The biggest and most powerful military in the world is none other than the Marines. They take on criminals of all types in all oceans of the world from normal thugs to the revolutionaries to the emperors to ragtag pirates to even nations themselves. In a military that operates on a global scale, who's overall might is truly unmatched there is bound to be some internal conflict. And we are going to look at one such conflict that is about to happen within the marines and the key players regarding the conflict.
Situation Background
The farthest we can go back so far with the Marines (in detail) is the Rocks era, where Vice-Admiral Garp teamed up with the soon-to-be Pirate King Gold Roger to take disband the strongest pirate crew in the world. Over the course of time Garp & Sengoku would rise up to be the leading fighters of the Marines for that era in parallel to the rise of Roger & Whitebeard. During this time the marines were headed by the current Commander-In-Chief of the World Government, Kong. Now some years after Roger's execution it slowly became Whitebeard's era where he would come to be recognized as the "Ruler of the Seas", and in parrallel to rise of Whitebeard as the top pirate on the seas the Marines would also go through a change of Sengoku The Buddha becoming the Fleet Admiral.
In both of these eras there is no internal marine conflict that we know. However, after the War of the Best when Sengoku decided to resign as the fleet admiral so the younger youth can implement their forms of justice, we got to see the 1st known internal marine conflict. The Blue Pheasant vs The Red Dog, a world renowned clash between 2 of the top forces of the World Government. The clash being centered around Kuzan not wanting Sakazuki to become the Fleet Admiral, and Sakazuki's own ambition of becoming the Fleet Admiral. The winner of this clash was none other than The Red Dog.
After The Red Dog takes over the marines, he lead them through a drastic change:
-> They move their headquarters to the New World
-> The Marines are then granted the power to commence the first ever World Military Draft.
-> During the Draft the Marines are able to bring in powerful warriors, 2 of them presumably being the newest admirals (their prior relation to the Marines is completely unknown).
-> After the Draft the Marines were recognized by the world as being FAR more powerful than they ever were in the past.
-> The Marines are working on something that will be replacing the combined force of Dracule Mihawk/ Weevil/Hancock/Doflamingo/Law/Buggy/etc etc. Thanks to it's special science unit.
In conclusion, under the leadership of Fleet Admiral Sakazuki the marines are by far at their most powerful that they have ever been in it's entire history, due to the world military draft which got them 2 top tiers + unknown number of other strong individuals that we haven't been introduced to yet, and also because of the technological advancements made by the marines' science division headed by Dr. Vegapunk. Unlike the times under Sengoku where they were reserved, they are now driven by an ambitious Fleet Admiral, as well as ambitious admirals.
Sakazuki:
Sakazuki since his intro has been portrayed as the "extremist" soldier who will do anything he can to make sure the "justice" defined by his government is held in place. This goes well with his alias of "The Red Dog", as he is the most loyal "dog" of the World Government and it's ideology of Absolute Justice. But he also isn't a fully evil individual that wants to take over the world and rule it like a king (rather he respects the decisions made by the kings at the Reverie). In fact he also values comrades, as he let Kuzan live because of the fact they served in the marines together.. however, he doesn't value somebody who stands against the marines and stops him from hunting down pirates.. or somebody who will show cowardice in front of pirates as a marine.
Fujitora:
Fujitora's initial introduction gave the impression he's meant to be a wise-old man type of a figure in the Marines, simply because of the fact he looks much older than everybody else his age, along with the way he carries himself. But he's younger than Borsalino and Sakazuki. His ambition is only matched in the marines by Sakazuki himself. According to the implications made in Oda's sbs he holds an "anti-WG" mentality. He is also friends with the likes of Chaton (another powerful marine introduced post-TS). He also is a highly respected marine and somebody who is willing to listen to his underlings to great extent and then take action on it. Whether he has a past with the marines that goes before the World Military Draft is unknown. Just like his aliases, "The Purple Tiger", he is fierce when it comes to achieving his goals.
