In the Manga of One Piece, a battle of superlatives is just beginning. Luffy faces powerful opponents, for whom the creator of the manga has even planned a complete double page. This honor was recently given to some of Luffy’s allies.
Attention, Spoiler: This is about the events from chapter 1110 of the manga. If you haven’t read the chapter yet, just come back later.
What opponents does Luffy have to face? Saint Jaygarcia Saturn has summoned the rest of the Five Elders to the battlefield. Luffy now has to deal with 5 opponents who stand at the top of the world government after Imu. Each of the Five Elders appears in a demonic animal form:
- Saint Jaygarcia Saturn: Gyuki
- Saint Marcus Mars: Itsumade
- Saint Topman Warcury: Fengxi/ Hoki
- Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro: Bakotsu
- Saint Shepherd Ju Peter: Sandworm
The appearance of their monster forms is derived from Japanese, Chinese, and Mongolian mythology. Gyuki, Itsumade, and Bakotsu are yokai, which are Japanese spirit beings. They resemble a spider, a bird, and a horse that was burnt to death.
The Fengxi is a two-headed boar, which in Oda’s version only has one head. The sandworm could have been inspired by the Mongolian death worm, which was also a source of inspiration for the sandworms from Dune.
The Five Elders make their appearance on Egghead Island. In line with the new arc, there was a new opening:
First double page in the manga in 9 years
What was seen on the last double page? The appearance of the monsters is so important that the creator of the manga, Eiichiro Oda, dedicates a whole double page to them. It shows in full glory what kind of demonic beings Luffy has to deal with.
It was last seen in September 2015, so 9 years ago. The Twitter account sandman_AP points out that the last double page was seen in chapter 800. This scene shows the founding of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
The Grand Fleet consists of 7 organizations and aims to support Luffy in his dream. The alliance was sealed by the leaders of the organizations drinking from sake bowls.
Are the Five Elders Devil Fruit users? It seems that the Five Elders are not Devil Fruit users. They were summoned through pentagrams, which suggests that they are more demonic beings than Devil Fruit users. Moreover, the mysterious beings were introduced only by their name and not by the name of the respective Devil Fruit.
If this is true, the Five Elders would have the advantage that they – unlike Devil Fruit users – can swim. Sea stones would also have no effect on them. So Luffy is dealing with extremely heavy opponents.
However, it remains a mystery how the Devil Fruits are related to the Five Elders. Unfortunately, some of these fruits are neglected in the anime: One Piece: Fans discuss about Devil Fruits that occur far too rarely – one of them is Zoro’s personal nightmare
