Theory Gorosei and Im are from the void century, their main objective is order

#1
The purpose of this theory is to piece together the scant evidence scatter throughout the series about the Gorosei (and Im) and attempt to come up with an explanation that would also fit into the bigger picture. Most of the theory is based on specific details from the manga. However, there will also be some points that are pure speculation, since we simply have little to no clues to further our understanding on those subjects. These parts will be italicized.

The Gorosei
Let's begin by theorizing who the Gorosei are. Well, in fact, we are given two pieces of evidence that convey a lot of information about the gorosei:
1. Their appearance
2. The fact that they are celestial dragons

1. We know that at least two of the Gorosei have scars And the younger looking one has blonde hair.:
Their membership and appearance have remained unchanged from 20 years ago:
2. This is self-explanatory.

Now, let's put the two together, we have the same highest ranking celestial dragons, who ruled the world for at least 20 years. They do not look like the other celestial dragons and have visible scars. That begs the question, "where the hell did they receive those scars?" Every other celestial dragon shown so far wears a dumb spacesuit and are utterly incompetent as hell.

Explanation:
The Gorosei are different from the other celestial dragons, they are from the void century and are the victors of the great war. Their scars are from the many battles they had during that time period. Through some way, they have achieved immortality and are still ruling the Government they helped to create.

Im is a different subject altogether. We know almost absolutely nothing about him other than the few panels during the reverie. However, we do know two very important piece of information, he has a treasury room which contains the giant Strawhat and he has an interest in Luffy, BB, Vivi, and Poseidon (all of whom are connected to prophecies relating the void century. Well BB isn't, but I think we all know he will be a very important character down the storyline).

Just throwing this next part out as pure speculation (which means very low probability of being what Oda has in mind), I think Im was from the Ancient Kingdom, he betrayed Joyboy and caused their defeat, which is why he has that giant strawhat

The Gorosei's objectives
Now that we hypothesized that the Gorosei are from the void century, let us examine how that would explain a lot of the stuff found in the manga.

When people usually think of the overarching theme of One Piece, people think of it as "Pirates vs marines" or more broadly "Pirates vs World Government." However, these two are far from equivalent.

As you can see here, the marines mean little to the Gorosei, they are only the "face" or appearance of the world government, not it's primary military arm.


In fact, the marines are only part of a 3-part system consisting of Yonkos, Marines, and Warlords that the Gorosei would like to maintain. Notice the Gorosei did not say their objective was to destroy the Yonko.

It's clear that the main goal of the Gorosei is to maintain Order and Stability.
The system makes sense in some way. To unite the people and various kingdoms together, there needs to be a reason. Peace, trade, and co-prosperity would seem like
great reason, but history has shown us that this isn't case. The only reason for unity is for protection against enemies. That's where pirates come in. The pirates, embodied by their strongest members, the Yonkos, represent an inherent danger to the everyday citizens of the World Government. The courageous marines then come in and protect the people from pirates from time to time, giving them a reason to join the world government. In return, the country accepts the world government and pays tax like a regular real-world province would back then.

What happens if you don't join the WG is exemplified in Whitebeard's home island:

This system would seem pretty effective in its objective, considering it kept up for 800 years.

What the Gorosei feel threatened about:
The Gorosei don't care about the marines, they don't care about the livelihoods of their citizens, they don't even care much about the Yonkos. The only times they felt threatened were when World Order itself was threatened. We have witnessed two such instances.

1. The Ohara incident. The Gorosei clearly feel threatened about what would happen if the people knew about the void century. Perhaps that knowledge would lead people to question the authority of the World government itself and led to thoughts of mass revolution.

I think this is also the reason that the WG isolated Wano. Wano was originally portrayed as a very powerful nation capable of holding off even the WG. But as it turned out, they were easily conquered by a minor pirate crew. Furthermore, the WG was actually heavily involved in it, as we witnessed CP0 dealing with Orochi. The real is reason, Wano is very well connected to the void century and poneglyph reading and the Gorosei are afraid of the consequences of that information spreading out.

2. Im visibly frustrated at the images of Luffy, Vivi, Poseidon, and BB. The former 3 are connected with prophecies involving the void century. So it's easy to see why Im would be distressed about that. BB could be connected to prophecies as well. He's the other unique pirate from the series other than Luffy.

