I think the idea that Sword is a splinter faction is off. There is zero indication for it.
They are the military secret service. Of course the military has a secret service. Every modern military has a secret service. At least the Fleet Admiral has to be aware of it as he has to be in charge of it, because that's how military hierarchy works.
I think the idea that Sword is a splinter faction is off. There is zero indication for it.
They are the military secret service. Of course the military has a secret service. Every modern military has a secret service. At least the Fleet Admiral has to be aware of it as he has to be in charge of it, because that's how military hierarchy works.
Also, this isn't real life. In the manga world, it's entirely possible for a faction in the military to be working to change things. Hell, that happens in real world situations (for the better, for the worse). I'm not saying this is 100% what is happening here, but it's entirely possible in the realm of the manga. We already know that there are people in the Marines that are against Akainu's "total justice", so I don't see any reason why there couldn't be a group from within trying to change things and maybe eventually take leadership.
Also, this isn't real life. In the manga world, it's entirely possible for a faction in the military to be working to change things. Hell, that happens in real world situations (for the better, for the worse). I'm not saying this is 100% what is happening here, but it's entirely possible in the realm of the manga. We already know that there are people in the Marines that are against Akainu's "total justice", so I don't see any reason why there couldn't be a group from within trying to change things and maybe eventually take leadership.
CP0 is not an official WG institution, they are personal servants of the Celestial Dragons. So of course they only report to them and don't share their information and actions with others.
Nothing suggest that Sword is about changing the Marines from within. What they do is pretty much normal military intelligence work.
O Would put onigumo on that list. I know he never done anything relevant besides put handcuffs on Marco during the war.
But since the sword division reveal, I think every marine with a *x* shaped scar is from sword. Like something they have to do to identify themselves and their resolution towards their goal whatever it may be.
Drake and coby have the scar and we know they are part of sword.
Fujitora, onigumo have x scar too.
O Would put onigumo on that list. I know he never done anything relevant besides put handcuffs on Marco during the war.
But since the sword division reveal, I think every marine with a *x* shaped scar is from sword. Like something they have to do to identify themselves and their resolution towards their goal whatever it may be.
Drake and coby have the scar and we know they are part of sword.
Fujitora, onigumo have x scar too.
Maybe. But Rosinante was issues a special rank by Sengoku. & Sengoku being Fleet Admiral was his direct superior. So I dont think so, in terms of Rosinante.
Alright, with a break this week, i have this theory that should give us something to discuss about....
my thoughts:
Marines work for the WG, follow orders and are pretty much tied to them when it comes to taking orders and making decisions. But through the series, we've seen a rift within the marines on their ideals and definitions on what justice is.... This is why Sword was created, a secret society of sorts within the marines based most likely on the justice definition that is counter to the WG.
Sword itself will act as a counter to WG's secret organization: Cipher Pol Aegis. Even the word "Sword" acts like a counter to Aegis, which means shield. The marines are respected outside the lawful regions as well, even Revolutionary army mentioned that they aren't against the marines, rather the WG itself. Which begs a possibility of further connections between the two....
Theory of formation:
Now we know that secret ops within the marines have existed, atleast for 20ish years for now. Sengoku and Rocinante is the best example of this, and perhaps there were more... I would extend and say Tsuru and Drake have a connection in a similar manner as well. Drake was rescued in the swallow island by her, so its very likely he's still under her wing.
But i believe the organization started right after Sengoku's resignation.
After Akainu and Aokiji clashed, Aokiji resigned from the organization. The resignation was a stunt pulled by Sengoku, who would become less powerful from the marines with is upcoming retirement. They together plot on an idea of putting a stop to the most dangerous pirate group in current, the blackbeard pirates, considering the members including level 6 ID escapees.
Members confirmed:
Drake
Coby
Possible members:
Aokiji:
For reasons stated above
Smoker:
I believe Aokiji reaching Punk Hazard was for the same reason as well, get Smoker on board with this....
Tsuru:
and her potential connection with Drake
Sengoku:
cos, why not.....
