The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1073, “Miss Buckingham Stussy,” by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul, and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media.
Many groups in the One Piece world have a distinct naming system. The original Seven Warlords were named after animals, the Beast Pirates are named after card games, the Admirals are named after animals from the tale of Momotarō, and so on; not every group has a naming pattern, but a lot of them do. This raises the question of whether the Five Elders have a naming pattern and, if so, what it is.
Chapter 1073, “Miss Buckingham Stussy,” may have finally given audiences a chance to guess at the Five Elders’ naming pattern. One of the Elders finally had his name revealed on his way to Egghead: St. Jaygarcia Saturn. Even though it’s only one name, there are a lot of ways to read into it and infer a theme.
What Meanings Can Be Derived From St. Jaygarcia Saturn’s Name?
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Jaygarcia’s name is his last name Saturn. For a long time, the Five Elders’ Japanese title, Their title of Gorōsei (五老星) more literally translates to something like “Five Elder Stars” or “Five Elder Planets;” the 星 (ほし, hoshi) kanji can translate to either “star” or “planet. Given Jaygarcia’s name, the latter translation of Gorōsei is likely the more accurate one.
Going off of this translation of Gorōsei, the rest of the Five Elders may also be named after planets. So far, the names Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto have all been used in some way within One Piece’s overarching narrative. This would leave the names Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter free to be used for the four remaining unnamed Elders.
Of these five celestial names, four of them fit with Saturn as the names of Roman deities; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. This could be meant as a direct contrast to the Ancient Weapons Uranus, Poseidon, and Pluton, which are instead named after Greek deities. It might represent how the Greek pantheon was replaced by the Roman pantheon when the latter’s nation rose to prominence. The World Government, which the Five Elders preside over, similarly replaced the Ancient Weapons as the dominating force of the One Piece world.
Jaygarcia’s first name is also noteworthy. It could be a corruption of the name Jerry Garcia, a famous singer from Grateful Dead. It might also be a reference to Russ Garcia, who wrote “The Lost Souls of Saturn.” In any case, the other Elders could similarly be named after famous musicians.
So far, however, there is still too little that’s known about the Five Elders to draw any definitive conclusions. The others could have names like Bruno Mars or Freddie Mercury, or their names could be completely unrelated to one another. There will need to be at least a couple more name reveals before a pattern can truly be established.
Leave a Reply