Hello everyone,
So I don’t really know what prompted me to make this thread other than sheer curiosity on the Gorosei themselves and what these guys’ ultimate role and place in the OP story/world is. Considering the fact that to the vast majority of the OP world, these guys are considered the five most powerful men in the world, we know virtually know nothing of these guys’ histories and rise to power. I believe that this is partially because Oda wants us to see these guys as heavily analogous to the real world figures that they seem to be drawn based on, and doesn’t want to muddy the analogy by giving these guys fictional histories and stories yet.
That said, I thought I would give my honest shot at trying to predict the power level and strength hierarchy among these guys based on the figures that I believe these guys are based on and how Oda could tie these guys’ irl histories with their manga counterparts.
I also want to say that we are going to be doing some minor diving into irl historical figures, and I myself am no historian. If anyone finds that anything I have posted is incorrect, or if you simply believe you know more about these real world figures than I do, please post it in this thread and maybe together we can all reach some sort of consensus. By no means do I claim to be an expert here, I’m just a dude with an internet connection on vacation lol.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
1. Tall, Blond, and Chad: King George V of the U.K.
That’s right, we’re going to start this thread with my personal favorite Gorosei, and you can’t stop me. From my research, King George V seemed to be a fairly boring monarch, he didn’t do anything offensively awful, nor did he do anything particularly great. Really the only thing that stood out to me in my research was that this guy served 15 years in the British Navy and likely would’ve served for longer if he didn’t find himself the heir to the crown.
Does this mean Oda will make blondy a former Admiral? Just from this guy’s physical appearance it is clear that he is a warrior of some sort, this guy towers above the 10 foot tall Sakazuki, making him absolutely enormous for a human in One Piece.
He is also muscular and bears a battle scar across his neck.
We really don’t know much of the former Admirals in One Piece, prior to the Logia trio the only Admiral we’ve ever heard of was Sengoku 20 years ago and Kong even before that. The non-canon Zephyr was introduced as a former Admiral but even if we include him, that still leaves plenty of room for other former Admirals that we have never heard of. Even before this research, I would think that the Gorosei would have at least one former Admiral amongst their ranks, and if blondy truly is based off George V then it is possible for Oda to give him a background as an Admiral before he became a Gorosei.
Points this guy has in his favor:
1. He appears to be the youngest Gorosei
2. He is physically quite enormous (the tallest Gorosei?)
3. His historical inspiration has an explicit history as a Navy commander, which could arguably imply that this guy is an ex-Admiral
Points against:
1. N/A?
Verdict: Chad
2. Pinhead Larry: Leopold II of Belgium
Alright so I’m going to try and keep this thread as PG rated as possible, I certainly would not encourage anyone to research Leopold II in Belgium lightly, but to those unfamiliar with this guy: Leopold II was a colonial and imperialist monster who brutalized the Congo for his own personal enrichment and bragging rights among other nations. At a time where Imperialist countries routinely committed atrocities in Africa, Leopold II made even other colonial monarchs blush, and I’ll leave it at that.
As to how this relates to this thread, interestingly Leopold II did not have any sort of military background so this guy, while enormous himself, may not be one of the stronger Gorosei in comparison to all the others who had military backgrounds or careers.
Points this guy has in his favor:
1. He is enormous
Points against:
1. Seemingly based on a real-world figure with no military or combat background
Verdict: Who you callin pinhead?
3. Ghandi: Hideki Tojo of Japan
Alright so this guy is commonly known as the “Ghandi Gorosei” by the OP fandom, but long-story short there is almost (imo) a zero percent chance this Gorosei is based on Ghandi. Ghandi was a nonviolent protester who protested against British tyranny in India. That to me hardly sounds like the basis for a character who is one of the five rulers of an ultra-oppressive world power Government.
No, it is much more likely that this Gorosei is intended to be based on Hideki Tojo who was a Japanese general and the Prime Minister of Japan during World War II. Hideki Tojo was responsible for some of Imperial Japan’s worst crimes before he was removed from power upon Japan’s defeat, including the infamous Nanjing incident and other atrocities.
