The Gorosei are immortal and incredibly powerful rulers from the void century that have been
ruling the world together with Imu for the last 800 years.
For one, we know that they haven't aged a day since the incident of Ohara 20 years ago.
They are called the 5 elder stars even though some of them are not old at all.
They clearly know everything about the true history and what happened during the void
century, as we can see when Dr. Clover tries to say the ancient kingdom's name.
And we know that they are the highest ranking celestial dragons, the world nobles who never
leave the Red line.
So why exactly would they be covered in scars and carry weapons?
If just one of them decided to go out on an adventure, that might be an excuse, but all
of them?
The world government has existed for 800 years, so there clearly never was any reason for
celestial dragons to fight themselves.
Heck, even against Rocks, the biggest threat to the government we know of, Garp had to
team up with Roger to defeat him.
If the Gorosei were immortal however, they could be the very kings who defeated the ancient
kingdom and formed the world government in the first place.
They would have actively fought in the big war itself and then kept control ever since.
That would also explain, why they look and act completely normal, compared to the other
dumbed down and spoiled Celestial dragons, who have probably only had children within
their small group of chosen ones.
Yes, I'm saying there might be some incest problem going on here.
I mean look at this.
[]
All of them run around in their space suits, shielding them from the air normal humans
breathe, while the Gorosei have normal cloths and have no problem being in the same room
with Akainu or even Shanks.
And so all these pieces of evidence together strongly suggest to me, that these five men
are the original celestial dragons that founded the world government with the help of Imu.
Which would also help in keeping the secret ruler of the world secret, since they would
have been the only 5 people who knew the truth since the void century, with no need to pass
it all on every generation and risking exposure.
But how did they end up becoming immortal in the first place?
How powerful are these five men actually to casually dismiss someone like Akainu and be
in the same room as one of the Yonko without guards?
And will the marines ultimately rebel against them?
What's up, my name is Manu and even though I might not look it, I'm actually very interested
in politics and history, learning about how we get where we are today and how societies
thrive or fail under different political systems.
And I think in terms of One Piece it doesn't get much more political than when talking
about the 5 elders, who run and govern the entire planet.
In fact what I find absolutely fascinating, is that if you only have a vague idea of what
One Piece is actually about, you'd probably be absolutely taken aback just how much politics
is actually hidden under the classic layers of a Shounen Manga.
Not only do we encounter different political systems and structures with every new island
we visit, but as the story progresses we learn more and more about the workings of a political
organisation that rules the entire world.
Which, now that I think about it, is actually pretty hilarious, because usually Shounen
Manga are about stopping an evil force from reaching world domination, while in One Piece
this has already happened centuries ago.
And so the world of one piece is actually a true dystopia, where a small group of inbred
and cruel nobles living on top of the red line hold most of the wealth, enslave and
kill people at will and brainwash the people with propaganda and lies.
All while the people on the sea below live in poverty and despair and also in fear of
a culture of pirates, that has formed form these desperate conditions.
What I love so much about Eiichiro Oda, the author of one piece, is how he managed to
hide this dark and complex political foundation of his story under the mantel of the positive
and fun adventure Luffy and co are on.
So even if you're someone who isn't really into the politics of a story, you still know
exactly what's going on without you even realizing it.
And it also makes the story enjoyable for a younger shounen audience, with the deeper
and darker parts still being clearly visible for the adults.
To me that once again shows what a masterful writer Oda-sensei truly is.
In a way, you could argue, that the fight of the ancient kingdom vs what would later
become the world government was the classic Shounen setting.
Luffy on the other hand is a hero that doesn't just have to stop the bad guys from winning,
he has to change and liberate an entire planet, that has been ruled and indoctrinated for
almost 1000 years.
Which makes things much more interesting, because it's not enough to just beat the big
bad guy to keep everything the way it is.
Luffy as the hero, has to actually present the world with a system that works better
than the current one.
And I'm very curious how people will react to the ideal system Oda envisions for the
end of the story.
No matter what it is it's probably gonna be controversial, similarly how we all kept wondering
what political system the end of game of thrones would bring with it.
Will the world of One Piece have a king?
Complete anarchy?
A democracy?
This will have a big impact on all Luffy is achieving right now.
So who are these five men that tule the world with an iron fist.
Are they good or evil?
How powerful are they?
And if they truly are immortal, how?
And what would it mean for the story if they came form the void century.
In case you need a refresher, the five elders, or Gorosei, as they are called in Japanese,
are a council of the most highly ranked Celestial Dragons with full control over the Marines,
the cipher pole agencies and even the seven Warlords of the sea.
While we know neither their names nor their power, we have seen them pulling the strings
behind almost everything happening in the world, politically rivalled only by the influence
of the four emperors, that actually hold both the necessary political and military power
to deny the world government and rule over the new world.
Now quite recently, we have learned that the Gorosei actually serve a mysterious figure
called Imu, who rules the world from the shadows.
However, while the elders obey his orders, it very much seems like most of the time they
still have full authority over the governments actions.
Now, as you can imagine, tyranically running an entire planet as a shadow government can
be an increadibly tiring job.
If you have a similar problem to the gorosei, dealing with stressful fleet admirals, removing
parts of history and preparing big cleanses, I got just the thing for you to sweeten your
day.
This awesome mystery snackbocks, sent to me by Bokksu, one of my favorite sponsors.
Bokksu is a monthly snack box subscription service that delivers original assortments
of premium Japanese snacks and tea pairings, directly from Japan to wherever you live.
What I really like about this, is that they collaborate with traditional Japanese family
manufacturers that make these snacks and candies.
