The Sun Pirates

The color spread continues in full color under the same title, "The Sun Pirates." The Straw Hats build and climb through a bright toy-block city, with Franky, Chopper, Brook, Nami, Robin, Sanji, Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp scattered through the scene. The image has no main-story dialogue, but the playful construction imagery contrasts with the heavy flashback about slavery, discrimination, and the founding of the Sun Pirates that follows.

On Fishman Island, Fisher Tiger's attack on Mariejoa becomes the story on everyone's lips. People shout, "He did what nobody's ever been able to do before!" and "He put the Tenryuubito in their place!!" Another voice declares, "Fisher Tiger is the hero of Fishman Island!!" At Ryuuguu Palace, Neptune processes the news in shock: "You mean to free the slaves?! So he actually went and did it...!!" Fisher Tiger's choice is not abstract to him. Tiger says, "I cannot bear it...!! The life of a slave is a hell - do you deny it?! Even now, as we stand here, they are suffering torments no person should have to face...! I have made my decision!!!"

Neptune asks Fisher Tiger, "What in the world did you witness... ...on your latest journey...?!!!" Tiger answers with one word, heavy enough to silence the room: "...Humans, your majesty!!!" Otohime listens, shaken, as the truth cuts into her own dream. Later, while Neptune sleeps with Shirahoshi beside him, Otohime reflects, "The standing of Fishman Island has fallen once more... We will not be permitted to attend the next Reverie..." Yet she cannot reject Tiger's pain. "The voice that I heard from his heart... yet when he came to us that day... I could not bear to stop him... was torn in a terrible scream..."

Otohime continues speaking to her people despite the setback. A child dozes with a soft "ZZZZ" and a kiss marked "CHUU," while Otohime says, "Let us live together with the humans!! Above the waves, under the rays of the sun!! We must learn of their ways!!" But the crowd resists. One man says, "This incident has brought us further apart from the humans than ever." Another says, "I... I can't do that, your majesty. The whole island is united in their support of Tiger-san's great deeds. But in the end, it's the humans that are in the wrong... So right now, we just can't..." Otohime refuses to give up: "Perhaps you are right, and it is impossible right now!! But what about in seven years?! Or eleven years?! Or fifteen?! I care not when!! Lend me your support, for the sake of the day when our nation may once again take part in the Reverie!!!"

In the Fishman District, children and young outcasts react to Fisher Tiger's raid with admiration and hatred. Someone says, "That Fisher Tiger's really something, huh?!" Another says, "He used to be the boss around here, after all!" and "I hear he saved tons of captive fishmen!!" A young Hody Jones hears the same story from the streets. The children cheer, "Looks like the Tenryuubito are furious!! He really got them good!!" and repeat Arlong's contempt: "Arlong-san was always saying humans are nothing but trash! Kyakkyah! They're just plain inferior!!" Daruma and Zeo are present, and Hody is introduced as "Hordy Jones (great white shark fishman) (15)." Dosun and Ikaros Much join the excitement, praising the Sun Pirates: "Even now, the Sun Pirates are storming the world above the sea, beating up all those nasty humans, Dosun!!" "They're amazing, Dosun!!" Others shout, "You go, Sun Pirates!! Take 'em all down!!" and "Kill all the humans!!"

On the Grand Line, the Sun Pirates clash with a Marine vessel. Their ship closes in while Marines panic, "We're trying to, but they keep on disappearing under the water!!!" and another shouts, "Aim more care-fully!!" The fight is brutal and fluid: fish-men burst from below, strike from impossible angles, and vanish back into the sea. Arlong laughs through the violence, "Shaha ahaha hah!!!" as Marines cry, "GUAA AAHH HH!!!" and "AAAG HH!!!" Jinbe and the others overwhelm the enemy with underwater tactics, proving how little ordinary surface forces understand fighting against fishmen at sea.

