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Main Character Index > World Government > Five Elders | Marines (Marine Admirals | Special Science Group) | Cipher Pol

The Five Elders
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Click here to see their transformations

The Five Elders (Goroseinote  in Japanese) are the Highest Authority of the World Government, which means that they essentially rule the world. They are a group of five elderly men who have power over the Marines (through the Fleet Admiral, who is constantly in contact with them) and the Cipher Pols. They're also the ones who make deals with pirates who want to become part of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Pretty much any information about them remains a mystery for most of the story despite their significant influence over the world. Their names are eventually revealed during the Egghead Arc, over 800 chapters after their first introduction.

Pictured above from left to right they are:

  • Godhead of Agriculture: St. Shepherd Ju Peter
  • Godhead of Finance: St. Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro
  • Godhead of Justice: St. Topman Warcury
  • Godhead of Environment: St. Marcus Mars
  • Godhead of Science and Defense: St. Jaygarcia Saturn

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    In General 
  • Achilles' Heel: Implied — while the fact that Scars Are Forever implies there is a way around the absurdly powerful Healing Factor of the Elders, what that weakness is has yet to be revealed.
  • Ambiguously Human: While they appear to be Awakened Mythical Zoan users based on the tell-tale black smoke ring around their animal forms, several other aspects of them do not fit into that mold. They seemingly don't age, have an incredibly varied and shared powerset by the standards of most Devil Fruits, a Healing Factor bordering on magic, and their transformations being introduced without the usual full Devil Fruit name all call into question if the Five Elders are actually Zoan users or simply beings whose powers are quite similar to them. Nusjuro demonstrates the ability to manifest his animal and human head independently of each other, forming the animal head from his chest to counterattack Sanji with whilst he heals his head with otherworldly flames. Such a phenomenon is only demonstrated by the random amalgamations caused by Caesar's smile fruits, a sign that there is something wrong with the fruit itself.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: Their actions in regards to Ohara's scholars definitely show that they have something to hide from the general population. There are several other hints throughout the series that support this being the case as well.
  • Arc Number: 5, Naturally. There are five of them, and the number 5 can be seen repeated five times in the magic-like pentagram Saturn teleports himself into Egghead in.
  • Arc Villain: During the Egghead Arc, the Five Elders fight the Straw Hat Pirates themselves while trying to stop Vegapunk's message about the truth of the world from being shown all across the world. First Saturn, then all of them at once.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: They're at the top of the World Nobles, and while they aren't the blatant dog-kicking psychopaths that most other World Nobles are, they still demonstrate that they generally could not care less about the lives of "commoners", with one of them outright comparing them to insects, and scorn the Nefeltari family as "traitors" for the apparent crime of choosing to stay amongst their kingdom and people, instead of moving to Marijoa with the other founders.
  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: In combat, the Elders attack relentlessly with little thought of strategy or defense. This is because they're seemingly immortal and can regenerate from anything, even being blown to bits.
  • Bad Boss:
    • While they are initially portrayed as stern leaders of the World Government, the Elders gradually show that not only do they not care for the lives of their subordinates, but failure or disobedience will not be tolerated. They expect their orders to be followed without question, and if given the order to sacrifice their lives, they expect it to be carried out. They all hold a firm Humans Are Insects belief and that their subordinates are expendable no matter how loyal or useful they are to them. Should they either betray them or know too much about their dark secrets, the Elders will ensure they die a gruesome death. Even Rob Lucci, one of their greatest assets, is disposable in their eyes after everything he's done for them, and they consider letting him die during the Egghead Incident an acceptable sacrifice so long as they get their hands on the Mother Flame. As Vegapunk's broadcast about the truth of the world reaches the end of its countdown, the Elders debate about the idea of committing genocide on their entire fleet at Egghead to stop the broadcast; the only reason they ultimately relent is because they don't want to lose the power plant needed to produce more of the Mother Flame.
    • Even when not judging lives expendable in order to further the Government's agenda, the Elders showcase a pretty condescending attitude to their direct subordinates, demonstrating next to no respect to even the most powerful and loyal of them.
      • When Akainu calls them out over leaving him, the Fleet Admiral of the Marines, in the dark about their backroom deal with Doflamingo to fake his resignation from the Seven Warlords, they basically tell him to shut up and do his job as a cog in the system, dismissing the honour of the Marines he so values as a "trifling matter".
      • Saturn shuts Doberman's concerns down when he considers sacrificing the CP0 agents within Egghead, expressing offence that he'd even dare try to question his decision.
    • When Lucci begs Mars to spare Kaku during the attack on Vegapunk's lab, Mars simply responds it may not be possible because stepping on an "insect" is incidental.
    • As Ju Peter uses his Vacuum Mouth to stop Luffy and the giants from escaping, he's sucking up numerous Marines in the way, killing several without hesitation.
  • Bait the Dog: While extreme in how they deal with those who defy the World Government, they initially seem reasonable in comparison to the other World Nobles and showed concern for the potentially devastating effects of dangerous criminals on the public of the world. As the story progresses, it gradually becomes clear their concern is merely about how it would affect their reputation, they are shown to blatantly cover up the actions of corrupt individuals if it benefits them, and they're willing to serve a shadow dictator, which goes against the principles that the World Government was founded on, working on their tyrannical will.
  • Berserk Button: Disobedience. They expect their own Blind Obedience to Imu's will to be replicated in their servants and enforcers in the Navy and Cipher Pols, and do not tolerate any free-thinkers. When one low-ranking marine looks at Saturn's transformed form against orders, he blows his head off for the act first before turning his attention to the enemies before him. All of them express on-sight contempt of Nika, the incarnation of liberation, freedom and chaotic free-thinking, considering him the antithesis to how the world should be and an eyesore they have repeatedly failed to remove.
  • Blind Obedience: They are forever loyal to Imu, the true ruler of the world. No matter what order they give, even if it means committing the genocide of the Lulusia Kingdom, they agree without argument.
  • Coat Cape: All five don garbs on their back when they go off to see Imu.
  • Co-Dragons: They are actually servants of the true ruler of the world who sits on the "empty" throne.
  • Complete Immortality: Implied and downplayed: they haven't aged at all since God Valley and possess a Healing Factor that leaves them seemingly impossible to kill no matter what they're hit with. Luffy flat out states that they're immortal during Egghead.
  • Dark Is Evil: The World Government as a whole very much has a Light Is Not Good aesthetic, with many of their institutions and members having titles related in some way to heaven or divinity. This, however, is completely inverted with the Elder's transformations, which turn them into demons. The sheer discrepancy between how the Elders present themselves versus the beings they actually turn into can be seen as symbolic of the hypocrisy at the heart of the World Government. The World Government bases its rhetoric on a farce of "justice" and maintaining the peace, yet the people who actually benefit from this system are the most horrid tyrants imaginable. The uppermost echelons of the World Government are outright worse than the pirates they oppose: they are (possibly literally) demons who fooled the world into believing that they are gods.
  • The Dividual: They're mostly treated and recognized as a group instead of separate individuals, despite each having a very distinct design. Their names and individual personalities begin to be revealed only after over a thousand chapters into the story.
  • Dub Name Change: Not their actual names, but their titles:
    • Their literal translation from Japanese is "Five Elder Planets", which leads to a bit of Lost in Translation of their planetary theme naming for translations that shorten it to Five Elders.
    • The literal translation of their personal titles from Japanese is "Warrior God of (Discipline)", while the VIZ translation goes with the similar-sounding "Godhead of (Discipline)".
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • They're willing to ignore and even cover up outright illegal behavior of those in a high enough standing but it's been implied that associating with pirates will not be tolerated. The Germa 66 who maintain membership and influence in the World Government despite not even having a country and violently conquering all of North Blue are ejected after the incident involving Big Mom.
    • In general, they showcase that they do have some standards in how the World Government should conduct its affairs, but horrifyingly, they are willing to utterly discard these standards without a second thought should Imu request it, with barely any opposition expressed to his decisions. When they say the world is as the Creator wills it, they mean that said will shall be enforced like an act of god.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: All the Elders care about is maintaining order for the world and ensuring the government is portrayed as a benevolent force. When Akainu argues with them during the Dressrosa Arc, they shut him down, citing the Marines as being the image of the government and being meant to serve as their force of justice and obey orders. Innocent people dying means nothing to them so long as the World Government's reputation is good. With the reveal of Imu, the Elders further show how much they are willing to commit mass atrocities to appeal to Imu, who they basically worship as a God.
