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One Piece: Is Smoker A Hero Or Villain? Explained
Smoker from One Piece has always been hailed as an anti-hero because of his complex characteristics. But is he a hero or a villain in the world of One Piece?
In the world of Eiichiro Oda’s legendary manga One Piece, the people affiliated with the World Government are usually the villainous characters. Especially the Marines as their goal seems to be to eradicate all pirates. However, there are some characters in the Marine, who are good people at heart and want to do the right thing at any cost. This makes their characters quite complex and intriguing. One such character is a Marine officer who is obviously against our pirate protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and the other pirates. However, there is a lot more to this character than his job.
Is Smoker’s character good or bad in One Piece?
Both in the One Piece manga and the anime, we see Smoker as a Marine officer who is also one of the Devil Fruit users. This grants him the power to manipulate, and turn into smoke at will, which gives him great advantage in battle. But much like the other Devil Fruit users, he cannot ever enter the sea. Despite all that, Smoker is a Marine officer and carries with him Nanashakku Jitte, a weapon made out of Sea Prism Stone which can nullify the powers of a Devil Fruit user. And even though the weapon also saps him of energy, he carries it with him because his primary target are other Devil Fruit users. 
His willingness to battle pirates on water despite never being able to enter the sea and also carrying a weapon that’s pretty much a double-edged sword for him definitely makes him intriguing. It proves that he is willing to overlook personal issues for the greater good. This also proves to be true when despite being a Marine officer, he does not follow every order given to him blindly and does not think all pirates are inherently evil.
Smoker has a very steady moral compass and always strives for justice. In order to get justice, he is willing to do anything, even pair up with pirates. This proved to be true when he teamed up with Trafalgar Law and Monkey D. Luffy to put an end to Caesar Clown’s SMILE operations and rescue the kids. He also fought alongside Luffy when the latter was fighting against Crocodile. All of this has proved time and again that Smoker’s character is neither inherently good nor evil when it comes to the story, but he is a good human being with a good heart.
Does that make Smoker a hero or a villain?
Fans of One Piece have had many different discussions about the character of Smoker and characters like Fujitora and Koby who, despite being Marines, never blindly follow orders from the World Government. Even Tashigi, who is Smoker’s right hand and wants to obtain Roronoa Zoro’s swords, is a similar character. They bring depth into the Marine faction and cannot be branded as evil even though they often battle pirates. Thus, Smoker can be called an anti-hero in the world of One Piece.
Smoker’s main aim as a Marine officer is to help people in need, which rings true over his training to kill pirates. That is why, he sometimes helps pirates in some of their missions. Even though we have not seen much of his character after the Punk Hazard arc, he still remains one of the most intriguing and complex characters in the world of One Piece.
Due to this, fans are hoping both Smoker and Tasigi will make a return to the story pretty soon. But as it stands now, the storyline does not really require them, and so their return as central characters does seem pretty unlikely. But there are some Marine officers such as Garp, Koby, and Akainu, who have shown that they do not blindly trust the World Government. Smoker, due to his willingness to team up with the enemy in times of need, seems to also be one of those people who function on their own moral code and put the safety of the people over personal differences. If there ever comes a time in the story when these Marine officers fight against the corruption of the World Government, then we might be able to see more of Smoker and Tashigi. Even though he is an antagonist, he might prove to be an ally later. But in the end, it can be said with conviction, that Smoker is not a bad person, and being in the Marine does not inherently make him a villain.
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