World Government

The World Government (世界政府, Sekai Seifu) is a group that appears in the One Piece series. They are a political organization comprised of the majority of the world at large, ruled by the Five Elder Stars.

The organization was established 800 years ago. The Navy serves as their primary military organization, headed by the Fleet Admiral, while the Cipher Pol operate behind the scenes, either through sabotage, reconnaissance, spying, espionage and/or assassination; their most powerful enemies are largely pirates, wizards and revolutionaries.

The Commander-in-Chief of that government oversees both the Navy and Cipher Pol as well as the Seven Warlords of the Sea, at least officially, and is second only to the Five Elder Stars. Impel Down serves as the World Government's maximum-security prison. Collectively serving as the most prominent antagonists in the series, the World Government is largely portrayed as a corrupt entity, particularly through the pitiless use of their absolute justice doctrine and the depravity of the aristocratic World Nobles.

"Look at that symbol above you!!! That mark represents the unity of over 170 nations... In the seas, land, sky, and the beyond of all things...!!! This is the World!!!"
 * —Part of Spandam's speech on what the World Government is.

About the World Government
The World Government is affiliated with roughly one hundred and seventy countries from around the world. Member countries retain autonomy and run their own internal affairs (though the World Government does sometimes intervene), but cooperate with the World Government for 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 are based in the holy land of Marie Jois. The World Government is ruled by the Five Elder Stars, the highest authority of the world. They depend on the Navy and the Seven Warlords of the Sea to keep the Four Emperors and other antagonistic forces from defying them and causing chaos.

The World Government maintains a worldly order that claims to benefit all, making the world safe for the sake of everyone. Using the Navy, they pursue criminals endangering the lives of those who are innocent, protecting the people of each country in the world. The World Government, as the largest political power, holds full rights to halt or encourage any political action without question or opposition.

However, the reality is that, unknown to most citizens (and many world leaders), the World Government's actions tend to be secretly based on corruption or questionable motives. They hide the truth or ignore 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 viciously hunted down and dealt with, and all those who walk along the same path as them are doomed to share the World Government's wrath. Nico Robin, in particular, spent her entire life running from the World Government, and everyone who she joined soon betrayed her for the bounty on her head, or found themselves against the Marines and other government forces. While some people are beginning to question the motives of the World Government, the general public still trusts them and would tend to believe information from them.

The World Government's power to release information on anyone as they please can often lead to the truth being suppressed, altered or ignored completely. Any countries attempting to protect or harbor criminals are at risk from the World Government, and some have been known to be destroyed completely. For the most part, the important role they have in maintaining world stability far outweighs the corruption they often display. They allied themselves with seven powerful pirates in exchange for pardoning these pirates past felonies, but allowed them to continue committing crimes in order to maintain power and status. Sengoku was informed about the escape of several Level 6 criminals, only to be ordered by the World Government to suppress the greater details, since they did not want ordinary citizens to know that these potentially dangerous criminals were free to roam the land once again. This meant that the Marines could not issue the warrants necessary for their arrests without releasing information related to these criminals.

Much of the World Government appears to be centered around paranoia, as they appear to divide power very carefully. However, this paranoia, though strong, can be exploited, as seen when Spandam manipulated the Five Elder Stars. According to Wapol, changing the government of Drum Island would provoke the government, although no response has been seen yet. This is further validated by Vinsmoke Judge stating that the World Government will probably revoke the Vinsmoke Family's right to attend the Reverie when they discover the Kingdom of Germa's alliance with the Big Mam Pirates.

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 perceived as greater than their own.

Known members of the World Government
Known members include:
 * Kong
 * Corgy
 * World Nobles
 * Camael

Former Members

 * Don Quixote Homing (Deceased)
 * Homing's Wife (Deceased)
 * Don Quixote Doflamingo
 * Don Quixote Rocinante (Deceased)

Culture
The World Government has a religious and holy theme. Marie Jois was called the 'holy land', the place where the Five Elder Stars resides was called the sanctuary, the World Nobles have the word "Saint" in front of their names, with common people believing that defying them is a sin. Impel Down appears to be based on the Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Twenty Founding Kingdoms
Kingdoms that fought the Great Kingdom and founded the World Government. Nineteen of the royal families left their countries and moved to Marie Jois and elected new royal families to replace them.


 * Alabasta - The Nefeltari Family chose not to live in Marie Jois.
 * Dressrosa - Originally ruled by the Don Quixote Family. After leaving, they were replaced by the Riku Family. Later, the country was taken back by the Don Quixote Family, but after the events of the Dressrosa Arc, it went back to the Riku Family.

Security Forces

 * Main article: Justice

The World Government also operates a number of groups and organizations that protect the citizens of the world on a global scale.

