Marines

The World Government's ocean-going military, the Marines, oversee naval warfare and law enforcement at sea. Through many branch offices they reach across all the known seas, yet most of their strength gathers along the Grand Line, where their command post at Marine Headquarters lies. Counted among the Three Great Powers, they share that standing with the Warlords of the Sea, since replaced by the Seraphim, and with the Emperors who rule the New World.

Joining up follows loose rules. A hopeful seemingly just reports to a Marine Base and secures approval from a ranking officer, then is issued a unit, a rank, photo credentials, and an individual Marine Code. No limits apply for sex, homeland, or race; women fill many posts, and the force also takes on giants and Longarm Tribe members. Enlistment is not always willing, though: Mother Carmel sold trafficked orphans to the government for Marine training, and certain pirates like Vergo worked their way in without being caught.

Their purpose is to keep the world in order and impose the World Government's authority, chiefly by chasing pirates and hauling criminals before justice. Ceaseless patrols cover the seas; they hand bounties to hunters yet hunt on their own account too, and they escort the captured to jail or the execution block. The load grows heavier at the top, where admirals and the fleet admiral must march the forces to war, guard the World Nobles, and call a Buster Call as needed, while vice admirals staff the admirals' vessels and follow orders to the letter. The Five Elders may be approached only by rear admirals and up, and any lesser Marine who lays eyes on them faces death.

No power in the world equals theirs. For Portgas D. Ace's execution about one hundred thousand infantry assembled with fifty battleships, and garrisons everywhere else stayed large. A Marine may go bare-handed or carry whatever arm suits them, and a few command formidable Devil Fruits. Reinforcing them are giants, the Kuma-based Pacifista machines, and formerly the Warlords, whose role passed to the SSG and its Seraphim. Their deadliest strike is the Buster Call, in which ten warships under five vice admirals can wipe an island off the map.

The fleet admiral holds top command, a chair filled today by Sakazuki and before him by Sengoku and Kong. Under them come the admirals and a lengthy list of famed officers. Two of the strongest Marines in history once wore the uniform, both since retired: the former fleet admiral Sengoku and Monkey D. Garp, once a vice admiral. Nine known giants also serve, Vice Admiral John Giant among them, alongside names such as Tsuru, Hina, Momonga, Koby, and Donquixote Rosinante.

Their exact origins go unrecorded, but Marineford has served as their bastion of justice for centuries. A hundred years ago they seized four of the Giant Warrior Pirates and readied their execution, until the underworld broker Carmel stepped in to spare the giants; the deal let Carmel peddle children of all races to the Marines and Cipher Pol, and inside thirty-seven years John Giant enlisted as the first giant to do so. That alliance with Carmel closed when she disappeared sixty-two years back.