Justice in One Piece

Morals

Chapter 50

We were on board the Requiem, heading straight for the uncharted waters where no ships returned from. After we showed Ace, now Spade, around the ship and his room, he seemed genuinely quite happy with the set up.

While everyone was minding their own stuff, with Sarah navigating the ship while reading, John and Tim sparring again and Doc stuck up in his office with his nose in the book we gave him, Spade, me and sis were sitting around the main deck.

I took a sip of coffee and looked over the Ocean below.

Me: Man, weather like this seriously makes me glad that we have a flying ship. We were above the clouds but through the gaps between the dark clouds I could see waves the size of tsunamis and thunderstorms crashing down upon the waters below.

Spade: You have no idea. Even on a ship like the Moby Dick we could feel the sea in the New World. Your crew is blessed to have a flying ship. Man, is this your Devil Fruit Power?

Me: It's a combination. The ship can do it on its own but my power makes it permanent.

Spade: ... I've been wanting to ask this for a while now... but why did you quit the Marines? You two were admirals! You could've done anything!

Diana: Well then Fire Fist. Let me ask this first. You were the 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, but would you give that up if you could save Luffy's life?

Spade: Of course!

Diana: Kind of similar to what happened to us. We joined the Marines to hunt the scum of the World and to bring Justice to people who need them. Then, we finally hit where the Marine's Justice is different from our own.

Spade: I'm afraid I don't quite understand...

Diana: Let me explain, the World Government's Justice isn't what the people want. It's just letters on a paper. Justice is defined by their laws. That is different than what is Justice.

Spade: ?

Me: I have an example. Imagine a man rapes an underage girl and he taped the whole thing on a Den-Den Mushi. Tell me, by law, should he be punished?

Spade: Of course!

Me: True incident, this did not happen. The villagers who were outraged by his actions seized the Den den mushi from him by force and gave it to the Marines by force to use as Evidence. However, by law, thievery is also punishable. Thus, during the trial of the man, the Den Den Mushi, despite having solid evidence, did not count. The man was declared innocent as there was no 'evidence' of his crimes. That is Justice of the Marines, but that is not OUR Justice.

(Author Note: This is a true incident that happened in France. Just change the Den Den Mushi to a Cell Phone)

Diana: Justice is not so simple. There are many moral questions to be considered when making any decision. For example, the ideology that the value of life is equal. What do you think Spade?

Spade: It should be correct...

Diana: Then imagine a situation on Reverse Mountain, up the Stream. Ahead of you is another ship full of complete Strangers, not Pirates...just strangers. If you go up like this, their ship will crash and only they will die, dozens of them. But if you crash your own ship to the side, only you and Luffy will die. What will you do?

Spade: I... I will let them die, I know it's morally wrong to let so many people die for just us two but I can't let Luffy die!

Me: Exactly, Justice is a touchy subject. Sometimes, people do some bad shit to survive. Not because they want to but because they are cornered and that's their only choice and that makes it hard to tell how to serve Justice.

Diana: A Marine rowboat, stranded in the Grandline with nothing to eat. 5 Marines and 1 Captain. The captain tells everyone to never drink Seawater. After all, it dehydrates you more than you can drink. On the 17th day, the youngest of the Marines give in to the thirst and drinks the Seawater. The following day, the same Marine is sick, dehydrated, and about to die. The captain gives the order to kill the boy and until the Rescue team arrives, they actually survive by eating the boy, by resorting to cannibalism. Is what they did justifiable? You've got to know that if they did not eat the boy, they would all be dead.

(Author Note: This is also a true story. It was 4 people instead though)

Spade: What happened to them?

Me: I would've said no crime since they were backed to a corner and the boy was going to die anyway. But the Marine's Justice are letters on a piece of paper. It does not give a single outlier for situations like these. All 5 of them were sentenced to death for killing their crew.

Spade: ... I see, I think I get your point.

Diana: Perspective and situations change our Justice. Not every situation is accounted for in the laws of the Marines or the World Government. Not to even begin on the topic of World Nobles. Honestly, I think all of them should be sentenced to death for their actions, but guess what? The one time the law of the World Government does not apply are with the World Nobles. Something similar happened to us and we stood up against one...actually a few of them and we were cut from the Marines.

Spade: That is quite interesting... Yes. Pops had his own rules on the ship as well. Though I think you already know what they are.

Me: We do. Kind of the reason why you got caught in the first place.

Spade: Yup... I wish I had just listened to Pops back then... but I was just so angry! More then a dozen years on the crew and Teach...! Who could he do that?!

Diana: They are the worst kind of enemies you can make. Those who can wait, those who can plan and sacrifice almost everything for their goal. I can only offer you my condolences until the right time.

Spade: Well, I guess.

Sarah: Sorry to disturb your passionate talk about Justice but up ahead, we are nearing the area. We need you here Kara, next to me from now on.

Me: Well, looks like I have work to do! See you guys later! Also, Spade, you're going to start sparring with us later. We know you're strong but we need you to get stronger . After all, we're heading into the New World.

Spade: To think there would be a day when I'm taught by little girls younger than Luffy to get stronger... hah, alright then Captain.

Me: I'm not the captain. Sis is

Diana: Damn right I am. You're going to be sparring with me in a couple of days. I don't think it's safe to spar while we enter that thing

Right in front of us was a thunderstorm. We were already high up but this cloud seemed to reach the stars.

Sarah: There's no way above it. We've got to go through it. Kara, we're going to need you. This might get very bumpy!

I activated my Second Devil fruit as our ship entered the storm.