The following article contains spoilers for One Piece.
As One Piece advancing to the Final Saga, fans are as hyped as ever to find out if Luffy will be able to fulfill his dream of becoming the Pirate King and his crew will find One Piece tax. With the latest developments, we learned more about the new world and its ruling class. But as the story reveals more about the World Nobles, it seems increasingly clear that the government and many Marine officials are not of the same mind.
The Marines are initially introduced as major antagonists, although there are many officers who are good people trying to protect others. While fans have always believed that some members of the navy would eventually rebel, the final arc would benefit greatly from high-ranking officials betraying the government or at least organizing some sort of rebellion against the nobles. Let's delve more into the relationship between the Navy and the government in the series.
World government in one piece
In the series' universe, the world is mostly ruled by the World Government, a federation of over 170 nations. But most people live on islands scattered all over the Blue Sea. The World Government is an aristocratic oligarchy led by the World Nobles, also called Sky Dragons. Among the World Nobles are the Five Elders, a council of the five highest-ranking authorities.
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The World Government aims to maintain peace and order around the world. Although composed of affiliated nations, it exercises power as if it ruled the entire world through many layers of governance. In addition to the five elders, many decisions are made during Levely's council meetings. Like any other government, the World Government also relies on judicial, police and military institutions to maintain order, with the Marines being one of them.
Presumably there is no single king ruling the government, and the empty throne would represent that. But in reality, the throne is occupied by Imu, the secret ruler of the world.
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Pirates as symbols of discontent
Technically, pirates are criminals who primarily raid ships and locations across the Blue Sea. They usually act in groups (called herds), and there are usually high rewards for those who catch them. Although often seen as greedy and ruthless, i One Piece, we see many pirates who are actually good and adventurous people looking for treasure, like the Straw Hat Crew.
As the story progressed and the manga began to delve deeper into the politics of this universe, it became clear that the “good pirates” often oppose the world government. There are even organizations that aim to overthrow the government, such as the Revolutionary Army, but not all pirates who oppose the status quo necessarily have any intentions of joining revolutionary movements.
Navy's role in maintaining the status quo
The Marines, or Navy, is the institution that “controls the sea” through law enforcement and naval warfare. They act as a mixture of both a police and a military force (as the military is not usually responsible for general law enforcement). It is part of the larger structure that the government uses to maintain its control, but it is the primary military force. The government also controls the Seraphim, the Cipher Pol, and, ostensibly, the Holy Knights. In addition, they also used to have relations with the Seven Warlords, a group of powerful pirates who were granted immunity in exchange for providing services to the government upon request. Here is the structure that the government officially controls:
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Marines: primary military force;
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Cipher Pol: intelligence and police organization;
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Seraphim: the government's ultimate cyborg weapon (they replaced the Seven Warlords);
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Holy Knights (in the shadows).
After the Summit Wars, the Marines moved their headquarters to a base in New Marineford, in the New World (it used to be in Marineford, in the Paradise region), but they have branches and bases scattered around the world, as expected of any military organization. They were introduced as major antagonists, but the series slowly shifted its focus to detailing the entire structure that governs the marines, even though they are still antagonists.
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While claiming to fight for justice and peace, the Navy often takes questionable actions and resorts to unnecessary violence. Many high-ranking officers are corrupt and evil, and they can even give orders that their subordinates follow despite not agreeing with them (since the hierarchical structure does not allow disobedience, even if they are “wrong orders”). For this reason, many fans have speculated that the “good officers” will eventually rebel against the institution and the government. Some, like Monkey D. Dragon, have already done so.
Is a mutiny within the fleet even possible?
As mentioned, a naval uprising is not only possible but expected. The Revolutionary Army is proof that many are dissatisfied with the institution, which many of them joined to help people and not to protect corruption. Some fans even speculate that most admirals will at least refuse to fight Luffy, even if they don't explicitly join any rebellious movement within the forces – Fujitora is specifically mentioned by fans as someone with high potential to turn against the government.
In fact, given how much the series has introduced new concepts and powers to show that the nobles of the New World are far more powerful than anything we've ever seen before, it could also serve as a set-up for the rebellion. At the beginning of the series, the Marines were the main antagonists. Now, since there are stronger adversaries, a rebellion within the navy officials would make the plot even more interesting, as admirals would also be fighting against the authorities above them. Also, SWORD, a group of officers officially leaving the Navy but still operating under its name, is a clear sign that a rebellion may be coming. Still, it would be a bit of a disappointment if every admiral switched sides – we still need some excitement in the front line of the government. After the last war, Koby was even able to lead the new fleet.
You can't just blame your fate on other people all the time and expect them to solve everything. That's a sign of weakness, don't you think?
Nevertheless, let us remember that even the revolutionary army does not seek the end of the government itself, but the end of the world nobles who control it. Therefore, it is quite likely that at the end of the series the leadership structure will not change much, but a new, and better, government will emerge (perhaps a less centralized one?). In any case, a naval mutiny or some sort of internal division into factions (one against the government and one protecting it) would be a good addition to the Final Saga.
- Release date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Author
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
