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Fortunately, Borsalino did not directly confront Fisher Tiger and the Sun Pirates. Yet, even though they managed to steal a Marine vessel and escape the Navy's trap, it was not without paying a heavy price.
Fisher Tiger suffered severe injuries, losing a great amount of blood. He was now between life and death, and his fate hung upon the human blood stored in the reserves of the stolen Marine vessel.
As these scenes unfolded before him, Tiger's eyes turned red. Nobody could tell whether it was from rage and hatred or from grief.
The same went for Jimbei, Arlong, Hatchan, Aladdin, and even Hody Jones and the others — all were deeply shaken.
Their hatred for humans only grew stronger as a result.
…
— — — — — — — — — — — —
Chapter's Events:
— — — — — — — — — — — —
"Boss!! What are you saying?!!!" Hatchan could not believe what he had just heard.
"You've lost too much blood!! If you don't have a transfusion soon, you're not going to make it…!!! Your blood type is extremely rare… There's nobody in our crew who is a suitable match!!" Aladdin pointed this out.
Unfortunately, as fishmen, they could not provide the blood Tiger needed in his critical moment… but they found a stock of human blood aboard the Marine ship that matched his type.
"But… the blood samples stored on this ship… are human blood… are they not…" said Tiger with difficulty.
"That's right! Human blood is no different from our own!!! We can use it to save you…!! It's your only chance!!!" Aladdin confirmed.
"I will begin the process immediately—" Just as he was about to start the transfusion, Fisher Tiger roared with all his strength:
"I FORBID ITTT!!!"
"!!?" Everyone was stunned.
"I don't want to live on with their blood in my veins!!!" Tiger's eyes were bloodshot with pure hatred as he said this.
"That blood is tainted!! …It's the blood of those who have scorned us all their lives!!!"
"I refuse to be in their debt!!! I will not accept their pity…!!!" Fisher Tiger broke down, crying bitterly.
"Boss…?!" Jimbei was shaken to the core.
"I will never submit… to the humans!!!" Tiger's resolve was absolute — even if it meant death, he would never accept human blood.
"I didn't want you to know about this… on my final voyage…"
…
("This last trip certainly took you a while!!")
("What in the world did you witness on your latest journey…?!!!")
("Humans, your majesty.")
…
"Not long after I set out… *I was captured!!!" Fisher Tiger recalled the suffering he had always wanted to keep buried in darkness.
"They took me to Marigoa… I was there for years…!!!"
"What!?" Everyone was shocked at Tiger's sudden confession.
"I was… a slave!!!" Tears streamed down the face of a man of pride, a pride that had been forcefully stolen by the vilest beings in this world.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
The tears of men fell as they read this scene — whether human, fish-man, or even giant — in the same way Fisher Tiger wept in his final moments.
On Elbaf Island, where everything was gigantic, even the tears were as large as tennis balls, falling like waterfalls.
"Oh God of the Sun! How much suffering is hidden in this world!"
"Oh God of the Sun, your fall has drowned this world in darkness…!!"
"Oh God of the Sun, this man named Fisher Tiger needs your light to live~"
The giant village chief, Jarul, wiped his tears at that moment. He had forgotten the last time he cried.
Around him, the giants wept like children, and even the giant children were crying as well. After all, the scene was profoundly moving.
It was the death of a man of pride… a man who refused to take blood from those who had stolen everything from him, so as not to lose the last shred of pride he still possessed.
…
"He chose death… over living by the blood of humans. What a man of iron will."
Outside the art store, Loki leaned against a tree, flipping through the massive volume in his hand. Though his eyes were wrapped in bandages, he could still clearly see the manga's scenes.
"Only a slave can truly feel the pain of other slaves. This was to be expected…"
"Ahh, how I long to sever the heads of the Celestial Dragons from their bodies!!"
"Ahahaha! I agree completely, my son… I think Rocks would have loved that idea too."
Beside him appeared the shadow of a man taller than Loki… he too had horns, but wore royal garments and sipped sake.
"Who would have thought that the King of Elbaf — the one who always prattled on about joining the World Government and making Elbaf a nation under their control — would one day say such things."
Loki cast a mocking glance at his father, King Harald of Elbaf.
Indeed, the man reading manga with Loki today was King Harald, father of Loki and Hajrudin.
"Ahahahahaha! Your father truly was a fool in the past. Don't even remember that. I became the laughingstock of the neighboring kings. Since the appearance of the One Piece manga and the constant scandals about the rulers of the world, forget joining them — I want to march into Marigoa and burn it to the ground with all that garbage living there!"
Harald laughed for a while before his expression twisted into one of deep rage. In his eyes was reflected Fisher Tiger's weeping face as he revealed his truth to his comrades.
"Without doubt, these are the man's final moments."
Tears fell from Harald's eyes, and he did not wish to wipe them away. They were the tears of a man sympathizing with another like him.
Loki wanted to mock his father more, but seeing his tears, he couldn't bring himself to say a word.
…
On Fish-Man Island, the mood was far darker than it was on the surface.
No one had expected their "hero" to die in such a way.
"The forbidden blood… sigh…" Fisher Tiger wiped his tears as he said it. He had long suspected his counterpart had once been a slave of the Celestial Dragons, ever since Boa Hancock first revealed her story many arcs ago…
The confirmation that his counterpart was indeed a slave of the Celestial Dragons did not surprise him as much as it enraged him.
"I've told you humans can never be trusted or lived with! Even elder brother Ti in the manga knows this simple truth!!" Arlong shouted with bloodshot eyes as he glared at his comrades.
Hody Jones nodded violently, his face twisted with fanatical hatred. This scene only deepened his loathing for the entire human race.
"Now everything is clear! Bell-mère can't blame me anymore for what my counterpart did in Cocoyasi Village!!" Arlong wanted to see the look on Bell-mère's face at this moment.
That was just a fraction of the suffering his counterpart endured! Just a glimpse, representing an entire race. So why shouldn't Arlong rampage in Cocoyasi, driven by hatred that blinded his eyes?!
"Stop spouting nonsense, Arlong. Don't set a bad example for the youths… First, the current reality is not the same as in the manga. Second, even if my counterpart died because of humans, and even if he rejected their blood to continue living, that does not mean his stance has changed. Keep reading the chapter."
Tiger spoke coldly, making Arlong tense up.
"Tiger-san…"
Jimbei smiled faintly at this scene, but his smile was drowned in tears. They were the tears of a man who felt the suffering of his closest brother — even if that brother was merely a fictional counterpart of his real one.
"Wipe your tears, Jimbei. My counterpart's death was not in vain. He truly left his mark."
He, too, was crying endlessly in that moment.
…
On Sorbet Island, readers felt profound sorrow when Fisher Tiger declared that he couldn't love humans anymore.
"An entire race owes this man an apology…" Dragon felt something warm on his face. When he touched it, he realized it was his own tears.
He hadn't even noticed them fall.
"How can I spend my life working for that filth!!" Garp wiped his tears, questioning why someone like him was serving the tyrants' side.
"The Sun Pirates were never villains… what a tragedy."
"Fisher Tiger is a true hero… even such a man was driven by humans into a hatred that never dies. He must have suffered greatly as a slave…"
"He died with a smile after crying…"
Kuma was stricken with grief. Even he was weeping heavily at that moment.
He remembered his own life as a slave. It had been just as harsh. He wanted to say he hated humans as well… but he could not.
For what he hated were the Celestial Dragons — creatures who were not human at all.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 943: The world will not die with me when I die.
Chapter 944: The Celestial Dragon Arrives at Fishman Island.
Chapter 945: Emotional Shift. Saint Mjosgard.
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