So you don't just get some random stuff you can in any Japanese supermarket, but actual
local stuff.
So, this is a really great opportunity to experience some authentic Japanese food.
If you want to try it out for yourself, go get your own Bokksu snack box and get 10%
off your first order using my code & link in the description below!
So first of all, why do I think that the Gorosei are actually very powerful and will be actual
enemies that have to be taken down?
Because I've seen a lot of opinions stating that the Gorosei are basically glorified Spandams.
That's this guy in case you forgot.
[] The reason Spandam was able to control some of the governments most powerful agents
was not because he was smart enough to manipulate them, but because they were ordered by the
government, in other words the gorosei to help him.
Now you could say that the main source of authority for the Gorosei is that they have
both the Marines and the CP agencies under their command.
However how do they keep authority over those groups?
After all there is no higher power backing them up.
Of course there is Imu, but people don't know about her.
If they truly were just Spandams, surely in the 800 year history of the government, some
Marine or government agent would have tried to usurp them.
Or even the revolutionary army might have gone straight for their heads.
Akainu surely wouldn't have listened to them, if they didn't have anything to back up their
authority.
And yet Sengoku and Akainu never think about actually going against them.
At least so far.
But I want you to notice just how calm the Gorosei are at Sakazuki's insolence.
Normally, people would be trembling like Coby at an angry Sakazuki, but the Gorosei simply
shrugg it off, mocking him and treating him like a tempered child.
Weaklings don't show this confidence, especially since these five aren't stupid.
And then they are casually meeting with one of the most powerful pirates in the entire
world, dismissing their guards.
No matter what powers they have at their disposal, the fact that they appear to have battle experience
and unwavering authority over people like Akainu and Lucci proves to me, that they all
must be immensely physically powerful, especially after they realized that they could subscribe
to my channel for more weekly One Piece content.
The big question I have always asked myself is 'how evil are these guys'?
Or are they evil at all?
This is a truly interesting question, because I think that other than doflamingo for example,
the Gorosei are in a much more morally grey area.
On the one hand they lead a regime that uses slavery, neglects and manipulates its people
and orders the destruction of an entire island.
But then Oda-sensei still throws in nuances that make them appear more human.
During the Ohara incident, at least some of them seem pained with their decision.
They actually wanted Jinbe to create a better relationship with the fishmen and allowed
them access to the Reverie.
And they clearly were not happy with Doflamingo's actions, but couldn't do anything about it,
since he was a celestial dragon himself with knowledge about the national treasure of Marijoe
that he could use as leverage against them.
And they seem to work with Shanks to keep the world balanced.
This gets even more confusing when looking at Oda-sensei's inspiration for all five of
them.
What keeps fascinating me every time it think about it, is that all five of them seem to
be inspired by influential historical political figures.
Most prominently we have one who looks like Mahatma Gandhi.
One of them looks like a young Abraham Lincoln, one like Karl Marx, one like Michael Gorbachov
and the one with the long beard like the Japanese position Itagaki Taisuke.
Now all of these figures represent very different political ideologies and all of them had their
flaws, but what unites all of them at least from a historical perspective was that they
are associated with giving people more freedom.
Lincoln is known for ending slavery in the US, Gandhi ended British Colonial Rule in
India, Marx' fundamental idea, that was later strongly misused by multiple regimes, was
the theory of liberty, stating that the freedom of the people is the most important right,
that should not be exploited and controlled by those with power and money.
Gorbachov was the last president of the Soviet Union, who with his ideas of glasnost and
perestroika (openness and restructuring) promoted democratic thinking and liberty in Eastern
Europe that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
And finally Itagaki was leader of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement and involved
with the founding of the first democratic political party in Japan.
So either Oda-sensei is being very ironic by basing the authoritarian rulers of the
world on people fighting for freedom.
Or there is something more to this.
To me the main goal of the government seems to be to keep the balance of the world.
They meet with Shanks, buy weapons from Kaido and dealt with mother caramel for powerful
orphans.
Clearly they have no interest in getting rid of the Yonko system, but rather promote it.
There seem to be only two instances where the government seems to feel threatened.
One was the incident of Ohara, that might have revealed the true history to the world,
and the other was Imu's frustration with Luffy, Vivi, Poseidon and Blackbeard.
No kaido, no Big Mom, no Dragon.
However all those 4 seem to have connections to the void century, except Blackbeard, who
seems to have connections to Rocks, who also was a major threat to the government.
Luffy's straw hat connects him to the giant straw hat on Marijoe, Shirahishi is a ancient
weapon and Vivi is connected to Pluton and the only of the 20 kingdoms, that didn't join
the celestial dragons on the red line.
As for shanks, I don't think he's plotting with the government, but trying his best to
ease the way for Luffy and keep the world from falling apart before he has found the
one piece.
So are the Gorosei just interested in keeping things as they are to keep living in comfort
forever?
They do seem to have a fairly stressful job though.
I really can't wait to find out what their connection with Imu is.
I think it would be a very interesting twist if one of them, either Imu or the Gorosei
was actually a 'good guy' after all, keeping the other in check.
But let's talk about the immortality thing.
There are actually a number of theories out there that connect imu and the gorosei to
immortality.
One option being of course the OP OP no mi that might have been used multiple times.
Another theory is connected to the theme of flowers.
A golden flower that connected Imu and Nika and the Lunarians.
I should probably make a separate video just about that idea.
And the biggest theory with the most evidence behind it is this video right here, where
I explain all the reasons why imu and the celestial dragons are immortal and what the
secret behind that might be.
You know, if you're interested.