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 spikey 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-coloured 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.

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.

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, 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 alone, challenging the World Nobles and their guards in order to free fishman slaves, while disregarding the consequences of defying such people. Not only he succedeed in such astonishing deed, but 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 group that all of the fishmen crews in the current storyline came.

Even before achieving such deeds, he was a famous adventurer in his own right, keeped 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, 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 might have been considerably stronger.

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.

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 blood 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

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

 * His death was a result of a denial of blood transfusion because of his race. In the real world, a popular urban legend surrounding the death of 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", however this was not the case).
 * 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 and use any necessary means of self-defense resembled that of Malcolm X, while Queen Otohime's beliefs resembled that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who famously dreamed of peaceful unity; both of whom died prematurely.
 * In China, tigers have always been a fiercely bitter rival to the dragon. Fisher Tiger brought about one of the greatest challenges to the World Nobles' (also known as the Celestial Dragons) authority by attacking their homeland. Also, 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 and prejudice and Tiger was setting it straight by freeing their slaves without bias.
 * Also like their animals, both Fisher Tiger and the Celestial Dragons are considered "noble" for different reasons (open-mindedly freeing slaves and ancestry respectively). Ironically, while Tiger's recklessness mirrors that of his animal's (usually depicted as lunging ahead to bulldoze through its opponents), the World Nobles are shown to have little to no patience and wisdom, which the dragon is revered for.

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Fisher Tiger