So honestly, I’m not sure how this could translate into One Piece. One may be inclined to think of Ghandi as an obvious candidate for a former Admiral, but I’m not so sure. The Japanese imagery with this guy should be obvious, but One Piece’s Japanese equivalent is Wano and it makes zero sense for this guy to be from Wano so far as we know. George V was explicitly a Naval commander for 15 years, but Tojo was a General and thus not explicitly linked to the Japanese Navy. I’m honestly not sure why Oda drew a Gorosei who would seem to be heavily Japanese but then make it virtually impossible for a Celestial Dragon to have real ties to Wano.
I know this series is aimed at a Japanese audience and sometimes Oda draws clearly Japanese characters like Fujitora who don’t have any known ties to Wano but…idk. It would seem to me that a Gorosei so clearly Japanese in design would have more thought put into that design other than Oda being like “I just did it because” lol.
Either way, what cannot be denied is that Hideki Tojo rose to power explicitly through his military career and is known primarily as a military figure.
Points this guy has in his favor:
1. Based off a historical figure who rose to power exclusively for his military acumen
2. Still carries a fucking weapon
Points against:
1. N/A?
2. Older
3. Short by Gorosei standards (shortest Gorosei?)
Verdict: ZKK
4. Whitebeard’s Father: Stalin and Gorbachev of the Soviet Union
Alright so this guy appears to be based off of two different historical leaders. Stalin was viewed as a war hero before becoming the leader of the Soviets, but Gorbachev has no military background at all.
From this, I think we can assume that Whitebeard’s dad probably performed some kind of military service in his youth but came to power pretty quickly and thus retired as a fighter when he was fairly young. There is really no indication that this guy is really a fighter at all other than the fact that he is probably physically quite large, but he appears slumped over most of the time and appears quite old.
Points this guy has in his favor:
1. Stalin was viewed as a war hero in his youth
Points against:
1. Older
2. Appears slumped over, possibly slightly overweight
Verdict: Moustache King
5. Jaygarcia Saturn: Giuseppe Garibaldi of Italy
The only named Gorosei that we know is also perhaps the only Gorosei based off of a relatively benevolent irl figure. Garibaldi is largely viewed in a positive light by historians and Italians as far as I can tell. Garibaldi is also viewed as a war-hero, Italian unifier, and one of the greatest generals of the modern era. This guy was stacking up military victories left and right while he was alive.
This all bodes quite well for our friend Jaygarcia, we have another character who could have a heavy military history, perhaps a former high-ranking Marine himself.
However, Saturn also appears quite old and walks around on a cane. Now sure, Saturn could pull a Yoda and drop that cane to start flipping around like a schizoid maniac, but I generally like to believe that Oda is a writer with more nuance than George Lucas’ stupid ass, and that Saturn, while probably still quite strong himself, is probably not going to be stronger than his contemporaries given his advanced age and seeming physical handicap.
Points this guy has in his favor:
1. Garibaldi is a military genius
Points against:
1. Old
2. Seemingly handicapped
Verdict: Don’t make me put this walker down
Conclusion
And thus, my extremely academic and completely unbiased analysis has concluded. I hear by grant the Gorosei a tentative predictory strength ranking:
1. Tall, blonde, and Chad
2. The Ghandi who is not actually Ghandi
3. Jaygarcia Saturn
4. Pinhead Larry
5. Whitebeard Senior
Please post your own Gorosei strength rankings and reasonings (as if that’s never been done before)…
@Owl Ki @Blackbeard @SakazOuki @God Buggy @TheKnightOfTheSea @MarineHQ @Extravlad @kurwa @Apollo @AkainuTheGrimReaper @The White Crane @Kurozumi Wiwi @Wuuuke @silverfire @scoobie3 @ZenZu @EmperorKinyagi etc etc etc
