Cipher Pol

Cipher Pol spreads its branches across the globe to investigate on the World Government's behalf, supplementing the Marines' intelligence arm while leaning toward counter-insurgency and political policing rather than ordinary crime fighting. Eight acknowledged units run from CP1 through CP8, and as a rule a higher number signals weightier assignments. Beyond them sit two hidden teams: CP9, which holds a license to kill any citizen who defies the government, and CP0, publicly known yet answerable directly to the World Nobles, making it the most powerful branch of all. The agencies also run sprawling spy networks, eavesdropping on Den Den Mushi traffic, a habit that figures like Morgans have exploited for hush money. Per Monkey D. Dragon, their influence keeps swelling.

To push past human limits, CP9 recruits are trained from childhood and must master the martial discipline known as Six Powers, a regimen that also conditions them to live solely as assassins. Rob Lucci emerged incapable of gratitude or mercy, while Kaku grieved abandoning his life as a shipwright yet never wavered in his duties. The same Six Powers techniques surface in other units too. The Five Elders have declared the Marines have no authority to meddle in Cipher Pol operations, and the agency may even remove naval personnel who endanger its missions. Its freedom is not absolute, however, as striking at one of the Emperors of the Sea without clearance from the upper echelons is forbidden, a rule meant to head off war.

The lesser units each carry their own history. CP5 failed both to seize Pluton's blueprints and to probe Vegapunk's forbidden research; CP6 once aided the Sea Train escort of Nico Robin and Franky, with agents Jerry and Jabari among its ranks; CP7's ace Wanze also joined that detail. CP8, led by Alpha, surveilled Jewelry Bonney in the Sorbet Kingdom before failing and vanishing on Egghead alongside CP5 and CP7. CP9, officially nonexistent, was routed by the Straw Hats at Enies Lobby, and its veterans were folded into CP0. The most storied faces, Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, and Stussy, operate through CP0, clashing with the crew from Water 7 and Dressrosa through Wano and the Egghead assault on Vegapunk, where Stussy's secret allegiance to the scientist turned the mission against her own colleagues.