Warning! Contains spoilers for One Piece #1086!A piece‘S Thien Long have been presented as pathetic for much of the series, but the manga’s latest chapter proves just how terrifying they can really be to the mysterious Five Elders. This is a great development as mangaka Eiichiro Oda has clearly established the Dragons as the ultimate antithesis to Luffy’s dreams of freedom, making them the ultimate opponents of the series. By revealing just how terrifying these characters are, One Piece makes even more anticipation for the final battle between the Straw Hats and the World Government.
Chapter #1085, translated by Stephen Paul, finally reveals the power of the mysterious Five Elders in One Piece, who take on extremely powerful other monstrous forms. This implies that they all ate a Devil Fruit, possibly a Mythical Zoan Fruit, which would make it difficult for the Straw Hats to defeat them in battle. Additionally, chapter #1086 finally revealed the leader of the Holy Knights, Figarland Garling, who was once the ruler of the Valley of the Gods. He’s a very scary character, with a sword he looks like he knows how to use. He also seems to passionately propagate that the Heavenly Dragon is inherently superior to the lower classes, making him both physically and philosophically terrifying.
One Piece shows the awesome power of celestial dragons
These powerful Heavenly Dragons are the complete opposite of most of the previous Nobles in the series. Most of them are weak, pathetic creatures who have not feared at all for a lifetime of being pampered and served. There have been a number of powerful characters that were eventually revealed to be Heavenly Dragons such as Doflamingo and, according to one theory, Shanks (which One Piece essentially revealed to be true with the introduction of Figarland), but these characters considered outcasts among the other Nobles, each operating without regard for the status quo of the World Government. The Elders and Figarland were the first Celestial Dragons that were still deeply entrenched in the seemingly truly powerful World Government.
Figarland of course doesn’t reveal much about their fighting technique, but if he is indeed related to Shanks then he is likely to share Yonko’s incredible level of haki. However, the Elders showed off their terrifying abilities when they attempted to kill Cobra after he learned of Imu’s existence. Although they only appeared in silhouette, they were strong enough to force Sabo to flee in a state of serious injury. Relying on Sabo with his fire Devil Fruit powers, these Elders are clearly one of One Piece’s most feared threats. The Holy Knights led by Figarland are capable of a similar power level, as they are also said to be among the strongest of the Heavenly Dragons.
Celestial Dragons Are Set to Fight in One Piece’s Final War
Prior to these final chapters, many predicted that the Straw Hats’ final clash against the World Government would largely be against the Navy and its admirals. While the Straw Hats will likely still fight these officers, the existence of the extremely powerful Heavenly Dragons almost guarantees that Luffy and his crew will also have to deal with the Elders and Holy Knights before they could defeat Imu. With new revelations in each chapter of A pieceThe series is building more anticipation for its epic final battle in which the fearsome Thien Long Will definitely join.
One Piece #1086 available to read from Viz Media.