Marine Coverage Gap and Two-Tier Navy

Structural lore — first on-page articulation of the two-tier Marine system (Ch. 79 page 12). The World Government’s nominal jurisdiction does not actually cover the far-flung villages even under its rule.

What we know

• Ch. 79: First on-page articulation of the two-tier Marine system (page 12).
• Ch. 79: East Blue Marines — under-served, slow-responsive, “the navy isn’t doing anything about this problem, as usual” (Genzo, page 11). They do not reach the tiny, far-flung villages like Cocoyasi.
• Ch. 79: Navy of the Grand Line — “the only legitimate military power strong enough to take them on” — i.e., the only tier of Marines capable of countering Grand-Line-tier villains like Arlong. But they have their hands full there and “They’ll never come to a tiny, far-flung village like ours!!”

Chronology / structure

Bifurcated geographic-tier structure (Ch. 79 articulation):

• East Blue Marines — regional / numbered-base structure (Navy Base 16, Navy Base 77, etc.). Under-served. Patchwork enforcement; corruption tolerable (Nezumi). Coverage-gap for tiny, far-flung villages.
• Navy of the Grand Line — the higher-tier Navy capable of Grand-Line-tier combat. Forces fully deployed against Grand-Line-tier villains. Cannot spare resources to address East-Blue-occurring Grand-Line-tier threats like Arlong.

The chapter installs the Marine-coverage-gap doctrine: the World Government’s nominal jurisdiction does not actually cover the far-flung villages even under its rule.