The marines now stand at their apex in strength and drive to take down the criminals of the world. However, in these very same Marines there is an internal conflict that is slowly brewing and it is the eventual clash between the two biggest entities of the Marines: The Purple Tiger & The Red Dog. So let's now take a look at why exactly such a clash between them is brewing.
Clash of Justice:
The ABSOLUTE implementation of justice (Sakazuki) vs MORAL based implementation of justice (Fujitora)
Should the laws and regulations of the society/government be implemented to their fullest/extreme without individual's choices or actions being taken into account? (IE, all pirates are bad)
OR
Should the laws and regulations of the society/government be implemented considering the choices and the actions of the individuals in question? (IE, letting pirates go because they saved a nation)
This clash of ideology is a long debated ancient issue ever since humans started inventing moral codes/laws /etc to live by. Oda in this manga is bringing this into action with the faction that is meant to uphold the justice of the world. How should that faction implement it's justice, absolutely or morally?
The marines themselves seem to be divided between these two justices. You have the younger youth like Smoker & Koby who seem to side more towards the ideology of Fujitora. Whereas you have the likes of older VAs like Johny Giant, Doberman & Onigumo who seem to side more towards Sakazuki. This may possibly apply to the other two admirals as well with Borsalino leaning more towards Sakazuki while Green Bull leaning more towards Fujitora, but we don't know this yet due to the limited knowledge.
Their relation to each other:
Fujitora & Sakazuki are hard counters to each other. What I'm referring to here is not "opposites". What I'm referring to here is two individuals who are nearly identical in personality and such but have crucial key differences that make them stand on the opposite sides. Where as somebody like Kuzan was the literal opposite in being lazy vs being ambitious, being ice vs being magma... but he was never the hard counter to Sakazuki.
-> Both are equally stubborn
-> Both get riled up quick
-> Both are loyal to their beliefs
-> Both are highly ambitious
-> Both share a mindset against criminals
BUT
-> Difference in experience
-> Difference in core beliefs
This is shown amazingly by Oda in their 2nd on panel conversation at Dressrosa.
Sakazuki tells Fujitora that they've covered up plenty of things in the past, to which Fujitora tells him that it's cool.. but he ain't tryna be no hero based on some sort of a lie, then blames the World Government for the BS caused by the warlords like Doffy & Crocodile. As a reply, Sakazuki begins to yell at him.
But what does Fujitora do? Yell back equally as loud as Sakazuki. Then even when he's told to capture Law and Luffy, he's too prideful to say "Alright I will do that" or something along those lines.. rather makes a prideful statement like "I was already planning on doing that shit". Then Sakazuki is like "?!!"
What's key here is to look at the reaction of the marines standing next to Fujitora. You see in the start of the conversation they're telling Fujitora "sir.. umm.. uhh you know you're talking to uh.. the fleet admiral", making Sakazuki into a figure to be feared. But once they hear Fujitora retaliate against Sakazuki they're freaked out "Oh shit this mf crazy"
Now this would have you thinking that these two are on bad terms or dislike each other right? Or just don't mess with each other like that.. but rather it's the opposite. They're closest we have seen out of any admirals so far.
With Fujitora calling him just "Saka".
With Sakazuki calling Fujitora a "Boy"
And even despite the events at Dressrosa & their yelling, along with him going against Sakazuki's orders at the reverie..they're seen casually conversing about the things that went down and most importantly, they're discussing the future of the Marines:
There is past history between the two that goes beyond the Draft. Fujitora is also said to be friends with an admiral-candidate VA Chaton.
