User blog comment:DarkSkullPirates/Different Views/@comment-3119203-20121003040313

Good insight DSP. I think that this is easiest to see with Marines. For example, most people see Kizaru, Akainu, Aokiji, CP9, Sengoku, etc. as villains, but they are to the One Piece world as our nations' militaries are to our countries. Remember that Whitebeard ravaged peoples' lives and destroyed families as a pirate, so the Marines are putting an end to his attacks. Kizaru attacking the Straw Hats at Sabaody was the elimination of a crew that had destroyed a government facility and threw off the balance of world power (defeat of Crocodile). The CP9 is like the CIA in America; they conduct secret operations under the orders of the government for the benefit of the people. Granted, some of them are jerks, like Akainu (who killed his own men) and Lucci (who killed a few extra people on one of his missions), but the Marines and the CP9 as a whole are only trying to help.

Luffy is an interesting person. He is a pirate, but he is definitely not a bad guy (or at least not on purpose). Never once has Luffy plundered a city for profit, killed a guy, or destroyed a governmental organization with ill intentions. He is simply trying to look out for his crewmates, which is not something that is evil. Nami, who steals (or stole) on a regular basis, is more evil than he is. However, to the government's eyes, he is a troublemaker who delights in watching organized civilization burn. His friends, on the other hand, know that he doesn't even know what "civilization" means.

Overall, your point is entirely correct in my opinion. Who is good and who is bad is entirely who reader chooses to see as good or bad.