Arlong

Arlong is proud, calculating, and openly supremacist. He regards humans as an inferior species and frequently measures their worth by whether they can serve his ambitions. His treatment of occupied villages is transactional: residents may live if they pay him, while anyone unable to meet his demands can be killed without hesitation.

He nevertheless recognizes useful human talent. Arlong values Nami’s cartographic ability and intends to use her maps to support a wider campaign of conquest. His willingness to employ her does not soften his prejudice; instead, he treats her as property and manipulates her attachment to Cocoyasi Village to ensure obedience.

Arlong maintains a degree of solidarity with fellow fish-men and speaks of his crew as brothers. That loyalty is selective and exists alongside a worldview shaped by humiliation, resentment, and inherited hatred. His experiences do not excuse his actions, particularly his deliberate murder of civilians and exploitation of children.

As a sawshark fish-man, Arlong possesses strength, endurance, and aquatic mobility far beyond those of an ordinary human. Like other fish-men, he becomes especially dangerous underwater. He can lift and throw large structures, survive severe blunt-force trauma, and use water itself as a projectile.

Arlong’s shark teeth can rapidly regrow, allowing him to remove sets of teeth and wield them as handheld weapons while replacements emerge. He can also bite with tremendous force. His charging attack uses his pointed nose as a weapon, and his saw-edged sword, Kiribachi, complements his aggressive close-range style.

His physical confidence sometimes becomes carelessness. Arlong assumes that human opponents cannot rival him, leaving him slow to recognize unusual resolve or strength. That arrogance proves costly against Monkey D. Luffy, whose attacks destroy both Arlong’s weapons and the symbolic center of his rule.

Arlong originally sails with the Sun Pirates under Fisher Tiger, carrying a fierce hatred of humans even while serving a captain who refuses to perpetuate indiscriminate revenge. After Tiger’s death and the crew’s eventual division, Arlong leads his own faction to the East Blue. Jinbei defeats him but later accepts his release as part of becoming one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

In the Conomi Islands, Arlong establishes a protection racket supported by corrupt Marines. He murders Bellemere when she cannot pay for herself and her daughters, then coerces Nami into becoming his cartographer. He promises that she may buy Cocoyasi Village for 100 million berries, but secretly arranges for Nezumi to confiscate her savings.

The betrayal destroys Nami’s belief that she can free the village alone. After she finally asks Luffy for help, the Straw Hats assault Arlong Park. Luffy defeats Arlong and demolishes the map room where Nami had been forced to work, ending the pirate’s occupation and allowing her to leave with the crew.

Fisher Tiger was Arlong’s captain in the Sun Pirates. Arlong admired his strength but rejected Fisher Tiger’s refusal to murder humans indiscriminately, interpreting restraint as weakness rather than moral conviction.

Jinbei was Arlong’s senior crewmate and later defeated him when Arlong attempted to leave with a violent faction. Jinbei’s subsequent decision to become a Warlord indirectly enabled Arlong’s release, creating guilt that Jinbei later acknowledges before Nami.

Nami is Arlong’s captive cartographer and one of his primary victims. He exploits her exceptional skill, her love for Cocoyasi Village, and her childhood desperation while never intending to honor their agreement. Bellemere, Nami’s adoptive mother, is murdered by Arlong for refusing to deny that Nami and Nojiko are her daughters.

Monkey D. Luffy rejects Arlong’s control over Nami and defeats him at Arlong Park. Nezumi protects Arlong’s operation in exchange for bribes, suppressing Marine intervention until the conspiracy collapses. Kuroobi, Chew, Hatchan, and Mohmoo serve as Arlong’s principal combatants.

Arlong is the older brother of Madam Shyarly, although their sibling relationship receives little direct exploration. Their radically different lives reflect the range of responses among fish-men and merfolk to the hostility between the surface world and Fish-Man Island.