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Chapter's Events:
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[In this way, around three years passed. (12 years ago)]
[A certain island]
"PLEASE!!"
"We humbly beg this of your crew…!" An old man begged the Sun Pirates to accept his request.
"This child was one of the many freed from Marigoa 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 old man's request was clear—he wanted Fisher Tiger to return the girl to her homeland.
"My name's Koala!! I'm 11!! Thank you so much…"
"…For saving me three years ago!!" The little girl stood before the terrifying fishmen, mustering her courage and introducing herself with a smile on her face.
"Kid or otherwise, she's still a filthy human!!! She makes me sick!!"
"Why do I have to share this ship with a human brat?!!"
"Because those are the circumstances." Arlong was deeply annoyed.
Koala kept her silly smile even after hearing what Arlong said.
"Stop smirking at me like that!! It pisses me off so much!!" Arlong slapped her hard.
"Arlong-san!!"
"Arlong-saaaan!! She's only a child!!" Hatchan held him back to prevent further blows.
"It certainly is a little creepy how she keeps on smiling," another fishman muttered.
"!?"
Koala tore a piece of her clothing and began wiping away the blood dripping onto the ship's floor.
"I'm very sorry!! I'll work hard! I'll clean the ship without resting! So please don't hit me anymore!"
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This scene left everyone speechless… unimaginable anger erupted in the hearts of readers all over the world. Because of this specific scene, they wanted nothing more than to punch Arlong hard.
"That's too much, man! Why hit a little girl? Damn you!"
"Bring Luffy here!! I want to see this bastard get beaten to a pulp!!"
"So Nami wasn't the first child to be terrorized by this fishman scum!!"
"Look—she's not even crying… what is she doing?"
"Wiping the floor from her own blood?"
"She must be absolutely terrified… not a single tear…"
"Man, she's just a kid…"
The readers' rage only grew with each passing second, especially after seeing Koala's reaction. But after her conversation with Jimbei, who approached to try and calm her, they started to feel quieter.
Not because their sympathy for the little girl lessened, but because seeing her act that way made them understand the true reason behind her suffering.
Compared to the real cause, what Arlong did was nothing.
In the manga page, Jimbei's eyes darkened when Koala asked if they would kill her if she didn't work hard, promising she'd be useful.
Soon, another fishman explained the nature of her broken spirit: she had been a slave in Marigoa. A slave to the Celestial Dragons, who killed children before her eyes simply for crying or not working hard enough… leaving her terrified that she would be next, even after escaping that hell.
Now it was clear—the real cause of Koala's suffering was the Celestial Dragons.
Olivia placed her hand over her mouth, trying to hold back her tears, but failed. She was shaken by the girl's tragic story.
"Only 11 years old… so she was 8 back then? When did she become enslaved?! How long did she live like that?! Since she has a home to return to, and a mother waiting… that means she was kidnapped, and she still remembers her family, right?"
Olivia didn't keep these questions to herself—she asked them out loud.
"Those Celestial Dragon bastards have no shred of mercy in their hearts!"
"Do they even have hearts to speak of?"
Gloriosa felt ashamed after Toki corrected her—indeed, at this point, it was worth questioning if the Celestial Dragons even possessed hearts at all.
"Hm? What's Fisher Tiger planning to do?" wondered Sora, who was immersed in the chapter's events.
"No need to worry. Fisher Tiger is a kind man… he will never harm Koala," Otohime replied with confidence.
…
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"Boss!!"
Fisher Tiger stood before Koala, who was still in the same position, wiping the floor.
"Bring the brat to my personal cabin!!" Tiger ordered coldly.
"Boss!! What are you going to…?!!" After they brought her in and followed him, Jimbei was shocked to see Tiger placing the iron brand shaped like the sun into the furnace.
Minutes later, under the anxious gaze of the child, he lifted her shirt and pressed the searing brand onto her back.
Koala fainted after screaming her lungs out.
"Now bandage her!!"
"It's rough, but it's the only way. That brand brings back memories of things best left forgotten." It turned out he had done the same with every slave and fishman in his crew. He had covered the Celestial Dragon's hoof brand on her back with the mark of the Sun Pirates.
"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—"
Fisher Tiger couldn't bear it anymore and exploded in a shout:
"And why shouldn't you cry?!!! Listen, kid!! We're not the same as those slavedriving monsters!!"
Koala kept smiling.
"Watch." Tiger grabbed his pistol and threw it into the sea.
"My crew kills nobody…!!!"
The stiff smile on her face finally began to change.
"Let's get moving, men. We're taking this girl back to her home!!!"
Her tears burst forth in torrents.
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The same thing happened to the readers, who couldn't hold back their emotions any longer. Tears flowed everywhere.
"Fisher Tiger is a true man…"
Rosinante wiped his tears, filled with admiration for how Tiger treated the broken child.
"I see no cruelty in this man with the stern expression," Enel said, maintaining his lazy look.
"Fufufu… the Celestial Dragons must feel guilty now… oh, wait, I overestimated them. It's impossible for those bastards to feel such emotions." Doffy laughed, mocking the Celestial Dragons again.
…
When Fisher Tiger threw the pistol into the sea, declaring that his crew would kill nobody, Otohime's heart bloomed with warmth and her eyes welled up with tears.
This kind of man… if only all fishmen were like Fisher Tiger, perhaps their race wouldn't be suffering for centuries… perhaps coexistence with humans wouldn't just be a distant dream.
"He saved her twice…" Bell-mére smiled while wiping away her tears.
"That's right—he saved her both physically and spiritually," Sora said, also crying.
…
Back on Fishman Island, the interaction between Koala and the Sun Pirates left a deep impact on the fishmen's hearts.
Silence spread everywhere. This chapter marked a turning point in how fishmen thought of humans—
And how humans thought of fishmen.
Fisher Tiger looked at the final scene of the chapter, where the little girl's tears flowed, and he felt deep compassion for her.
"It's okay to cry, little one… it's okay to cry… It's your right, and no one can take it from you," he said, clenching his fist.
"That's why I hate slavery…" Jimbei gritted his teeth in anger.
"Sigh~ I feel regret."
For some reason, even Arlong hated his own counterpart from earlier, the one who had slapped that innocent child.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 941: Treachery and Betrayal Are an Inherent Nature in Humans.
Chapter 942: Tears of Men.
Chapter 943: The world will not die with me when I die.
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