Live-Action TV
Description
Arlong, known as Arlong the Saw, is a sawshark fish-man who serves as the primary antagonist of the Arlong Park Arc. As a former member of the Sun Pirates, he later became the captain of his own Arlong Pirates, establishing a reign of terror over multiple villages in the East Blue. His notoriety was reflected in his bounty of 20,000,000 berries, which was the highest in the East Blue at the time of his appearance.
Arlong is a large, muscular fish-man with light blue skin, standing 263 centimeters tall. His most distinctive physical feature is his long, saw-like nose, which he uses as a natural weapon. He has long black hair tied at the back of his neck, sharp teeth that can be removed and regrown, and gills on his neck that allow him to breathe underwater. His body bears two significant tattoos: the Sun Pirates emblem on his left chest, representing his former crew, and his own crew's mark on his left forearm. His characteristic laugh is "Shahahahaha," a trait shared with many prominent characters in the series.
The core of Arlong's personality is his extreme racism toward humans, whom he considers inferior beings. He believes that fish-men are naturally superior to humans and that opposing them is akin to defying natural law. This belief manifests in ruthless cruelty, as he feels nothing about killing humans or destroying entire villages. He is also intensely greedy, believing that money is the most reliable thing in the world, and he prefers to control people through financial manipulation and exploitative deals. Despite his cruelty toward humans, Arlong shows genuine care and loyalty toward his fellow fish-men crew members, considering them his brothers. He becomes furious when any of his crew are harmed, demonstrating a protective nature that mirrors the crew loyalty seen in the series' protagonists.
Arlong's backstory reveals the roots of his hatred. He was abandoned by his parents in the Fishman District of Fish-Man Island, growing up in poverty and witnessing the discrimination and suffering inflicted upon fish-men and merfolk by humans. As a young man, he served as a soldier of the Ryugu Kingdom but left after being reprimanded by Jinbe. He eventually joined the Sun Pirates under the legendary Fisher Tiger, a fish-man who had liberated slaves from the World Government. During this time, Arlong fought alongside figures like Jinbe, though he was already more radical than his captain, advocating for killing humans rather than merely opposing their oppression. When Fisher Tiger was betrayed by humans and died refusing a human blood transfusion, Arlong's hatred crystallized. He lied to the Marines about the circumstances of Tiger's death to preserve his captain's honor, but he could not accept Tiger's final wish for peaceful coexistence with humans. Following Tiger's death and Jinbe's subsequent appointment as a Warlord of the Sea, Arlong broke away from the Sun Pirates, taking loyal followers with him to reform the Arlong Pirates and pursue his vendetta against humanity in the East Blue.
In his role within the story, Arlong establishes his base, Arlong Park, on the island of Cocoyasi Village after dismantling his original galleon to build an eight-story headquarters. He proceeds to extort money from the residents of Cocoyasi and surrounding villages, demanding one hundred thousand berries for adults and fifty thousand for children under threat of execution. When Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere, could only pay for her two daughters, Arlong shot her dead in front of the children as an example of disobedience. Recognizing Nami's exceptional talent as a cartographer, he kidnapped her and forced her to join his crew, promising to free her village if she could accumulate one hundred million berries. For eight years, he used Nami's maps to chart underwater terrain, planning to conquer all of East Blue using his crew's superior underwater abilities. He also corrupted a Marine captain named Nezumi, paying him to turn a blind eye to his activities and ensuring that Nami's savings could be confiscated just as she was about to buy her village's freedom.
Arlong's key relationships define much of his character. His relationship with Nami is central to his arc; he views her as a valuable tool rather than a person, acknowledging her talent while refusing to see her as an equal. Despite claiming to respect her as a crewmate and celebrating her returns to Arlong Park, he kept her imprisoned in a tower and consistently manipulated her through the false promise of freedom. His relationship with Jinbe is complex; they were once comrades in the Sun Pirates, but Arlong despises Jinbe for becoming a government-aligned Warlord, which he considers a betrayal of Fisher Tiger's memory. Jinbe later admitted that freeing Arlong as part of his Warlord agreement was a mistake, as it allowed Arlong to terrorize the East Blue. Fisher Tiger remains a formative influence; Arlong viewed him as a hero and older brother, but his death pushed Arlong further into extremism. His half-sister, Madame Shyarly, is a notable family connection, though she did not share his violent ambitions. Arlong's crew, including Hachi, Kuroobi, and Chew, remain loyal to him, sharing his ideology and following him from the Grand Line to the East Blue.
