PMarth2002 posted... I don't think Maruki is being manipulative in that way. He seems to genuinely want to make people's lives better, his ideas about how to do it just differ from the phantoms.
also, Yusuke approached Maruki first, without anyone ever suggesting he do so.
Yeah I misspoke,
Maruki didn't know he'd have a chance to coup the holy grail until close to when he does it. But I do think it's clear that what he does for the Phantom Thieves is not identical to what he does for the rest of the world, and he initially withholds the truth about
Akechi from Joker as a trump card to dissuade Joker from pursuing him on the day of fates. Lavenza also comments on the dubiousness of some of
Maruki's encounters with the cast when they all figure out how he learned their wishes, saying something like "There's no way of knowing how many of those situations were intentionally orchestrated by that man..."