But really this is a relationship between top tiers that we have never seen or heard of in the entire manga when it comes to the top dog of the marines. The relationship between Sengoku & the admirals was that of seniority. The relationship between Kong & Sengoku was that of seniority (refer to Sengoku addressing Kong as "sir"). This dynamic that these two share when it comes to the leading the marines to a new unseen future is a completely new dynamic. Why exactly is this the case? Because the Purple Tiger is an entity that has never existed in the Marines before. You see while the marines have had and will have guys like Garp /Smoker who are wild dogs that don't get along with the superiors, they would never do the things Fujitora has done. Even the likes of Kuzan who disagreed with how things were ran didn't do things like Fujitora would, despite being in the same position as Fujitora.
Fujitora within less than 2 years of being a marine admiral has accomplished more in regards to the impact of the future of the marines/World Government/world than the likes of Borsalino/Kuzan/Sengoku/Sakazuki did in many years as admiral. This man lives to his alias of "Purple TIGER", he is a ferocious dude, and like GreenBull said, a crazy ass dude:
The Issue:
Now ever since his introduction Oda has constantly put Sakazuki's beliefs/ideology against Fujitora's (issue with the Dressrosa event to their disagreement on the Warlords). On top of that as implied in the sbs from Oda that Fujitora might actual have anti-WG feelings, while Sakazuki on the other hand embodies everything the World Government stands for. Now we all know as the series progresses the big final war against the World Government will be set up with Monkey D. Luffy & his father taking on the Celestial Dragons. Fujitora (and potentially greenbull) will have to make a choice here whether to defend the World Government or whether to oppose it. Based on Fujitora's actions so far along with his statements, he is more than likely to oppose the World Government. Where as Sakazuki will stand to defend it. Now as I mentioned earlier the marines even at lower levels follow either Fuji's ideology or Saka's ideology, so this would cause the Marines to have two opposing leaders. And what happens when a military organization gets split into two different ideologies? A clash of who is right. The fact that Oda has made this man more relevant than Kuzan + Garp + Sengoku + Borsalino + Smoker + Koby+ anybody else, as far as the impact they had on the world..is something that should not be overlooked.
Sakazuki vs Fujitora, and their "side admirals" respectively clash as well Borsalino vs GreenBull (Unless Oda has some wild plans with GreenBull and him having his own grand ideology). These being the last fights for their respective characters.
Now I know that the two people that the fans are theorizing or hoping would fight Sakazuki are Luffy & Sabo. Many want Luffy due to powerscaling reasons mostly, while others want Sabo due to portrayal and significance reasons. However, for me the perfect fight for Sakazuki is neither, the perfect fight for Sakazuki is against his friend who shares an opposite view of justice, who rivals him in ambition, who cares about the future of the marines just as much as he does, who cares about taking down criminals who reign terror over civilians, Fujitora. Now many would go against this because they have it in their head that Fujitora is weak, but to me it's a statement based on nothing but headcanon of how they perceive Fujitora rather than based on actual factual showcasing or statements about Fujitora's prowess. In fact if you look at Dressrosa it's heavily implied Fujitora only got his DF recently, meaning he can still be growing in power. But I have Fujitora as top 5 in the OP world (all of the above has to do with my ranking of him for that), so my view on this has no correlation with powerscaling, but sheer storytelling.
Because even if you split the marines up (it def. won't be a 50/50 split most would still probably side with Sakazuki), you still have forces that serve as a competent challenge to the opposing forces of the World that will challenge the World Government, thanks to the SSG & The World Military Draft.. because as mentioned the Marines are FAAR stronger than they have ever been.
" But but but that would make the admirals even more irrelevant than the Yonko".. Sadly it would not. It would only increase the relevance of the admirals compared to the emperors. As the battles between the admirals decide the fate of an organization that polices the entire world. An admiral taking out the man who has been given as equal importance in terms of villain portrayal as Blackbeard.. would only increase the importance of admirals compared to the emperors.
This type of stuff is actually what makes the marines my favorite faction, because you have such a huge storyline going on with them (hell GreenBull ain't even get properly introduced yet, so that's probably gonna be a big on thing going on too), that doesn't even need to be correlated with the Strawhats and it would still be a giant event in the manga. Am I guaranteeing this? No But I would personally keep an eye out on the development of Fujitora & Sakazuki that Oda does with events going on from now, because the actions they take will determine if the above scenario comes into play.
