Fishmen!
Tiger was stunned.
At this moment, there was no doubt that his fellow fishmen were blocking their way in the sea!
In fact, most of these guys looked very familiar.
That's right!
These were the ones taken by Ian from Fish-Man District, who joined the Beast Pirates!
These were the same fishmen he had wanted to save, but now they were standing before him, armed!
Tiger was momentarily stunned.
Then, a feeling of joy surged within him.
Great!
There couldn't be a better situation than this!
He had come looking for them, and now they had appeared right in front of him!
What was even more crucial was that these guys had all been recruited from Fish-Man District by the Beast Pirates, and he used to be the boss of Fish-Man District. In other words, all these guys had once been his underlings!
Sure enough.
"Brother Tiger! It's Brother Tiger!"
"Also, Jinbei is here! Aladine is here too!"
"Oh! The Sun Pirates are here? All of you brothers have come to Wano!"
The fishman army, originally prepared to face a strong enemy, erupted into excitement.
Tiger had been the leader of Fish-Man District, the head of a group of fishman thugs.
After the Mary Geoise incident, Tiger had become a national idol of Fish-Man District.
Even though the fishmen who now belonged to the Beast Pirates' fishman division were the scum of Fish-Man District, their admiration for Tiger and the Sun Pirates was no less than any other fishmen.
Jinbe couldn't help but laugh.
It really is true that sometimes things you seek far and wide for appear when you least expect them!
"Comrades!"
Tiger stepped forward and shouted loudly, "I've come to bring you back! Come with us!"
At his words, the entire area fell silent.
All the fishmen in the division were stunned.
Only Jack, standing atop a massive sea beast's head, grinned.
These sea beasts had been captured by the fishmen when they went out to sea, then fed dumplings by Bao Huang to control them.
Though their strength was much weaker than the wild beasts caught from Rusukaina Island, they had the advantage of being able to move in the sea.
With various weapons added, their effectiveness in naval combat was even greater than the wild beasts.
The coastline was silent for a full ten seconds because of Tiger's statement.
Then, a fishman near the shore spoke up in astonishment, "Brother Tiger, what do you mean by 'going back'? Where are we going?"
Tiger was stunned for a moment, not understanding what these guys meant.
"Of course, Fish-Man Island," Tiger said, "We came to rescue you, and those comrades who were betrayed by Neptune and the others. Where are they? After rescuing them, we'll return to Fish-Man Island together!"
"Fish-Man Island?"
The fishmen in the division exchanged looks.
Then,
"Why do we need to go back to Fish-Man Island?"
One fishman said, "Brother Tiger, we're doing just fine here! We live freely, without anyone discriminating against us, and we even get high wages every month."
Tiger was stunned.
Jinbe was stunned.
Everyone from the Sun Pirates was stunned.
This was not quite what they had imagined.
"Also," Another fishman reminded, "Brother Tiger, those who immigrated here probably won't be coming back with you either."
"Their lives are more comfortable than ours, they don't even need to fight. They only need to work well, and no one here will harm them. They can enjoy the sunshine and sea breeze to their heart's content."
"..."
Tiger opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but for a moment, he didn't know what to say.
Of course, he could tell that these comrades were serious. Even if they were lying to deceive him, it wouldn't be possible for so many people to act so convincingly.
That's why he felt confused.
Could it really be like Neptune and the others said, that everyone was here voluntarily?
The Beast Pirates had no intention of harming them?
"Let's go, Fisher Tiger,"
At this moment, Jack spoke up. "Brother Ian wants to see you."
Tiger was stunned for a moment.
Brother Ian?
Ian the Skyfire?
"Alright!"
Tiger nodded heavily. "Then let's go see him!"
He also wanted to see what that guy had to say.
The other companions didn't object either. They were also a bit curious about what Ian the Skyfire was planning.
"Good."
Jack nodded in satisfaction.
At that moment, a howling sound descended from the sky.
Tiger looked up, like a startled bird.
The few iron birds, like pests crawling on bones, suddenly swooped low through the air, stirring up a gust of wind.
