The Gorosei are incredibly important characters in the world ofOne Piece.They were introduced to the fans quite early into the series, however, they didn’t play much of a role directly in the arcs up until recently. Fans have been waiting for years to see them gain more importance and directly come into the fold, and now, it is time for just that to happen.
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One Pieceis now and its final saga and from here on out, Oda will reveal the biggest and deepest of secrets of his story. This also means the most influential and important characters in his world are going to play a big role, which implies the Gorosei are going to be involved now more than ever. Recently,in One Piece 1085, fans got a glimpse of the frightening powers that the Gorosei possess.
Who Are The Gorosei?
Fans are very well aware of the Gorosei as they were introduced very early into the story. Debuting long before the time skip of One Piece, the Gorosei were introduced to the fans as the highest-ranking of the Celestial Dragons. As many fans will know already, the Celestial Dragons are the creators of the current world order and the descendantsof the 20 Monarchs who fought a battle with the Ancient Kingdomand emerged victorious 800 years ago. The World Government was then established and the Celestial Dragons moved to Marijoa, the Holy Land, atop the Red Line.
Among the Celestial Dragons,5 people hold special importanceand they are known as the Gorosei, or the Five Elders. These Five Elders are known to hold the most power in the entire world ofOne Piece.Their influence goes far and wide and whatever they decide is something that everyone else in the world has to follow. Their authority surpasses even that of the Navy Fleet Admiral or the Commander in Chief of the organization. The Cipher Pol bows down to them, as does an average Celestial Dragon, as they are the highest ranking of the lot. However, in truth, the Gorosei, or the Five Elders, are not the highest-ranking of the Celestial Dragons. That would be Imu, the current monarch of the world. However, to the rest of the world, the existence of Imu is not known, which makes the Gorosei the highest authority in the world to the public eye.
The Age Of The Gorosei
The Celestial Dragons are known to be the descendants of the 20 Kingsthat moved to Marijoanearly 800 years ago. Every family that moved atop the Red Line has continued their existence there since. While one would expect the Gorosei to be the same, there are some things that don’t exactly line up. First and foremost, the Gorosei are not like the average Celestial Dragons. They have a certain aura about themselves that indicate that they are a step above others. At the same time, the Gorosei never really seem to age. This has been confirmed on multiple occasions.
Whenever fans saw them, even before the beginning of Luffy’s journey through flashbacks, the Gorosei looked quite the same. What finally confirmed that they do not age is Vegapunk’s cover story flashback, which saw him gain attendance with the Five Elders at one point. For some reason, Oda did not show the appearance of Gorosei on this cover page. Instead, they were kept in a silhouette. This happened nearly 30 to 40 years ago in the One Piece world and, if there were normal people, they would certainly have been much younger. Clearly, Oda did not want to spoil this reveal, which is why he kept them in a silhouette, even though fans had already seen their designs countless times over the years.
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The fact that the Gorosei do not age means that they are actually immortal and that they have been alive since the time of the Void Century. This also means that they have been the personal bodyguards of Imu for generations now and that every now and then, across the centuries, they lead a great cleansing, which leads to the world forgetting about their existence somehow.
The Devil Fruit Powers Of The Gorosei
For the longest time, fans were debating whether the Gorosei were fighters or not. After all, if someone had as much political influence and power as these Five Elders, they wouldn’t really need to be all that strong since they had the strongest military force, as well as other strong fighters at their beck and call. However, it also didn’t make much sense for them to not be fighters, given that they are relics of the old era where they played a big role in defeating the Ancient Kingdom.
This was further hammered home by the fact that one of the Gorosei carries a katana that holds legendary power. This sword is the Shodai Kitetsu, which is known to be a cursed blade belonging to the 12 Supreme Grade Swords inOne Piece. Clearly, if the Gorosei were not fighters, the bald Elder would not have a sword so magnificent on him.
Regardless,One Piecechapter 1085 finally confirmed Gorosei to be incredibly powerful. In fact, all of them seem to havetheir own Devil Fruit abilitieswhich are magnificent and, by the looks of it, terrifyingly powerful. After Cobra was struck down, Sabo jumped to his defense inOne Piecechapter 1085 and he immediately attacked the Five Elders with a powerful Fire Fist, later attacking Imu with a follow-up technique as well. Much to the surprise of the fans, the Gorosei were completely unscathed. Instead, they were seen in giant silhouettes as they transformed into their Devil Fruit forms. By the looks of it, all members of the Gorosei have Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits that have also been Awakened, and this puts them among the strongest character in the entire story. While fans do not know what exact Devil Fruits they have, they can certainly take a guess.
It looks of it, the bald Gorosei seems to retain his human-like appearance and has flame clouds around his neck. This might indicate that he is a user of a variant of the Hito Hito no Mi, just like Luffy. The Gorosei with the large mustache and a pointy beard seems to have a power of a mythical bird. Which bird this is remains to be seen but it is certainly going to be one from the legends. Saint Jaygarcia Saturn seems to have the power of a minotaurus or an Oni, although this remains unconfirmed once again. There is one member of the Five Elders whose powers are very hard to make out and the final member looks like they have the powers of a beast with giant tusks or teeth. This could be a powerful creature but a mythical elephant or a chimera good also fit the billing.
What is interesting is the fact that nearly all the members of the Gorosei seem to have flame clouds around their necks, which means that they are likely Awakened Devil Fruit users. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise to the fans as they have been alive for hundreds of years and would have had plenty of time to master their abilities and take them a step beyond. With their Awakened powers, it would not be a surprise to see them in the same tier as the Yonko or possibly even higher.