Appreciate y'all reading, and share your opinions.
Situation Background
The farthest we can go back so far with the Marines (in detail) is the Rocks era, where Vice-Admiral Garp teamed up with the soon-to-be Pirate King Gold Roger to take disband the strongest pirate crew in the world. Over the course of time Garp & Sengoku would rise up to be the leading fighters of the Marines for that era in parallel to the rise of Roger & Whitebeard. During this time the marines were headed by the current Commander-In-Chief of the World Government, Kong. Now some years after Roger's execution it slowly became Whitebeard's era where he would come to be recognized as the "Ruler of the Seas", and in parrallel to rise of Whitebeard as the top pirate on the seas the Marines would also go through a change of Sengoku The Buddha becoming the Fleet Admiral.
In both of these eras there is no internal marine conflict that we know. However, after the War of the Best when Sengoku decided to resign as the fleet admiral so the younger youth can implement their forms of justice, we got to see the 1st known internal marine conflict. The Blue Pheasant vs The Red Dog, a world renowned clash between 2 of the top forces of the World Government. The clash being centered around Kuzan not wanting Sakazuki to become the Fleet Admiral, and Sakazuki's own ambition of becoming the Fleet Admiral. The winner of this clash was none other than The Red Dog.
After The Red Dog takes over the marines, he lead them through a drastic change:
-> They move their headquarters to the New World
-> During the Draft the Marines are able to bring in powerful warriors, 2 of them presumably being the newest admirals (their prior relation to the Marines is completely unknown).
-> After the Draft the Marines were recognized by the world as being FAR more powerful than they ever were in the past.
-> The Marines are working on something that will be replacing the combined force of Dracule Mihawk/ Weevil/Hancock/Doflamingo/Law/Buggy/etc etc. Thanks to it's special science unit.
In conclusion, under the leadership of Fleet Admiral Sakazuki the marines are by far at their most powerful that they have ever been in it's entire history, due to the world military draft which got them 2 top tiers + unknown number of other strong individuals that we haven't been introduced to yet, and also because of the technological advancements made by the marines' science division headed by Dr. Vegapunk. Unlike the times under Sengoku where they were reserved, they are now driven by an ambitious Fleet Admiral, as well as ambitious admirals.
Quick Character Background
Sakazuki:
Sakazuki since his intro has been portrayed as the "extremist" soldier who will do anything he can to make sure the "justice" defined by his government is held in place. This goes well with his alias of "The Red Dog", as he is the most loyal "dog" of the World Government and it's ideology of Absolute Justice. But he also isn't a fully evil individual that wants to take over the world and rule it like a king (rather he respects the decisions made by the kings at the Reverie). In fact he also values comrades, as he let Kuzan live because of the fact they served in the marines together.. however, he doesn't value somebody who stands against the marines and stops him from hunting down pirates.. or somebody who will show cowardice in front of pirates as a marine.
Fujitora:
Fujitora's initial introduction gave the impression he's meant to be a wise-old man type of a figure in the Marines, simply because of the fact he looks much older than everybody else his age, along with the way he carries himself. But he's younger than Borsalino and Sakazuki. His ambition is only matched in the marines by Sakazuki himself. According to the implications made in Oda's sbs he holds an "anti-WG" mentality. He is also friends with the likes of Chaton (another powerful marine introduced post-TS). He also is a highly respected marine and somebody who is willing to listen to his underlings to great extent and then take action on it. Whether he has a past with the marines that goes before the World Military Draft is unknown. Just like his aliases, "The Purple Tiger", he is fierce when it comes to achieving his goals.