  • Evil Is Bigger: Their transformations are massive, dwarfing several of the wrecked buildings of Egghead when confronting Luffy. They may as well be Kaiju.
  • Evil Old Folks: They certainly have an ominous presence, and some of their decisions so far have been very questionable such as the genocide of an island of scholars who knew too much about the world's history. During the Reverie, they fully cross into this territory when they draw guns against the defenceless and wheelchair-bound Cobra when Imu appears before him, making it clear that his death was non-negotiable the second he caught a glimpse of Imu's existence, let alone spoke to them.
  • Evil Reactionary: They try to suppress knowledge of the "Void Century". This is a time in the world's history that has been deleted from public records; bits and pieces of what happened during this time have popped up as the series has gone on, suggesting that the world (or part of it) used to be an incredibly high-tech society, including hints at the existence of robot armies, space travel, and technological superweapons. Because they try to kill or silence anyone with knowledge of the Void Century (the reason Robin, an Adventurer Archaeologist who can read the Poneglyphs said knowledge is stored upon, had a bounty as early as age eight) it's very possible they or their predecessors were successful evil reactionaries.
  • Faux Affably Evil: In contrast to the World Nobles the Elders have decorum, but they share the same belief that Humans Are Insects that should just do what they are told. Mars and Saturn calmly state to their subordinates that they can't be expected to care about human lives, servile or not, in a matter-of-fact tone.
  • Genocide Backfire: Ordering Ohara's destruction and everyone on it killed would eventually come back to bite them. Not only would it inspire Dragon to finally start the Revolutionary Army, Ohara managed to save its knowledge, allowing Vegapunk and others to continue where they left off, and Nico Robin would eventually become one of the biggest thorns in their side alongside Luffy's crew. Lampshaded when they realize Vegapunk's Deadmans Switch going off and revealing the secrets they destroyed Ohara to keep hidden might easily be the scientist's revenge for the destruction of Ohara.
  • Godzilla Threshold: The Elders are usually content with letting their subordinates, be it the Marines or Cipher Pol, handle business with the world below them, outside of a few outlier individuals. Saturn's presence in the Buster Call fleet heading for Egghead indicates how serious a threat they think Vegapunk is to their rule with his genius mind, knowledge of the Void Century, and possessions of highly advanced and deadly technology such as the Seraphim. Saturn himself then tops this by summoning the rest of the Elders directly to Egghead in order to stop Vegapunk's broadcast that potentially contains information that will seriously harm their grip on the world, and to wipe out everyone on the island, including Luffy, who is the current wielder of Joyboy's powers and thus is the greatest threat to the World Government possible.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Two of them have scars on their faces, hinting at their combat ability, as well as making them more menacing-looking.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Throughout the Egghead arc, several of the Elders suffer injuries that would usually prove fatal, ranging from being stabbed or dismembered to outright blown to bits. Their Healing Factor is so obscenely powerful they don't even bother to prevent such injuries, as even the most grievous of wounds will heal within minutes.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Being the superiors of the Marines, Cipher Pol, and the Seven Warlords of the Sea, they could be considered the true villains every time the Straw Hats face one of those groups. This is most apparent during the Enies Lobby arc, and later Dressrosa arc. They themselves are but subordinates to the real ruler of the world.
  • Healing Factor: They possess the ability to recover from virtually any injury that goes beyond natural healing, being able to restore their physical forms as if they were never harmed in the first place. Saturn regenerates entire limbs from thin air, Ju Peter survives beheading with only slightly more recovery time than Saturn demonstrated with lesser injuries, and Mars dives through the barrier surrounding Egghead's Labostratum without any lasting injury (a barrier that previously was powerful enough to hurt Luffy in Gear 5).
  • Heroes Act, Villains Hinder: As the story progresses the Five Elders become increasingly concerned with trying to keep the Straw Hat Pirates in check, seeking to preserve the status quo above all else.
  • Humans Are Insects: They look down on humans, whom they see as inferior creatures.
    • Saturn says humans will "always breed more to make up for any loss". He's even downright offended when Vegapunk calls him on his Lack of Empathy, acting like it's common sense for him to be disconnected from the concerns of "mere insects". Even his own subordinates are mere worms to him: their concern over his health, when stabbed by Bonney, only annoyed him. Given his Arachnid Motif bestowed by his powers, it further highlights how he sees himself as naturally superior to them in the pecking order.
    • When Lucci asks him to spare Kaku, Mars is annoyed and replies that it is hard for him to spare a single bug during an extermination, highlighting how, in his eyes, all humans are the same.
  • Irony: The five of them are an Omniscient Council of Vagueness intent on maintaining the oppressive and unbalanced status quo of the world government yet are each modeled after historical figures most notable for their pursuits of freedom and equality between people. Furthermore, their transformed forms are seemingly antithetical to their seat.
    • Marcus Mars, the Godhead of Environment, transforms into a creature said to appear only during periods of great famine and drought.
    • Nusjuro is in charge of Finance and Economy, but his transformed form is a barren, sterile skeletal being. He also wears a rather modest kimono, rather than the expensive-looking suits the others have, as if to imply miserliness.
    • Warcury, the Godhead of Justice, can turn into a giant monster who used to prey relentlessly on innocent folks.
    • Ju Peter, the Godhead of Agriculture, transforms into a creature known for dwelling in deserts.
    • Saturn, the Godhead of Science and Defense, takes the form of a monster known not only for its savage and brutal nature, but also for its tendency to be warded off by superstitious actions like mantras or reciting paradoxes, both of which run antithetical to a scientific, strategic mind.
  • Kaiju: Their transformations are massive, comparable in size to a giant, and monstrous.
  • Knight Templar: Big time. Pretty much every decision they take is done mostly to keep order in the world.
  • Lack of Empathy: No matter how many civilians die from the corruption of the World Government, the Five Elders only care about maintaining order, lives be damned, and they all display horrific apathy and indifference towards human life in general. They show no remorse when Imu destroys the Lulusia Kingdom solely to test the Mother Flame weapon, killing countless civilians without batting an eye, and coldly tell the Marines who are listening that they heard nothing. When on Egghead, they are perfectly willing to sacrifice the lives of their own men to stop Vegapunk's broadcast.
    Jaygarcia Saturn: Humans are no different than insects... Even if they lose their numbers, they will reproduce again.
  • Large and in Charge: All of them are incredibly tall, reflecting their high position in the World Government's hierarchy. When they meet with Sakazuki, who himself is twice Luffy's height, he's shown to be the shortest person in the room.
  • The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: The Five Elders don't bother to defend themselves in combat, despite having monstrous Haki which would permit it, because they're seemingly impossible to meaningfully damage and can regenerate from anything, even being blown to bits.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: Played around with, but subverted hard in the end. The Five Elders present themselves as fair administrators of the world as opposed to the unambiguous depravity of the Celestial Dragons, but as the reader gradually finds out more about the Five Elders, the more it becomes clear that they're just as bad as the other Celestial Dragons, if not outright worse. For as bad as the Celestial Dragons are, they are ultimately products of a broken system that teaches them from childbirth that they are the infallible gods ruling over the world. While the Five Elders don't directly take part in the same hedonistic sadism as the Celestial Dragons, they are the ones actively overseeing and maintaining the very system that produced the Celestial Dragons to begin with. They don't merely enable the Celestial Dragons' atrocities either, they enforce them, and punish the few Celestial Dragons that don't fall in line. To the Five Elders, the status quo is how the world should be, and they are going to do everything in their power to make sure nothing changes. In short, the Five Elders aren't better people than the other Celestial Dragons, they're just better at hiding their depravity.
  • Leave No Survivors: They ordered the destruction of Ohara via Buster Call to ensure they killed every last one of the archaeologists that had studied the Void Century, and they didn't seem to be perturbed by Akainu deciding to shoot the evacuation ship as well because he wanted to be sure none of said archaeologists had managed to sneak on board. It's only thanks to Kuzan's mercy that Robin survived. With Vegapunk's broadcast to the world over what he knows about the Void Century starting with him revealing that the world is going to sink into the ocean, the Elders become so frantic to stop him they all agree to snuff out all life on Egghead to stop his broadcast and will deal with the ramifications later, making it very clear they will slaughter every single life on Egghead to cover their tracks, even their entire fleet of Marines present.
  • Magical Star Symbols: When they arrive at Egghead, they are seemingly summoned out of a pentagram.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!":
    • All of them are thunderstruck when they realize that not only has their collaboration with York been overheard by the Straw Hat Pirates, but that said pirate group has regained control over Egghead and fooled them into revealing their hand by using York to their advantage.
    • They all notably lose their composure, cool and self-control when it becomes clear that Vegapunk's broadcast is going to go out and they have no way of stopping it short of destroying the very thing they came to Egghead to secure. They all become desperate to stop the broadcast, blindly rushing forward while snarling that they don't have time to deal with the "weaklings" in front of them, and all have a minor Freak Out when they realize that unlike the situation in Ohara, they might not be able to stop Vegapunk's plan. It's both utterly satisfying seeing them lose their cool like that and utterly horrifying seeing how far they are willing to go to control the situation.
