲ部隊) was composed of Fish-Men dressed in spiked armor like that of a sea urchin, led by Harisenbon. They use the spikes on their bodies to skewer their opponents. The squad attempted to charge Sanji all at once, but he evaded them easily, causing them to harm each other. They are called the Sea Urchin Spike Unit in the Viz Manga and the FUNimation sub.

Deadly Poison Squad
The Deadly Poison Squad (猛毒部隊) was composed of Fish-Men with extremely poisonous quills that can result in death with one prick. The squad was taken out by Franky in the Kurosai FR-U IV. They are called the Poison Unit in the Viz Manga and the Deadly Venom Squad in the FUNimation sub.

Other Information
Although referred as a pirate group, the crew did not actively pillage nor sailed the outer seas, and instead their actions and motives resemble more of a group of radical terrorists. Arlong and his group's opinions of humans were driven by experiences which had been shared amongst the Sun Pirates and the events of their era. The New Fish-Man Pirates are driven by the hate passed over from that generation to theirs and the suffering that had occurred in the previous generation is foreign to them. This is why, although they display the cruelty of the previous generation, they do not display the same set of ideals as Arlong and there is a contrast between how they react to each other and how the Arlong Pirates reacted. As such they hold no regard for their fellow fish-men and are even willing to sacrifice their own crew members. They also differ from the Arlong Pirates in that, unlike the Arlong Pirates who took pride in their natural strength and heritage (which lead to them carrying out many fights which concentrated on just brute force), the New Fish-Man Pirates have no concerns about what methods they use.

They appear to despise Queen Otohime and her ideals since they forced the citizens of Fish-Man Island to step on her picture. However, even the crew members were shocked to learn that their captain was the one who assassinated Otohime ten years ago, aside from the officers, who already knew due to their close relationship with their captain; they went as far as to celebrate her death, claiming it was judgement by heaven. Also, Hody and his officers are all willing to die for their goals as, even if in failure, they believe that their deaths will leave a grudge that the next generation will pick up to continue their revenge; the lower echelons, however, do not believe in such a thing, and will choose their own lives over this philosophy, which led the officers to force them to stay until death approaches. This appears to make them even more of an antithesis to Otohime, who tried to prevent hatred from being passed onto the next generation. By the end, the subordinates considered Hody and the officers to be mentally unstable and monstrous, and abandoned their loyalty towards the crew, going as far as to claim that they were forced into committing what they did.

Because of a law by humans to prevent mixing blood with fish-men the crew would pass Judgment in the Dark (闇の審判) on fish-men who donate blood to humans in the dead of night.

Past


While Hody and his future officers were young children, they witnessed the oppression of the fish-men at the hands of humans. As they were growing up in the Fish-Man District, they only learned one thing: hate humans. With Arlong being prominent in teaching the children to hate humanity, instilling them with the belief that fish-men are heaven-sent to rule the world, they grew to hate humans based on the belief that they are destined to be superior, thus making their hatred lack experience and determination. Some time later, they read about Fisher Tiger's exploits in Mary Geoise. They cheered the Sun Pirates on, incorrectly thinking that their goal was to destroy humans.



When they grew into adults, Hody joined the Neptune Army to gain experience and knowledge of the island that he plotted to overthrow in the future, while the rest of the members became a lynch mob that targeted any fish-man who sympathized with humans, especially those who willingly donated blood to them. Upon Tiger's death and Jinbe joining the Warlords, the crew commented that Tiger was not the hero they thought he was and Jinbe disgraced their race. They also considered Arlong to be the only one who was keeping face for them, and at time, Hody intended to become Arlong's right-hand man when he grew old enough.

After assassinating Otohime, Hody acquired the rare evil drug called Energy Steroids from the Tamatebako right before leaving the Neptune Army. Back at the Fish-Man District, Hody and his companions celebrated Otohime's death. Hody then presented the Energy Steroids and asked Zeo to mass-produce them. Hody raised his symbol and formed the New Fish-Man Pirates. With the Arlong Pirates being defeated by Monkey D. Luffy, Hody lost his respect for his idol as a person, and decided to take matters into his own hands. At some point, Hyouzou was employed by the New Fish-Man Pirates as an assassin since Hody was more willing to pay for his services than Arlong.

