One Piece has finally confirmed one of the biggest theories about the Five Elders, establishing them as the ultimate, intergenerational antagonists of the series at last. While many fans have suspected the Five Elders of being immortal for the longest time, proof to support this theory has always been inconclusive. However, the latest chapters finally confirm this suspicion in a subtle yet genius way.

In chapter #1117, the Five Elders, with the exception of Saint Nusjuro, can be seen gathering around the Iron Giant as they prepare to strike it down when Saint Marcus Mars appears to recognize the Iron Giant. The manner in which Saint Mars gradually places the Iron Giant suggests that he is recalling it from memory rather than a description of it.

Saint Mars also seems to be very sure that the robot is the same one that attacked Mariejois 200 years ago, which could only mean he had actually seen it for himself two centuries ago. This would confirm that the Five Elders are indeed immortal and may have been alive since the Void Century.

One Piece Confirms the Five Elders Are Immortal

Created by Eiichiro Oda, Chapter #1117 “A”

While the Five Elders have previously also recognized Nika, there was a chance that they had recognized Nika’s appearance based on a description much like Dr. Vegapunk did. However, this does not seem to be the case with the Iron Giant. According to Vegapunk, the Iron Giant ran out of energy before it could do much damage, which means not many might have known about the Iron Giant’s existence or its attack on the Holy Land.

The Iron Giant’s connection to the Ancient Kingdom means the World Government would have been even more eager to cover up the incident as quickly as possible and wouldn’t risk keeping any records of the Iron Giant’s existence, much less its appearance. Thus, the Five Elders had to have seen the Iron Giant 200 years ago to be able to recognize it so surely and quickly.

One Piece Has Hinted at the Five Elders’ True Age Many Times

The Five Elders Were Likely Made Immortal Out of Necessity

Besides chapter #1117, another major piece of evidence of the Five Elders’ immortality can be seen in the cover story featured in chapter #1075 of One Piece wherein a younger Vegapunk is seen visiting them at Mariejois. Vegapunk appears to be in his forties in the cover story while the Five Elders, though seen in silhouette only appear to look the same as they do at present.

Despite the cover story taking place over twenty years in the past, Saint Saturn, Ju Peter, Warcury, and Mars all sport the same gray hair, mustaches, and beards which suggests they are either aging very slowly or have stopped aging entirely for quite some time. This means each of them likely had the immortality surgery performed on them, thus acting as living proof of the Op-Op Fruit’s powers.

This would also perfectly explain why Bonney was unable to age Saturn using her devil fruit powers, as taking away a few decades would be just a drop in the bucket if Saint Saturn had been alive since the Void Century or even much before that. It would surely make sense that the World Government wouldn’t risk passing down the highest authority in the world across generations in order to maintain an iron grip on the twenty rulers, especially after Lily’s betrayal.

It would also have taken much longer than one regular human lifespan for life on One Piece‘s blue planet to relocate and settle down from the catastrophic flooding that occurred during the Void Century, which all point to the need for a consistent authority figure like the Five Elders. Moreover, given that Imu has also been all but confirmed to be the same Imu Nerona from the first twenty rulers, it only makes sense for his trusty council to follow suit to support him.

Overall, while there are certainly beings like the Giants that live for centuries on end in One Piece, the Five Elders, despite their monstrous true forms and unique silhouettes, all appear to be regular humans. Though their immortality was previously attributed to their regenerative abilities, chapter #1117 has finally given fans a proper answer, albeit in a very subtle manner. The Final Saga will no doubt expand on the Five Elders and their immortality even more, but as things stand, Imu and the Five Elders are all but cemented as the ultimate antagonists of One Piece.

One Piece is available from Manga Plus and Viz Media.