  • Meaningful Name: They're named the "Five Elder Planets"note  in Japanese, and each of the Elders are named after a planet.
  • Mr. Exposition: Their role in the present tends to be commenting about recent events that might impact the current situation of the world, informing the readers as a result.
  • Mysterious Past: For most of the story, it's heavily implied to have a story tied to the Void Century but is never revealed.
  • Necessarily Evil: They view their actions as a necessary evil (although it's unknown what exactly they were afraid of the scholars finding). While they ultimately gave the order to destroy Ohara, they seemed very unhappy that the situation came to that.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: They order Guernica to kill Luffy during his fight with Kaido before he can awaken his Devil Fruit, even if it means he dies, and they anger Kaido. This act not only pisses Kaido off, but it actually helps Luffy awaken his Devil Fruit in the process, meaning he not only became stronger than ever, but they just lost one of their best agents for nothing.
  • No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Ironically all five of them resemble historical figures notable for pursuing freedom and equality between people.
    • Shepherd Ju Peter resembles Abraham Lincoln (albeit with white hair).
    • Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro resembles Mahatma Gandhi.
    • Topman Warcury resembles Mikhail Gorbachev.
    • Marcus Mars resembles Taisuke Itagaki, leader of the Freedom And People's Rights Movement.
    • Jaygarcia Saturn resembles Karl Marx and Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian general and patriot who contributed to the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in the late 19th century.
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: Played With. Saturn is willing to delay the immediate execution of Bonney and the rest of his captives on Egghead solely because his mysterious powers and bizarre invulnerability to meaningful harm meant there is nothing they could do to stop him, allowing him the luxury of ensuring she dies with her faith in Nika broken first to try and undo the Hope Bringer's existence. When the situation does spiral beyond control, with an impending worldwide broadcast of "the truth of the World" imminent and chaos everywhere, Saturn immediately stops holding back and summons the rest of the Elders to Egghead, who proceed to ruthlessly and efficiently coordinate their efforts through their Psychic Link to corner all the separate forces around the Island and resume control before the 10-minute countdown has even fully finished, barely exchanging any dialogue towards those they're attacking. Their mental conversation reveals they don't even know what Vegapunk is going to reveal, but the mere threat of some Dark Secret of the Goverment's being revealed is enough for them to pull out all the stops without hesitation.
  • No One Sees the Boss: Any Marine commodore rank or below aren't even allowed to look at one of the Five Elders, let alone talk to them. When Saturn arrives on Egghead, one low rank Marine looking at him has his head exploded for the act.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While on the surface their extreme actions could be seen as them protecting order in the world, numerous instances like Flevance and the cover up of the prison break shows they are willing to put those same citizens they are supposed to protect in harms way out of greed or preventing their reputation and image from being shattered. With the reveal of Imu, it shows them being Co-Dragons to an Ancient Conspiracy that is willing to exact a purge towards anyone who could be perceived as a threat to the world government's power. They also downright enforce the slavery and racism in the system because they think some races deserve only enslavement because they are a sin against the world.
  • Oh, No... Not Again!: Every time they're informed that Luffy did something against what the World Government represents, like defeating a Warlord, punching a Celestial Dragon or just messing around in one of their installations, the Five Elders react with annoyance.
  • Older Than They Look: Implied. All of them are already fairly old-looking, but the flashback to the God Valley incident 38 years ago shows Saturn was also present, looking exactly the same as he does in the present. For contrast, Saint Figarland Garling was also present, but has since visibly aged into an old man by the present time.
  • Old Master: Each of them, despite their old age, has a mysterious and frighteningly lethal power, fitting for the second-in-commands of the entire world of One Piece.
  • The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: They're a group of old men who allegedly run the World Government, but between the Council of Kings handling international affairs, and the Fleet Admiral controlling the Navy, there's really no telling what they do day-to-day. The Five Elders have authority over everything and everyone under them, including the Kings and the Fleet Admiral, but most of the time they just vaguely comment on world affairs and focus more on perpetuating a conspicuous stalemate with their enemies. They have the larger goals which include ensuring that the government remains in control and continues to grow, dealing with those that seek to topple the government, and covering up their own history. And it's later revealed they don't quite have the highest authority either, as they secretly bow to one person by the name of Imu, who is the true ruler of the World Government.
  • One-Winged Angel: All of them possess monstrous Zoan forms that they unleash when they need to engage in combat.
    • Saturn's hybrid form is a gigantic, demonic spider centaur with huge horns based on an ushi-oni. In his animal form, only his head remains human while the rest of his body is fully arachnid, his eyes becomes more bizarre, and his appendages are covered with corrosive venom. Notably, in this form Saturn doesn't even bother talking to his opponents, with most of his dialogues being mental conversation with his fellow Elders.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: They always remain in Mariejois in all of their appearances, yet during the Egghead Arc one of them, Jaygarcia Saturn, leaves Mariejois en route to Egghead to kill Vegapunk, showing how serious they are in completing the mission. Justified, as controlling the Pacifistas and the Seraphim on the island requires the orders of one of the Elders, the only people whose authority trumps even Vegapunk's own. As the situation on the island escalates to the point that a worldwide broadcast of Vegapunk threatening to reveal "the truth of the world" is set to occur in 10 minutes, the rest of the Elders join Saturn in attacking Egghead in a desperate attempt to thwart the impending reveal.
  • Orcus on His Throne: The Five Elders don't actively join the battle against the pirates, instead enlisting the Marines and the Cipher Pol to do their bidding. A notable example is despite the Elders being the only ones aware of Luffy's Devil Fruit's true abilities, they don't try to defeat him themselves, instead getting Who's-Who to transport the Fruit to them or ordering Guernica to kill Luffy, risking the abilities to come to the fore-front (which is exactly what ends up happening). They become active during the Egghead Arc after the events in Egghead become too dire for them to ignore.
  • Outside-Genre Foe: Played With. Devil fruits are native to the world of One Piece, but the powers and abilities displayed by Saturn and the rest of the Elders seem to be bizarre even by Devil Fruit standards, especially since they seem to share powers of the same type, which no Devil fruit or technology has demonstrated. This helps emphasize their nature as villainous counterparts to the Sun God Nika and his own outside-the-box powerset.
    • All the Elders seem to share a Psychic Link with each other that allows them to be in constant non-verbal communication, even when Saturn is mid-combat with Luffy. Whilst Den-Den Mushis allow for long-distance communication, this ability seems unique to the Elders and nothing like it has been demonstrated before. It's also shown that they can be summoned to each other's location regardless of distance through a magic-like pentagram, a feat never showcased before in a world where the main form of travel is across vast stretches of dangerous ocean.
    • All the Elders seem to be immune to aging either naturally or unnaturally, shown most overtly with Saturn looking the same in flashbacks to the God Valley incident and being unaffected by Bonny's Age-Age fruit. One marine even makes a comment that the last recorded depiction of the Elders was a painting rather than a photograph, emphasizing how long it's been since they ventured outside of the Holy Land.
    • When their full Zoan forms are revealed, they're drawn in a more realistic manner akin to traditional depictions of the Japanese Yōkai they resemble, notably clashing with the semi-cartoonish aesthetic of One Piece, with several characters commenting on how ghastly their appearance is, such that only the flaming shroud of an Awakened Zoan on their bodies indicates any connection to a Devil Fruit. Unlike other Devil Fruit users, however, their forms are not introduced with them as the "user of the xx Fruit" in the text boxes, but with merely the names of their Yokai forms, as if they were the demonic beings themselves.
  • Perpetual Frowner: All five of them maintain a serious demeanor and don't even smirk. This makes further sense with the reveal that they've apparently been engaged in an idealogical conflict against the concept of freedom and liberation, manifested as Nika the Sun God, a Perpetual Smilar and their opposite in every conceivable way.
  • Pragmatic Villainy:
    • When Imu wants to test the new weapon the Mother Flame on the kingdom of Lulusia, the Elders try to persuade them from this not because it's wrong, but because there are a lot of people that live there who are a part of the World Government, despite the often-rebellious population. Once Imu makes it clear that they do not care, the Elders agree without hesitation.
    • The Elders don't care if Marines die, referring to them as "insects" and claiming that they can simply wait until new humans are bred to make up for any losses. However, they will still employ strategies to limit military casualties, unless it's necessary to achieve an important objective.
    • The Elders are tolerant of failures and won't kill a high ranking subordinate just because they can't accomplish tasks that became impossibly difficult: Saturn excuses Kizaru losing to Luffy before accomplishing his goals because Luffy was simply too strong and Mars only asks Rob Lucci for a status report instead of punishing him for failing to kill the Vegapunks. Low ranking subordinates would be killed just for looking at an Elder as they haven't proven themselves useful enough.
