The Rise And Fall Of The Shichibukai

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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
2:14 How The Balance Of Power Actually Began
8:14 The Fundamental Flaw Of The Shichibukai
11:47 The End Of An Era

[MrMorj]

And thank you all for sticking around throughout the years, here's to many more! 🎉

[shiki]

I think it’s really funny how Mihawk who must have caused the most damage to the navy as a pirate and who was the strongest of the warlords is the only one out of all of them who didn’t rebel or go against the navy. He did his job by crushing pirates like Don Kriegs crew and he never killed civilians as far as we know

[irgendwonurwann]

I would argue the Marines weren't the only ones "desperately trying to snatch up any fast rising up and new pirates". The Yonkou themselves were out recruiting newcomers to their crew, bolstering their own forces against the marines: Ace joined Whitebeard instead of the Shichibukai, Big Mom worked with Capone Bege, Kaido has his Tobi Roppo and later tries to break several of the Supernovae to integrate them to his crew.
The Yonkou are to big to fail, the power vacuum left behind by roger was already filled, so as a newcomer you either have the choice to join either the four emperores, the shichibukai, or get rekt. (or be luffy for that matter)

[jtthomas]

Luffy kinda owns the Shichibukai when you think about it:

Doflamingo: defeats and dethrones him
Moria: defeats him and makes him homeless
Crocodile: defeats him then gets him to help escape impel down and Marineford
Hancock: makes her fall in love and simp over him
Jinbe: literally part of Strawhat crew
Kuma: saves Luffy and crew from certain death and sent them to perfect places to train
Mihawk: Personally trains Luffy's right hand man

[roxasvanitas]

Honestly, I think the warlords were better and more entertaining villains than the yonko. Doffy and crocodile are only really competing with each other

[VJ-Vice]

Thinking about it, there’s an interesting parallel to be made between the Warlords and the dynamic of the Rocks crew. An immensely powerful group of individuals that work under the agenda of another that ultimately devolve due to the prioritization of each individual’s plans and goals

[rouelandrewpulma]

This makes me think that if Luffy's first worldwide act in the Grand Line wasn't taking out a Shichibukai (Crocodile), he would've most likely gotten an invitation as well to be part of the group. But since all his crews first acts (Beating Crocodile, Beating the CP9 and causing a Buster Call on Enies Lobby, Beating Moria) served to destabilize world powers, the World Government probably thought that "Nah we aint dealin with this kid, someone take him out!"

[kunnykuni]

Crocodile was so intimidating and manipulative that he is arguably the most iconic One Piece villain for me. His only competition is Doflamingo and Black Beard. But while Bleack Beard is the evil reflection of Luffy, Doflamingo is the most influence figure in the pirate world.
I always liked Moria's powers and the fact that he is "litteraly" a shadow of his former self. Imagining him, slim and young, fighting Kaidou in a pyrotechic show of thunder and shadows is just too graphic and cool.
Jinbe is one of my favorite designs and strawhats. Kuma is shaping up to become the most tragic character in the story and one of my favorite.
And then there are Mihawk, Law and Buggy. All of them are great in their own way.
Shichibukai are just great.

[justaway]

The Seven Warlords has conceptually always been my favorite type of villain group in all shounen. There's no leader above them. All of them are. Each one of them is a big deal on their own and had significant connections to the greater world.

[parkeryoung]

If the OG 7 warlords got along they would easily be the strongest empire. mihawk as the yonko, easily can fill out commander spots with people like boa, doffy Kuma and jinbei, then the rest just provide extended forces like a zombie army, master mind planning with croc etc

[Aether_GM]

If Morj was a native Japanese speaker, he'd be too powerful

[SMILE-dodw]

I think that there was a similarly tumultuous period for the shichibukai about a decade before the story. It seemed that every year, a spot opened up. Hancock, Jimbe, and Doflamingo.

[davidgallardo]

Personally, I think the Warlords were the most interesting by default. Not only were they the largest, but they were also the most in-depth group of characters.

With the Yonko, we don't know where the system rose from or how it worked besides four strong pirates gaining territory to rival the World Government. We don't even know how Shanks became an emperor.

With the Supernova, they were just in the right place at the right time. If Luffy hadn't punched Charlos, none of them would be recognizable. Hawkins and Apoo would have still joined Kaido and be a subordinate. Capone would still have raided Big Mom with Luffy. Drake would still be undercover. Bonnie would still have her crew killed by Blackbeard. The only thing I can somewhat see differently would be Law, Kid, and Luffy being able to work as efficiently in Wano, maybe even losing completely. The whole system was so inconsequential that Morgan was able to rebrand it to the Worst Generation to include Blackbeard.

The only other system is the Warlords. Each has a deep backstory or in-depth character that could remain famous without the Warlords even existing. The individual Warlords were able to hold up entire arcs without needing countless battles or navigating entire nations to act as filler. Each had their own moral compass between what they wanted and what the World Government wanted, something that no other pirate crew needed to worry about. I think that is why the Warlords were the most interesting group of characters in One Piece.

[eliokha]

Moria is so underrated. He has one of the most powerful will in the game, but isn't strong enough to carry it. Basically weak Luffy. It makes for a great tragic and endearing character!

[RedXlV]

It's amazing how Oda keeps coming up with characters and story ideas that weren't part of his original plan, and integrating them in such a way that it's hard to imagine the story without them.

[sub.sa.]

Oda said that the world and series got a lot bigger because of them. It was originally supposed to be only the Yonkous and Marines and considering that, it makes sense that One Piece would've lasted around 500 chapters or so like Oda initially thought.

[ObiClon]

Despite how it all ended up as a system, the Warlords were-no STILL are one of my favorite dynamics within the One Piece world. I will always get excited whenever we see them as an introduction or as we see what they're doing currently. Nothing will change that!

[NotTheWEJ]

I’ve always said the warlords should’ve been introduced as bounty hunters. Love that CG seems to be doing that now

[dragonsswords]

THEORY: Jean Bart from Law crew is a BUCCANEER

[Avarn]

I always liked the concept of the Warlords in that they represented a pillar of power within the One Piece but also really showed how morally gray the world of One Piece is. I know some fans have issues with the live action adaptation but one thing I liked about that was how Koby had trouble reconciling the Warlords existence with the WG and the Marines wanting to protect the world against pirates but Garp saying you need to live with that inconsistency. It's something I wished could have been explored a bit more; even though we have characters, like Cobra and King Riku who very much made a strong case for why the Warlords are bad in taking advantage of the loop-holes. Still, for all the shortcomings I pointed out, the Warlords served their purpose well in highlighting the World Government isn't a perfect organization well before the Celestial Dragons' introduction, and that when dealing with rogue elements, like Doffy, Crocodile etc. it required the Straw Hats to tackle them due to their status outside the WG.