Why do the High-ranking Marines defend the Celestial Dragons?
Some say the Marines were lowkey poorly handled since the start of One Piece but now they just don’t make any sense. How can anyone with good morals and 2 braincells stay in the Navy with all the atrocities the World Government commits. The Celestial Dragons are so blatantly evil that it doesn’t make sense that the Navy doesn’t oppose them in any way.
Like, Sengoku, your local good man, when he became an Admiral, was given a brief that at any point in time he has the duty to assist and protect Celestial Dragons in doing genocide or enslaving the people he swore to protect when asked to, oh and that they do genocide every 3 years so he should free his schedule every 3 years. And he’s still on the side of the Government?
Garp, your local free spirited good man, saw first hand the horrors of God Valley, and he let the Celestial Dragons be for 38 years? And he still has the audacity to be mad that his son became a Revolutionary that directly opposes the genociders?
Kuzan, your local lazy good man, witnessed the genocide of Ohara, got the same brief as Sengoku concerning his duties to the Celestial Dragons, and he leaves the Navy because of Akainu?
I think the point Oda is trying to make is that the World Government is a fascist regime that takes well meaning people who want to make a difference and turns them into tools of oppression.
If you’re a normal person in the world of One Piece, odds are you’ve never seen a Celestial Dragon in your life. You’ve heard they suck, but what rich noble doesn’t? Your real worry is pirates. The ones we follow in the series are nice enough, but there are plenty that prey upon innocents like yourself that you have no power against. Don Krieg, Arlong, the Emperors, the amount of evil pirates vastly outweighs the good.
So you decide to do something about it and join the only organization strong enough to fight back against the pirates and stand up for the little guy – the Marines. Who own the newspaper and so therefore you’ve only ever heard the best stories about.
I reckon the average Marine is also blissfully unaware of the true horrors of the Celestial Dragons. But as they rise through the ranks, they become exposed to more and more horrors. But by that point you’ve had military dogma beat into you through training. That you are the only thing standing between the innocents of the world and total destruction at the hands of pirates. So you either suck it up and tell yourself that permitting the Celestial Dragons to do the occasional atrocity is a better alternative than having hundreds of pirates committing even worse acts of violence, or you speak up about it and get your ass court martialed, imprisoned, or straight up murdered by Akainu.
This isn’t a stretch, it’s happened in real life many times before. Many people join real life fascist regimes because they want to do good, but propaganda and the threat of punishment take that good will and turn it to violence.
*by Rich_Company801/Steakbake01