  • Psychic Link: The Elders are capable of talking directly with each other with their minds regardless of distance, as Saturn is able to talk with the other Elders in Mariejois from Egghead, which is nearly half a world away.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: It turns out that these five old men aren't just bureaucrats sitting on a table, but they are capable of fighting back, which is a huge understatement, since Saturn alone has proven to be much more troublesome to fight than Admiral Kizaru due to the former's Healing Factor. V. Nusjuro is able to incapacitate the rouge Pacifistas in a flash. It shows that the Five Elders are much more capable on the battlefield than the Marine soldiers they deploy.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Implied. The Perennial Youth Operation has been speculated to have been used on Imu, and during the God Valley Flashback, Saturn looks exactly the same as he did roughly forty years later, as opposed to characters like Garp, Kuma, and Garling who have aged to varying degrees. Bonney's Age-Age fruit fails to work on Saturn directly, making it clear that he can't be aged, either naturally or artificially.
  • The Reveal: Sakazuki, Kong and the Marines think they are answering to the true rulers of the world... but the Elders themselves all answer to an even higher authority who is the absolute ruler of everything.
  • Rule of Symbolism:
  • They Look Just Like Everybody Else: Unlike the rest of Gonk Celestial Dragons, they have an ordinary appearance and dress in relatively mundane clothes while still being ruthless tyrants or rather, the servants of one.
  • Scars Are Forever: The cut on Saturn's face adds to his weathered appearance and is a visual indicator that, for all their boasting, the Five Elders are not invincible. Ju Peter also sports a deep gash-like scar that runs across his collarbone.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: All of them wear pretty simple and sharp business suits, except for the one in the white robe.
  • Slave to PR: In the end, all they really care about is maintaining the image of the World Government as a benevolent force for justice, rather than the corrupt oligarchy that it is. Examples of this include giving Smoker the credit for taking down Crocodile in Alabasta, and pretending that the Level Six convicts from Impel Down didn't escape, which is so bad that it causes Sengoku to resign as Fleet Admiral. Because of this mentality, they're incredibly upset when Fujitora announces that the World Government allowed Doflamingo's reign of terror over Dressrosa.
  • Smug Super: As showcased by both Saturn and Mars, thanks to their powers and unquestioned authority, when they believe they have the upper hand on a situation, they'll act very smug about it, and deride others for thinking it could turn out any other way. When they don't have full control, they become increasingly upset and ferocious in their attempts to correct this, even to the point of a non-stop assault on everything before them. Realising that they can't stop Vegapunk's international broadcast or destroy Egghead (which he was partially counting on), they proceed to unleash utter destruction against their other targets to regain control.
  • Stellar Name: All of their first names are derived from the names of planets, with Saturn and Mars just taking the names directly and Ju Peter, V. Nusjuro and Warcury being variations on Jupiter, Venus and Mercury.
  • Summoning Ritual: They are able to summon each other even from the other side of the world.
  • Suppressed History: They know several important details about the Mysterious Past of the world's history and are adamant that nobody else will ever find these out, claiming publicly it's because of the threat posed by the ancient Weapons (despite being fully willing to revive one such weapon themselves in order to wipe out piracy). Even theorising about the Void Century is forbidden, and should said theory get too close to the truth, they consider that sufficient grounds to wipe entire islands off the map to ensure the secret stays buried.
  • Tautological Templar: At least in the anime rendition of the Ohara Buster Call incident, they've convinced themselves that they're "righteous" people, so everything they do, no matter how unpleasant, or the cost, is itself "righteous". The victims of Ohara would like to object. Oh wait, they can't, because a vice admiral killed them all for a minor chance that an archeologist might be on the ship.
  • Threat Backfire: They keep raising the bounties on the Straw Hats because of how much they want them dead. The Straw Hats in general, and Luffy in particular, tend to see it as an accomplishment. Some other pirates also see increasing bounties as a symbol of pride.
  • Treachery Cover Up: They tend to cover anything potentially embarrassing happening on the Government's watch:
    • Crocodile gets exposed trying to overthrow the King of Alabasta and defeated by the Straw Hats, a group of rookie pirates, but they say that the highest ranking Marine present was really responsible to save face. Smoker is pissed off when he learns of his undeserved merit.
    • Gecko Moria gets beaten by the Straw Hats, so they send Bartholomew Kuma to Leave No Witnesses. Then order Doflamingo to kill Moriah for being weak enough to get his ass kicked, and claim that he was killed in the Whitebeard War to maintain the Seven Warlords reputation.
    • Blackbeard, the man they chose to replace Crocodile in the Warlords, breaking out dozens of Level Six convicts from Impel Down? Pretend the whole thing never happened and not let the Marines issue bounties to track the escapees. Sengoku actually resigns because of this.
    • Explicitly defied in the Dressrosa arc. Most fans agree that Doflamingo's ties with the World Nobles would have allowed him to keep his Warlord status and given the chance, the Five Elders would have gone along with it, but Fujitora publicly announced what happened to other countries before the Five Elders even learned about it. When that happened, the Five Elders were put in a lose-lose situation: either let Doflamingo walk free and lose what little reputation they had, or allow Doflamingo to be arrested, let the Straw Hats take the credit, and piss off the World Nobles. The Five Elders ultimately chose the latter, but that doesn't mean they're happy about it given the bounty increases given to the Straw Hats and most of their allies during the arc.
    • After the Raid on Onigashima, the Elders note with the loss of two Emperors the world is likely going to change greatly and know they cannot cover up such huge news. However, they do try to minimize Luffy's success by removing the D. in his name and not posting his new bounty poster in his Joy Boy form. They were furious over Morgan's ignoring their demands and publishing it regardless.
  • Undying Loyalty: They are all forever loyal to the true ruler of the world, Imu, who they revere as a god. No matter what Imu demands, they will follow their orders without hesitation, justifying their own cruelty as the will of the creator of the world.
  • Villain No Longer Idle: The Five Elders, are known as The Omniscient Council of Vagueness for most of the story, implying they're just a bunch of old bureaucrats and not fighters. However, this is proven wrong when just one of them, St. Jaygarcia Saturn, crashlands on Egghead Island to take out the Straw Hats by himself. He displays abilities that are beyond what the manga has shown before and can be described as something closer to black magic. When Luffy proves to be too much for him to handle alone, Saturn brings the other four along to try and get the situation under control. As it turns out, the other four are equally monstrously powerful (with emphasis on "monstrously").
  • Villainous Breakdown: All five begin to seriously lose their cool once it becomes clear Vegapunk's final message can't be stopped and the secrets the World Government has wiped out entire islands to keep secret are about to be revealed. Once they realize Vegapunk has proven to the world as a whole he's telling the truth, they start to panic so badly they decide their only option is to kill every life sign they can detect on the island in a desperate attempt to end the transmission.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Zigzagged. On the one hand, the Five Elders do try and preemptively eliminate Luffy before he unlocks the Fruit's true powers, even sacrificing one of their CP0 agents, only for Luffy to survive and awaken the fruit anyway. However, despite knowing the danger of it, they apparently make no overt moves to eliminate Luffy when he shows up as the newest wielder of the power, and repeatedly challenges the authority of the World Government.
  • Worth It: The Elders demonstrate no compunctions with mass sacrificial loss of life to achieve their aims, but in the Egghead arc, they finally run into an issue they cannot simply obliterate entirely to resolve. The facilities on Egghead are the only known means of reproducing the Mother Flame, a mysterious power source that the Elders and Imu utilised in some manner to obliterate the Lulusia Kingdom as a test. The Elders make it clear that if not for the need to produce more of the flame, they'd happily destroy the island even at the cost of blowing the thirty-thousand-strong fleet of Marines (including an Admiral and ten Vice Admirals) and the active CP0 agents away if it meant stopping Vegapunk's international broadcast. This is something the elderly scientist was counting on as the major defence against the Elders recreating Ohara's destruction, and it's telling that the only thing that can sway the elders from causing immense loss of life is a means of producing greater catastrophes, even with the impending reveal of "the truth of the world" hanging over them.
  • You Have Failed Me: Implied. When Guernica was given an order by them to kill Luffy during his fight with Kaido, he was shocked by the order, but carried it out knowing that if he failed, the Elders would have likely killed him.
  • Youkai: Three of the Five Elders are based on Japanese demonic entities and one of them is based on a Chinese mythological monster. Only Ju Peter is not obviously based on a supernatural being, although given the demonic theme of the Five Elders one may equate him with the Mongolian Death Worm, a legendary Cryptid.
    • Saturn is revealed to be a Gyūki, an Ox-Demon Youkai, and his design and powers draws heavily from traditional depictions of the creature, down to having the ability to kill with a stare.
    • Marcus Mars is an Itsumade, a bird Yokai that is said to be an "eerie bird".
    • V. Nusjuro is a Bakotsu, which is said to be the vengeful, skeletal horse spirit that burned to death in its past life.
    • Warcury is a Fengxi, a gigantic boar from Chinese mythology that often terrorizes the countryside and causes great havoc.
    • Ju Peter is unusual in that he's only introduced as a Sandworm, and his title is also written in katakana.