They then planned a coup d'état against King Neptune in order to take Fish-Man Island away from his rule for themselves and to conquer the human race to prove that fish-men are superior. As they were putting their plan to motion, they intercepted pirate crews that approach Fish-Man Island, giving them two options: join the New Fish-Man Pirates and go on serving them or be destroyed before making it into the underwater island. To avoid certain demise, the human pirate crews would usually choose the first option but did not truly intend to follow the fish-men. Some would flee to the New World as soon as possible. Because of the New Fish-Man Pirates, human tourists were not visiting Fish-Man Island during the month before the Straw Hats' arrival.

Fish-Man Island Arc
The crew was first introduced right as the Straw Hats were approaching Fish-Man Island with Hody being seemingly interested in meeting the Straw Hat captain. By the time the Straw Hats arrived in Fish-Man Island, they had already began to move. When Gyro and his crew, who were forced to serve the New Fish-Man Pirates earlier, managed to sneak away and attempted to escape into the New World, Hody single-handedly decimated the crew, but left them alive to prove to humans what the Fish-Men crew was capable of.

Some time later, Vander Decken IX arrived at Noah to meet Hody Jones and they introduced themselves to one another. After Vander Decken IX put on a glove, they shook hands and they formed an alliance. They swore that the two of them would bring the downfall of Ryugu Kingdom. They proceeded with the operation and used the captive human pirates (those who did not attempt escape) to infiltrate the palace. After the human pirates landed at the palace, their desperation to live caused them to blindly attack anyone they see, demanding to know where was the switch that opens the connection corridor to the palace. Zoro defeated Hody's pawns, but one of them managed to open the gates.

Once the connection corridor opened, Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX entered the palace while the officers of the New Fish-Man Pirates proceeded to other locations. Once inside the palace, Decken learned that Princess Shirahoshi was not there and left the palace to find her. After Decken was gone, Hody flooded the palace and the New Fish-Man Pirates who entered the palace with him began their attack against Neptune and the Straw Hat Pirates.

Neptune decided to retreat from the castle for the time being. Meanwhile, Hody battled Zoro and the swordsman managed to deal a striking blow to the Fish-Man. However, one of Hody's crew mates provided him an energy steroid, reviving him in the process. Hody then proceeded to capture King Neptune, Zoro, Usopp, and Brook.

Meanwhile, the officers of the New Fish-Man Pirates were causing chaos all over the island. They were seen forcing the Fish-Man Island citizens to step on a fumi-e of Queen Otohime. Those who refused to do so would be forced off the island or met with violence.

After chaining up Neptune and imprisoning Zoro, Usopp, and Brook in a room with rising water, Hody gave a speech to the citizens of Fish-Man Island. Hody explained his plan of recreating the Ryugu Kingdom with himself as the ruler. His plan included executing Neptune and the citizens who gave their signatures on Otohime's petitions, and then killing Luffy and taking his head to show the humans as a trophy of victory.



As Hody was taking Neptune to Gyoncorde Plaza, he underwent a transformation due to overdose on Energy Steroids. The New Fish-Man Pirates soon gathered at the plaza and the Neptune Army's attempted to save the king were thwarted by the sea beasts. The princes arrived and defeated the sea beasts and engaged in combat with the officers. Initially, the princes had the upper hand, but the officers turned the tables against them by taking Energy Steroids. The princes were then defeated and captured. After Jinbe and Shirahoshi were captured as well, Hody revealed to everyone that he was the one who truly killed Otohime, stunning the royal family, the citizens, and the lower-rank subordinates. After Shirahoshi revealed that she already knew because Megalo told her, Hody Jones taunted her because her silence enabled him to carry out his plans and he was set to kill King Neptune. However, Luffy came out of Megalo's mouth and attacked him. Afterwards, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates showed up (including the Thousand Sunny). The Celestial Dragon letter and the keys to the chains were revealed to be stolen by Nami and Robin. After that, the princes, Neptune, Jinbe, and Shirahoshi were released from their chains and Hoe took Neptune and the princes away to safety.