Noticed none of the Yonko, Revolutionaries were on the posters. The World Government doesn't really care about them. After all, they are mere flies to them in a snapshot of time compared to the 800 years that Im and the Gorosei have lived through. Although powerful, they do not hold the ability to change the world on the level of 800 year prophecies in Luffy, BB, Vivi, and Poseidon.

And the Gorosei have no problem meeting with Shanks, a yonko that was on the crew of the pirate king who did uncover the secrets of the world. Although Shanks did not go to raftel himself, I would assume he was close enough with the crew that he probably obtained that knowledge.

My guess is Shanks discovered the truth and decided to accept the current system and thus help the Gorosei maintain world order.


The Gorosei are very Powerful:
I mentioned before that the Gorosei are indifferent about the Yonko, the Marines, the revolutionaries, etc.. The reason they don't feel threatened by the Yonko or something else when the Marines would be is that their strength is immaculate.

The first thing we recall is how they brushed Akainu aside. Some people brush that aside, thinking the Gorosei are just "Spandams."

Now let's observe why that is not the case. Spandam was able to control a group of deadly assassins much like, well...., how Rob Lucci guarded the celestial dragons during the Reverie. The CP1 didn't follow Spandam, because they were manipulated by his wits. They did so because they were assigned to by an even greater power, the WG itself. They worked with Spandam because they fear the WG, not due to respect for Spandam. This is the same reason, none of the Supernova besides Zoro dared to get in the way of a Celestial dragon. They feared the reprecussions of doing so.

Now, in the Gorosei's case, there is no greater power that people know of (few know Im exists). So, all of the authority of the Gorosei have to be backed up by themselves. If the Gorosei were really a bunch of Spandams, the marines could easily take over WG or simply refuse orders from the WG. But we have seen from both Sengoku and Sakazuki that the Gorosei easily acts above them in decision making.

Next, we notice how calm the Gorosei are at Sakazuki's insolence. Normally, people would be scared shitless like Coby at an angry Sakazuki, but the Gorosei simply shrugged it off, mocking him and treating him like a tempered child. Weaklings don't show this confidence.

Why Luffy is a threat:
First off, I like to remind everyone that One Piece is not a "power level" manga. This isn't a manga like Naruto where Madara can just show up 95% into the story and defeat every character up to that point combined, and then they have to fight aliens. This isn't a mange where the main character goes around stomping the strongest characters in the series.

We know that the most infamous character in the series, Gol D. Roger, achieved the main character's dream of becoming a Pirate King, not by defeating all his other strong rivals, but through his adventurous spirit. Roger didnt defeat Whitebeard, Garp, nor Shiki. He didn't even beat Big Mom. While he was undeniably one of the strongest people in the world, the point is that a single person or crew alone cannot alter history by a lot.

While Luffy will certainly be very powerful by the end of the series, his strength noted by Mihawk is:

his charisma, the ability to get people to follow him. A single crew has no chance against the marines, let alone the world government. If each member of the Gorosei are crazy level strength, along with 800 years of experience and secrets, I don't think even the Yonko put together could topple the WG. That's why when Roger went to Laughtale, he realized he could do nothing. Yeah, he's ridiculously strong, but even he is but an ant in front of the WG.

The key to Luffy's victory in the end will come about from his vastly network of allies. Not only that, but he will also have access to the ancient weapons (like poseidon and possibly pluton given Vivi's connection).
 
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Jew D. Boy

I Can Go Lower
#2
This is so fuckin’ good, man!! There’s long been no doubt in my mind that the Gorosei have to be unbelievably powerful, you really can’t keep the Marines and Yonko in check (to the extent that they have been) without possessing some serious strength. As much as I wanna learn more about Im, they’ve been around way longer and are still total mysteries...here’s hoping we get answers soon, and that they match up with yours to whatever extent possible :cheers:
 
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Warchief Sanji D Goat

Ubel > Frieren and Fern
#4
The Gorosei
Let's begin by theorizing who the Gorosei are. Well, in fact, we are given two pieces of evidence that convey a lot of information about the gorosei:
1. Their appearance
2. The fact that they are celestial dragons

1. We know that at least two of the Gorosei have scars And the younger looking one has blonde hair.:
Their membership and appearance have remained unchanged from 20 years ago:
2. This is self-explanatory.

