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The Five Elders, known as “Gorosei” in the original Japanese spelling, are the highest-ranked Celestial Dragons, which makes them incredibly influential figures within the One Piece world. Their political authority is only second to that of Imu-sama, the ruler of the Empty Throne, whose existence is kept a secret from the public.
It should be noted that the Five Elders aren’t just mere politicians, but powerful and cold-blooded fighters who can transform themselves into frightening monsters. The full extent of their abilities has yet to be revealed, but it’s clear that all of the Gorosei fall into the category of the strongest characters in the series.
As seen in the recent One Piece chapters, one of the Elders, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, has shown up on Egghead. After confronting Luffy, Saturn has seemingly summoned the other Gorosei to his location. With all the Five Elders about to storm the island, it will be interesting to see who among these fearsome individuals is the strongest.
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Disclaimer: This article contains major spoiler from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1110.
The Five Elders are going to invade Egghead in One Piece chapter 1110
These Celestial Dragons are among the strongest One Piece characters
At this point in the series, it was made clear that the Five Elders are a force to be reckoned with, to the point where they can easily outclass a fighter of Sabo’s caliber. As the second strongest member of the Revolutionary Army, the right-hand man of Monkey D. Dragon, and the owner of a powerful Logia Devil Fruit, Sabo is a powerful individual.
Still, he was no match for the Five Elders. Granted, Sabo was outnumbered, but, more than numbers, power was the issue for him. He was immediately overwhelmed by the Gorosei and Imu, even though they were barely trying.
Sabo can hardly be blamed for losing so severely, as the situation was extremely difficult, and not many would have done better than him. He unleashed his signature Fire Fist technique, but the Gorosei withstood a direct hit from the attack without suffering even the slightest injury. Together with Imu, they then transformed into ominous creatures.
One of them attacked Sabo, seriously injuring him with a single strike. Sabo was forced to run away, which he only managed to do thanks to Nefertari Cobra, who sacrificed himself to cover the former’s escape.
In One Piece chapter 1086, it was revealed that each of the Gorosei holds the status of “Warrior God”, a title that clearly indicates their remarkable fighting prowess. The first of the Elders to be shown partaking in active combat is Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, the Warrior God of Science and Defense, who raided Egghead along with the forces of the Navy and the World Government.
Upon entering the battlefield, Saturn transformed into a dreadful creature, much like the ominous ushi-oni from Japanese folklore. His body was surrounded by clouds of black steam, similar to Kaku, Rob Lucci, and Luffy’s Awakened Zoan forms.
Saturn’s aura was fearsome, to the point where it gave the chills even to the likes of Kizaru, Luffy, Zoro, and Lucci. These four, who were fighting fiercely, all paused their battles for a moment, as they couldn’t help but feel threatened as they perceived Saturn’s presence.
After arriving on Egghead, Saturn easily subdued Jewelry Bonney, Sanji Vinsmoke, and Franky. Only Bartholomew Kuma’s unexpected arrival saved them from certain doom, but even Kuma, despite using all his strength to strike Saturn, couldn’t injure him.
As the battle continued, Luffy attacked Saturn with several Gear 5-enhanced moves, including the Dawn Gatling and the Dawn Cymbal. However, Saturn was able to survive even these attacks with no damage, demonstrating incredible, almost unreal regenerative abilities.
This corroborates the theory according to which the Five Elders are immortal. At the very least, they don’t age like normal humans, considering that there’s no visible difference between their current appearance and how they looked during the flashback of the Ohara Incident, which took place 22 years before One Piece’s present narration.
What is the hierarchy between the Five Elders?
Given their role as prominent endgame villains, as well as their terrifying transformations, there’s little doubt that the Five Elders are among the most powerful individuals in the One Piece world. With that being said, it’s interesting to see how the five of them measure to each other in terms of overall combat prowess.
Most of the groups featured in the series, such as the Straw Hats, the Supernovas, the Sweet Commanders, the All Stars, Enel’s Priests, the Vice Admirals, and more, are made up of fighters with varying levels of strength.