My alternate theory is that Akainu himself formed sword, and acts as the leader of the organization. The REDDOG hates being a lapdog of the world govt, and decided to make an organization asking Aokiji to resign...
Honestly, i find this highly unlikely, except for one reason:
Personally, I think sengoku is a member of SWORD. He worked with corazon and it makes sense with his... goading of akainu into heading to wano.
That said, I am not much of a fan of the idea that they are a sort of splinter faction or anything like that. It really does depend on how far up within the marines SWORD goes though. Sengoku IMO is probably still involved but other high level marines don't seem to be in the know. In this case, akainu for instance. On the other hand it is fairly clear SWORD has the capacity to properly recruit people. Coby is a member and certainly relatively new after all. And he is doing sword stuff instead of other stuff.
Now, it is well possible that sword is a sort of splinter faction within the marines that basically has infiltrated the marines and is able to recruit people from within without raising suspicions. BUT it makes more sense IMO that sword is more of a legitimate organization within the world government and it's leader is above even akainu. Sengoku couldn't possibly be at the top of the organization of course since he isn't fleet admiral anymore, he simply doesn't have the position to lead sword legitimately. So sword is probably overseen by good old kong IMO.
Now, there is the issue of aegis zero. Personally I don't think sword and aegis are necessarily enemy organizations. The issue is that they are independent organizations who respond to different people. SWORD being an undercover marine organization and aegis responding to the tenryubito. So, they aren't necessarily enemies but they could have conflicting goals on account of neither organization having any way to coordinate with the other. The only thing one organization could say at seeing the other at a location could be "fuck, what are they doing here?".
It is worth noting that since aegis zero works for the world nobles then within the world government their orders take priority over those of sword.
Now, there is the issue of aegis zero. Personally I don't think sword and aegis are necessarily enemy organizations. The issue is that they are independent organizations who respond to different people. SWORD being an undercover marine organization and aegis responding to the tenryubito. So, they aren't necessarily enemies but they could have conflicting goals on account of neither organization having any way to coordinate with the other. The only thing one organization could say at seeing the other at a location could be "fuck, what are they doing here?".
But CP0 is not really an intelligence unit. They are the CD's lapdogs, doing the dirty stuff for them.
I don't really think of Sword as some kind of splinter faction either. It is normal for a military to have an intelligence unit, especially for a global military like the marines.
@kkck Why do you think that Sword does not respond to Sakazuki? I don't think the chain of command in a military can be skipped, and Kizaru giving the Supernova group that was with Drake a free pass after beating them up is very suspicious. Sounds like a recent capture by the marines wouldn't fit well into Drake's curriculum.
But CP0 is not really an intelligence unit. They are the CD's lapdogs, doing the dirty stuff for them.
I don't really think of Sword as some kind of splinter faction either. It is normal for a military to have an intelligence unit, especially for a global military like the marines.
@kkck Why do you think that Sword does not respond to Sakazuki? I don't think the chain of command in a military can be skipped, and Kizaru giving the Supernova group that was with Drake a free pass after beating them up is very suspicious. Sounds like a recent capture by the marines wouldn't fit well into Drake's curriculum.
Mostly because of how akainu responded to the news concerning wano and how it was ultimately sengoku go goaded akainu into going to wano. It looks like sengoku had a clearer idea of what was going on than akainu did. And sure, you can't officially skip the chain of command... But that is why I suggested sword might be working for sengoku under the authority of kong.
I can definitely see SWORD as something that Sengoku had set up even as far back as he was an admiral and Corazon was one of his informants. After the latter's death, Drake went into Marine custody, what if he was looked after and recruited in the same way by Sengoku, with a plan to raise his rank and have him betray them to infiltrate a high ranking pirate crew?
It's not impossible that high ranking officers within the Marines are members of SWORD without Akainu knowing. Despite him not making too many moves, Vergo was undercover for many years without arousing any suspicion whatsoever.
The higher the rank, the more difficult it is to move without alarming others. Unless you're a base commander, then you don't have HQ's eyes fixated on your movements too much and can then have a few trusted officers with you.
