Zoro and Tashigi immediately understood. It made sense that Luffy would kill in anger; the Celestial Dragons were truly despicable. Only then did the other crewmates realize the full context of what had happened. They had thought they had stumbled into Kizaru by chance, but they hadn't realized there was a deeper reason. However, the crucial question remained: if Luffy killed a Celestial Dragon, would the Marines and the World Government truly let it go?.
"You actually, truly killed a Celestial Dragon!" Boa Hancock's expression was filled with deep emotion. "It's amazing, just like that other person!".
"That one?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"Thirteen years ago, the Fish-Man hero Fisher Tiger climbed the Red Line with his bare hands, snuck into Mariejois—the holy land where the Celestial Dragons live—and freed countless slaves. At that time, I... many girls from our Amazon Lily were taken away, given, or sold to the Celestial Dragons as slaves. They were rescued by Fisher Tiger. And now, there are people like you who stand up against the Celestial Dragons...".
Climbing the Red Line with bare hands?. Infiltrating Mariejois to free the slaves?. The Straw Hat Crew was stunned by the story. They hadn't expected that such incredibly fierce people existed in the sea.
Zoro, Sanji, and Nami suddenly remembered something. They all looked at Carl because they thought they had heard Carl mention the Fish-Man Fisher Tiger before.
Carl silently poured himself a glass of wine and said, "What she said is true. Back then, the adventurer Fisher Tiger broke into Mariejois to save his Fish-Man compatriots and released a large number of slaves. He even started a fire. In truth, Fisher Tiger was prejudiced against humans, but he still ended up releasing the human slaves as well. Later, he returned to Fish-Man Island, formed the Sun Pirates, and took in the Fish-Man slaves he had rescued. The former Warlord of the Sea, Jinbe—who rescued Ace at Marineford—is the current captain of the Sun Pirates".
"Jinbe!".
Everyone was familiar with Jinbe. When the Straw Hats and the Whitebeard Pirates held a banquet in Water 7, Jinbe personally came to the Straw Hat Crew to share a drink and even knelt down to apologize to Nami for Arlong. Nami saw that Jinbe was an honorable man and his apology was sincere, so she didn't pursue the matter further.
Nami only hated the evil Arlong from the beginning. Even though Arlong was successfully released from prison because Jinbe became a Warlord, Nami still only blamed Arlong. This showed Nami's capacity for kindness. If she wanted to share the blame, it would probably be directed at why the Marines didn't execute Arlong immediately. But now, hearing Carl mention this story, Nami felt like she was about to uncover an even deeper reason.
"Years ago, the Sun Pirates rescued a small human girl. That little human girl had been abducted and turned into a slave as well. The Fish-Men in the pirate group were deeply moved by her situation and gradually accepted the little girl. After spending time together, the little girl slowly recovered, and the Fish-Men grew very fond of her; even Arlong only outwardly rejected her. Fisher Tiger knew that keeping a little human girl on the ship wasn't a permanent solution, so he decided to take her home. As a result, she was safely delivered home, but the people in the girl's village immediately turned around and reported them to the Marines, leading to the Sun Pirates being ambushed. In the end, the Sun Pirates managed to steal a warship and successfully break through the blockade, but Fisher Tiger was severely injured and dying. The betrayed Fish-Men hated humans even more deeply after that. The ship's doctor determined that Fisher Tiger had lost too much blood, and his life was in danger if he wasn't treated immediately. However, none of the crew had a matching blood type, and the only blood available was from the human blood banks on the captured warship. Fisher Tiger resolutely refused to accept human blood transfusions. Even though the crew begged him intensely, he would not agree. This was because he, too, had been captured at Mariejois and became a slave of the Celestial Dragons. His hatred for human beings ran deep, to his very blood. In the end, Fisher Tiger died".
Carl narrated the story sentence by sentence, speaking slowly but rhythmically, which captivated everyone's attention. Boa Hancock was already weeping openly. Emotional crewmates like Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky also had tears in their eyes. Even Rayleigh looked surprised; he hadn't expected Carl to know the full details, as he himself had only heard parts of the story. Who exactly was this Carl?.
"Woooow! Fisher Tiger, what a pity!".
"Damn humans! Why were they so ungrateful!".
"Hey! Aren't we humans too?!".
The crewmates were crying loudly, causing headaches for everyone else, until Nami finally raised her fist to silence them all.
Carl began his conclusion: "Arlong couldn't accept Fisher Tiger's death and hated humans so much that he deliberately attacked a Marine warship. In the end, Kizaru, who was still a Vice Admiral at the time, beat him half to death and sent him to Impel Down. Arlong was later released when Jinbe became a Warlord".
The story ended there, but everyone remained silent for a long time. Nami's expression was especially complex. She genuinely hated Arlong, but she hadn't expected the core of the problem to escalate to a deep-seated racial conflict. Arlong hated humans, and after being released from prison, he went to the East Blue to cause trouble. If they traced the root of the problem, whose fault was it in the end?.
"Mr. Carl, where is the little girl now?" Tashigi asked nervously. Tashigi was also visibly shaken at this point, as this story again involved the Celestial Dragons. The Celestial Dragons treated all races as slaves, and people from every race were captured and given to them for amusement. The Fish-Men were just one of those races. Ultimately, the tragedy of Fisher Tiger stemmed from the slavery that the World Government actively supported. Therefore, what was truly just and what was truly evil was becoming clearer in Tashigi's mind.
However, the more she understood, the more confused and disappointed Tashigi became, and she even began to fear. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to uphold her own sense of justice.
"The little girl joined the Revolutionary Army," Carl stated. "Maybe she'll be Luffy's second sister-in-law someday".
Ptooey! Ptooey! Carl's words caused several crew members to nearly spit out their drinks, instantly dirtying the table. No one had expected Carl to end such a sad story with a comment like that—it was truly a moment of unique genius.
Luffy looked shocked. "Does that mean Sabo is going to marry that little girl? Is Sabo a lolicon?!".
Nami immediately slammed Luffy on the head with her fist and yelled, "Idiot! That happened thirteen years ago! The little girl has grown into an adult!".
"Ow! That hurts! What was that for, Nami!".
"I'm telling you to shut up! Don't talk nonsense about things you don't understand, or Sabo might find out and come beat you up!".
"Huh? Is Sabo coming?".
Everyone had no way to deal with Luffy's idiotic thought process. That was just the kind of captain they had.
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