The Marines realize they are being attacked from below. One yells, "Rear Admiral! Sir they're attacking from under-neath the ship!!" Another officer spits, "Damn these fishman scum!! Hand over all the former slaves!!!" On the Sun Pirates' side, fighters laugh and smash through the enemy: "Moha hahah!! Mohah, mohah!!!" and "Nyuu uu!!" A Marine demands, "And where's your proof there's any of those around here?!! Former slaves, ehr!!" The Sun Pirates answer with force rather than explanation, breaking the ship apart while refusing to surrender anyone they freed.

Fisher Tiger stands over the defeated Marines and orders his men, "Men!! Take all their valuables and food supplies and return to the ship!!!" He notices what the enemy is really searching for: "I hear former slaves are always branded with a specific mark!! Do you see that on any of them?!!" He reassures the beaten crew, "Don't worry... We'll spare you your lives." Arlong immediately twists that mercy into cruelty. As someone shouts, "Hold it, Arlong!!" he raises his weapon and sneers, "Your crime?! Being a filthy human...!" then declares, "I sentence you... to death!!"

At Marineford, Marine HQ, the report arrives: "Vice Admiral Borsalino! The vessel under the command of Rear Admiral Cadal of Branch Station G2... ...has been sunk!!" Borsalino remains cool and unreadable. "Ohhh? Why did he engage the enemy?" he asks. The answer is that they found themselves surrounded by enemies in the water itself. When asked if they have identification on the fishmen, an officer replies that the Arlong Pirates, a group from Fishman Island, have joined forces with Tiger and are proving his support. Yet obtaining a precise measure of their strength is difficult: their activity has been restricted to the ocean depths, and there are reports of an extremely powerful individual. Borsalino concludes only, "How troublesome..."

On the Sun Pirates' ship, Tiger disciplines his crew after another battle. A subordinate complains, "The hell was that for?! Who cares what I do with a couple of inferior beings...?" Tiger answers, "I specifically instructed you all not to kill any of the humans." Arlong argues, "If the enemy is aiming to kill, it is only natural that we meet them with similar force!! The nerve of those humans...!! Every last one of those humans was ready to take your life." Jinbe adds, "This crew is not on a slaughter mission...!! So don't get the wrong idea!!" Tiger presses the moral point: "Do you really want to lower yourselves to their level?!! If we start taking lives, then we have already lost!!"

Tiger defines what the Sun Pirates are meant to be. "Our goal here is not to take revenge for the discrimination we have suffered!! The same goes for my actions at Mariejoa. I may have violated their worthless laws... But ultimately, all I did was free those who were suffering from their oppression!! We of the Sun Pirates fight for 'freedom' and 'liberty'." He warns that revenge will only create more tragedy: "If we wallow in our resentment and start actively taking revenge upon the humans... And that is the extent of it!!! ...then it will lead only to further tragedy when the humans take their own revenge in return. Future generations of fishmen, who have done no wrong, will suffer for the pain we have caused." He makes the rule absolute: "Certainly, we will fight with and steal from those who pursue us... But we will stand firm to our morals. We will not take a life!!!"

Arlong cannot accept Tiger's restraint. He laughs, "Hah!! How about this, then, big bro?! You think revenge will only breed more revenge?! Then I say we should just take the lot of 'em out once and for all!!! Be cruel and ruthless!!! Make the humans cower in terror!!! That way, they won't dare even think about taking revenge on us!!!" Another voice says the only problem is that humans do not understand how powerful fishmen really are, and Arlong says, "So we show them!! Make sure they'll never forget!!! Teach them 'fear'!!!" Jinbe strikes him down for it. "The hell was that for, Jimbei...?!!" Arlong complains, and Jinbe answers that the peaceful solution Queen Otohime seeks is the ideal they should strive for. To her, Jinbe admits, he must seem little different from Arlong. "The one thing I fear above all else... you know... is the demon that lurks within me...!!!"