    Saint Jaygarcia Saturn 

"Godhead of Science and Defense" Saint Jaygarcia Saturn

Voiced by: Keiichi Noda (JP), Jerry Russell (EN), J.B. Edwards (EN, Ep. 511 onward)

Debut: Chapter 233 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Unknown Ushi-Oni Zoan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zvqzvc0.png
Click here to see his hybrid form
Click here to see his beast form
"Why is it... that human beings feel the need to do what they are explicitly forbidden from doing?"
Chapter 1095

The first of the Five Elders to be formally introduced and fleshed out. Jaygarcia Saturn is the Godhead of Science and Defense.


  • Arch-Enemy:
    • The Egghead arc reveals Saturn to be the arch-enemy of Bartholomew Kuma. While Kuma has been in conflict with the World Government from a young age, the one enemy that he's persistently been involved with is Saturn, who has been a looming presence in his life since the day they first met, when he was a child slave in God Valley. Saturn in turn seems to have a particular focus on squashing Kuma as "punishment" for him being both born of the Buccaneer race as well as upholding the folklore of Sun God Nika and his ideals of freedom. This animosity between them later passes on to Kuma's adoptive daughter Bonney, who blames Saturn for Kuma's full conversion into a cyborg, an act that functionally killed her father and causes Bonney to try and kill Saturn in turn. To cement this hatred, Saturn reveals to her that he is the reason why Bonney contracted the Sapphire Scales disease that her father gave up his life to save her from, as they were the result of Saturn's experiments on her mother Ginny while she was held captive as a slave wife. Everything that has gone wrong in Kuma's adult life, and by extension Bonney's entire life, can be attributed to Saturn and his sheer disregard for those he deems "human".
    • Saturn harbors a deep resentiment towards Nika, specifically the very concept of him. Whilst Imu and the rest of the Elders are in natural opposition to the Sun God, Saturn has taken personal effort to try and undo Nika's very existence, showing a targeted focus on destroying those who espouse the ideals of the Hope Bringer in the most cruelest manner possible, in order to dissuade others from believing in him. As the Devil Fruit is apparently born from the hopes and dreams of those seeking freedom, crushing their spirits before their death helps lower the chance of Nika's continued existence, with Saturn showing a vested interest in breaking Bonney's belief in Nika foremost over even trying to kill the fruit's current vessel whilst he's helpless before him. The fact that his years of effort still can't erase Nika is one of the few things that visibly irritates Saturn.
  • Armed Legs: He prefers using his legs in combat when in his One-Winged Angel form, as they all end in vicious spikes. In his full animal form, they're so poisonous they corrode trees upon touch.
  • Badass Boast: After Bonney stabs him and as the Marines present are freaking out about it, Saturn has one thing to say:
    "Calm yourselves, pitiful worms! If I had been afraid of that attack, I would have simply dodged it."
  • Badass Bookworm: Represents science as a Godhead, and is absolutely a force to be reckoned with. He warns Vegapunk against disobeying his order to erase Kuma's mind, since, as a scientist himself, he will know.
  • Bad Boss: Shows no concern for the Cipher Pol agents trapped at Egghead, outright dismissing their safety for the sake of acquiring York and the Punk Records. After his transformation, he brutally kills one unlucky Marine simply for looking at him. After Bonney stabs him in the chest, the vice admirals are shocked and try to aide him, but rather than be grateful for this, Saturn's reaction is to insult them by calling them pitiful worms. The only person he seems to show any respect to is Admiral Kizaru.
  • Berserk Button: He keeps a stoic and composed demeanour on at all times, but one of the few things that causes a change in his dispassionate countenance is the mention of the Sun God Nika. Kuma saying he wanted to be like him to Saturn as a child make him focused on giving the boy the cruelest punishment possible for his faith, and he even brought it up decades later against Kuma's daughter Bonney, making it clear that he never forgot about it and has always held it against him. As Saturn's actions and words imply he's sincerely trying to erase the concept of the Hope Bringer from the minds of the populace, getting confronted with the fact that his long years of effort are All for Nothing again and again visibly frustrates him.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: He, along with York, are the Arc Villains of the Egghead Arc.
  • Blatant Lies: After he realises that Bonney has no idea what Nika is supposed to look like, he claims her Nika-ish future form has lost its strength against him because Bonney is starting to doubt that somebody like Nika truly exists after witnessing her father's Dark and Troubled Past and all the abuse he suffered for upholding belief in the mythological being. Saturn states that her Imagination-Based Superpower hits a limit when Bonney is faced with harsh reality and the limitations therein, and thus she cannot draw on the strength of a being that isn't real... after Luffy used Gear Five multiple times throughout the arc and is lying mere feet away from them in plain sight. Of course it helps that Bonney is, at the time, unaware Luffy's Gear Five form makes him the incarnation of Nika.
  • Boring, but Practical: His fighting style is stabbing with his leg claws over and over until he gets a hit. Not very flashy compared to his fellow Elders, but it gets the job done since it can stab through Pacifistas with ease.
  • Break Them by Talking: As he holds Bonney in his grasp, he proceeds to gloat about how he screwed Kuma over by making him suffer a Death of Personality, in order to cure the very disease that he himself gave to Ginny and Bonney, by means of Devil Fruit experimentation. He then mocks her for believing in Nika, a "worthless Buccaneer legend". Justified, in that he is aware Bonney has an Imagination-Based Superpower, so breaking her spirit is the perfect way to weaken her.
  • Control Freak: As the first Elder to get fully characterised, Saturn showcases the controlling and oppressive nature of the World Goverment's top brass in every scene he's in. Every statement he gives is to be taken as fact and followed with absolute Blind Obedience, with any digression resulting in punishment befalling on you or your loved ones. He rudely dismisses the opinions of others and overrules them without a second thought whenever he decides events will proceed as he decides, and constantly shuts down Vegapunk whenever he tried to use his scientific creativity to Take a Third Option, making it clear that this would not be tolerated.
  • Deadly Gaze: One of his abilities is to cause physical harm to others simply by glaring at them intensely. When a low-ranking Marine looks upon him against orders, a quick gaze causes his head to explode. Sanji is knocked back by the force despite being Made of Iron. Against Luffy in Gear Five, Luffy reacts as if he was punched in the face but isn't meaningfully impeded by the attempt.
  • Determinator: Even as he keeps suffering setback after setback and being constantly outplayed by Vegapunk's foresight, Saturn just becomes more committed to wiping out all his opposition on Egghead no matter the consequences. When Gear 5 Luffy flattens him and Kizaru both into discus shapes and flings them away, whilst Kizaru crashes into a battleship and has to recover from the bizarre attack, Saturn turns his trajectory into a boomerang arc and utilises his spinning momentum to turn himself into a buzzsaw-like attack back on Luffy immediately, to the latter's disgruntlement that no attack he pulls can meaningfully incapacitate him or keep him away for long, even at the height of his fruit's power.
  • Disproportionate Retribution:
    • For the crime of looking at him, Saturn blows a Marine's head off.
    • He considers Kuma's persistent determination to believe in the folklore and ideals of Nika and freedom as sufficient grounds for him and his entire race to be wiped off the face of the Earth as long as they persistently resisted the will of the World Government. Later, it is implied that all the horrible things he did to Kuma and Bonney were driven out of spite for the former, just because he had the "gall" to declare his intentions to be like Nika to Saturn's face when he was just a kid.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
    • Saturn seems genuinely perplexed by the mere suggestion he should concern himself with the feelings of 'insects' around him, acting as if it's just common sense that he wouldn't. Likewise, he is absolutely convinced that making those who believe in Nika have the most depressing and cruelest ending possible will convince others of the folly in believing in a figure that "doesn't exist". He is completely blind to the fact that such constant oppressive policies will only make said victims believe in Nika more to allow themselves to keep going, leaving him continually frustrated whenever another mention of Nika pops up despite his best efforts.
    • After Vegapunk explains Kuma is still moving and able to attack him because of The Power of Love, Saturn can only respond that it's a 'flaw in the human form' and an 'error in the programming,' unable to see it as anything else.
    • It never even entered his mind that Vegapunk would risk his life to prevent the Pacifistas from killing Bonney using her father's image. Learning Vegapunk did exactly that furthers the Elder's Villainous Breakdown.
  • Evil Counterpart: As the Godhead of Science and Defense, Saturn is similar to Vegapunk, but lacks the latter's moral standards. Both are Mad Scientists but their behavior and demeanor directly contrast each other. Vegapunk is a colorful, flawed and somewhat quirky individual who means well despite his missteps. Saturn is a drab dark humourless and manipulative totalitarian without any redeeming qualities who is actively malicious in his actions. Vegapunk seeks to protect the innocent through scientific advancement, Saturn twists Vegapunk’s efforts to satisfy his lust for power and eliminate any threats to the World Government's authority and reputation. Vegapunk is kind and empathetic, Saturn is cruel and displays a disturbing Lack of Empathy. Vegapunk is reluctant to experiment on human subjects without their consent. Saturn is all too happy to do inhuman experiments to other individuals which include Ginny, Bonney’s mother.
  • Evil Is Bigger: Saturn's One-Winged Angel form is absolutely massive, so large that he's able to hold Bonney in one hand like she was a toy. His beast form is even bigger.
  • Evil Is Petty: En route to Egghead, he orders that the ships containing innocent researchers who are unaware of Vegapunk's research be hunted down and sunk regardless, just in case somebody on board knows more than they should, which can be chalked up to brutal pragmatism. However, he later reveals this to Vegapunk's face, solely to spite him after he discovers that Vegapunk managed to work around his explicit orders with Kuma's Self-destruct, highlighting his petty malice.
  • Extremity Extremist: In his One-Winged Angel form, he seems to attack almost exclusively with his legs if he performs a physical attack, while keeping his hands on his walking stick.
  • Feel No Pain: Despite boasting abnormal power befitting one of the topmost rulers of the World Government, Saturn is surprisingly easy to injure, being stabbed and blasted clean through with little resistance. However, he never reacts like the injuries actually hurt despite this, at most, showing an annoyed glare at the audacity of somebody attacking him. Even getting smacked in the head hard enough to rip off his arm doesn't seem to genuinely harm him, with Saturn showing more outrage at Kuma's ability to still act in defiance of his will than pain at being attacked.
  • Finishing Stomp: His favorite move in his One-Winged Angel form seems to be attempting to kill someone by stomping and impaling them with the deadly spikes each of his legs end with.
  • The Force Is Strong with This One: When Saturn makes his move on Egghead everyone there that can sense Haki immediately can feel his presence, with Jimbei wondering what could be producing such an unearthly feeling around them. The Vegapunks likewise freak out when they realize that one of the Five Elders is on the island with them.
  • Half-Breed Discrimination: It's all but outright stated that Bonney is half-World Noble, as her mother Ginny was kidnapped by Government agents to be a Celestial Dragon's "wife" (read: Sex Slave). Saturn, despite this, has no issues with threatening to have her Made a Slave to keep Kuma in line. It's unclear, however, if this is just Saturn's personal view on things, or standard belief among the Celestial Dragons.
