The giant merman with the long brown beard spoke from his throne in the Dragon Palace.
"Yes, Lord Fisher Tiger has taken the first step toward befriending humans. I must do something too!"
Beside the giant fish-man, a beautiful mermaid dressed in Han-style robes clenched her small fists as she spoke.
"Heh heh."
Neptune simply smiled at his queen, unaware that Queen Otohime, too, was taking her first step toward death...
Out at sea, Laboon kept his head above the surface as he followed the Sun Pirates' ship. Barn was still in his usual pose, propping up his head with one hand and holding his fishing rod with the other. He was still fishing, while Fitz, as always, devotedly ate the bait Barn had prepared...
"Hey, Brother Fisher Tiger, why do we have to travel with this human?"
The speaker was Arlong, the fish-man known as "Sawtooth." For some reason, he seemed born with a dislike of humans.
Fisher Tiger heard Arlong, but he did not answer. He continued gazing at the sea ahead.
Jinbe, who stood nearby, was not particularly fond of humans at this point either, though he did not despise them as much as Arlong did. Seeing Fisher Tiger ignore Arlong, he went over to talk him down.
"All right, Arlong. They say Lord Barn was the one who stormed Mary Geoise with Brother Fisher Tiger. If Brother Fisher Tiger wants him traveling with us, he must have his reasons. Let's not ask any more questions. Come on, have a drink with me!"
Jinbe pulled Arlong aside, though Arlong kept grumbling.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean, Brother Jinbe? Fine, let's go! But no cheating this time!"
"Yeah, yeah, come on!"
Although Barn could not see, his hearing was extraordinarily sharp. Besides, Laboon was not far away, so he heard every word of Arlong and Jinbe's conversation.
At that moment, Barn was "watching" Fisher Tiger with his Mind's Eye. He, too, wanted to know what Fisher Tiger was thinking...
Barn knew that Fisher Tiger had once been a slave. In the original story, Fisher Tiger had not told Arlong and Jinbe that until just before his death.
He was once a slave to the Celestial Dragons, and now he's trying to make himself love humans. That's asking a lot of him.
Barn thought this as he "looked" at Fisher Tiger.
And Fisher Tiger, standing at the bow and gazing out to sea, was indeed thinking about how to handle his relationship with Barn-or rather, the relationship between fish-men and humans.
"Boss Fisher Tiger! There's an island ahead! Should we land?"
An octopus fish-man serving as a sailor roused Fisher Tiger from his thoughts. At the sailor's words, Fisher Tiger perked up, and an idea flashed through his mind.
An island? A human island, I suppose. Since we've set sail, I have to be brave enough to take this step!
"Onward! That island is our destination!"
Fisher Tiger answered without showing any emotion, but who knew about the struggle that had just taken place inside him?
Barn did!
Barn possessed Mind's Eye, a unique evolved form of Observation Haki. Just as Queen Otohime's Observation Haki could sway people's hearts, and Roger's could hear the voices of all things, Barn's could distinguish hostility and danger.
Barn often sensed that Fisher Tiger, his "comrade-in-arms," was somewhat averse to him, even giving off intermittent hostility. Yet whenever they interacted, that feeling vanished.
Barn knew this was Fisher Tiger subconsciously rejecting him because he was human...
But today, Fisher Tiger had volunteered to land on a human island. That was something Barn had not expected.
Are you finally ready to take that step?
With that thought, Barn put away his fishing rod, lay back on Laboon, and let out a long breath.
Soon, the Sun Pirates reached shore, and Laboon stopped by the coast with Barn on his back.
Barn jumped ashore with Fitz, while Fisher Tiger urged the crew to disembark. His authority still carried weight, and everyone except one person went ashore with him to replenish their supplies. The one who stayed behind was, naturally, Arlong, who fiercely rejected humans. Alone aboard the ship, he chatted with Laboon in the water below.
Through his Mind's Eye, Barn noticed that Arlong's hostility was not yet all that intense. Perhaps Fisher Tiger's death had affected him so deeply that he became the man he was later at Arlong Park.
Fisher Tiger landed on the island, where there really was a human town. When his group entered it, the townspeople got quite a fright.
But once they saw that this group of fish-men was polite and even very friendly, they let down their guard and agreed to provide supplies. They even gave Fisher Tiger a "surprise" as he was leaving.
Under Fisher Tiger's command, the Sun Pirates had just weighed anchor and set sail when Hachi came to find him and said,
"Um, Boss Fisher Tiger! The people on that island entrusted her to me. Nyu!"