Character development in Arlong is presented largely through the revelation of his backstory rather than through change during the present narrative. He represents what happens when legitimate grievances against oppression curdle into pure, genocidal hatred. His childhood experiences with human cruelty and the trauma of Fisher Tiger's death transformed him from a being capable of coexisting with humans into a monster who perpetuates the same cycle of oppression he once suffered. The story uses Arlong to illustrate that racial supremacy and exploitation, regardless of which group practices them, are fundamentally wrong. Notably, his legacy continues through characters like Hody Jones, who was raised in the Fishman District listening to Arlong's teachings about human inferiority and who takes Arlong's ideology to even more extreme, nihilistic lengths.
In terms of abilities, Arlong is an exceptionally powerful combatant. As a fish-man, his physical strength vastly exceeds that of a normal human, allowing him to lift entire houses with his bare hands and endure attacks that would fell ordinary opponents. His sawshark heritage grants him several unique abilities. His teeth can be removed and used as handheld weapons, and when broken, they regenerate almost instantly, with each new set supposedly stronger than the previous one. His saw-like nose is strong enough to parry sword strikes and is used as a piercing weapon in his Shark on Darts technique, where he propels himself like a torpedo at his opponents. He wields a massive serrated sword called Kiribachi, which he uses to devastating effect. Underwater, his combat abilities increase dramatically, as water is the natural environment for fish-men, granting them even greater speed and strength. He can also fire compressed water droplets from his hands with the force of shotgun blasts. His durability is considerable; he withstood multiple attacks from Monkey D. Luffy during their battle, and his nose was famously claimed to be unbreakable.
Arlong's defeat comes at the hands of Monkey D. Luffy, who responds to Nami's desperate plea for help. After his crew defeats Arlong's officers, Luffy engages the fish-man captain in a prolonged battle that seems to favor Arlong, particularly after Arlong throws Luffy into the ocean, exploiting his Devil Fruit weakness. The tide turns when the battle moves into the room where Nami was forced to draw maps for eight years. Enraged by the visible suffering imbued in that space, Luffy unleashes his Gomu Gomu no Axe technique, destroying both Arlong Park and Arlong's cartilaginous spine. Arlong is defeated and subsequently arrested by the Marines, though his legacy of hatred continues to affect the world. He remains imprisoned, having learned that Jinbe eventually joined the Straw Hat Pirates, a development that he views with disgust. Arlong stands as one of the earliest examples of the series' recurring theme that oppression and racial hatred poison both the oppressed and the oppressor, creating cycles of violence that must be broken through understanding and compassion rather than revenge.
Arlong is a large, muscular fish-man with light blue skin, standing 263 centimeters tall. His most distinctive physical feature is his long, saw-like nose, which he uses as a natural weapon. He has long black hair tied at the back of his neck, sharp teeth that can be removed and regrown, and gills on his neck that allow him to breathe underwater. His body bears two significant tattoos: the Sun Pirates emblem on his left chest, representing his former crew, and his own crew's mark on his left forearm. His characteristic laugh is "Shahahahaha," a trait shared with many prominent characters in the series.
The core of Arlong's personality is his extreme racism toward humans, whom he considers inferior beings. He believes that fish-men are naturally superior to humans and that opposing them is akin to defying natural law. This belief manifests in ruthless cruelty, as he feels nothing about killing humans or destroying entire villages. He is also intensely greedy, believing that money is the most reliable thing in the world, and he prefers to control people through financial manipulation and exploitative deals. Despite his cruelty toward humans, Arlong shows genuine care and loyalty toward his fellow fish-men crew members, considering them his brothers. He becomes furious when any of his crew are harmed, demonstrating a protective nature that mirrors the crew loyalty seen in the series' protagonists.
Arlong's backstory reveals the roots of his hatred. He was abandoned by his parents in the Fishman District of Fish-Man Island, growing up in poverty and witnessing the discrimination and suffering inflicted upon fish-men and merfolk by humans. As a young man, he served as a soldier of the Ryugu Kingdom but left after being reprimanded by Jinbe. He eventually joined the Sun Pirates under the legendary Fisher Tiger, a fish-man who had liberated slaves from the World Government. During this time, Arlong fought alongside figures like Jinbe, though he was already more radical than his captain, advocating for killing humans rather than merely opposing their oppression. When Fisher Tiger was betrayed by humans and died refusing a human blood transfusion, Arlong's hatred crystallized. He lied to the Marines about the circumstances of Tiger's death to preserve his captain's honor, but he could not accept Tiger's final wish for peaceful coexistence with humans. Following Tiger's death and Jinbe's subsequent appointment as a Warlord of the Sea, Arlong broke away from the Sun Pirates, taking loyal followers with him to reform the Arlong Pirates and pursue his vendetta against humanity in the East Blue.
