One Piece: What is Kuzan Up To?
One Piece's Marines host some of the world's most dangerous combatants, leading the charge on behalf of the World Government against their main foes: pirates and the Revolutionary Army. Some Marines take a more hardline stance against these enemies than others. Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, Vice Admiral Smoker and his partner Captain Tashigi are a few major Marine characters who have collaborated with pirates in times when it was necessary. Others, like Koby, continue to be on good terms with Luffy personally. At the end of the day, however, the battle lines are usually firmly drawn. All the aforementioned characters remain loyal to the Marines and have resolved to look past personal ties if need be.
Kuzan, also known as Aokiji, is a bit different. He is one of only three canon characters to resign or defect from the organization and align with forces the Marines consider hostile (the others being the late Jaguar D. Saul and the Supernova X Drake), and as a former Admiral is the highest-ranking Marine ever to do so. After fighting with now-Fleet Admiral Sakazuki over the position on Punk Hazard, Kuzan resigned from the force after his loss and is now allegedly aligned with the Yonko Blackbeard. The latter is considered at this point in the story to be a paramount threat to the World Government, and therefore Kuzan's about-face begs many questions. Here's what we can deduce so far.
One Piece: What Is The One Piece Treasure?
Most of Kuza's airtime in One Piece has been in his role as a Marine Admiral, and of the three members holding that rank at the time, he was by far the most benevolent. Although still capable of following orders to the point of begrudgingly freezing his friend Jaguar D. Saul to death, and fighting fiercely
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