  • Healing Factor: Almost as soon as he removes the sword that impaled him, the wound mends itself. Even the blood disappears. It's so powerful that he can regrow entire limbs, with them seeming to reform out of the cloudy aura emanating from his body as an Awakened Zoan. The effect looks like the body parts are almost being restored from thin air, in an unnatural manner that highlights Saturn's otherworldly abilities.
  • The Heavy: While all five Elders are equal in rank and take center stage on Egghead, Saturn is the one with the most characterization and focus of the five, as well as the most personal connections to the heroes.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Activating Kuma's Self-Destruct Mechanism was what allowed Kuma's paternal instincts to take full control of his body, as the mechanism Vegapunk installed was a shutdown-switch rather than a bomb. This culminates on Kuma landing a Haki-Infused punch directly on his face which temporarily knocks him out, breaks his horns and limbs, and allows the Straw Hats to escape Saturn's influence and join the fight.
    • He orders the Kuma-shaped Pacifistas to stay behind on Egghead while the Buster Call takes place just because he wants Bonney to be killed by the very image of the father who selflessly gave up his life to save her, calling this "the height of folly". This backfires on him when it turns out Vegapunk has granted Bonney supreme authority over all Kuma-shaped Pacifistas, precisely because he knew there was always a possibility of this happening and wanted to prevent such a tragedy. Not only is the execution prevented, but the Pacifistas beat the Buster Call forces Saturn had in his command until another Elder destroys them.
  • Hope Crusher: He steps in to personally end Vegapunk's escape attempt and all of the Straw Hats with him, just when it looked like they had a chance to escape through the Pacifistas on their side and with gear 5 Luffy holding back Kizaru. He even allows Bonney to stab him with a sword, just to illustrate how pointless her efforts to land meaningful damage on him are to break her spirits, and outright asks the assembled allies paralysed before him what the most painful order for them to die in would be, just to make sure they die regretting ever crossing the World Government. All of his actions and lamenting how humans always do whatever they are explicitly forbidden from doing imply he cultivates this attitude to best undo the concept of Nika the Sun God itself, trying to destroy the faith of those who believe in the Hope Bringer in the cruelest manner possible, so the concepts that sustain the fruit eventually vanish along with it. Getting faced with the fact that generations of effort still isn't enough to undo Nika is one of the few things that can visibly upset him.
  • Horns of Villainy: His monstrous form has a pair of huge horns to complete his demonic appearance.
  • Hypocrite: He calls Akainu out for "letting Robin slip past his fingers", never mind how he himself let Kuma slip past his own. Keep in mind that Akainu has never even met Robin face-to-face, while Saturn had Kuma within his grasp. It's even more shameless as he says that while the Buster Call he is in charge of is falling apart, with Saturn knowing Catarina and Van Augur already slipped through.
  • I Don't Pay You to Think: Every time Vegapunk protests his orders by coming up with alternative ways to address the key concerns behind them, Saturn quickly shuts him down by ordering him to follow his commands to the letter.
    "Do not answer. I'm not interested in the opinions of a scientist for hire."
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
    • Bonney rams a katana blade into his chest. He more or less seems unfazed by it, and quickly removes the injury.
    • Saturn's main attack in his hybrid or animal form is attempting to impale his enemies with the deadly spikes on his legs, which are poisoned as well.
  • It's Personal: Saturn usually maintains a dispassionate attitude towards others, acting like responding to the animosity of "insects" is completely beneath him. However, after discovering that Vegapunk began researching around the Void Century, which is strictly forbidden by the World Government, and seemingly found a way around Saturn's order to put a self-destruct mechanism on Kuma, it puts a noticeable crack in his haughty demeanour, with Saturn becoming actively malicious and spiteful in his attitude towards Vegapunk and taking vindictive pleasure in his suffering, such as telling him the researchers who evacuated Egghead will be hunted down for possibly knowing some unfathomable secret and that Vegapunk himself is to blame for it.
  • Knight of Cerebus: The Egghead Arc gets several times more dire once Saturn decides to deal with the heroes himself, lacking any hint of humor or whimsy about the matter. And being the first of the Five Elders to appear at length, he gives a glimpse at just how depraved they truly are and how much more rotten the World Government is to its core.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Saturn sees most people as insects and can turn into a giant spider-like creature. When Bartholomew Kuma, the man whose life he made a living hell, finally gives him the face-cracking punch he deserves, he ends up squashed underneath a bunch of buildings like the parasitic bug he is. Sure, he doesn't actually die from it, but it's enough to precipitate a Villainous Breakdown.
  • The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Saturn would rather abuse his Healing Factor to break the spirits of his enemies than prevent any damage they could deal at all.
  • Leave No Survivors: Saturn orders the ship full of civilians leaving Egghead destroyed because those aboard might know about the Void Century.
  • Mad Scientist: Played With. He's not a complete science-obsessed Cloudcuckoolander like Vegapunk and his own pushing of the boundaries of possibility, but he oversees Science as a Godhead, and pointedly has none of Vegapunk's own empathy or good intentions for any scientific creations. He insisted the Pacifista army would be weapons of the government, rather than shields for the innocent like their creator and benefactor intended, and his use of science gets pointedly contrasted against Vegapunk's when he coldly threatens Vegapunk to stick to their agreement and utterly erase Kuma's personality, vetoing his suggestion of a Flip Personality and making it clear he'll use his own scientific acumen to make sure Vegapunk does nothing less than subject Kuma to becoming a mindless cyborg. It would later be revealed he experimented on Bonney's mother Ginny, resulting in her and then Bonney having Sapphire Scale disease, and then experimented on Bonney herself as an infant just to see if a baby could be given a Devil Fruit power before even being able to eat solid food.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: When Kuma decks him in the face with a Megaton Punch hard enough to tear off one of his arms, he's unnervingly unreactive to the mangled state of his body, his first priority upon recovering being to demand answers from Vegapunk about how he managed to defy his commands, treating the grievous injuries as a further humiliation he has to endure rather than life-threatening wounds. Even if his Healing Factor can fix the damage in seconds, he still acts like the attack didn't actually hurt him.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He had surveillance on Vegapunk during his conversation with Kuma. Disappointed with Vegapunk not taking advantage of the situation, Saturn forced Kuma to become a Warlord and into the Pacifista program to lose his free will and humanity or his daughter Bonney would either be sold off to slavery or killed. And then comes The Reveal he was the one who caused Ginny and Bonney's Sapphire Scale disease and knowingly used Kuma's kindness to turn him into a Full-Conversion Cyborg in service of the World Government.
  • Never My Fault: When Vegapunk angrily tells him the researchers he ordered killed are innocent people who hadn't done anything Saturn responds by saying that its Vegapunk's fault for looking into the Void Century.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He activates Kuma's Self-Destruct Mechanism expecting Kuma to blow up and take out the Revolutionary Army after being retrieved. Unbeknownst to him, Vegapunk's mechanism was not a bomb but rather a simple shutdown-switch that disables him from receiving any further orders. This allows Kuma to run purely on instinct allowing the Buccaneer to arrive on Egghead and save Bonney with the rest of the Straw Hats.
  • No-Sell: As opposed to top-tier fighters who are barely phased or react to powerful attacks, he's vulnerable to being hurt even by regular swords, and he repeatedly suffers grievous injury courtesy of multiple people during the Egghead arc. However, his Healing Factor renders all form of attacks ineffective no matter how powerful. He's also the first person to be seemingly unaffected by Devil Fruit powers, even those of a Mythical Zoan, as Bonney was unable to age him at all, and Gear 5's reality-warping attacks, which were capable of brutalizing an admiral, don't even phase him or prevent him from quickly counter-attacking Luffy.
  • Not So Stoic: Saturn appears as a stoic sociopath for most of his time on Egghead. However, when Kuma arrives to punch him in the face, his stoic facade slips first into fear, then disbelief, and finally into utter fury.
  • Oh, Crap!: He finally shows fear when Kuma arrives in full Papa Wolf mode just in the nick of time to save Bonney from him before proceeding to attempt a Haki-Infused punch directly to his face.
  • Painting the Medium: To highlight his demonic appearance, the font used to introduce him in the same panel is one that looks jagged, sharp and edgy.
  • Personality Powers: The mythical Ushi-Oni is known for its savage and brutal nature — something which Saturn demonstrates in spades, crushing any enemy in his path mercilessly and deeming even the simplest of slights to himself as something worthy of death and torment. Similar to how the Ushi-Oni is said to be warded off by superstitious practices like chanting mantras, Saturn is the most adamant of the Elders in his hatred of the legend of Nika, doing everything in his power to eradicate even the slightest notion of faith in the Sun God.
  • Poisonous Person: When fully transformed into a Ushi-Oni, the spikes on his legs become poisonous enough to melt trees upon touching them.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: His transformation makes his beard grow even longer and thicker, similar to a cloud.
  • Pragmatic Villainy:
    • He agrees to let Vegapunk make a deal with Kuma because the latter would make the ideal host for the Pacifista Clone Army, though he proceeds to amend the agreement into making it effectively a Deal with the Devil, in order for Vegapunk to cure Bonney. He also agrees to let Bonney stay in Sorbet Kingdom instead of Mariejois saying that it doesn't matter where she is as long as she is under World Government supervision.
    • When finally facing the Straw Hats he immediately takes the opportunity to try and kill a weakened Luffy (who's just hit his Hour of Power limit) with a Finishing Stomp, but after his crew save him, he orders Luffy to be chained with Seastone cuffs instead. As he considers his true enemy to be Nika the Sun God and Luffy a mere vessel for his power, he is perfectly ok with just killing Luffy if the opportunity presents itself, but if Luffy can be captured instead, it would allow the World Government to somewhat contain their long-time foe. Similarly, since killing Luffy wouldn't actually destroy Nika, Saturn's focus is on destroying the faith of those who believe in the Sun God first and foremost before turning his attention to the fruit's current vessel, even if they're less of a physical threat to him than the awakened Nika.
  • Punched Across the Room: When Kuma's punch connects with his face, it sends him down across several blocks away from his initial location and breaks through several buildings. Said punch also breaks one his horns, his hand and one of his spider-legs.
  • Rage Quit: The mission to Egghead has three goals: kill Vegapunk, secure Punk Records, and secure the factory that produces the Mother Flame. Retrieving York joins the list later on. However, after Kuma lands a Haki-infused punch on his face despite all logic, allowing the Straw Hats to begin attacking him, Saturn loses it and orders a Buster Call to obliterate the island.
  • Reminiscing About Your Victims:
    • As he holds Bonney in his grasp, he proudly recalls how he screwed Kuma over, before proceeding to reveal that it was him who was responsible for Ginny and Bonney developing the Sapphire Scales disease, by means of experimenting on Ginny with Devil Fruit extracts which were passed on along with her disease to her daughter. It doesn’t go well for him, because it gives Kuma time to catch up to the situation and go all Papa Wolf on his ass.
    • He later divulges to Vegapunk that he ordered the destruction of the civilian evacuation ship carrying the entirety of Egghead's unarmed denizens, just to see the pained look on his face.