The Red Dog & The Purple Tiger
The marines now stand at their apex in strength and drive to take down the criminals of the world. However, in these very same Marines there is an internal conflict that is slowly brewing and it is the eventual clash between the two biggest entities of the Marines: The Purple Tiger & The Red Dog. So let's now take a look at why exactly such a clash between them is brewing.
Clash of Justice:
The ABSOLUTE implementation of justice (Sakazuki) vs MORAL based implementation of justice (Fujitora)
Should the laws and regulations of the society/government be implemented to their fullest/extreme without individual's choices or actions being taken into account? (IE, all pirates are bad)
OR
Should the laws and regulations of the society/government be implemented considering the choices and the actions of the individuals in question? (IE, letting pirates go because they saved a nation)
This clash of ideology is a long debated ancient issue ever since humans started inventing moral codes/laws /etc to live by. Oda in this manga is bringing this into action with the faction that is meant to uphold the justice of the world. How should that faction implement it's justice, absolutely or morally?
The marines themselves seem to be divided between these two justices. You have the younger youth like Smoker & Koby who seem to side more towards the ideology of Fujitora. Whereas you have the likes of older VAs like Johny Giant, Doberman & Onigumo who seem to side more towards Sakazuki. This may possibly apply to the other two admirals as well with Borsalino leaning more towards Sakazuki while Green Bull leaning more towards Fujitora, but we don't know this yet due to the limited knowledge.
Their relation to each other:
Fujitora & Sakazuki are hard counters to each other. What I'm referring to here is not "opposites". What I'm referring to here is two individuals who are nearly identical in personality and such but have crucial key differences that make them stand on the opposite sides. Where as somebody like Kuzan was the literal opposite in being lazy vs being ambitious, being ice vs being magma... but he was never the hard counter to Sakazuki.
-> Both are equally stubborn
-> Both get riled up quick
-> Both are loyal to their beliefs
-> Both are highly ambitious
-> Both share a mindset against criminals
BUT
-> Difference in experience
-> Difference in core beliefs
This is shown amazingly by Oda in their 2nd on panel conversation at Dressrosa.
Sakazuki tells Fujitora that they've covered up plenty of things in the past, to which Fujitora tells him that it's cool.. but he ain't tryna be no hero based on some sort of a lie, then blames the World Government for the BS caused by the warlords like Doffy & Crocodile. As a reply, Sakazuki begins to yell at him.
But what does Fujitora do? Yell back equally as loud as Sakazuki. Then even when he's told to capture Law and Luffy, he's too prideful to say "Alright I will do that" or something along those lines.. rather makes a prideful statement like "I was already planning on doing that shit". Then Sakazuki is like "?!!"
What's key here is to look at the reaction of the marines standing next to Fujitora. You see in the start of the conversation they're telling Fujitora "sir.. umm.. uhh you know you're talking to uh.. the fleet admiral", making Sakazuki into a figure to be feared. But once they hear Fujitora retaliate against Sakazuki they're freaked out "Oh shit this mf crazy"
Now this would have you thinking that these two are on bad terms or dislike each other right? Or just don't mess with each other like that.. but rather it's the opposite. They're closest we have seen out of any admirals so far.
With Fujitora calling him just "Saka".
With Sakazuki calling Fujitora a "Boy"
And even despite the events at Dressrosa & their yelling, along with him going against Sakazuki's orders at the reverie..they're seen casually conversing about the things that went down and most importantly, they're discussing the future of the Marines:
But really this is a relationship between top tiers that we have never seen or heard of in the entire manga when it comes to the top dog of the marines. The relationship between Sengoku & the admirals was that of seniority. The relationship between Kong & Sengoku was that of seniority (refer to Sengoku addressing Kong as "sir"). This dynamic that these two share when it comes to the leading the marines to a new unseen future is a completely new dynamic. Why exactly is this the case? Because the Purple Tiger is an entity that has never existed in the Marines before. You see while the marines have had and will have guys like Garp /Smoker who are wild dogs that don't get along with the superiors, they would never do the things Fujitora has done. Even the likes of Kuzan who disagreed with how things were ran didn't do things like Fujitora would, despite being in the same position as Fujitora.