Taking that into account, there might be stronger and weaker members among the Gorosei as well. So far, the One Piece manga hasn’t given yet a clear indication of how the Elders are ranked in power, meaning that, for the time being, the matter is left up to interpretation and speculation.
What is certain is that all of the Gorosei are named after planets, and, knowing One Piece author Eiichiro Oda, he didn’t choose those names randomly. There’s a high chance that each Elder’s name foreshadows how he stands up compared to the others.
The series hints at the future conflict between Luffy and Imu, with the former being the “Sun”, as the second coming of the fabled “Sun God” Nika, and the latter representing the Earth. In real-life history, the formal institutions postulated that the Earth was at the center of the solar system, while a few brave scholars, such as Galileo, tried to demonstrate that, in truth, the Sun was at the center.
Something very similar is happening in the story of One Piece, where the World Government, led by Imu, suppresses the events of the Void Century, and steadily murders anybody who tries to uncover those secrets.
In the One Piece universe’s version of the conflict between geocentrism and heliocentrism, the Five Elders, i.e. Saint Topman Warcury, Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, Saint Marcus Mars, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, and Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, are the planets.
As such, the individual strength of each Gorosei might depend on the distance between the planet they named after and either the Sun (Luffy) or the Earth (Imu). This wouldn’t be unprecedented, as in One Piece the names of characters are often correlated to their strength.
For example, the hierarchy of the All Stars of the Beasts Pirates was based on poker, a game where the “king” card is more valuable than the “queen” card, who in turn is more valuable than the “jack” one. This correlated to King being stronger than Queen, and both being stronger than Jack.
Likewise, in the Baroque Works, male agents were ranked through numbered codenames, with a lower number directly corresponding to a more powerful fighter. Mr 0 was stronger than Mr 1, who in turn was stronger than Mr 2, who in turn was stronger than Mr 3, and so on.
The planet closest to the Sun is Mercury, followed by Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Based on this, Warcury would be the strongest Gorosei, V. Nusjuro the second strongest, Mars and Ju Peter the third and fourth strongest, and Saturn the fifth strongest.
If the ranking were based on each planet’s distance from the Earth, the order would begin with Venus (the closest planet to Earth), continue with Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter, and end with Saturn (the furthest planet from the Earth). Thus, in this case, the strongest Gorosei would be V. Nusjuro, followed by Mars, Mercury, Ju Peter, and Saturn.
To be more precise, Venus is the planet that comes closest to Earth in terms of distance, considering each planet’s maximum approach to Earth. Instead, when one considers the time that each planet spends being the closest to Earth, the award goes to Mercury.
The strongest Gorosei is either V. Nusjuro or Warcury
It’s worth noting that, regardless of the yardstick used, Saint V. Nusjuro and Saint Warcury are always either the strongest or the second-strongest members of the Gorosei, while Saint Saturn remains the weakest of the group, and the others stay in the middle.
Saint V. Nusjuro has always been shown with a katana, which, pending confirmation, is probably the Shodai Kitetsu, one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades. Needless to say, a character who is both a prominent endgame villain and the user of a particularly fine weapon is bound to be outrageously powerful.
As regards Saturn, he was the first Gorosei to get fully introduced and show his powers, and might very well be the first one to go down. According to a famous unwritten rule of shonen series, this suggests that he is less powerful than the others. While oversimplified, this trope is, for the most part, confirmed by facts.
On a final note, to emphasize the strongest member of a certain group, Oda typically depicts him at the center of the group at hand. Whenever the Five Elders are assembled, Warcury and V. Nusjuro are almost always portrayed at the center of the group. This isn’t definitive proof, but might be another clue on Oda’s part, especially as it forms a coherent whole with the aforementioned assumptions.
Keep up with all anime, manga, and live-action news as 2024 progresses. Check out our other One Piece articles here:
Chapter 1110 release date and time || The newly released SBS of volume 108 || Did Gear 5 ruin Luffy's character? || 100 strongest One Piece characters, ranked
