World Government

The World Government (世界政府, Sekai Seifu) is a political organization, and the central antagonists of the One Piece franchise.

About the World Government
Look at that symbol, Pirates-!!! That mark represents the unity of over 170 nations... In the four seas and the Grand Line...!!! This is the World!!! —Part of Spandam's speech on what the World Government is.

The World Government is affiliated with roughly 170 countries from around the world. Those member countries retain autonomy, that is to say, the countries run their own internal affairs (though the World Government does sometimes meddle), but cooperate with the World Government for massive international relations. Their political ideals are unknown and everything they do is considered to be right. Not everyone approves of their political ideals as there are people like Dragon who are against it. They approve of Absolute Justice and reside in the holy land of Mariejois, ruled by the Gorousei, the highest authority of the world. They seem afraid of losing power and the World Government depends on the 3 Great Powers to keep the world from falling apart.

At first glance, the World Government seems to maintain a worldly order that benefits all, making the world safe for the sake of everyone. Using the Marines, they pursue criminals endangering the lives of those who are innocent, protecting the people of each country in the world. The World Government is the largest World Power maintaining full rights to halt or encourage any political action without question or opposition from any side.

The reality though is that, unknown to most citizens (and many world leaders), the World Government's actions are secretly, and often, based on corruption or questionable motives. Often when the storyline involves them, it shows them hiding the truth or ignoring the rights of the people with many individuals using Justice to further their own aims. Individuals who become the enemies of the World Government are ruthlessly hunted down and dealt with and all those who walk along the same path as them are doomed to share the World Government's fury.

The World Government's power to release information on anyone as they please can often led to the truth being hidden, altered or ignored all together. Any countries attempting to protect or harbor criminals are at risk from the World Government, although what would happen exactly has not been addressed yet. For the most part, the important role they have in maintaining world stability far outweighs the corruption they often display though this is changing as more people are beginning to question whether what the World Government is doing is right.

Much of Government appears to be centered around paranoia, as they appear to divide power very carefully. However, this paranoia, though strong, can be bypassed, as seen when Spandam manipulated the Goursei. Also, judging by what King Wapol said that changing the governing form of Drum Island would provoke the government, it would seem that there are very particular expectations that must be lived up to form governors or kings.

The World Government can be described as totalitarian to a certain extent, as they often will make excessive efforts to ensure that they remain in power, including the elimination of any source of power that could be dubbed greater than their own.

Culture
The World Government has a religious and holy theme. Mariejois was called the 'holy land', the place where the Gorousei resides was called the sanctuary, the World Nobles have the word "Saint" in front of their names. Impel Down appears to be based on the Hell in Dante's  Dvine Comedy , which is Catholic canon.

Void Century
800 years ago, an ancient alliance was formed by the kings of Twenty Kingdoms, who used their combined power to overthrow the Ancient Kingdom. After that, they banned research on the Phonegyph and set their headquarters in Mariejois.

Age of the Pirates
In 1500 AOS, Pirate King Gol D. Roger turns himself in to the World Government though they claim to have captured him and execute him before the public. His death however sparked the Great Pirate Age.

Buster Call
In 1502 AOS, the World Government sent the Buster Call to wipe out the Ohara. They accused the scholars of trying to recover the Ancient Weapon and spread lies around the world when in reality; they never cared about it. Nico Robin was the only survivor of Ohara and was hated by the brainwashed world, who believed that she would kill them all. Nico Robin grew up hating the World Government and is determined to find out what happened during the missing 100 years.

Lucci's Mission
15 years ago, there was a small unnamed kingdom that was captured by pirates. 500 royal guards were held hostage in an attempt to force the king to make the pirate captain the new king. The World Government sent a 13-year old boy to the kingdom. The boy in turn killed the 500 royal guards for showing weakness before killing the pirate captain and taking his head.

Spandam's Conspiracy
12 years ago, Spandam manipulated the Gorousei to change their mind about preventing the Ancient Weapons from being recovered and to allow him to revive the weapon. However Spandam's plot is really to overthrow the Government and rule the world himself.

Dragon
6 years ago, Monkey D. Dragon started to stir up rebellion against the Government. The Council of the Kings took place in this time to discuss about his actions.

Captain Morgan Arc
The Marines let Luffy and Zoro free to show gratitude for bringing down Morgan and let Coby join the Marines.

Don Krieg Arc
Marine Lt. Fullbody is Assaulted by Sanji after he put's a fly in the soup Sanji made, he then flees when the prisoner he captured escapes his ship.

After that Royal Shichibukai Dracule Mihawk was the initial reason Don Krieg arrived at the Baratie. He Defeats Roronoa Zoro and Destroys Krieg's Ship.

Arlong Arc
After Luffy defeated Arlong the World Government considered him a threat and put a bounty of 30,000,000 Beli on Luffy. This was really because Nezumi [who the crew beat up] was mad at him so he "warned" the WG about his defeat of Arlong.