After Hody Jones recovered from Luffy's attack, he revealed his plan to kill the kings at the Mary Geoise, make Fish-Man Island to be feared, and enslave all humans. Because of this, he said that he was fit to be Pirate King and sent his 100,000 strong New Fish-Man Pirates after the Straw Hat Pirates but 50,000 of them were taken out in an instant by Luffy's Haoshoku Haki. Luffy then attacked some more with Gear Third. The rest of the Straw Hats and Jinbe prepared to do battle. The New Fish-Man Pirates attempted to kill the mermaid princess, but their attempts were thwarted by Jinbe and the Straw Hats. One by one, the divisions of the New Fish-Man Pirates were defeated by their enemies. Surume also turned against them.

As the battle dragged on, Decken hurled the ship, Noah, at Fish-Man Island, directly at Shirahoshi, in the hopes of ending everything. Hody took advantage of this in the hopes of destroying Fish-Man Island. As the officers continued to fight against the Straw Hat Pirates, Fukaboshi revealed the reason of the New Fish-Man Pirates' hatred towards humans, Robin released the human slaves, who then turned on their Fish-Men oppressors, and Luffy delivered a devastating blow to Hody.

On board Noah, Luffy defeated Hody once and for all, but the ship continued to fall. Hody, with his last conscious thought, told the ship to keep falling until it destroys the entire island and all the Fish-Men who lost their pride for siding with humanity. With the Ammo Knights declaring Hody's defeat and Noah's descent, members of the New Fish-Man Pirates attempted to flee for their safety. The officers responded by brutally attacking them, declaring that their deaths would leave a grudge against humanity and that the future generation would one day avenge them. Furthermore, the officers forbade any one of them from leaving and ordered them to stay behind to fight until death falls on them. The lower echelons of the crew declared that the officers went insane, having the same suicidal grudge as Hody himself.

Legacy
When the Straw Hats defeated all of the officers, the rest of the New Fish-Man Pirates ultimately lost their morale and gave up the fight. After the island was saved from destruction, they were seen being confronted by Jinbe. The Fish-Man pirates begged for mercy, claiming that they followed Hody out of fear and the human pirates that were used as slaves said that they had nothing to do with the civil war. They also asked Jinbe to allow them to leave, but Jinbe stated that he would strike down anyone who tried to leave and that Neptune would decide their fates.



Neptune allowed the humans to go free while sentencing the lower-rank Fish-Man pirates to work for Fish-Man Island, and sealing the Fish-Man District off to prevent history from repeating itself. As for the top brass of the crew, Hody and his officers, along with Decken, all of whom were still unconscious from their respective defeats, were locked up in the palace prison.



At a later point in time, while doing jail-time, the New Fish-Man Pirates officers became old due to the side effects of the Energy Steroids, severely crippling their natural strengths beyond repair and putting an end to any chance of a comeback, despite them stubbornly saying otherwise. Out of renewed pity and respect for Otohime, Neptune made consideration on reducing the prisoners' sentence, and Fukaboshi stated that he holds no grudge for them but told Hody to remain silent as he does not want the children to hear him.

Manga and Anime Influences

 * The New Fish-Man Pirates action of attacking and burning homes of people who helped humans and focus on hatred is reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.
 * The New Fish-Man Pirates also resemble the New Black Panther Party, who are essentially a more extreme version of the Black Panther Party; a relation held between the Sun Pirates and the New Fish-Man Pirates, despite no members of the former took position.
 * Their actions also show a clear mindset of terrorism, referring to their slaughtering of humans as a Holy war, even approving of actions such as suicide bombings, as long as humans are killed in the process.

Trivia

 * The New Fish-Man Pirates are the most numerous pirate organization in the series so far, being 100,000 strong by the time of the Fish-Man Island Arc. This number completely dwarfs even some crews of the Four Emperors, like the Whitebeard Pirates (around 1,600 strong, not counting allied crews) and the Beasts Pirates (around 30,000 strong).
 * The New Fish-Man Pirates were the only major antagonist group the Straw Hat Pirates faced on the Grand Line that didn't have any Devil Fruit users. Incidentally, the last major antagonist pirate crew that fell in this category were the Arlong Pirates, whom were largely responsible for fueling the New Fish-Man Pirates hatred for humanity.

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