Throughout the One Piece series, Eiichiro Oda, the author and illustrator of the manga, has introduced many organizations and units within both the Marines and the World Government. The World Government, being one of the Three Great Powers of the One Piece world, and having total control over the Marines. It's no wonder that they possess so many secret units under their wing to keep their control everywhere.
While SWORD is a fairly recent addition to the One Piece story, it seems that its importance is only going to grow, seeing the achievements of some of its members. However, as of now, a lot about them and their goals remain unknown and only a few characters can be confirmed among their ranks currently. As such, they are often overshadowed by other units, such as the CP0.
What is SWORD?
SWORD is a secret unit of the navy, best known as the Secret Special Force of the Marines Headquarters, or Kimitsu Tokushu Butai in Japanese. It was introduced not long ago in the One Piece story, with its first appearanc e being in chapter 956 of the manga, and episode 957 of the anime. It would seem that one of the captains of SWORD is X Drake, however, it is not
confirmed if there are any higher-ranking members.
While a lot about SWORD remains shrouded in mystery for now, it appears that their main duty is to send members on long undercover missions, specifically to infiltrate the Four Emperors of the Sea, as done by X Drake when he joined the Beast Pirates, becoming a member of the Tobiroppo only to be able to report back to the Marines. His mission lasted 2 years before he finally had to betray the former Yonko Kaido and his pirate crew during the Wano arc.
However, that doesn't seem to be their only role. As seen through other members of the Secret Unit, such as Koby and Helmeppo, SWORD members intervene in situations such as the Rocky Port Incident as well. They seem to also be sent by the Navy to capture pirates, like with Koby and Helmeppo's failed attempts to capture Boa Hancock in the more recent chapters, or Prince Grus when he tracked down the Fire Tank Pirates for Supernova member Bege.
The Members of SWORD
As the group is fairly new, Eiichiro Oda hasn't introduced many characters of the SWORD secret navy unit in the One Piece world. However, fans do know a few individuals. The most notable one here is X Drake, one of the captains of SWORD. His determination to go undercover as a pirate led him to leave his position as Rear Admiral, create the Drake Pirates, become one of the 12 Supernovas and a member of the Worst Generation when he arrived on Sabaody Archipelago with a bounty surpassing 100,000,000 berries. His most recent contribution to the story was during the Wano arc, where he was able to infiltrate Kaido's crew, the Beast Pirates, and even reach the rank of Tobiroppo.
While he ended up betraying them to see through his real goals, it seemed his abilities and strength were underwhelming, despite being the user of an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit - Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Allosaurus. Throughout his pirate career, he was able to harness a decent bounty of 222,000,000. Following him is Koby, an iconic character in One Piece and one of the oldest ones, being introduced in the very first arc of the story. Ever since he separated from Luffy and Zoro, he kept on growing and improving to one day achieve his goal. He has been a brief contributor to the story during the Marineford arc and shortly after the Wano arc. Indeed, after getting involved in the Rocky Port Incident, he also found himself on the Pirate Empress' island, attempting to capture her.
While he was overwhelmed by Boa Hancock, another great pirate took advantage of the situation. Blackbeard was attempting to steal Hancock's Devil Fruit but, thanks to Dark King Rayleigh's intervention, the worst was avoided. While Koby went on the island to capture her, he ended up being captured by Blackbeard. And now, the readers wait until his capture serves as a plot point.
Besides these two, another notable member is Helmeppo, now a Marine Officer, who is almost always accompanying Koby, ever since they met back in the Romance Dawn arc. Prince Grus is another member and was recently introduced as a character throughout the manga cover stories. He was able to track down Gotti, an important member of the Fire Tank Pirates. And finally, out of the known named members of SWORD is Hibari, a young emotional woman thought to be related to Admiral Akainu.
Their Rivalry With CP0
Recently, Eiichiro Oda hinted that CP0 and SWORD have a sort of rival relationship. The full name of CP0 is Cipher Pol Aigis Zero, Aigis bisa word of Greek origin that means Shield, specifically a mythical Shield known as the Aegis that was carried by Greek gods Zeus and Athena. The words Shield and Sword were an obvious hint at this rivalry as they contrast.
This rivalry could mean that tensions between the World Government and the Navy could form as their head leaders get conflicting goals. There could be even bigger powers within the SWORD, such as Kuzan, who is currently a member of the Blackbeard Pirates, or even the Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, who wishes to change the way the Navy has been operating in since long.