Chapter 623

Chapter 623 is titled "Pirate Fisher Tiger".

Cover
From the Decks of the World Vol. 9

'Syrup Village - Medical Student Kaya'

Quick Summary
The Sun Pirates eventually reach Koala's hometown, where unfortunately they are ambushed by marines who were waiting for them. Fisher Tiger manages to escape injured on a stolen marine ship, but he dies there because he refused to take human blood. Enraged because of his death, Arlong goes back to Koala's hometown to take revenge on the marines, but is captured by Vice Admiral Borsalino.

Long Summary
The chapter starts with the Sun Pirates rejoicing that they found an Eternal Pose to Koala's home island, and she is seen after being cleaned up and put in new clothes which Hatchan comments on, saying how much better she looks. She is conscientous, saying that she could never accept something like the eternal pose. Hatchan asks what she is talking about, since they went through the trouble of buying it and getting her a haircut, saying he thinks her mom would like the new look better. Koala then begins to clean the deck. Hatchan tells her not to clean just because she does not know what to do, and that she is not in Mariejois anymore. Aladdin, the crew's doctor, tells Hatchan to let her do as she pleases, saying it is best to take trauma recovery slowly. Hatchan seemed surprised by this. Arlong comments that Aladdin knows what he is talking about, having been a former slave, and would understand Koala's feelings better than anyone else. Arlong then goes on to say that what Aladdin really wants is to kill her, since she is a human, just like his enslavers, to which Fisher Tiger tells him to stop. Arlong tells her to show them what she is truly like on the inside, to show them how her parents taught her to look down on fishmen. Arlong then goes on to say that all humans think they are the greatest, and their children inherit this mindset, and unless someone dismantles those beliefs, the cycle will never stop. Arlong adds that surely everyone knows what he is talking about, as he has seen the way humans look at them, saying he does not know what he would have done to them if Tiger wasn't there. Jinbe argues that that is only one portion of humankind and they do not all think that way. From what he can tell, humans are more scared of fishmen than anything.

Jinbe sits down next to Koala and asks her what makes humans afraid of fishmen. Koala simply replies that it is because humans don't know anything about fishmen, which immediately makes Jinbe recall Queen Otohime saying the same thing about humans. He then tells Koala there could be some change if she got to know them better, to which she agrees. The scene changes to a montage of Koala bonding with the Sun Pirates, like playing with Hatchan where he hides something in one of his six hands and she has to guess what hand it is in. The pirates are next seen in a town, carrying supplies to their ship, with people looking at them with scared looks. Hatchan is then seen bringing up a giant squid to the surface, much to Koala's shock. It then begins to snow, and everyone celebrates. Later, everyone is eating and having a good time.

A few weeks pass, and the crew arrives at an island called Foolshout Island. This island is where Koala's home town is located. Macro and Gyaro say tearful goodbyes and an annoyed Kuroobi tells them to control themselves. Tiger asks where her village is, saying he will take her as far as the entrance. Koala says goodbye to the crew and everyone waves back, as she leaves with Fisher Tiger, playfully holding his hand. Arlong comments that Koala will grow up to be like any other human, Jinbe and Macro both tell him to stop. Arlong tells Jinbe he has changed over the last three years, and asks him if it really makes a difference if one person believes that fishmen are good people, saying Otohime's beliefs fell on deaf ears the same way. Meanwhile, Tiger and Koala have arrived at her village. Everyone is stunned to see she has returned, and her mother starts crying. She runs to her mother as Tiger keeps his distance, smiling at the reunion as Koala and her mother hug, although everyone else gives Tiger mean or uncomfortable stares. Tiger turns to leave and waves goodbye without looking back. When Koala waves back, he turns around to wave. After getting a little ways away from the town, he is intercepted by Rear Admiral Strawberry. Strawberry tells him that they were tipped off that he would be coming to this island, saying the people in Koala's village were okay with the Marines capturing him, in exchange for the Marines being willing to overlook the fact that Koala was property of the World Nobles, and charge Tiger with evasion and assault for the attack on Mariejois.

Back at the ship, the Sun Pirates hear gun shots coming from the direction of the village. They then look out to sea and Chew exclaims that they are surrounded by Marines. The Marines start firing and Jinbe orders everyone to abandon ship and make for the ocean floor, realizing Tiger is in trouble. The scene changes back to Tiger and the Marines, with Tiger is on one knee and covered in blood. One Marine exclaims that he just won't fall while another reminds him that Tiger was the one who attacked Mariejois. Tiger then attacks a soldier, knocking the gun from his hand and sending him into a rock. The Sun Pirates call out to him, and someone alerts Strawberry that they have arrived. Strawberry simply comments that the pirates have been quite the topic of conversation recently. While Jinbe is leading one faction of the Sun Pirates to fight the Marines, Arlong is still under water with the rest of the crew, saying they will steal a Marine ship to compensate for theirs being destroyed. Back at the town, Koala asks her mother if she heard something just now. Her mother, without looking at her daughter, simply replies that she had not.