Fujitora within less than 2 years of being a marine admiral has accomplished more in regards to the impact of the future of the marines/World Government/world than the likes of Borsalino/Kuzan/Sengoku/Sakazuki did in many years as admiral. This man lives to his alias of "Purple TIGER", he is a ferocious dude, and like GreenBull said, a crazy ass dude:
The Issue:
Now ever since his introduction Oda has constantly put Sakazuki's beliefs/ideology against Fujitora's (issue with the Dressrosa event to their disagreement on the Warlords). On top of that as implied in the sbs from Oda that Fujitora might actual have anti-WG feelings, while Sakazuki on the other hand embodies everything the World Government stands for. Now we all know as the series progresses the big final war against the World Government will be set up with Monkey D. Luffy & his father taking on the Celestial Dragons. Fujitora (and potentially greenbull) will have to make a choice here whether to defend the World Government or whether to oppose it. Based on Fujitora's actions so far along with his statements, he is more than likely to oppose the World Government. Where as Sakazuki will stand to defend it. Now as I mentioned earlier the marines even at lower levels follow either Fuji's ideology or Saka's ideology, so this would cause the Marines to have two opposing leaders. And what happens when a military organization gets split into two different ideologies? A clash of who is right. The fact that Oda has made this man more relevant than Kuzan + Garp + Sengoku + Borsalino + Smoker + Koby+ anybody else, as far as the impact they had on the world..is something that should not be overlooked.
Sakazuki vs Fujitora, and their "side admirals" respectively clash as well Borsalino vs GreenBull (Unless Oda has some wild plans with GreenBull and him having his own grand ideology). These being the last fights for their respective characters.
Now I know that the two people that the fans are theorizing or hoping would fight Sakazuki are Luffy & Sabo. Many want Luffy due to powerscaling reasons mostly, while others want Sabo due to portrayal and significance reasons. However, for me the perfect fight for Sakazuki is neither, the perfect fight for Sakazuki is against his friend who shares an opposite view of justice, who rivals him in ambition, who cares about the future of the marines just as much as he does, who cares about taking down criminals who reign terror over civilians, Fujitora. Now many would go against this because they have it in their head that Fujitora is weak, but to me it's a statement based on nothing but headcanon of how they perceive Fujitora rather than based on actual factual showcasing or statements about Fujitora's prowess. In fact if you look at Dressrosa it's heavily implied Fujitora only got his DF recently, meaning he can still be growing in power. But I have Fujitora as top 5 in the OP world (all of the above has to do with my ranking of him for that), so my view on this has no correlation with powerscaling, but sheer storytelling.
Because even if you split the marines up (it def. won't be a 50/50 split most would still probably side with Sakazuki), you still have forces that serve as a competent challenge to the opposing forces of the World that will challenge the World Government, thanks to the SSG & The World Military Draft.. because as mentioned the Marines are FAAR stronger than they have ever been.
" But but but that would make the admirals even more irrelevant than the Yonko".. Sadly it would not. It would only increase the relevance of the admirals compared to the emperors. As the battles between the admirals decide the fate of an organization that polices the entire world. An admiral taking out the man who has been given as equal importance in terms of villain portrayal as Blackbeard.. would only increase the importance of admirals compared to the emperors.
This type of stuff is actually what makes the marines my favorite faction, because you have such a huge storyline going on with them (hell GreenBull ain't even get properly introduced yet, so that's probably gonna be a big on thing going on too), that doesn't even need to be correlated with the Strawhats and it would still be a giant event in the manga. Am I guaranteeing this? No But I would personally keep an eye out on the development of Fujitora & Sakazuki that Oda does with events going on from now, because the actions they take will determine if the above scenario comes into play.
Appreciate y'all reading, and share your opinions.
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