Now, let's put the two together, we have the same highest ranking celestial dragons, who ruled the world for at least 20 years. They do not look like the other celestial dragons and have visible scars. That begs the question, "where the hell did they receive those scars?" Every other celestial dragon shown so far wears a dumb spacesuit and are utterly incompetent as hell.

Explanation:
The Gorosei are different from the other celestial dragons, they are from the void century and are the victors of the great war. Their scars are from the many battles they had during that time period. Through some way, they have achieved immortality and are still ruling the Government they helped to create.

Im is a different subject altogether. We know almost absolutely nothing about him other than the few panels during the reverie. However, we do know two very important piece of information, he has a treasury room which contains the giant Strawhat and he has an interest in Luffy, BB, Vivi, and Poseidon (all of whom are connected to prophecies relating the void century. Well BB isn't, but I think we all know he will be a very important character down the storyline).

Just throwing this next part out into the air as speculation, I think Im was from the Ancient Kingdom, he betrayed Joyboy and caused their defeat, which is why he has that giant strawhat

The Gorosei's objectives
Now that we hypothesized that the Gorosei are from the void century, let us examine how that would explain a lot of the stuff found in the manga.

When people usually think of the overarching theme of One Piece, people think of it as "Pirates vs marines" or more broadly "Pirates vs World Government." However, these two are far from equivalent.

As you can see here, the marines mean little to the Gorosei, they are only the "face" or appearance of the world government, not it's primary military arm.


In fact, the marines are only part of a 3-part system consisting of Yonkos, Marines, and Warlords that the Gorosei would like to maintain. Notice the Gorosei did not say their objective was to destroy the Yonko.

It's clear that the main goal of the Gorosei is to maintain Order and Stability.
The system makes sense in some way. To unite the people and various kingdoms together, there needs to be a reason. Peace, trade, and co-prosperity would seem like
great reason, but history has shown us that this isn't case. The only reason for unity is for protection against enemies. That's where pirates come in. The pirates, embodied by their strongest members, the Yonkos, represent an inherent danger to the everyday citizens of the World Government. The courageous marines then come in and protect the people from pirates from time to time, giving them a reason to join the world government. In return, the country accepts the world government and pays tax like a regular real-world province would back then.

What happens if you don't join the WG is exemplified in Whitebeard's home island:

This system would seem pretty effective in its objective, considering it kept up for 800 years.

What the Gorosei feel threatened about:
The Gorosei don't care about the marines, they don't care about the livelihoods of their citizens, they don't even care much about the Yonkos. The only times they felt threatened were when World Order itself was threatened. We have witnessed two such instances.

1. The Ohara incident. The Gorosei clearly feel threatened about what would happen if the people knew about the void century.

I think this is also the reason that the WG isolated Wano. Wano was originally portrayed as a very powerful nation capable of holding off even the WG. But as it turned out, they were easily conquered by a minor pirate crew. Furthermore, the WG was actually heavily involved in it, as we witnessed CP0 dealing with Orochi. The real is reason, Wano is very well connected to the void century and poneglyph reading and the Gorosei are afraid of the consequences of that information spreading out.

2. Im visibly frustrated at the images of Luffy, Vivi, Poseidon, and BB. The former 3 are connected with prophecies involving the void century. So it's easy to see why Im would be distressed about that. BB could be as well. He's clearly a unique pirate like Luffy.

Noticed none of the Yonko, Revolutionaries were on the posters. The World Government doesn't really care about them. After all, they are mere flies to them in a snapshot of time compared to the 800 years that Im and the Gorosei have lived through. Although powerful, they do not hold the ability to change the world on the level of 800 year prophecies in Luffy, BB, Vivi, and Poseidon.

And the Gorosei have no problem meeting with Shanks, a yonko that was on the crew of the pirate king who did uncover the secrets of the world. Although Shanks did not go to raftel himself, I would assume he was close enough with the crew that he probably obtained that knowledge. My guess is Shanks discovered the truth and decided to accept the current system and thus help the Gorosei maintain world order.