Loguetown Arc
The Straw Hats escape from Smoker and Tashigi while Luffy is saved by Dragon. Smoker decides to chase after Luffy and his crew with Tashigi.

Little Garden Arc
The Straw Hat Pirates meet the bounty head giants Dorry and Brogy totaling of 200,000,000 Beli.

Drum Arc
When Monkey D. Luffy gained the upper hand in the fight against Wapol, the latter warned Luffy that if he defeats him, the World Government will not tolerate it. Luffy, however took no notice of his fearful babbling, and knocked him out of Drum Kingdom.

Arabasta Arc
After the Arabasta incident, the World Government acted swiftly to cover up the fact that Crocodile had in fact been defeated by a pirate, Monkey D. Luffy. The credit was given to Captain Smoker, along with a promotion and a medal. Smoker, knowing the truth, disapproved. Crocodile was stripped of his title and imprisoned. The Government seemed to take the defeat of a Shichibukai very seriously as the Marines raised Luffy's bounty to 100,000,000 Beli and gave Roronoa Zoro a bounty of 60,000,000 Beli, despite the fact that they had actually done the Government a favor, though without the intention.

Jaya Arc
The World Government became greatly alerted when they heard the news that Shanks was planning to meet Whitebeard, fearing a combined power would become a bigger threat and ordered the Marines to prevent them from meeting each other. Meanwhile there was a meeting of the Shichibukai to discuss Crocodile's replacement. Kuma, Doflamingo and later Mihawk showed up, Laffite made an appearance to nominate Blackbeard to become a new Shichibukai.

Longring Longland Island Arc
At the Marine HQ, the Marines were panicking about Aokiji being gone and contacted the Gorousei. The Gorousei were not happy with Aokiji's rash behavior and labeled him one of the strongest men in the Marines and remarked that he needed to be careful with his rank.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc
After their massive and spectacular failure at Enies Lobby, the Government deemed the Straw Hats a serious threat, raising the bounties of the entire Straw Hat crew, and released a heavily altered version of the events to the public, blaming the Straw Hats for destroying the island, which had actually been done by the Marines' Buster Call. after the arc luffy's bounty was raised to 300,000,000 Beli, and Zoro's bounty was raised to 120,000,000 Beli.

Thriller Bark Arc
After the Banaro Incident, Blackbeard became an official Shichibukai.

Gecko Moria, one of the Shichibukai ruled the island on his ship, Thriller Bark. The Government were aware that the Straw Hat Pirates were heading to Fishman Island and Thriller Bark would be in the way. After Moria was defeated, the Government was afraid that the news of Moria's defeat would cause another global uproar and therefore ordered Kuma to kill everyone on Thriller Bark. Even with Moria defeated, they hoped that he would still be able to keep his position.

Sabaody Archipelago Arc
Following Luffy's attack on a Tenryuubito, they dispatch Admiral Kizaru to deal with them.

Security Forces
A large government wouldn't function without some forces that establish law and order. The Security Forces consist of the following groups:
 * Law Enforcement
 * Agents
 * Marines
 * Police

Government Members
All over the world there are over 170 countries that are members of the World Government. Within their own territory all these members have their own sovereign government that rules over its people. However in the large World Government itself those leaders are treated as equals and each have a seat within it.

Among these member countries, not all are of the same kind. Some are really large countries with kings as their leaders, while others are simply big cities that are governed by mayors.

Kingdoms

 * Arabasta
 * Ilusia
 * Drum

Cities

 * Water 7

The Three Great Powers
The Three Powers are the Marines, the Shichibukai, and the Yonkou.

The Three Great Powers (三大勢力, San Dai Seiryoku) are the three greatest military forces on the oceans, and their relations are very vital to the World Government. The Three Powers exist in a delicate balance, not all the details of which are known. It is however known that only the other two organizations are equivalent to the Yonkou. Considering that these organizations are stated to be a balance and the fact that the loss of Crocodile threatened said balance, it is likely the marines and Shichibukai together are needed to hold the Yonkou in check.

The Gorousei fear that if this balance gets disrupted, the world itself could fall apart, and the balance itself appears to be very fragile as the lose of even one key member (such as a Shichibukai) can throw off the balance. This is why the defeat of Crocodile was so distressing to them, the loss of such a powerful ally in such a public manner tips the balance away from the Shichibukai and in turn the Marines, leaving them with less force to counter the threat of the Yonkou and making people question their power. One additional worry is that only the Marines are fully under the control of the World Government. The Shichibukai often follow orders on a whim if at all and the Yonkou are entirely outside of the World Government's control.

Recently the Shichibukai have entered war with the Whitebeard Pirates, this being the first known instance where any of the powers go into full-out conflict with one another. When Kaidou tried to attack Whitebeard, Shanks intercepted him, causing a dispute between Yonkou.