Why does WG tolerate the Tenryubitto?

[masubiladin]

Oh the World Government is well aware of the goings-on of what the Tenryuubito are doing on Saboady Archipelago. See they can't really shut the business itself down because it is run by their very own Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo. They get a large cut of whatever profit he makes for himself so long as they don't interfere with his actions.

They are Royalty, that's basically it. Royalty are above the law and on the political chain are higher than even Sengoku. The Marines hold no power over them.

Wait...I thought that Slave-Trading place is in the possession of the Shichibukai Doflamingo

 

[WickedNeko]

Two things:

1) I wonder if there's a connection between Dragon and Tenryuubito beyond simple "rebel vs government". IIRC, Tenryuubito translates to "People of Heaven's Dragon"... so what we're seeing is war fermenting between two dragons. It's just a wild guess, but isn't it possible that Dragon was a former Tenryuubito?

2) From what we've seen of world in One Piece, national governments tend to be corrupt. You have cases like Albaster with good king, but vast majority of royalties presented on other islands seem to be pretty corrupt (human auction was attended by people with crowns, after all... and let's not forget kings like Walpo from ice / snow land or nobles from Luffy's home island). Sure, Tenryuubito may seem worthless, but they're not acting all that differently from any other royalty, all things considered. Perhaps they may seem more cruel, but that's simply because they have more power. If any other royal family had similar power, you can be sure that they'd be doing similar things.

 

[Spam286]

Tradition, at least that's my best bet. Never underestimate the power of people to do something purely because that's what they've always done. Britain's always had a monarch so we still do, even though she serves no governmental purpose other than, again, traditional and ceremonial ones.

Besides it seems they rarely leave the holy land, so most of their ridiculous decadence has zero effect on your average member state of the WG. They only cause problems, and minor ones at that in the grand scheme of things, in Marejoa and Shabondy where people already expect it.

 

[SharpKnives]

Firstly I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were genius combatants... they have the money and the blood to become so. Just like how one of the tenryubito was the captain of his own ship I can see the tenryubito commanding large militant operations. I mean every one needs to do things for a living.

Secondly there valued on a little thing called respect. You better believe they're ancestors made sure there sons and son's sons and there daughters were to be taken care of. Not to mention there blood is the starting point for the most powerful organization in the world. This makes them important and respect worthy. Don't get me wrong you can be damn sure again if hard times comes the government will abandon them like a shit from yesterday.

 

[karthikmurs]

Well, the military has always watched the back of the bureaucrats. Tenryu are obviously the highest political power in the world. So, watching their back is obviously a logical outcome.

 

[DLord.Van.Buuren]

why do the government in reality tolerate royal families

Oda's approach consists of reflecting the sorrows of the real world into his manga, its what makes the story that good while there is a fine line between reality and manga still the theme is always there.

 

[madmotoristmonk]

i like the consensu we're getting here about them just being nobility thats still being respected.

but at the same time, i keep thinking theres something else to it. This is the same World Government that'll blow your island up for just knowing the name of an island from the void century. (albiet "somewhat" remorsefully..unless your akainu)

seriouslly, the only way i'll be able to justify the tenryubito is if they hold some kind of precious information. or are able to do something with those ancient weapons. they seem to hold no real power outside of being incredibly wealthy. and really like i said, if the WG really wanted their money they'd get somebody to shake those losers down.

i guess i'll have to wait for oda to elaborate on the why

 

[kkck]

I think the issue with the tenryubitto is that people seem to think society in OP is far more reasonable than what it actually is. We usually don´t see the deep political affairs which go by, oda by the most part just shows us the surface and lighter side of things. Lets go back to luffy´s hometown. The place was virtually separated by nobles and whatever else is left. There was a small happy town on the side but they were not nearly as well of as the nobles. Or lets take vivi´s country. Even if the royal family are good leaders who care for their people, it is still a monarchy where it´d seemed there is no democrazy to be found (even if people do seem to have a great degree of personal freedom). As we saw in the wapol saga, the people are subjected to the will of kings to a great degree. If wapol said something, the royal army would make sure it got done one way or the other. People are by all intents and purposes bent to the authority of the king, whether for good (vivi and her family) or worst (wapol). The world government seems to be a huge organization made of many individual kingdoms with their own political structure, nobles, kings or whatever other political leaders. In this sense, the creators of the WG, the ancesters of the tenryubitto would be people who founded an organization which had kings below them. Nations might have their own nobles but the tenryubitto would be above that. They are nobles not of petty nations but of the entire world given that the world government has kings and nations under it.