The World Government is the uncontended main antagonistic faction of One Piece. Throughout the years, their involvement --either directly or indirectly--has spawned both minor and massive inconveniences for the Straw Hats, and every other pirate (good or bad) for that matter. Although they put themselves on a pedestal and preach justice to the ignorant, their actions loudly speak otherwise. The organization is corrupt to the core. They’ve might’ve done good, but the bad they did massively outweighs that meager good.
Being the bad guys they are, the World Government’s unaccounted-for criminal record can put even the worst of pirates to shame. Their plethora of crimes includes but is not limited to these 10 offenses.
10 Censorship
Among the World Government’s most excessive acts is their excessive censorship. They don’t want the populace to know of their dark secrets. Anyone who even attempts to uncover the history and the past will instantly be flagged as an outlaw.
The archaeologists of Ohara aside, the Nox Pirates’ descent to piracy was a result of said censorship. They set out to the sea to discover the poneglyphs, and that’s a big no-no by the WG’s standards.
9 The Ohara Massacre
On the topic of censorship, the WG took theirs to the next level with the Ohara incident. These curious archaeologists never saw it coming; their years of works and hardships only brought upon their doom.
And what’s worst, even the innocent civilians were not exempt from the WG’s retaliation. A ship full of Ohara refugees was blasted to smithereens as a "safety measure."
8 The World Government Vs Robin
The aftermath of Ohara was an oddly quiet one. The Island’s lone survivor, Nico Robin, was their next target. Her young age didn’t matter either; as long as she was alive, there is a possibility of the WG’s past getting compromised.
No matter how you look at it, putting a bounty of 79,000,000 Berries on an 8-year-old’s head is excessively shameless. And to make matters worse, she was framed for crimes an 8-year-old will never be able to commit.
7 Cypher Pol
CP, or Cypher Pol, is an organization that does the WG’s dirty work-- their dogs so as to say. Any act that is considered too extreme for the Marines to accomplish is immediately dumped into Cypher Pol, whether be it assassination works or top-secret arrests.
The Cypher Pol division complies without asking any questions. Their entire line of work is centered around the selfish interests of the WG.
6 Slaves
Slavery is one of the darkest aspects of One Piece. The same organization that was supposed to step in and ban slavery is the same one that contributes to it the most. Marie Geoise, the WG’s headquarters, is infested with all these poor slaves.
Not only does the WG not condemn slavery, but they also endorse it more than any other party. This side of the WG is beyond sickening, to say the least.
5 Human Experiments and Corruption
This is one of the most basic crimes the WG has committed. Again, for their own self-interest, the WG officials will shy away from nothing. Prevalent bribery and underground deals (arms transactions with Kaido, for example) are but a few cases of the organization’s corruption.
The WG also funded multiple inhumane experiments to further their reach. Researches tackling gigantification, which mostly ends with the test subjects’ demise, were not uncommon.
4 The Celestial Dragons’ Crimes
The WG was founded 800 years prior to the story by a coalition of 20 kingdoms. Since then, the kingdoms under the World Government’s flag experienced a massive explosion in numbers, surpassing the original 20 and reaching a whopping 170.
That said, the original founders’ descendants--Celestial Dragons-- still enjoy a privilege that is unique to them only. They are acquitted of any crime or atrocity committed against commoners. Making use of that privilege, the Celestial Dragons’ unlawful rampage against humanity unfolded.
3 The Shichibukai
The Shichibukai were a group of pirates brought under the WG’s command for the organization’s self-interests. Of course, as an exchange for their services, the Shichibukai are rewarded heftily.
One such reward is a certain extent of immunity against persecution. If the crimes committed by the Shichibukai weren’t compromising the WG’s interests, the latter will turn a blind eye to them.
2 Heaps Of Lies
The WG is an organization that forges a path through lies and sheer deceit. They invert the black and white in order to come out as the sole just party. The sky is basically the limit when it comes to the WG’s lies; any lie that aligns with their narrative is fair game.
Their shamelessness truly knows no bound. Even the scummiest of pirates have standards.
1 Cover-Ups
The WG likes to do this thing whenever their honor or credibility is at stake. Through lies, assassinations, and similarly hideous crimes, they manage to keep their track record clean.
When the Strawhats rid Alabasta of Crocodile and dethroned Doflamingo from his tyrant rule, the WG intervened and attempted to cover-up their misses. They succeeded in keeping their hands clean in the former incident but failed on the latter.