Arlong



"Saw-tooth" Arlong (アーロン, Āron) is a fictional anthropomorphic fishman from the anime and manga One Piece.

Personality and Relationships
Arlong displays the Fish-Man tendency to consider humans as inferior beings, and is not afraid to be cruel to them or even kill them without mercy. He also enjoys exploiting them for all their worth.

While he does not accept his own crew acting soft or weak, he is not nearly as cruel to them as he is to humans, and most of them share his views on humans. He does not seem frightened by anything, and his Fish-Man strength has made him extremely confident that he and his crew are virtually invincible. He also has an eye for spotting talent that he can use for his goals and is an excellent planner; he spent years using Nami and her maps to plan their takeover of the East Blue.

Abilities
Arlong is the leader of a pirate crew consisting entirely of a race calling themselves "Fish-men", massive humanoids that tower over normal humans in size. Arlong notes that they are evolved forms of a human and various species of marine organisms, imbuing them with massively superior strength and speed to normal humans. Arlong is seen lifting a house with his bare hands in pursuit of Usopp, and his powerful shark-like jaws are capable of rending metal, stone and flesh alike. Predictably, as formidable an opponent as Arlong is on land, in the water he is nearly invincible.

Weapons
Arlong's nose is among his favorite weapons. Over a foot long and lined with razor-sharp points, his nose is more than sturdy enough to use as a melee weapon. Swinging his head back and forth, Arlong defeated even Roronoa Zoro in a swordfight with this natural blade (however, Zoro had already been badly injured from his previous loss to Mihawk).

In addition, he can remove his massive, needle-like teeth and use them as hand-held weapons, snapping them at opponents like castanets. The teeth are replaced by a new set in mere moments, each regrown mouthful stronger than the one before.

Past Story
The Saw-Fish Fish-Man was once a member of the Fish-Man Pirates, of which Jimbei was captain. But when Jimbei joined the Shichibukai, Arlong split from the group for as of yet unknown reasons, along with his own "Arlong Pirates," and left the Grand Line for easier targets.

Arlong set up his domain on one of the larger islands in East Blue, with a number of smaller villages in the vicinity under his control. Arlong dismantled his original galleon and used the materials to build Arlong Park, an eight story building that served as his headquarters. From Arlong Park, Arlong hoped to conquer all of East Blue using superior underwater tactics through maps drawn by Nami that charted underwater terrain.



When Arlong and his crew (consisting of Hatchan, Chew, and Kuroobi), first arrived on the island that would someday become Arlong Park, the first village he encountered was Cocoyashi Village (Coco Village in the English version), the home of Nami. Arlong then proceeded to extort money out of the residents of Cocoyashi Village. Adults would have to pay 100 thousand beli, children would pay 50 thousand or be executed by Arlong's men. Bellemere (Nami's adoptive mother) only had 100 thousand beli so she decided to pay for Nami and Nojiko and sacrifice herself. Arlong shot her in front of her children as an example of disobedience and then kidnapped Nami.

He forced Nami to become a part of his crew as a map maker, and told her that if she brought him 100 million beli he would free her village and everyone in it, including her adoptive sister Nojiko.

Present Storyline
Years later, when Nami was about to fulfill her end of the bargain using money she stole from Monkey D. Luffy, Arlong arranged to have a corrupt Marine captain confiscate the money from her so she would be forever under his control.

Luffy, who followed Nami after being robbed by her, saw Nami brutally stabbing Arlong's tattoo on her arm in desperation. Angered by the obvious suffering Arlong had wraught against her, Luffy stopped her from hurting herself and unquestioningly accepted her plea for help. A long and arduous battle ensued between Luffy, Arlong, and the elites of their crews.

By the end of the fight, only Luffy and Arlong were left standing and Luffy was taking a beating from Arlong's high-speed diving attack Shark On Darts and his sword Kiribachi (Saw Shaped Sword), which resembled a long steel saw with teeth shaped like a shark's. Luffy seemed on the verge of defeat until the battle moved into the top of Arlong Park, where Nami slavishly made her maps for Arlong as a child.

After feeling the turmoil and desperation that had seeped into the room over the years, Luffy became enraged and the tables turned dramatically.

Using the full power of his attack Gomu Gomu no Ono/Gum Gum Axe, Luffy managed to send the full force of Arlong's attack Shark On Haguruma (Gear) attack through to the bottom of Arlong Park, breaking Arlong's cartilaginous back and destroying the building in the process. Given his strength of body and will, however, some speculate that the blow wasn't enough to kill him outright, and he may return to wreak his revenge.

Arlong makes a reappearance in the "Ocean's Dream" filler arc for the One Piece anime, but this is not considered canon in relation to the manga. His reappearance was in image only, the actual Arlong did not reappear.

Trivia

 * Many of One Piece's primary villains are given distinct laughs. Arlong follows this tradition by starting his laughs with "Sha" (i.e Sha ha ha ha ha!)