The Five Elders stand at the top of the World Government in One Piece, but how strong are they truly?

The Five Elders have been playing an actively important role in One Piece’s final saga, and with each passing chapter, their prominence grows. Currently, one of the Five Elders, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, is on Egghead Island, and he serves the role of the main antagonist of this arc. Saturn being heavily involved in this arc only means that the Five Elders are going to be extremely important in the story from here onwards.

Fans have been eagerly waiting to see the powers of the Five Elders ever since One Piece entered the Final Saga, and now, they are getting small demonstrations from one of them rather frequently. However, Saturn’s display so far has made a lot of the fans question as to how strong the Five Elders truly are.

Who Are The Five Elders?

The Five Elders are the highest-known authority within the World Government, at least in the eyes of the common people. In reality, Imu rules over the Five Elders. However, to the rest of the world, the Five Elders are the greatest authority. Most fans believed the Five Elders to be just political figures for the vast majority of the series. However, in the final saga, Oda completely changed their perception of who and what the Five Elders were. It was revealed that all the members of the Five Elders held tremendous strength up their sleeves and not just political influence.

That said, even before their big strength reveal, the Five Elders were seen to be quite intimidating figures. Being at the helm of the entire world, they absolutely controlled information as the world knew it. On their command, any information could be deemed prohibited and people could be executed for so much as wanting to study it. The Poneglyphs are a very good example of that.

On their command, a country could be completely decimated and wiped from the map within the blink of an eye. Many countries have faced their destruction on the word of the Five Elders, and that in itself is absolute power. At the same time, the Five Elders outrank anyone in the World Government other than Imu. The Commander in Chief, Fleet Admiral, the Marine Admirals, and all those who fall under them are simply under the thumb of the Five Elders. Furthermore, even among the Celestial Dragons, they are the ones holding the highest rank, and this makes them the most powerful figures in the world of One Piece.

The Demonic Powers Of The Five Elders

While the Five Elders hold tremendous power in terms of their influence within the World Government, they also hold strength up their own sleeves. This was confirmed to the fans in Sabo’s Reverie flashback. When Sabo was eavesdropping on Cobra’s conversation with Imu and the Five Elders, he managed to catch a glimpse of these Five Elders transforming into their Devil Fruit states. It was quite clear for the fans to see that all of them held demonic powers up their sleeve. Sabo immediately tried to intervene and attempted to kill all of them, including Imu, however, he failed in this attempt.

As soon as he did that, however, Sabo realized that the Five Elders were completely different in terms of power and skill. He compared this sight to hell itself, and that paints quite a picture as to how strong the Five Elders and Imu really are. According to Sabo, the best option was to run and that is precisely what he did. Consequently, he barely managed to leave with his life intact.

The Five Elders seem to possess Devil Fruit abilities related to Japanese Yokai. All of them appear to have Mythical Zoan powers of different creatures. Fans only know one creature so far, and that is, of course, the Ushi Oni, which belongs to Saint Saturn. The Ushi Oni has a body with the upper half of an ox and the lower half of a spider. It is a Yokai from Japanese folklore, and as such, would qualify as a Mythical Zoan. The Ushi Oni has tremendous powers, as demonstrated by Saturn himself.

First and foremost, Saturn has the ability to inflict others with powerful blows without even making contact with them. Simply by looking at them, Saturn can injure anyone. This attack is instantaneous and most likely cannot be blocked. It was even able to injure Gear 5 Luffy, and of course, previously, Sanji as well. Saturn also has another powerful ability that allows him to hold down powerful individuals. Even someone as strong as Sanji was pinned to the ground when Saturn used this dangerous ability. By far, his strongest power is his amazing regeneration ability. Saturn can regenerate at an incredible rate. In fact, he can regenerate from being almost completely destroyed into someone who hasn’t even been scratched in the blink of an eye. This regeneration rate is incredible and certainly one that paints him to be one of the most intriguing individuals in the One Piece world.

The Strength Ranking Of The Five Elders – How Strong Are They?

When it comes to the strength ranking of the Five Elders, the fans do not need to look far. For one, the fans already know that the Five Elders are very strong. This would mean that these powerful individuals are not going to be ranked among the weaklings. Right now, it is hard to tell how strong every member of the Five Elders is, however, Saint Saturn makes quite an example. Saturn, in his transformation, has the power to injure Luffy in his Gear 5, and Sanji, a pirate worth 1.032 billion berries. At the same time, he could also pin down Sanji and other members around him without even lifting a finger. This in itself is quite a great ability.

Furthermore, Saturn’s fight against Luffy saw him get struck by a powerful Dawn Gatling and recover from it as if he wasn’t even hit. He also took a powerful blow from Kuma, and recovered. While he certainly took damage, he was able to heal and brush it off easily. In comparison, when Luffy fought against Lucci, he used a much weaker attack on the CP0 agent, the strength of which was such that Lucci admitted to passing out. The fact that Saturn can take a much stronger attack and brush it off so easily means that he is, at the very least, much stronger than Lucci, who himself is much stronger than a Yonko First Commander. This would mean that Saturn is around the same tier as the Admirals of the One Piece world, at the very least.

When looking at the lineup on Egghead, Saturn is currently fighting against Luffy, while Sanji is up against Kizaru. Of course, the portrayal means that Luffy is fighting the stronger opponent, which in itself means that Saint Saturn is stronger than Kizaru. This immediately put Saturn above the level of Marine Admirals, and that means he is among the strongest characters in the series, possibly on the same tier as the Yonko. While his performance certainly hasn’t been on that level just yet, fans simply need to wait and give him time. Saturn is surely one of the strongest individuals in One Piece, and hopefully, his upcoming showing will go on to prove that.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1109, is set to be March 3, 2024.