In his role within the story, Arlong establishes his base, Arlong Park, on the island of Cocoyasi Village after dismantling his original galleon to build an eight-story headquarters. He proceeds to extort money from the residents of Cocoyasi and surrounding villages, demanding one hundred thousand berries for adults and fifty thousand for children under threat of execution. When Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere, could only pay for her two daughters, Arlong shot her dead in front of the children as an example of disobedience. Recognizing Nami's exceptional talent as a cartographer, he kidnapped her and forced her to join his crew, promising to free her village if she could accumulate one hundred million berries. For eight years, he used Nami's maps to chart underwater terrain, planning to conquer all of East Blue using his crew's superior underwater abilities. He also corrupted a Marine captain named Nezumi, paying him to turn a blind eye to his activities and ensuring that Nami's savings could be confiscated just as she was about to buy her village's freedom.
Arlong's key relationships define much of his character. His relationship with Nami is central to his arc; he views her as a valuable tool rather than a person, acknowledging her talent while refusing to see her as an equal. Despite claiming to respect her as a crewmate and celebrating her returns to Arlong Park, he kept her imprisoned in a tower and consistently manipulated her through the false promise of freedom. His relationship with Jinbe is complex; they were once comrades in the Sun Pirates, but Arlong despises Jinbe for becoming a government-aligned Warlord, which he considers a betrayal of Fisher Tiger's memory. Jinbe later admitted that freeing Arlong as part of his Warlord agreement was a mistake, as it allowed Arlong to terrorize the East Blue. Fisher Tiger remains a formative influence; Arlong viewed him as a hero and older brother, but his death pushed Arlong further into extremism. His half-sister, Madame Shyarly, is a notable family connection, though she did not share his violent ambitions. Arlong's crew, including Hachi, Kuroobi, and Chew, remain loyal to him, sharing his ideology and following him from the Grand Line to the East Blue.
Character development in Arlong is presented largely through the revelation of his backstory rather than through change during the present narrative. He represents what happens when legitimate grievances against oppression curdle into pure, genocidal hatred. His childhood experiences with human cruelty and the trauma of Fisher Tiger's death transformed him from a being capable of coexisting with humans into a monster who perpetuates the same cycle of oppression he once suffered. The story uses Arlong to illustrate that racial supremacy and exploitation, regardless of which group practices them, are fundamentally wrong. Notably, his legacy continues through characters like Hody Jones, who was raised in the Fishman District listening to Arlong's teachings about human inferiority and who takes Arlong's ideology to even more extreme, nihilistic lengths.
In terms of abilities, Arlong is an exceptionally powerful combatant. As a fish-man, his physical strength vastly exceeds that of a normal human, allowing him to lift entire houses with his bare hands and endure attacks that would fell ordinary opponents. His sawshark heritage grants him several unique abilities. His teeth can be removed and used as handheld weapons, and when broken, they regenerate almost instantly, with each new set supposedly stronger than the previous one. His saw-like nose is strong enough to parry sword strikes and is used as a piercing weapon in his Shark on Darts technique, where he propels himself like a torpedo at his opponents. He wields a massive serrated sword called Kiribachi, which he uses to devastating effect. Underwater, his combat abilities increase dramatically, as water is the natural environment for fish-men, granting them even greater speed and strength. He can also fire compressed water droplets from his hands with the force of shotgun blasts. His durability is considerable; he withstood multiple attacks from Monkey D. Luffy during their battle, and his nose was famously claimed to be unbreakable.
Arlong's defeat comes at the hands of Monkey D. Luffy, who responds to Nami's desperate plea for help. After his crew defeats Arlong's officers, Luffy engages the fish-man captain in a prolonged battle that seems to favor Arlong, particularly after Arlong throws Luffy into the ocean, exploiting his Devil Fruit weakness. The tide turns when the battle moves into the room where Nami was forced to draw maps for eight years. Enraged by the visible suffering imbued in that space, Luffy unleashes his Gomu Gomu no Axe technique, destroying both Arlong Park and Arlong's cartilaginous spine. Arlong is defeated and subsequently arrested by the Marines, though his legacy of hatred continues to affect the world. He remains imprisoned, having learned that Jinbe eventually joined the Straw Hat Pirates, a development that he views with disgust. Arlong stands as one of the earliest examples of the series' recurring theme that oppression and racial hatred poison both the oppressed and the oppressor, creating cycles of violence that must be broken through understanding and compassion rather than revenge.