  • Satanic Archetype: He ticks several checkmarks for the Satanic archetype since appearing on Egghead—being summoned via a pentagram, his One-Winged Angel form resembling a giant demonic spider with horns, and he even initiated a Deal with the Devil type situation with Kuma, making him basically sell his soul to the World Government in exchange for curing his daughter's illness. There's also the fact that the Celestial Dragons fashion themselves as gods, with Saturn himself even having the title of 'Godhead of Science and Defense,' fitting the idea of the Devil and demons deceiving others into worshipping them. The cherry on top is that his name is one character away from Satan when written in Japanese: Saturn is written as サターン, or Satān.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!:
    • When he eavesdropped on Vegapunk and Kuma making a deal for the former to create clone soldiers using the latter's biological data, in exchange for Vegapunk curing Bonney's disease, he scoffed at their intention for the clones to become shields to protect the innocent civilians.
    Saturn: Clone soldiers are weapons!! And weapons are valued by how many they can kill.
    • He also views The Power of Love as simply a flaw or error in humans rather than a source of strength.
  • Spider People: He has the ability to transform into a giant spider-human hybrid, implied to be an Awakened Mythical Zoan.
  • Squashed Flat: Gets flattened like a pancake and tossed away by Gear 5 Luffy. He is able to quickly recover, though.
  • The Sociopath: Saturn has zero empathy for anyone, has the expected Celestial Dragon perception of himself as above everyone else to the point they might as well be insects, and is able to appear reasonable when he needs to. He also rarely ever shows any emotion, fitting the shallow emotions aspect, and seems genuinely perplexed by the mere suggestion he should consider the feelings of anyone he sees as beneath him.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: He never loses his cool, even as he's inviting his enemies to decide who among them gets to die first. Young Kuma stating that he wanted to be more like the legend of Nika and save as many people as he could just made Saturn more coldly focused on breaking him for trying to go against the way the World Government dictates the world works. The end result is Saturn making Kuma and Bonney's entire lives a living Hell for no other reason but spiting Kuma for this, out of his commitment towards destroying the very concept of Nika itself.
  • Summon Magic: Saturn is capable of calling forth the other Elders towards his location, which he demonstrates during the Egghead arc in order to prevent Vegapunk's global broadcast from revealing any dangerous information.
  • The Stoic: Saturn never shows any emotion whatsoever, not even when directly overseeing and enabling some of the most horrid atrocities imaginable. The only thing that causes a slight change in his demeanour is the mention of the Sun God, Nika, causing him to sport a subtle irritated glare at the offender.
  • Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Saturn's main tactic against the enemies of the World Government is to threaten those they care about to either force compliance with his demands or to serve as an example. His main target is not any living being, however, but the concept of Nika the Sun God itself, showing a targeted focus on tormenting and breaking any who believe his legend before killing them in the cruelest manner possible as a detriment to others from following their example. Should enough people's faith waver, it would erase the very concepts that sustain the fruit's existence and finally kill their long-time enemy for good. He even focuses on breaking Bonney's faith over targeting the fruit's current vessel when both are helpless before him. As for the crew of said vessel, Saturn makes it clear to them that their horrible demise is guaranteed, save the worst order for them all to die in one by one.
  • This Cannot Be!: Saturn can't comprehend Kuma still being able to move and attack him via the Power of Love. Justified, as even Vegapunk admits this shouldn't be possible.
    Saint Saturn: Why is this happening, Vegapunk?! He should be dead!!! A few days after the Revolutionary Army took Kuma away... I pressed his self-destruct switch!!!
  • Too Clever by Half: Saturn is genuinely extremely intelligent, as the Godhead of Science, but his inability to comprehend empathy and love blinds him to what others might do to protect the ones they love. His massive ego and sense of superiority over everyone else also blinds him, causing him to underestimate Vegapunk and be left blindsided when Vegapunk manages to find a loophole in his order to put a self-destruct in Kuma. He also didn't see Vegapunk putting Bonney at the top of the Pacifistas' command list to prevent her from being killed by the image of her father coming.
  • To the Pain: Invites his enemies to choose between themselves who is to die first, in whatever order would be the most painful. In Saturn's mind, the more depressing and horrifying the demise of those who believe in Nika, the more damage is done to the very concepts that sustain the fruit's existence.
  • Tranquil Fury: He doesn't say a word, but on learning that Vegapunk disobeyed his direct orders and made Bonney the topmost commander in the Pacifistas' command hierarchy, capable of overrunning even the Five Elders' direct commands, absolutely enrages him, with him instantly attacking the scientist with an uncharacteristic expression of rage visible on his face.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Saturn genuinely believes that he's smart enough Vegapunk can't pull the wool over his eyes, and if the other scientist tries anything while putting a self-destruct into Kuma, Saturn, being a scientist himself, will know it. Vegapunk still managed to outsmart Saturn by still putting one in, just not the kind that Saturn expected. Vegapunk also outsmarted him by putting Bonney above even the Five Elders on the Pacifistas' command structure. In the end, Vegapunk outsmarts Saturn and the Five Elders at every possible turn.
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: During the Egghead arc, Saturn becomes the "immovable object" against Gear 5 Luffy's "unstoppable force". Saturn's Deadly Gaze can either blow up heads at a glance, or acts as an especially damaging attack when used on the Straw Hats, but when used on Luffy, he acts like he just received an invisible punch in the head and shrugs it off without issue. Luffy proves capable of casually overpowering both Saturn and Admiral Kizaru at the same time, even making the admiral-class fighter cough blood from his mere grip strength, but whereas Kizaru gets knocked down whenever Luffy lands a direct hit on him, Saturn bizarre's Healing Factor ensures he can recover from any damage inflicted nigh-endlessly. Luffy gripes that no matter how imaginative or damaging the hit he lands, Saturn always retaliates without letting up once. The urgency in needing to halt Vegapunk's worldwide broadcast after his Dead Man's Switch is activated forces Saturn to summon the rest of the Elders to aid him in overcoming the stalemate, unable to bypass Luffy on his own.
  • Villainous Breakdown: When Kuma arrives to attack him, Saturn's stoic, smug persona faulters as he cannot comprehend how its possible, to the point that he's too taken off guard to defend himself. Afterwards, Saturn is left absolutely livid to the point of :throwing aside everything on Egghead to destroy it in a fury. On a minor note, he is so furious that some translations have him drop his more formal speech pattern for a few moments when he asks Vegapunk what's going on. When Bonney demonstrates that she's capable of overriding his orders to the Pacifista thanks to Vegapunk installing her at the top of their command structure, it visibly cracks his stoic countenance and has him attacking in furious spite.
    • As Vegapunk's worldwide broadcast begins, Saturn not only completely loses any composure he still had, demanding Vegapunk not say another word (even though Vegapunk's dead at this point), and then deciding to completely ignore the Straw Hats in order to hurry to the lab itself, where he frantically begins smashing every Transponder Snail he can find with his staff.
  • Villain Has a Point: Saturn unfairly blames Vegapunk for the destruction on Egghead during the Buster Call claiming Vegapunk's own greed and lust for knowledge brought about the situation. While it's nothing more than a petty jab at Vegapunk, Saturn isn't wrong. Vegapunk chose to research the Void Century in secret and his Satellite, York, who is a manifestation of his own greed brought about the whole Egghead Incident and never bothered to keep his own greed in check. Vegapunk's silence towards his statement implies he doesn't disagree with him. He also calls Vegapunk a scientist-for-hire when dismissing his moral objections, which is true: while he's not a bad person, Vegapunk joined the World Government despite being fully aware of their evil because the pay and resources they offered were the best he could get, and he has no real allegiance to them.
  • Villain of Another Story: It soon become apparent that, while the Straw Hats have never been involved with Saturn until their first meeting with him in the Egghead arc, he's been the main villain of Kuma and Bonney's story since Kuma was a child. In fact, as it turns out every single bad thing in Kuma and Bonney's entire lives is Saturn's fault.
  • Villain Respect: When he confronts Vegapunk face-to-face on Egghead and prepares to have him executed, he does mention that the contributions he provided to the World Goverment's military forces are appreciated regardless, as another scientist. It comes across more as mockery than anything, especially since it's revealed Saturn himself coerced Vegapunk and Kuma into making the Pacifista Clone Army into weapons of oppression, rather than shields for the innocent like they intended.
  • We Have Reserves: Although he is pragmatic enough to not recklessly send his forces and risk heavy losses, he doesn't think much of them in general. As far as he's concerned, even valuable agents are worth discarding if the situation comes to that: even Rob Lucci did not so much as come to his mind when making a list of things to be preserved, until reminded. He also casually blows up a low ranking Marine's head for looking at him.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Zigzagged. Saturn's main target is Nika the Sun God. However, he is focused on killing the idea of the Sun God itself rather than any vessel it incarnates into, seeing it as a temporary victory at best. Therefore, when he has both Luffy and Bonney helpless before him, after he fails to immediately kill the weakened Luffy with a Finishing Stomp, he switches targets to breaking Bonney's faith in Nika instead of pressing his advantage against the holder of the awakened fruit.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Not only does he torture Bonney physically and mentally despite knowing she is a child, he had been experimenting on her since she was a baby.
  • Wrong Context Magic: As opposed to normal Devil Fruits falling under the general usage of "superpowers" of a set type depending on the fruit, whatever abilities Saturn possesses practically fall under the heading of actual magic. He can teleport far distances through a demonic-looking pentagram, seems able to sense when the orders to not look at him are being disobeyed and easily blows up the offender's head with a Deadly Gaze, easily paralyses Vegapunk and the Straw Hats without any obvious gestures, and allows Bonney to stab him to demonstrate that he can remove the injury entirely, leaving not even a drop of blood behind, like the attack never happened at all. Vegapunk thinks that it must be a Devil Fruit's powers if he's not using some technology, but almost no Devil Fruit has demonstrated abilities this varied before. When Saturn is confronted by Catarina Devon, the latter even openly wonders what his powers are after seeing him, even though her own powers are based on copying others and coming from a Mythical Zoan, meaning she must have done plenty of research on Fruits.
  • You Cannot Kill An Idea: No matter how harsh the punishments delivered or the horrific fates dealt to those who believe in the concept of Nika, the idea of the Sun God itself never vanishes from the minds and hearts of the oppressed, ensuring Nika continually appears to antagonise the World Government time and again over its long reign.
  • Your Head A-Splode: When he catches a low ranking Marine looking at him, he casually makes his head explode with a glance.
  • You Said You Would Let Them Go: Downplayed. Saturn made a deal with Kuma, holding Bonney hostage in order to ensure Kuma's compliance and make sure he doesn't escape with Bonney before his personality is erased. Once Kuma's Death of Personality is complete, however, Saturn actually does let her go and doesn't go out of his way to hurt her, but once she stabs him, he holds her up in the air and orders the Marines to execute her.

