One Piece pirates who used to work for the World Government

Key insights

• Some powerful characters were once government-affiliated pirates before turning to piracy.
• The Seven Warlords of the Sea, a government-sanctioned group, abused their power and caused chaos.
• The warlord system has been abolished, leading former members to potential new alliances.

The World Government and its various branches in One piece exist to control the world and, theoretically, rid it of piracy. But even with this stated goal, piracy remains popular around the world. Aside from the Emperors and various other powerful pirates with ambitions of control, the call sometimes comes from within the house.

These pirates had ties to the government and operated on its behalf for a time, some even paralleling their careers in piracy. Here are various pirates who were once employed by the World Government.

5 Vergo

The first Corazon

• Debut: Chapter 671 (Manga), Episode 597 (Anime)
• Devil Fruit: None

Vergo was an early subordinate of Donquixote Doflamingo, impressed by his Conqueror's Haki, which he displayed at the age of 10. His early loyalty was rewarded with a high-ranking position in the crew alongside other long-time followers. Although Doflamingo himself was technically employed by the World Government as a warlord, Vergo had previously been a mole, keeping an eye on the Marines by joining their ranks.

After being promoted to vice admiral, Vergo's own place in the crew was technically vacant. In his place, Doflamingo's long-lost younger brother, Rocinante, a Marine mole, assumed the rank of Corazon. However, it was Vergo's intervention that led to the discovery of Rocinante's treachery and eventual death.

Vergo later outed himself after failing to kill a group of imprisoned marines and pirates. However, it is unclear how widely his crimes became known, as Smoker wanted to spare his subordinates the pain. He eventually died at G5, in a room that Doflamingo detonated from a distance. Nevertheless, he was satisfied and Doflamingo sincerely thanked him for his dedicated years of service.

4 Who is who?

One of the Tobiroppo

• Chapter 977 (Manga), Episode 982 (Anime)
• Devil Fruit: Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Saber Tiger

Who's Who is one of the highest ranking officers of the Kaido, second only to the three All-Stars. Before the Beasts Pirates, he led his own crew. But even before that, there was an earlier activity as a member of Cipher Pol 9, a state agency. With this award, Who's Who was trained to be an assassin at a young age, with a focus on the martial art Rokushiki. He is also a Zoan user, like some other members of the collective, such as Rob Lucci, Kaku and Jabra.

Despite his power, a well-known failure cost him his position, as he was responsible for guarding the Gomu Gomu no Mi when the Red Hair Pirates stole it. This led to him being imprisoned at Impel Down before turning to piracy. Sometime after assembling his own crew, they were accepted into Kaidos, and Who's Who eventually achieved his current distinction as one of six officers. He ultimately lost in the duel with Jimbei. Due to the disarray within the Beasts Pirates following Kaido's supposed death and the capture of various All-Stars, the current position of who's who in the crew and whether they even exist is unclear for now.

3 Shiryu

One of the ten Titanic captains

• Debut: Chapter 538 (Manga), Episode 440 (Anime)
• Devil Fruit: Suke Suke no Mi

Shiryu was once the head prison warden of Impel Down, a federal prison under the sea. However, his excessive brutality was too much even for them and resulted in him being sentenced to the secret sixth level, where prisoners, whose horrific crimes have been erased from the records, await death. During the outbreak at Impel Down, Shiryu was dispatched, although his execution was still scheduled. But a ray of salvation came to him in the form of the Blackbeard Pirates. A government-affiliated crew consisting of only five members, its captain, Marshall D. Teach, saw fit to increase its numbers by recruiting from the prison's most horrific criminals.

The crew suffered poisoning after being attacked by the fearsome then-overseer Magellan. Shiryu saves them all from death by providing the antidote to the Overseer's poison and becomes one of five prisoners to join the crew during the outbreak. Although both Blackbeard and Shiryu sacrificed their ties to the government, they built their crew after Whitebeard's grave. Eventually, Teach became emperor, assuming the self-imposed rank of admiral and making his first crew members nine of his ten Titanic captains.

2 Kuzan

The tenth Titanic captain

• Debut: Chapter 303 (Manga), Episode 225 (Anime)
• Devil Fruit: Hie Hie no Mi

Kuzan was a Marine who worked his way up to the rank of Admiral. He was notably a protégé of Luffy's grandfather, Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp. Despite their employment, the two had varying degrees of disdain for the World Government. Kuzan became a supporter of Lazy Justice, especially after the Ohara massacre, believing that it was rarely worth enacting. Garp's own contempt was directed more towards the World Nobles, who were the reason he refused to become a full admiral despite being repeatedly offered the position. After the events at Marineford and Sengoku's resignation, Kuzan fought a day-long duel with Sakazuki, better known as Akainu, to find out which of the two would become fleet admiral and thus effectively take command of the Marines.

The result was that Akainu became a fleet admiral, which led to Kuzan resigning his post. Eventually it was confirmed that he was a member of the Blackbeard Pirates, and it was later clarified that he was actually one of their captains. Despite this, his exact loyalty to the crew is unclear, and even his comrades are deeply suspicious of his motive for joining. Still, since they are all effective allies of expediency, they seem okay with his joining the crew for now.

Since he is officially retired from the Marines and does not seem as immoral as his teammates, it is speculated that Kuzan is actually a member of SWORD, a black ops unit that has been confirmed to have at least one other former Marine who acts as a pirate for information gathering purposes. However, due to Kuzan's own disdain for the World Government and his unclear motives, this remains pure conjecture for now.

1 The seven warlords of the sea

Government-sanctioned pirates

• Debut: Chapter 49 (Manga), Episode 23 (Anime)
• Devil Fruit: Varies, the majority of pirates who hold this rank are devil fruit users, but some of them don't seem to have any

This pirate list varies in terms of members, motivations, and the exact nature of each crew. The now-defunct warlord system meant that pirates pledged allegiance to the government and received leniency for certain actions in return. They were decried by others as lapdogs of the government, but still tended to be more powerful than the average pirate.

A common denominator was abuse of power, which led to the suffering of several kingdoms close to the government. Crocodile and Doflamingo were both imprisoned for their crimes against said kingdoms, however the former escaped in an escape. Other pirates joined for relatively nobler reasons, such as Hancock, who wanted to keep the government out of Amazon Lily. She tended to respect the government even more and betrayed them for Luffy during the Summit War. Although she subsequently retained her role, she made no secret of her hatred of the World Government.

Jimbei notably took part in efforts to improve fish-human relations, but resigned because he refused to fight Whitebeard. Blackbeard only joined the organization to build his own crew and left once that goal was achieved. Law performed a similar tactical maneuver, using his status to gain clearance to naval bases and eventually discarding it once he joined Luffy.

The only member who seemed truly loyal to the government at any point was Bartholomew Kuma, who sacrificed his autonomy. However, when he regained it, he even took on the likes of the Five Elders. Ultimately, continued insubordination led to Issho calling for the system's abolition, with the support of the rulers of the affected kingdoms. This application was successful, meaning that there are currently no overt pirates in government service.

It's unclear exactly where specific pirates will be, but a common speculation is the Cross Guild, a mercenary group founded by Crocodile and Mihawk, whose figurehead is their former warlord Buggy. This organization actively targets Marines by offering bounties on their heads. With the government no longer sanctioning their activities, it is likely that there are a few more former warlords still to come.

In their place, the Seraphim were activated. This from Dr. Vegapunk programmed lunar hybrid pacifists are partly made from the DNA of warlords. They have been shown to be capable of taking on Emperors and their crews, and are already being used on certain excursions to deal with particularly difficult pirates.