The Gorosei are very Powerful:
I mentioned before that the Gorosei are indifferent about the Yonko, the Marines, the revolutionaries, etc.. The reason they don't feel threatened by the Yonko or something else when the Marines would be is that their strength is immaculate.

The first thing we recall is how they brushed Akainu aside. Some people brush that aside, thinking the Gorosei are just "Spandams."

Now let's observe why that is not the case. Spandam was able to control a group of deadly assassins much like, well...., how Rob Lucci guarded the celestial dragons during the Reverie. The CP1 didn't follow Spandam, because they were manipulated by his wits. They did so because they were assigned to by an even greater power, the WG itself. They worked with Spandam because they fear the WG, not due to respect for Spandam. This is the same reason, none of the Supernova besides Zoro dared to get in the way of a Celestial dragon. They feared the reprecussions of doing so.

Now, in the Gorosei's case, there is no greater power that people know of (few know Im exists). So, all of the authority of the Gorosei have to be backed up by themselves. If the Gorosei were really a bunch of Spandams, the marines could easily take over WG or simply refuse orders from the WG.

Next, we notice how calm the Gorosei are at Sakazuki's insolence. Normally, people would be scared shitless like Coby at an angry Sakazuki, but the Gorosei simply shrugged it off, mocking him and treating him like a tempered child. Weaklings don't show this confidence.

Why Luffy is a threat:
First off, I like to remind everyone that One Piece is not a "power level" manga. This isn't a manga like Naruto where Madara can just show up 95% into the story and defeat every character up to that point combined, and then they have to fight aliens. This isn't a mange where the main character goes around stomping the strongest characters in the series.

We know that the most infamous character in the series, Gol D. Roger, achieved the main character's dream of becoming a Pirate King, not by defeating all his other strong rivals, but through his adventurous spirit. Roger didnt defeat Whitebeard, Garp, nor Shiki. He didn't even beat Big Mom. While he was undeniably one of the strongest people in the world, the point is that a single person or crew alone cannot alter history by a lot.

While Luffy will certainly be very powerful by the end of the series, his strength noted by Mihawk is:

his charisma, the ability to get people to follow him. A single crew has no chance against the marines, let alone the world government. If each member of the Gorosei are crazy level strength, along with 800 years of experience and secrets, I don't think even the Yonko put together could topple the WG. That's why when Roger went to Laughtale, he realized he could do nothing. Yeah, he's ridiculously strong, but even he is but an ant in front of the WG.

The key to Luffy's victory in the end will come about from his vastly network of allies. Not only that, but he will also have access to the ancient weapons (like poseidon and possibly pluton given Vivi's connection).
Alright, you know what? I changed my mind. The Gorosei might actually be very powerful and not just some random political speakers like Spandam. The bald Gorosei also wield the Shodai Kitetsu and it's one of the Supreme Grade Blade just like Mihawk's Yoru so that's said a lot about their strength:cheers:
 
#9
Nice theory, and I always believed that you can't stay on top of the food chain if you aren't very very strong.
Like following Naruto's example, can you imagine the Hokage getting beaten by a Tokubetsu Jonin?
Also, roughly 60-70% of the pictures won't work.
 
#10
Good theory but well world doesn't work like that always..Or all military around the world might have overthrown political parties..
And those who have done are terrible at governing nation..
So Marin can't overthrow WG because they have powerful individuals argument hold no much weight.
If they overthrow WG , they will have to govern entire word , while keep fighting Pirates and Riv.
Marins will lost in no time...Even 10 admirals can't save them..
They are just one part of the big organization. And that Organization doesn't always need strong individuals to lead..
 
S

stealthblack

#11
Yeah, either bonney is from void century too and made them all stat young, or they keep stealing eevry single bonneys fruit user over 1000 years but bonney is first one that runs away
 
#12
is that their strength is immaculate
unlikely.
if they were this powerful there would not be a need to keep the balance for fear of an uprising. they could simply rule with an iron fist.
since this is not happening its more logical to assume that they have some sort of leverage over the Marines. something other than physical power or an arbitrary ranking system.

there is one Marine that is a huge thorn in their eyes, but somehow this one person avoided being thrown out or getting "suicided". that person also has no DF. he also refused to become an Admiral.
 
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