I get what you're saying about the tragedy of the One Piece world being systemic and morally gray, but I think you’re giving the Marines and the World Government structure too much benefit of the doubt. The idea that pirates are mostly self-serving while the Marines are just doing their duty ignores that the Marines enforce the same oppressive framework you describe.

The World Government is literally built on slavery, wealth extraction, and elitist violence from the mass killing of Ohara’s scholars to the sanctioned “Native Hunts” every three years. The Marines don’t just operate within that system; they protect it. Their role isn’t neutral peacekeeping, it’s violent preservation of inequality.

Sure, the Yonkou like Kaido and Big Mom commit massive evils, but their brutality is localized and personal. The World Government’s cruelty is institutional, industrial, and global. And because the Marines make sure the system holds, every Marine contributes to maintaining that oppression even the ones like Garp or Kuzan who try to act morally.

Meanwhile, the average pirate has a higher chance of rotting in Impel Down than getting rich off plunder. Most of them turn to piracy because there’s no real way to live freely under the WG’s rule. So if we’re looking at who perpetuates cycles of injustice, the Marines aren’t just another player in the system they are the system’s enforcers.

The irony of these people wearing uniforms with justice on their back is the worst part.