The monstrous Five Elders have forced Gear 5 Luffy to retreat, demonstrating massive destruction and immortality, which One Piece has teased before.

Luffy and his Gear 5 form have taken on several of One Piece‘s most powerful foes, but the Five Elders present a new challenge by seemingly being immortal, a power that’s been explained in the series past. Egghead Island is currently experiencing the culmination of several of the series’ biggest mysteries, including one of One Piece‘s most anticipated battles against the Highest Authorities of the World Government—figures who all could have used a particular Devil Fruit to gain immortality.

Elder Saint Jaygarcia Saturn arrived on the island and home of One Piece‘s smartest man, Dr.Vegapunk, to ensure the doctor was properly dealt with for his crimes. As the situation on Egghead grew beyond his control, Saturn summoned the other Elders to help prevent Luffy and Dr.Vegapunk’s secrets from escaping the island. In chapter #1111, the Five Elders have suffered so much damage that even Gear 5 Luffy claims they are immortal, which is not entirely impossible.

One Piece Manga Chapter #1111, Author Eiichio Oda, Published by Viz media

An ability that grants a character eternal life is possible in One Piece with the help of the Op-Op No Mi (aka the Operation Devil Fruit). The current wielder, Trafalgar Law, is not the first person in the franchise to have the fruit. This is the first part of the puzzle explaining how the Five Elders could have obtained immortality.

The Ultimate Devil Fruit Has Been Used At Great Cost

One Piece is written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda

Law’s complex Devil Fruit gives him a wide range of abilities that have allowed him to perform outrageous feats like flipping massive naval warships and dramatically altering the bodies of his foes. However, he was force-fed the fruit as a young child in a desperate bid to prevent the vile Donquixote Doflamingo from getting his hands on it. Doflamingo’s desire for the fruit’s power does not stem from the abilities that Law has displayed in the series so far. Instead, he wanted to take advantage of its ultimate ability to sacrifice its user to grant another person immortality.

Doflamingo’s kind-hearted brother, Rosinante, was murdered by the despicable One Piece villain in an attempt to save Law. The kind soul’s plan to steal the Op-Op Devil Fruit in order to cure a young Law’s fatal lead poisoning was met with several road bumps. After many unforeseen setbacks, Law had to eat the Devil Fruit and watch his closest companion, Donquixote Rosinante, killed before him. Since then, Law has earned his freedom and his revenge against Doflamingo. Still, his Devil Fruit abilities are expected to play a role in One Piece‘s story before it concludes, if they haven’t already.

Being given the Op-Op fruit entrusted a tragic fate to Law. While author Eiichiro Oda may provide the fan-favorite character with a happy ending, a common narrative principle known as Chekhov’s gun says otherwise. The principle insinuates that when crafting a story, each element introduced should have a reason it’s introduced. So when an important story element like immortality is brought into the story, it must eventually prove necessary to the over-arching plot, or else it would be a lingering and unsatisfying plot device. However, Egghead Island might have finally seen the Op-Op Fruit’s immortality in action.

Celestial Dragons Toy With Devil Fruit Users For Fun

Only one Devil Fruit of a particular kind can simultaneously exist in One Piece‘s world. Dr.Vegapunk created a single exception by cloning Kaido’s Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Model Devil Fruit. Still, normally, the abilities of a Fruit user can only belong to one individual until they pass away. The deceased person’s Devil Fruit then returns to the world, in a currently unexplained process, so that another person can eat the fruit and gain its abilities. The Op-Op Fruit and its ultimate sacrificial immortality ability has likely been used before, at least five times.

For hundreds of years, the top ruling class of One Piece‘s world, the Celestial Dragons, have controlled countless slaves and force-fed them Devil Fruits for their twisted enjoyment. The overly entitled and cruel villains of One Piece are guilty of the worst crimes imaginable. It’s not unthinkable to guess that the Celestial Dragons have forced slaves to sacrifice their lives to make themselves immortal, especially those who operate among the World Government’s Highest Authority: The Five Elders.

The Highest Authority Has Been Ruling For A Very Long Time

Saint Saturn has proved his standing as one of One Piece‘s final villains. Abilities like disintegrating anything he touches with a powerful acid and spitting projectiles with the explosive force reminiscent of Oppenheimer’s first nuclear bomb test make Saturn arguably more fearsome than Kaido was. However, his destructive capabilities are only part of the intimidation factor the Elders exude, as they have shown capable of tanking Luffy’s strongest Gear 5 attacks and can quickly regenerate all the damage they have received so far. It is such a ridiculous feat that it even made Luffy retreat while saying, “Let’s hurry! This won’t matter…they’re immortal!!!”

After the events of chapter #1111, it seems increasingly likely that each of the Five Elders has had the immortal procedure performed on them. Their ability to withstand attacks and regenerate lost limbs is unlike anything the series has seen. Another popular theory suggests that the Elders are not Fruit users but actually Devils or Demons. As displayed in the chapter, their inhuman feats of offense and defense explain how such a force has stayed in power for so long, longer than a typical human’s lifespan.

As revealed in One Piece chapter #761, the Op-Op user must have extensive medical science knowledge to use it effectively and sacrifice themselves to use the Immortality Operation. The past users are currently a mystery, but the user before Law was known as a legend in the medical field for curing several deadly diseases. Once they perished, the Op-Op Devil Fruit found its way into the hands of a former Marine and father of X. Drake, Diez Barrels, who lost his life to the Donquixote family. This may be the first time the Fruit has escaped the Celestial Dragon’s clutches.

If the Elders had been able to secure the Fruit and know where to find it once it was used to grant immortality to one of them, they could have continuously used the Op-Op Fruit until the it was removed from their control. The process would have taken many years to train each successor and the lives of those successors to accomplish. This seems in line with One Piece‘s cruel Celestial Dragons and their World Government. However, why only stop with making the Five Elders immortal?

Immortally Could Be More Common Than Believed

For a good portion of One Piece‘s epic tale, audiences believed that the Five top-ranking Celestial Dragons were the ones controlling the world and enforcing the dark secrets of its past. That all changes in chapter #908 when the mysterious figure, Imu, appears and sits upon the Empty Throne that rests at the center of the world in the Celestial Dragon’s headquarters. The Five Elders all bent a knee and have been more than happy to carry out the commands of the mysterious and terrifying ruler of One Piece‘s world, someone who is more than likely immortal as well.

With the cruel abuse of innocent lives and overwhelming control of the world’s resources, the Celestial Dragons have been able to do almost anything for decades. By using the Op-Op Fruit and sacrificing its users over a long stretch of time, many of the World Government’s most respected members could have all been granted immortality. If that is the case, it will be challenging to topple the world order and free its many people from the oppression that Imu and the Five Elders have held for so long. It’s setting up a stunning final saga for One Piece‘s story.