Hachi pulled a little girl out from behind him. Her fluffy hair was matted together, and she wore filthy overalls over a gray shirt that only a close look revealed had once been white. Yet there was a smile on her face. The eyes above that smile were utterly lifeless, as though it were a mask. Yes, a mask-as though someone had placed a smiling mask over the little girl's face.
Fisher Tiger looked at the girl in confusion and asked,
"Who is this, Hachi?"
"This is..."
Before Hachi could finish, the little girl answered.
"I'm Koala. I'm eleven. Three years ago... Thank you so much!"
"Three years ago? Ah, when Barn and I wreaked havoc in Mary Geoise. You were one of the slaves back then!"
Koala was just about to nod when an unpleasant voice came from behind Fisher Tiger.
"What's with this human's face? That smile... it's so disgusting!"
It was Arlong!
He pinched Koala's face hard as he spoke viciously.
Koala's face had turned blue from his grip, but she still wore the same smile Arlong had called disgusting.
"I... I'm sorry!"
Arlong pinched Koala's face so hard that he lifted her off the deck. He took another look, then tossed her down, muttering,
"Humans are so disgusting!"
With that, Arlong walked off to the side and sat down on the deck without another word.
Koala had been thrown onto the deck, but she did not burst into tears as everyone expected. Instead, she took an unbearably filthy rag from inside her clothes and scrubbed the deck over and over, masking her terror with a stiff smile as she pleaded.
"I'm so sorry! I'll work. I'll keep cleaning without stopping. Please don't hit me! I'm sorry!"
"No matter what happens, I won't cry. Please don't kill me!"
Seeing Koala say those words with that stiff smile still on her face, Fisher Tiger's brows knitted tightly together.
He pulled Koala up from the deck, gripped her shoulders with both hands, and shouted,
"Cry, Koala!"
Koala froze at Fisher Tiger's demand. Without a moment's hesitation, she repeated the words long since branded into her heart.
"No matter what happens, I won't cry. Please don't kill me! I'll work. I'll keep cleaning without stopping. Please don't hit me! I'm sorry! I won't cry! Please don't kill me! I'm sorry..."
As Koala kept repeating those words, Fisher Tiger's frown deepened. He tightened his grip. Fisher Tiger was the finest Fish-Man Karate practitioner on Fish-Man Island, and his strength was not something an ordinary person could withstand. Tears even welled up in Koala's eyes, but her answer remained the same.
This frustrated Fisher Tiger, and his brows drew together more and more tightly. Just as he was about to tighten his grip again, a voice came from beside him.
"Enough, Fisher Tiger. The mark of slavery has already been etched into her very bones."
It was Barn, who had just jumped aboard from Laboon's back.
"Lord Barn!"
Jinbe greeted Barn solemnly, and the other fish-men nodded to him as well. Only Arlong gave a haughty snort.
Fisher Tiger heard Barn's words too. He glanced once more at Koala in his hands, set her down on the deck, and walked straight toward the Captain's Quarters. Pausing at the door, he said,
"Bring her to my room!"
Naturally, Hachi did not dare disobey his captain and big brother, so he took Koala into the Captain's Quarters.
Barn watched all of this through his Mind's Eye and sighed inwardly.
Beside him, Jinbe gave him a puzzled look.
Then the little girl's agonized screams rang out from the Captain's Quarters!
The screams continued for a while, then stopped. The door to the Captain's Quarters opened, and Fisher Tiger tossed the little girl onto the deck.
She lay unconscious there, but only for a moment before waking again. Her first reaction was to pull out that rag and start scrubbing the deck once more. This time, she said nothing. Tears streamed down her face, though she still wore that stiff smile.
Just then, she turned her back toward everyone. There was a hole in the back of her clothes, and beneath it was a freshly branded symbol-a sun!
"From today onward, Koala is a member of the Sun Pirates!"
This time, not only Arlong but the other fish-men stared at Fisher Tiger in disbelief. He ignored them, walked over to Koala, crouched down, and said,
"I, Fisher Tiger, will not kill anyone!"
Koala's hands stopped moving, and the smile on her face shifted ever so slightly.
Fisher Tiger stood, walked to the bow, and faced everyone. Spreading his arms wide, he shouted,
"Let's go, everyone! We're going to get this girl home!"
At those words, Koala's head snapped up. This little girl, who had suffered so terribly as a slave to the Celestial Dragons, who had greeted every insult and every beating with an emotionless smile just to stay alive, who could never open her heart to anyone, finally broke down in tears.