As the One Piece story inches closer and closer to its end with each passing chapter, it comes as no shock that fans have finally been introduced to most of the final players who will take part in the ultimate conflict that is soon set to envelop the whole world. On the side of the World Government, there are the Holy Knights and Five Elders.
Although all of these characters are incredibly powerful in their own right, the real reason why they pose such a massive threat to the heroes of One Piece is because of their immortality. So, in this article, let's go over the immortality of the Holy Knights and the Gorosei and take a loot at the only way it can be overcome.
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All the Holy Knights so far have had incredible power, so let's rank the strongest Devil Fruits they own.
There Are Three Covenants That Are Granted By Imu
Loyalty to the Ruler
As the true ruler of the world for the past 800 years, it came as no surprise to fans that Imu was the most powerful character to ever be introduced within One Piece when they made their debut during the Elbaf arc. Here, they showed exactly why they are so feared, especially when it came to the Domi Reversi they enacted on the Giants.
Eventually, through the Elbaf flashback, the nature of Imu's powers was loosely explained, as they have a demonic Devil Fruit power that allows them to imbue people with certain abilities. Though Domi Reversi turns their target into a demon against their will, there exist three covenants or contracts that are entered into through a mutual agreement.
Those who have accepted the Depths Covenant are given immortality and strength, but must obey orders in return!
These are the Shallows Covenant, Depths Covenant, and the Abyssal Covenant, which grant the wielder special abilities, with the strength and potency of the contract getting even greater the further down one goes. The most basic of these is the Shallows Covenant, which was temporarily given to King Harald.
In the Elbaf flashback, Harald was gifted this contract once he swore and proved his allegiance to the World Government. Although this is hinted, it doesn't seem to grant any special abilities, though it doesn't allow the user to disobey Imu when they are in close proximity to them. However, this contract acts as the first step to one becoming a Holy Knight.
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The Holy Knights Have The Depths Covenant
Special Abilities Manifest
When one is officially taken within the ranks of the Holy Knights, they are gifted with the Depths Covenant, or the Deep-Sea Contract. Just like the one below, this contract forces the user to be completely and utterly loyal to the bestower of the mark, Imu, though it also grants incredible abilities on top of this.
Most impressively, the users are made impervious to all kinds of damage that aren't coated with Conqueror's Haki, not only making them immortal, but completely safe against harm. This is perhaps the greatest defense that has ever been shown in the series, since it confirms that only the strongest and most skilled warriors can even go up against them because of how rare of an ability Conqueror's Haki is.
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Moreover, those belonging to this covenant can also travel great distances in an instant through the use of mysterious pentagrams. To be a Holy Knight requires the user to be incredibly powerful, whether by Devil Fruits or just Haki mastery, so only the strongest Celestial Dragons or their affiliates are allowed to be within these ranks.
However, the biggest trade-off for achieving this contract is utter loyalty to Imu and the possibility of being either mind controlled or possessed by them at any moment. This can be seen with how Harald was tricked into turning against his own people by Imu's order, or how Imu was effortlessly able to possess Gunko, which is made even scarier when remembering that this can be done from anywhere on the planet, regardless of distance.
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The Five Elders Are The Users Of The Abyssal Covenant
The Greatest Authority
The Gorosei are Imu's greatest generals in the Final War and are also their longest-serving workers. On the face of it, these five are the highest authority in the World Government, though, in truth, this is only a position gifted to them by Imu's hand for them to carry out their will and plans for the world.
The 5 Elders are the recipients of the greatest contract of them all; the Abyssal Covenant, or Deep-Deep Sea Contract. This covenant has all the benefits and abilities of the ones before them, namely immortality, strength, and utter loyalty to Imu, which means that they can also be controlled and ordered like the others before them.
However, the most dangerous part of the Abyssal Covenant is that it seemingly gives the Elders their mysterious Yokai transformations, which work very similarly to Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits in the sense that they allow the users to transform into massive, demonic beasts. On top of this, they also have the smoke ribbons of Awakened fruits, which implies that they have similar abilities to them.
However, having the Abyssal Covenant essentially guarantees giving up the user's free will, since they can only do whatever Imu commands with these powers and can be controlled or communicated with from a world away. Because of this, even if something goes a little away from what Imu's plan is, the powers can be stripped with impunity, killing the user in the process.
One Piece can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Number of Episodes
- 1122
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.72
