@Monkey:
I don't care that the concealment thing is speculative. It's no more speculative than your suggestion.
I'm glad we agree: I gave a plausible speculative explanation, and so did you. Then you can stop using your speculation as evidence that people are wrong.
A worldwide draft of two really strong guys by an incredibly authoritarian and elitist government seen as too intrusive?
If they only drafted 2 people, do you really think they would have called it a "worldwide" draft? No, they drafted (at least) two admirals, as part of a worldwide draft. And drafts are quite intrusive. Most of what we've seen the WG do up until now has been in the name of stability - disrupting the day to day lives of the average people as little as possible - a worldwide draft is a pretty large change of direction for them.
They aren't going to ever go on the offensive judging by their actual dialogue.
The fact that they made an absolute statement doesn't imply that, if circumstances were different, they would hold the same position. The "given present circumstances" is implied. Yes, it's speculative to suggest that they didn't mean what they said in such an absolutist and literalist fashion as you're assuming… but it's also speculative to suggest that they have these hidden motive to undermine their own "World Government" by maintaining a balance of powers of which it is only a part.
See you keep talking about the Gorusei like the Marines and them are of one and the same mind.
Actually, I'm assuming the Gorosei, who are the putative leaders of the World Government, indeed want to maintain the absolute control over the world that seems to be the WG's goal, and intend for the World Government to be the government of the entire world.
Luffy and Crocodile were not unmatched by Marineford
I'm not even sure what you mean, here. Crocodile pretty much went around the battlefield doing as he pleased. He launched a bunch of destructive attacks, blocked an attack from Mihawk, took a hit from Jozu, distracted Akainu with a surprise attack, and ended the battle pretty much untouched; that's what I mean when I say he was "pretty potent" there. Luffy was already badly injured, and spent most of the battle evading fights with anyone higher than captain level (and he almost got his ass handed to him by more than one vice-admiral); he assuredly would have done better than he did had he been at his peak, but that's still with gear second and a large increase in strength over when he fought Crocodile; I don't think it's reasonable to suggest Crocodile had been left in the dust.
I'm struggling to think of how most of the Shichibukai we've extensively seen would NOT be stomped by the three admirals of two years ago.
I'd pretty much assume they would, if they tried to fight them. Where did I ever say otherwise?
Because the Sueprnovas weren't Admiral level threats at that point. Considering how easily Kizaru damn near took out ALL of them without really trying.
And the reason the admirals only go after admiral-level threats is because there aren't enough of them to be everywhere at once. Even with them, there are a whole bunch of threats running around of at least vice admiral level running free. Assume the government didn't have shichibukai, and instead took down Crocodile et al… another set would just rise up. The shichibukai as an institution helps keep pirates in check... but they're untrustworthy and still a pain, which is why they don't want to have too many of them.
…if you completely ignore the balance obsession of the Gorusei sure.
In their first appearance, they are worried about the balance of the world (specifically, in the context of the possibility of two yonkou meeting up and possibly allying, and the loss of a shichibukai weakening the WG's forces), for fear it will plunge the world into chaos.
After Marineford, they're worried about the balance because they don't know what will happen. They're concerned because they're down 3 shichibukai. Again, the stability of the world is threatened, from their point of view.
Every time they've spoken of balance, it's been in the context of a loss of WG power. The stability of the WG is threatened, so it makes perfect sense for them to be talking about balance, even without your hypothetical situation where they're obsessed with balance to limit the power of the WG. I agree they care about balance, but rather than thinking it's because they're obsessed and want to keep the WG from becoming too powerful, I think it's because they don't think the WG presently has the power to control the whole world, and preserving the balance of power is something they perceive to be in the best interest of the world as a result. It's an acknowledgement of their limitations, not an intentional decision.
Except I'm the one actually supported by text at this point. Whereas yours is entirely assumption.
Actually, nothing in the text supports either of our suggestions over the other - which has been my whole point in this thread. Yes, they've talked about balance, but there's no "obsession" with balance like you've talked about, and from my perspective there are excellent reasons for them to talk about balance at the times they did. You're the one imputing motives involving the WG secretly not really wanting to be the World Government, and instead intentionally making sure they don't control all of the world, whereas I'm assuming they're just a bunch of well-intentioned extremists trying to do what they think is best for the whole world - you know, the thing which is, on its face, what the WG is all about.
Getting back to my point, we're both advancing plausible explanations for the evidence which is available. So when you are like "lol no ur rong" when someone suggests an explanation which isn't consistent with your hypothesis, and your evidence that they're wrong is that they disagree with your hypothesis… it makes you look just as dumb as the people you often make fun of.