The past continues to be explored as Jimbei fills the Straw Hats in more about Fisher Tiger.

What They Say:
Jimbei shares how Fisher Tiger and his crew journeyed to Foolshout Island to take the former slave girl Koala home, and how it unintentionally led to Fisher Tiger’s tragic death.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With One Piece not being simulcast last week due to it being a One Piece x Toriko crossover episode, we get to 543 this week with that little bit of a gap behind us..Not that it seems like we may have missed much in a way as this episode picks up where 541 was with the new girl that arrived on the ship in the past under Fisher Tiger who saved her from a cruel death. A cruel death that Arlong most assuredly wants to give her. Things have gotten better for the girl considering what happened and where it was going to go, but it’s Jimbei that’s taking the most interest in her now in his own particular way. Koala for her part is definitely enjoying it even as she does massive amounts of work because there are also times of excitement, silliness and adventure for her to be a part of.

The time spent here does move forward after awhile since the main goal with Koala is to bring her back to her home island after what had happened to many of them before with Fisher Tiger. Of course, there is a wonderful little reunion that occurs when they get there and it shows off the family bonds that have surfaced well, but Arlong is still full of the anger even when this plays out. What makes him even worse though is the arrival of the Navy and he can’t help but believe that Koala drew them there so they could be ambushed. His blind nature to what’s going on in front of him is pretty strong but it’s something that through his force of personality he can use to rally people because his belief is strong.

The story here moves pretty quickly since a huge portion of it involves the quiet and happy times on the ship for most of the crew when it comes to Koala and their adventures before getting to her home island. When it moves past that, after the attack, it deals well with the fallout from it and what happens to Fisher Tiger. With Fisher Tiger hurt as badly as he is, we do see just how intense his own feelings can be about things as it delves into his past far more when he met with King Neptune and relayed what he saw of humanity up on the surface world. While we know he treated Koala right and had his reasons to do so, we also see that he’s able to hold two very different views of humanity because of what happened to him. It’s a great moment of intense dialogue from him that rounds him out even more while also making you sad that his arc is as short as it is.

In Summary:
With Fisher Tiger’s past influencing Arlong so much and Arlong such an early catalyst in the series itself that brought Nami to the group, it’s interesting to see how certain things do come full circle in a creative way after so many years. Fisher Tiger’s storyline is a good one here, though Koala feels like the weak link at times, but it all has a purpose and a point. With these pieces being laid out now and getting a better idea of the past, you can understand more of where Arlong was coming from at the start of the series and why that went like it did. Fisher Tiger himself is a lot of fun to watch here though, a good charismatic character that I do wish had gotten more screen time overall. Still, it’ll be good to get past the flashback side and into the main story again in the present.

Grade: B