The consequences spread in both directions. At sea, lookouts shout, "Enemy approachiing!!! It's a pirate ship!! Nyuu!!" and "They mean to defeat us and earn glory for themselves...!" The Sun Pirates prepare to fight: "Attack!!" At the same time, Otohime continues pleading on Fishman Island. "Please, I need your signatures!!" she cries. "We can't, your majesty!! We can't live with the humans!!" The world reacts too: "The government issued bounties... ...for Boss T and Jimbei-san!!" Wanted posters appear for Fisher Tiger and Jinbe, with bounties attached. Some civilians are impressed: "They've got bounties!! Awesome!!" Others snarl at Otohime, "Worthless humans!!! What are you, blind?!!!" while she keeps asking for "Your signatures!!!"

Around three years pass. On a certain island, people kneel before the Sun Pirates: "Please!! We humbly beg this of your crew...!" They present a small girl and explain, "This child was one of the many freed from Mariejoa three years ago... Thanks to your heroic deeds. However, her home is very far from here, and we do not possess the seafaring skills to take her there." The child smiles despite everything and introduces herself: "My name's Koala!! I'm 11!! Thank you so much... ...for saving me three years ago!!" The request is simple and heavy: they want the Sun Pirates, the very crew feared across the seas, to take a former slave child home.

On the ship, Arlong rejects Koala immediately. "Kid or otherwise, she's still a filthy human!!! She makes me sick!!!" He demands, "Why do I have to share this ship with a human brat?!" Tiger answers only, "Because those are the circumstances." Koala keeps smiling, and that smile enrages Arlong even more. "Stop smirking at me like that!! It pisses me off so much!!" he snaps, then strikes her. The crew protests, "Arlong-san!!!" "Arlong-saaaan!! She's only a child!!" One member says, "It certainly is a little creepy how she keeps on smiling." Koala silently cleans the deck with "SCRUB SCRUB SCRUB" and "SQUEAK SQUEAK," her forced smile never dropping.

Koala apologizes over and over. "I'm very sorry! I'll work hard! I'll clean the ship without resting! So please don't kill me! I won't cry... no matter what happens... so please don't kill me!" Tiger asks quietly, "What are you doing...?" and a crewman says, "Child... you're bleeding..." Koala answers, "Yes...!! But I want to see my mother, so I have to be brave and stay on this ship..." She believes if she fails, they might kill her: "If I don't work hard, you might kill me, right? I promise I'll be useful, so please don't kill me...!!" Jinbe and the others understand what slavery has done to her. "She's a slave through and through, this one..." someone says. Another adds, "She must have grown up seeing her fellow slaves getting killed just for crying, or for not working hard enough... Learned to close herself off from the world, always frightened that she might be next...!!"

Tiger makes his decision. "Bring the brat... ...to my personal cabin!!" His crew stares as Koala keeps scrubbing, but he takes her away. Someone asks, "Boss!! What are you going to...?!" Tiger gives the order: "Now bandage her!!" Then he brings out the brand. "It's rough, but it's the only way. That brand brings back memories of things best left forgotten." Koala's eye widens as the heated mark approaches, and the brand hisses "SIZZLE" into her skin. Tiger is not punishing her. He is covering the mark of slavery with the symbol of the Sun Pirates, making her one of the people they protect rather than a piece of property.

Koala wakes in terror and apologizes automatically: "Ah - I lost consciousness...!! I'm sorry!! But look - I didn't cry! So please don't kill me!! I swear I won't cry, no matter what -" Tiger cuts through the horror of that conditioning: "And why shouldn't you cry?!!! Listen, kid!! We're not the same... ...as those slavedriving monsters!!" He tells her the rule of his crew plainly: "My crew ...kills nobody ...!!!" Then he throws himself into the sea with a "SPLASH" and tells her, "Watch." When the crew returns, Tiger says, "Let's get moving, men. We're taking this girl... ...back to her home!!!" For Koala, the Sun Pirates become the first adults in years to prove that strength does not have to mean cruelty.

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