Marines

The Marines are the World Government's military sea force, tasked with law enforcement, international security and military operations. The Marines are one of the three great powers, alongside the Shichibukai and the Yonko.

They are present in all the seas around the world, as evidenced by their branch offices. The focus of their assets is on the far more dangerous Grand Line.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Marineford,their troops is 1 Million and the Marine Headquarters has since been relocated to the New World.

Duties
The duty of the Marines is to maintain a law and order throughout the world and impose the will and might of the World Government. They are therefore considered the key strategic development force in the World Government and are expected to obey its orders at will. Sometimes these orders are questionable, however they are expected to carry them out regardless of opinion. Amongst their duties is awarding bounty hunters the bounties on the heads of a criminal. They tolerate bounty hunters as a method of making their job easier but are known to go out bounty hunting themselves. Apprehended criminals who are brought in alive are handed over to be made an example of, the Marines are left to ensuring the exportation of these criminals to prison and/or to their execution.

Marines often work in pairs with one superior officer and a second in command or a subordinate who is of a lower rank. These partnerships may remain even during promotions with both pairs advancing in rank together. In the pair the higher ranked officer will give the orders to those under their command, while the other acts as an adviser or information gatherer while ensuring their partners command is undertaken by the men.

Higher ranked Marines (admirals and the fleet admiral) are expected to be on call to lead the Marine forces into war. This may take form of apprehending many criminals at once, protecting the World Nobles or calling a Buster Call to tackle a situation. Vice admirals are the ones who serve on the ships that the admirals call out and are tasked with carrying out the admirals orders exactly.

The main purpose of the Marines remain footed in the idea of bringing justice to any criminal. They use justice as their constituted policy to manage a world that is made entirely of one ocean much easier. However, the main problem within the Marines is the approach to Justice. They are generally divided between those who support Moral Justice and those who support Absolute Justice with the latter being the code of conduct for the Marines as a central doctrine. Nevertheless, there is little worry from the higher ranked Marines as to how the Justice is carried out so long as it is, leading those who truly support absolute justice to make questionable actions in carrying out their duties.

The Marines are also aided by the Shichibukai in terms of maintaining the "Three Great Powers", and as such, are expected to cooperate when necessary. Despite this, several Marines, such as Aokiji, Akainu, Smoker, Sengoku, Kizaru, and Issho think of the Shichibukai as no more than pirates. In turn, the Shichibukai have no obligations to obey the Marines unless under the direct orders of the World Government itself.

One of the most questionable parts of their "Justice" is when it comes to slavery. Despite the practice supposedly being abolished years before, it is often shown that they just look the other way. Especially when it comes to the World Nobles' slaves, where it is even seen as a crime to free said slaves even if the person is merely a child. Often they are tasked to find and retrieve the person to be a slave once again.

The New Age
Thanks to Blackbeard and the death of Whitebeard, a new age has begun upon the world and the "Age of Pirates" that Roger established has ended. Thus began a new time for Marines as well. With the greatest Marines Sengoku and Garp resigning, a power vacuum for the position of fleet admiral occurred. Despite Sengoku's recommendation for Aokiji to take his position, the other higher echelons wanted Akainu to become fleet admiral. The two admirals commenced a ten day battle on the