Highlights

  • The Celestial Dragons, descendants of the original founders of the World Government, hold immense power and rule over 170 countries with an iron fist. Despite initial misconceptions, they are revealed to be strong and not just political figures.
  • The Celestial Dragons include powerful families such as the Donquixote Family and the Gorosei. Characters like Doflamingo and Saint Garling Figarland showcase their strength and influence within the world of One Piece.
  • The Five Elders, the strongest individuals in the World Government, are on the same level as a Yonko or even higher. However, the greatest asset and strongest Celestial Dragon is Saint Imu, who possesses perennial youth and unparalleled power.

The Celestial Dragons are some of the most important characters in the One Piece world. They sit at the helm of the World Government and are known to be the descendants of the original founders of this organization from 800 years ago. Celestial Dragons have always been essential to the overarching plot of One Piece, and now that the series is in the final Saga, their role is more pronounced than ever before.

These individuals hold together around 170 countries and rule them with an iron fist. As One Piece explores them more and more in the final saga, their strength is now being revealed by Oda. While they were believed to be quite weak for the vast majority of the story, their true strength has now been revealed in the story.

The Misconceptions About The Celestial Dragons

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The biggest misconception that fans had about the Celestial Dragons at the beginning of the story was that they were quite weak. Now, this wasn't exactly a misconception. Instead, it was more that Oda never truly revealed their trump cards. Fans saw very few Celestial Dragons at the beginning of the story. These were the likes of Saint Charloss, Saint Roswald, and many others like them. All of them were incredibly weak. Even judging by their appearance, they looked rather grotesque beings who were absolutely worthless. These grotesque beings were somehow ruling the world and abusing their power over everyone else. The world belongs to them and they believe themselves to be special, simply because they are the descendants of the Founding 20.

One of the very first Celestial Dragons that fans knew of who turned out to be quite powerful was Doflamingo. Dolamingo was revealed to be of the Donquixote Family and fans already know that this family was a part of the Founding 20 as well. Doflamingo, despite being from this family, was incredibly powerful and even had access to an ability as rare as Conqueror's Haki. From there onwards, it was quite clear that there was a basis for Celestial Dragons to actually be strong and not just be political figures in the world.

The 20 Kings Of The World Government

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As the story continued and Oda explored the Founding 20, also known as the 20 Kings, more and more, fans found out that there were actually many more competent Celestial Dragons in the world of One Piece. These included the members of the Donquixote Family, and of course, other powerful families as well. So far, fans have seen seven of the Celestial Dragon families, and all of them are very powerful. As already discussed above, the Donquixote Family proved itself to be quite powerful. There is also the Figarland Family, which fans were recently introduced to.

Saint Garling Figarland is the leader of the Holy Knights of the World Government, and his son, Shanks, is one of the Yonko of the Sea. Shanks also carries Celestial Dragon blood in his veins and all members of the Figarland Family seem to be somewhat prominent within the World Government, building tremendous power. Then, there are the families of the Gorosei. These families include the likes of the Jaygarcia Family, the Ethanbaron Family, the Marcus Family, the Topman Family, and of course, the Shepherd Family. From these five families come the Five Elders and all of them possess tremendous strength up their sleeve, a glimpse of which has already been given to the fans in One Piece. In fact, Saturn's strength has been explored quite a lot in the Egghead Island arc and he is nothing short of extraordinary in terms of power, easily comparable to the likes of the Yonko.

Technically, there's also the Nefertari Family and fans already know their members to be somewhat competent, however, they decided to stay behind in the land of Arabasta, instead of moving to the Holy Land of Marijoa. As a result, they cannot be considered to be Celestial Dragons, even though technically, they should be.

The Elite Fighters Of The World Government

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When taking into consideration the strength of the Celestial Dragons, the script has completely flipped. While they were once believed to be rather weak, they now include some of the strongest characters in this entire series. The elites of the World Government include the likes of Saint Garling Figarland, and of course, the members of the Five Elders. When it comes to Garling, fans already know what he's capable of. He was declared as a Champion of the God Valley and he holds such power that he can pass judgment on other members of the Celestial Dragons. This means that this man is next in power to Five Elders and that puts him very high up the pecking order.

The fact is that he is also the leader of the Holy Knights and that is a position that wields judicial power in the Holy Land. In fact, the Holy Knights are also said to be setting out in battle against Dragon and his Revolutionary Army and if this group is capable of taking on such a mighty task, then they are bound to be incredibly powerful. While the underlings of Saint Garling Figarland are likely not on his level, they will still be very strong and they will comprise the other remaining families of the 20 Kingdoms. Fans will most definitely be introduced to them, one by one.

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Most of the Government’s power is shared among the Five Elders. These are the five strongest individuals in the World Government, and every single one of them is on the same level as that of a Yonko, if not even higher. Their strength is absolutely immense. In the Egghead Island arc, this was demonstrated by Oda through Saturn, who used his Ushi Oni powers against his enemies. Saturn even appears to be an awakened creature and that pushes his powers beyond anyone else on the island. Luffy himself fought against Kizaru in a rather even battle and the fact is that Saturn is someone even stronger. It shouldn't be a surprise for the fans to see that the Five Elders are on the same level as the strongest of the Emperors or on a level higher.

While the Five Elders are incredible, the greatest asset of the World Government and the strongest of the Celestial Dragons is, undoubtedly, Saint Imu. Imu belongs to the Nerona Family, which fans do not know much about. What fans do know for a fact is that Saint Imu possesses perennial youth and that the former user of the Ope Ope no Mi performed the Perennial Youth Surgery on them. Imu is still alive to this day and they wield tremendous power up their sleeve. They also appear to have a Devil Fruit transformation, a glimpse of which was given when Sabo attacked them. The fact that even the Five Elders bow down to Imu is proof enough that they are the strongest in the entire world of One Piece and that their strength is unparalleled. Taking everything into consideration, the Celestial Dragons might actually be the strongest group in the entire story.

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. Since One Piece is going to be on break, the release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1104, is set to be January 21, 2024.