There is a narration saying that Fisher Tiger was critically wounded from the ambush, but that the crew was able to steal a Marine ship. Inside the ship's sick bay, Hatchan cannot understand what Tiger is saying. Aladdin says that he is losing too much blood and they need to perform a transfusion. Unfortunately, no one in the crew had usable blood for Tiger, as he possessed a rare type. Someone asks if the blood stock on the ship could be used, and Aladdin states that humans and fishmen have the same blood, assuring Tiger they can use human blood to save him. Aladdin is about to start the transfusion, when Tiger yells at him not to put human blood in him. He calls it dirty blood that has the hatred of fishmen flowing through it and he does not want to owe anything to humans. With tears in his eyes, Tiger professes his will to not give in to humans. Tiger then admits to them something he had been keeping secret. He reveals that on his last excursion, he was never on a voyage..he was captured, and had spent the several years time at Mariejois, and tearfully bellows that he had been a slave. No one can believe what they are hearing from their captain. Tiger describes what he had seen as 'human madness." He had barely escaped with his life and could not abandon the other slaves. He then tells them to listen carefully. He tells them that he always lived by his beliefs, making things truly difficult for Otohime's ambition as a result. He admits that Otohime is right, that everyone should try and live in peace. The ones who can change the world are people like Koala who don't know about hatred. He begs the crew not to tell anyone about what he told them about their rage or their tragedy. He knows the world is full of kind-hearted humans, but that they are a dying breed, and soon all that will remain is hate. He tells them that he knows all of this, but a demon has taken his heart, which would make his body reject the human blood. Crying hysterically, he tells them that he has tried, but could never love a human.

Jinbe begs him not to talk like that, saying he has to live. Aladdin tell him that all the slaves he freed owe him a a massive debt they will never be able to repay, saying he is still the hero of Fishman Island. To which Tiger tells him he is happy to hear that. Tiger remembers when he took control of the Fishman District, right before he dies. The crew is crying uncontrollably. The chapter goes into narration, saying that the curtains have closed on the life of the honorable fishman, Fisher Tiger.

Some time later, Arlong went back to Foolshout Island to seek revenge on the humans that betrayed and helped to murder his captain. Things did not go smoothly however, and he was attacked and brutally beaten by Vice Admiral Borsalino (the future Admiral Kizaru). An enraged Arlong, with tears in his eyes, exclaims that he is going to kill all the people here who sold out his captain, and then kill everyone on the island that initially tipped off the Marines, saying Tiger was killed by bottom feeders. Borsalino is seemingly glad to hear confirmation of Tiger's death, and then tells Arlong that he is coming with him.

Chapter Notes

 * Kaya and Merry are shown for the first time after the timeskip. What appear to be countless suitors are trying to get Kaya's attention while she is studying, and Merry is trying to keep them away.
 * Arlong shows a more paranoid side of himself, fully believing that all humans tell their children that they are superior to fishmen.
 * Koala explains the reasons why humans are afraid of fishmen is usually because they are completely unfamiliar and foreign to them, fearing what they don't understand.
 * The crew's doctor, Aladdin, a former soldier of the Neptune Army and slave, is introduced.
 * The Sun Pirates return Koala to her hometown, Foolshout Island.
 * It is revealed Strawberry was a Rear Admiral during this time and was the one who led the brutal battle that caused Fisher Tiger to suffer critical blood loss.
 * The Sun Pirates lose their ship.
 * It is shown that Fisher Tiger refused a life-saving blood transfusion of human blood, believing it to contain all the hate towards fishmen.
 * Fisher Tiger reveals that he was a former slave.
 * The leader of the Sun Pirates, Fisher Tiger, after admitting that Queen Otohime was right, dies.
 * Vice Admiral Borsalino captures Arlong when he returns to Koala's hometown to avenge Tiger.
 * Borsalino shows that he already ate the Pika Pika no Mi, having shot a laser beam at Arlong.
 * Arlong is seen crying for the first time.
 * It is revealed that practically everything the New Fishman Pirates believe about Fisher Tiger is wrong:
 * They believed humans refused to give Tiger blood when he needed it, when in fact Tiger refused to accept human blood to save his life.
 * They believed Tiger went off to promote fishman superiority and slaughter humans, when in fact he was trying to abolish slavery and made sure none of his crew killed a human.
 * They believed his ideals were against that of Otohime's, when in fact Fisher Tiger fully wished that Otohime's ideals of humans and fishmen coming together would happen.

Characters
1: first introduction

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