World Government Affiliates
All over the world, there are over one hundred seventy countries that are affiliates 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 large countries with kings as their leaders, while others are simply big cities that are governed by mayors.

Kingdoms

 * Black Drum Kingdom
 * Alabasta
 * Ilusia Kingdom
 * Sakura Kingdom
 * Goa Kingdom
 * Ryugu Kingdom
 * Dressrosa
 * Prodence Kingdom
 * Kingdom of Kano
 * Kingdom of Germa

Cities

 * Water 7

Void Century

 * Main article: Void Century

"They seem to have held great power once, but the information about this kingdom has been carefully erased. As they knew of their imminent defeat by the alliance that would later be called the World Government, they carved the truth into stone, to give to the future. Those are the Ponecliffs that still exist today...!!!"
 * —Clover, explaining about the Ancient Alliance.

800 years ago, an Ancient Alliance was formed by the kings of Twenty Kingdoms. The alliance included the Don Quixote Family and the Nefeltari Family. During the Void Century, they fought against the Great Kingdom and successfully overthrew it. First mentioned by Clover as the "enemy" of the Ancient Kingdom or simply an Ancient Alliance, they were fully explained later by Pappug. Why or how the Twenty Kingdoms overthrew the Ancient Kingdom remains a mystery. After that, they banned research on the Ponecliffs and established their headquarters in Marie Jois.

"Because they have the blood of the Creators in their veins... Eight hundred years ago, a group of twenty Kings... formed a mighty organization known as the World Government."
 * —Pappug, on the World Nobles.

Eventually, by 800 years ago the Alliance became the World Government. Due to this, the twenty kings leading the war against the Ancient Kingdom were referred as the "creators" of the world. Nineteen of the founding royal families moved and lived in Marie Jois. Only the Nefeltari family remained in their country. The World Nobles, also known as the Celestial Dragons, are direct descendants of the founding kings who moved to Marie Jois. As such, these Nobles possess the authority to do as they please, simply due to their heritage.

Research for Transforming Humans into Giants
According to Trafalgar Law, the World Government has carried out research for hundreds of years on growth hormones to transform humans into giant soldiers. This research is currently led by Vegapunk; Caesar Clown's idea of kidnapping and drugging children to accomplish the feat is considered unethical and unacceptable, and was rejected.

Treaty with Merman Island
Over two centuries ago, the World Government signed a treaty with the monarchy of Merman Island, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the races, and the king of the island was permitted to attend the Reverie. The institution of slavery was also prohibited as a sign of good faith on the World Government's part. However despite the institution of slavery officially being prohibited, slavery would still persist in places like Sabaody Archipelago and Tequila Wolf due in part to the World Nobles.

Amber Lead Revelation
According to Gladius a hundred years before the industry came to be, the World Government and the royal family of Flevance discovered that Amber Lead was poisonous, but chose not to inform the country of its dark nature, as to gain profit from the industry.

Age of Pirates
In X729, King of the Pirates Gol D. Roger turned himself in to the World Government though they claim to have captured him and executed him before the public. His death, however, sparked the Great Age of Piracy.

Buster Call
In X731, the World Government sent the Buster Call to wipe out Ohara. They accused the scholars of trying to recover the Ancient Weapons and spread lies around the world when in reality they never cared about it. The World Government used that excuse to hide the fact that the scholars of Ohara were researching the Void Century. Nico Robin was the only survivor of Ohara and was hated by the brainwashed world, who believed that she would kill them all. Robin Nico grew up hating the World Government and is determined to find out what happened during the missing 100 years.

Lucci's Mission
Seventeen years ago, a small unnamed kingdom was captured by pirates. Five hundred 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.

Amber Lead Fiasco
Sixteen years ago, according to Senor Pink by the time the world discovered of the toxicity of amber lead, it was too late to save the heavily poisoned country. All of the citizens became sick at the same time, and started dying. Other countries, mistakenly believing that the Amber Lead poisoning was a contagious disease, surrounded and attacked Flevance in order to eliminate it, and despite the citizens defending themselves, nearly all of them died. It seems that the World Government didn't try to explain to the attacking nations of the poisoning not being a disease. The royal family of Flevance had escaped and abandoned their people with the assistance of the World Government.

Spandam's Conspiracy
Fourteen years ago, Spandam manipulated the Five Elder Stars to change their mind about preventing the Ancient Weapons from being recovered and to allow him to revive the weapons to combat the increase in pirate activity. However, Spandam's machination was really to overthrow the government and rule the world himself.

Dragon
Eight years ago, Monkey D. Dragon started to form a rebellion against the government. The Reverie took place in this time to discuss his actions. In time, he eventually became known as "The World's Most Dangerous Criminal".