Five Elders

Made up of the five most senior Celestial Dragons, this council bears a formal title that names it the World Government's Highest Authorities. The public believes them to hold supreme command over the whole world, yet in secret they defer to Nerona Imu, the government's shadow sovereign and true King of the World, who sits upon the Empty Throne. Their usual seat is the Room of Authority inside Pangaea Castle at Mary Geoise.

When the council was first shown during the Jaya Arc, its lineup ran Jaygarcia Saturn, Shepherd Ju Peter, Topman Warcury, Marcus Mars, and Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro. Saturn had already served for centuries, having witnessed Emet's assault on Mary Geoise around 200 years earlier. Imu can appoint replacements, the one confirmed case being Figarland Garling assuming Saturn's place after the Egghead Incident, where Saturn himself stood as the arc's chief antagonist.

Every Elder oversees a separate field of politics under the title of Warrior God. Garling and the late Saturn handled Science and Defense, Mars the Environment, Warcury Justice, Nusjuro Finance, and Peter Agriculture. Their duties are chiefly executive, steering projects tied to their portfolios, as with Saturn's oversight of Vegapunk's Pacifista program. Above all they labor to hold the delicate balance among the Three Great Powers, gathering whenever it wavers. They also govern the spread of information, especially the prohibition on Void Century study, and it was on their order that Ohara was wiped out by a Buster Call once its scholars uncovered too much.

Their near-permanent seclusion inside Pangaea Castle has lent them an almost legendary air, with many doubting they even exist. A Marine must rank at least Rear Admiral merely to stand before them, and breaking that rule can be fatal. Though they regard themselves as superior to all other World Nobles, they display more restraint and even flickers of regret than their pleasure-seeking kin, as when they gave the Ohara order with reluctance. Ordinarily they act through Cipher Pol, particularly CP0, and the Marines, showing themselves in person only for events of tremendous scale like the Egghead Incident.

The original five appear to carry Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits, each successfully awakened, yielding beast forms rooted mostly in East Asian legend. Saturn turns into a Gyuki ox-spider, Mars an Itsumade bird-serpent, Warcury a four-tusked Fengxi boar, Nusjuro a skeletal Bakotsu horse, and Peter a colossal Sandworm. On top of these transformations they command fearsome Haki and bear a Covenant granted by Imu, which brings immortality, telepathy, and access to the Abyss while also allowing Imu to possess or slay them at whim. Their regeneration is extreme, with Peter surviving a severed head and torso, and Saturn healing a body punctured with holes.

All of them bow to Imu, whom Mars names the Creator, obeying his orders unquestioningly and eliminating anyone who so much as catches sight of him. That loyalty offers no protection from his anger, since Saturn was reduced to a withered skeleton for allowing Luffy, identified as Joy Boy, to slip away from Egghead, after which Garling inherited his seat. Over the course of the saga they slew Nefertari Cobra to shield Imu's secret, pursued Nico Robin for her Poneglyph-reading skill, and, throughout the Egghead Incident, fought head-on against the Emperor Luffy along with his Straw Hat crew.