    Saint Marcus Mars 

"Godhead of Environment" Saint Marcus Mars

Voiced by: Keiichi Sonobe (JP), Masato Hirano (JP, Episode 277), Randy Pearlman (EN)

Debut: Chapter 233 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Unknown Itsumade Zoan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marcus_mars.png
Click here to see his beast form

Marcus Mars is the Godhead of Environment.


  • Alliterative Name: Marcus Mars.
  • Beard of Evil: He's got a long beard, shaped like a trident, adding points to his villainous design.
  • Feathered Fiend: Mars possesses the ability to turn into an Itsumade, a gigantic and eerie bird.
  • Giant Flyer: Mars can transform into a giant Itsumade, a bird yokai.
  • Morphic Resonance: Mars' Itsumade form keeps the long hair of his human form.
  • Oh, Crap!: He starts panicking when he realizes what he thought was the Transponder Snail Vegapunk was broadcasting his final message from turns out to be a decoy. It furthers when he realizes Vegapunk made a lot of decoys hidden all over Egghead, making it impossible to find the real one in time.
  • Toothy Bird: While transformed into an Itsumade, Mars has a large set of fangs in his beak, making his animal form look more monstrous.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: In his Itsumade form, he can fire a beam of energy powerful enough to destroy a significant portion of Vegapunk's lab.

    Saint Topman Warcury 

"Godhead of Justice" Saint Topman Warcury

Voiced by: Masato Hirano (JP), Kurt Kleinmann (EN)

Debut: Chapter 233 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Unknown Fengxi Zoan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/topman_warcury.png
Click here to see his beast form

The seemingly oldest of the Five Elders, alongside V. Nusjuro, Topman Warcury is the Godhead of Justice.


  • Awesomeness Is a Force: The Egghead Arc confirms that he's capable of using Conqueror's Haki, which he can use as a Super-Scream.
  • Bald of Evil: He's bald since his first appearance, which highlights his malicious ways of thought.
  • Beard of Evil: He's got a long and thick mustache that sticks out from his face, similar to Whitebeard's, but it's much longer, thicker and wavier. It almost looks like a weapon. When transformed into a Fengxi, his tusks resemble his mustache, and because of that, the silhouette of his transformation during the Reverie made it easier to identify him.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He's the only member of the Elder Planets to put up a token protest when Imu orders Lulusia destroyed. Subverted in that when Imu states the populace is of no consequence, Warcury is as gung-ho and merciless on its annihilation as the other four.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Aside of four large tusks, while transformed into a Fengxi, Warcury has an entire set of sharp fangs, making his animal form look more ferocious and dangerous.
  • Full-Boar Action: He transforms into a Fengxi, a giant multi-tusked boar, and he can definitely hold his own in battle.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: Warcury appears to have at least some standards compared to his fellow Elders. When Imu wanted to test the Mother Flame on Lulusia Kingdom, Warcury was the only one to note that the island was heavily populated. He was also disappointed when Jinbe resigned from the Seven Warlords of the Sea since it had improved relations between humans and Fish-men, showing that he values racial harmony. Still, he had no problem with having Lulusia Kingom destroyed when Imu reaffirmed the decision.
  • Morphic Resonance: Warcury can become a Fengxi, which has two pairs of tusks shaped similar to his moustache.
  • Playing with Fire: In his Fengxi form, he can radiate a fiery aura that makes hitting him a painful ordeal, even for Gear Five Luffy.
  • Punny Name:
    • "Warcury" is a portmanteau of "war" and "Mercury".
    • His name is "Topman", and he's one of the leaders of the World Government, so he pretty much stands at the top (at least not counting Imu).
  • Sinister Swine: He's a prominent figure in the corrupted World Government and is able to transform into a Fengxi (or Houki in Japanese), a gigantic boar with four tusks, which can turn into blades.
  • Super-Scream: In his Fengxi form, Warcury can release an incredibly powerful roar containing Conqueror's Haki, strong enough to shake Egghead and put Luffy, Dorry and Brogy on the defensive.
  • Super-Toughness: His durability is so great in his Fengxi form that Luffy ends up injuring his rubber fist when trying to hit him with a Red Roc, with no sign of damage on Warcury's end. Keep in mind that this is the same technique that injured the likes of Kaido and knocked him down. Even Gear 5, Luffy's awakened form, can't seem to harm him and it still hurts Luffy instead.

    Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro 

"Godhead of Finance" Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro

Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata (JP), Kent Williams (EN), Doug Burks (EN, 2nd voice), Doug Jackson (EN, 3rd voice)

Debut: Chapter 233 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Unknown Bakotsu Zoan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ethanbaron_v_nusjuro.png
Click here to see his hybrid form
Click here to see his beast form

The only member of the Five Elders seen wielding a weapon, Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro is the Godhead of Finance.


  • Bald of Evil: He's old, bald, and a prominent member of the Five Elders, the leaders of the corrupted World Government. The bald head makes him look more cunning.
  • Black Swords Are Better: The blade of his katana is pitch black, implied that he's among the top class swordsmen in One Piece's world.
  • Cool Sword: His katana has a crossguard identical to Nidai and Sandai Kitetsus', implying it's the Shodai Kitetsu, the first and strongest katana of the Kitetsu series and one of the 12 Supreme Grade swords.
  • Flash Step: In his hybrid form, he moves so fast the Marines can't even see him clearly as he cuts down all the rogue Pacifista.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He is the only one of the Five Elders to wear glasses, and he is as corrupt as the others.
  • Hellish Horse: He is able to transform into a Bakotsu, a skeletal horse that is said to be the spirit of a horse that burned to death in a fire.
  • An Ice Person: His sword can instantly freeze his enemies. Given his skeletal form, it may use the same principle as Brook.
  • Made of Iron: V. Nusjuro takes a kick in the face from Sanji and it barely seems to phase him much.
  • Master Swordsman: He keeps a sword in every appearance and when he arrives at Egghead, he cuts down numerous Pacifistas on Egghead, each with a single strike. More impressively, he doesn't even cut them, instead swinging with such grace that he applies a layer of ice to their skin to shut them down without damage.
  • Man Bites Man: When taking a brutal hit to the face from Sanji, Nusjuro manifests his Zoan form's head from his chest to bite down on him whilst he heals the injury, belying his underlying vicious nature and spite towards an "insect" blatantly attacking him.
  • Mysterious Middle Initial: What his middle inital, V. stands for remains unknown.
  • One-Man Army: In his hybrid form, Nusjuro cuts down and disables all the Pacifistas in Egghead in a short amount of time, despite each being a very powerful cyborg.
  • Odd Name Out: Most notably, unlike the other Elders he shares the naming with the people of Wano, having "Nus" (Nasu) written in katakana and "Juro" written in Kanji.
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: While in his hybrid form, V. Nusjuro keeps his human upper half while the lower half is that of a skeletal equine.
  • Punny Name: V. Nusjuro is a pun on "Venus", which has the "-juro" suffix added to fit his Japanese-like appearance.
  • Scary Skeleton: His Bakotsu form turns him into a gigantic and monstrous skeletal horse which is larger than even Saturn in his full Gyūki form.
  • Uniformity Exception: V. Nusjuro is the only one of the Five Elders clad in white, while the others wear dark clothing.

    Saint Shepherd Ju Peter 

"Godhead of Agriculture" Saint Shepherd Ju Peter

Voiced by: Yasunori Masutani (JP), Michael Johnson (EN)

Debut: Chapter 233 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Unknown Sandworm Zoan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shepherd_ju_peter.png
Click here to see his beast form

The seemingly youngest of the Five Elders, Shepherd Ju Peter is the Godhead of Agriculture.


  • Creepy Cool Crosses: In his name: the Ju in Ju Peter is written with the kanji for "ten", which is shaped like a cross and therefore also used to refer to crosses (Juji, literally "Ten-Shaped"). Fits with the general divine motif of the Celestial Dragons.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Inverted. He's blonde, which would make him look nice, but he's actually a World Noble and one of the highest figures of the corrupt World Government.
  • Lamprey Mouth: Zigzagged. His sandworm form's mouth appears to be an X-shaped opening but, when opened, his mouth appears normal.
  • Off with His Head!: The transformed Ju Peter tries to swallow Luffy whole, only for Dorry and Brogy to slice his head off, freeing Luffy. He gets better.
  • Palate Propping: Luffy clogs Ju Peter's mouth by kicking a building into it when the latter tries sucking him in with his Vacuum Mouth.
  • Punny Name: Ju Peter is a pun on "Jupiter".
  • Sand Worm: He has the ability to transform into a gigantic, monstrous worm that can burrow underground.
  • Swallowed Whole: He tries to swallow Luffy whole, but is stopped by Dorry and Brogy after they slice him up.
  • Tunnel King: Thanks to being able to transform into a giant worm, he is able to dig through the earth with ease.
  • Uniformity Exception: Ju Peter stands out with his blonde hair, which makes him look younger than his four fellow Elders, and the monster he can transform into is the only one that is not based on a yokai or another old, mythical beast, but it is based on a much more modern creature instead.
  • Vacuum Mouth: He's able to create a vacuum to drag things towards his mouth for him to swallow in his sand worm form.

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