As they flew past, Jack gave a thumbs-up to the plane leading the group.
Inside the plane, Drake returned the thumbs-up.
Then, Jack and Tiger, along with the others, returned to Onigashima.
Since the trip had been rushed and no ship was used, they had no choice but to swim back, with Tiger and the other guests reluctantly following suit.
Only the ship's doctor, Aladine, went to the Sea Beast, needing to urgently treat Arlong, who had suffered heavy injuries.
Luckily, the Fishmen's swimming speed was undeniably fast, and by around midnight, they had successfully reached Onigashima.
Naturally, upon seeing Onigashima for the first time, the Sun Pirates were deeply shocked by the island's appearance.
Inside a spacious restaurant on Onigashima, Tiger met with Ian.
"Still haven't eaten, right? This restaurant has a great reputation on Onigashima."
At this moment, the young-looking boy, sitting at a large long table, smiled and clapped his hands, "The food can be served now."
The restaurant staff quickly pushed out a food cart, and steaming, fragrant dishes soon covered the table, making the Sun Pirates' mouths water.
They hadn't eaten anything all night.
"Since I wasn't sure what you all liked, I just had some things prepared randomly," Ian stood up, smiling. "Consider it a late-night snack. The formal welcome banquet will be tomorrow. Please, take a seat."
Ian's warmth and hospitality left the Sun Pirates dumbfounded.
They had imagined many scenarios of what it would be like to meet the feared Ian, but never had they expected it to be like this.
The young monster whose name had spread across the world, a high-ranking member of the Beasts Pirates, was actually such a friendly person?
It was truly baffling.
"Brother Tiger—"
Jinbe whispered.
Could this be a trap?
Tiger, however, said nothing, simply sitting down opposite Ian with confidence.
Since we're already here, there's nothing to fear!
With the Captain like this, the others naturally had nothing else to say and all took their seats.
"Jack, you sit too."
Ian waved at the little brother, who had gone far to meet Tiger and the others. "Good job."
"It's nothing, Big Brother Ian!"
Hearing his most respected big brother thank him, Jack said seriously, "I just went for a trip, that's all."
As he spoke, he sat beside Ian.
Ian smiled and then looked at Tiger. "You should have all introduced yourselves by now, right? This is Jack, a fishman, and now he's the commander of our Beast Pirates' fishman division."
Tiger sized Jack up.
Though his physique was huge, upon closer inspection, his age was actually about the same as Ian's.
A genius among fishmen, huh?
Tiger thought.
But seeing how Jack respected Ian, it seemed like he didn't have any sense of belonging to Fishman Island.
"By the way, we haven't properly introduced ourselves yet, have we?"
Ian smiled and said, "I'm Ian, Fisher Tiger. I've heard so much about you. What you did in Mariejois, not just me, even Kaido-sensei admires you."
Kaido had long dreamed of going to Mariejois to cause a major disruption.
"Impressive, really impressive. For eight hundred years, no one has dared to attack Mariejois, let alone go alone. And your goal was just to rescue the slaves."
Ian spared no praise. "You're the most amazing man I've ever seen."
Fisher Tiger.
This man could even be described as a saint.
Having been a slave himself, he couldn't bear to see others become slaves. He truly lived by the principle of "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself."
Although he hated humans because of his past experiences, he still refused to let others suffer from the same fate. He even died rejecting human blood.
However, when freeing the slaves, he treated all slaves equally, even releasing human slaves as well. In the end, he died because he had to send the human slave, Clara, back home.
He hated humans, but he was also very clear that Otohime's ideals were the correct ones. Fish-Man Island could not remain isolated forever. They could only truly integrate into the world above the sea if they gained human recognition.
Thus, when leading the Sun Pirates across the seas, he was unwilling to harm any humans, even those in the navy who were chasing them.
Perhaps it was because Ian's words were so sincere that Tiger felt somewhat confused.
He had never imagined that Ian would have such an attitude at this moment.
Not just Tiger, even Jinbe and the others cast Ian kind looks after his words.
As long as you praise Brother Tiger, we are good friends.
**********
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