One piece started a series of villainous teams for Luffy's crew to contend with, not even counting pirate crews such as the Beasts Pirates and the Doflamingo family. CP9, now CP0, and the Five Elders are dangerous units for Luffy to contend with, and now there's another one: the Holy Knights. Also known as the God Knights, this powerful team is a symbol of the arrogant authority and benevolence found in the holy land of the Red Line.
It didn't take long One piece's Elbaph Arc to spill the beans on who the God Knights are, their typical duties, and what their combat abilities are. Already, One piece fans have a clear idea of how this team works and what everyone can expect from it. This includes a mixture of familiar elements such as Devil Fruits and Noble Authority, and some new tactics that rival even the strongest Haki on the battlefield.
All God Knights have deeps and abyssal covenants
This allows them to teleport or summon reinforcements
for some time now One piece is developing parallel combat or “magic” systems to exist alongside the Devil Fruits. Even Devil Fruits can't do everything and after so many years of publishing One piece was to expand the world's supernatural side with new abilities. The God Knights were the perfect group to show off some new abilities like the four Covenants. The Shallow Type binds the bearer to Imua's will only, while the Depths and Abyssal Covenants offer remarkable abilities.
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All full-fledged God Knights have a Depths Covenant and in most cases an Abyssal Covenant as well. With these marks, god knights like Shamrock, Gunko, and Sommers can teleport anywhere in the world, bypassing the need for fast-moving ships. This suggests great urgency on the part of the God Knights, as both can and must appear instantly wherever Imu needs them for a mission. What's more, these Covenants grant God Knights immortality, allowing them to survive almost any enemy on the battlefield. Only a few fighters like Scopper Gaban and Roronoa Zoro can bypass this immortality with their attacks.
God Knights usually have powerful Devil Fruits
Arrows, spikes, and MMA have defined the God Knights' fighting style so far
This is one of the most predictable yet exciting parts about the God Knights. For decades, it was always assumed that when a new powerful group arrived, at least a few members would have impressive Devil Fruits, possibly with Haki to back it up. The God Knights are also the ones who wield the never-before-seen Devil Fruits. Notably, the fruit's powers aren't as flashy as Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit or Kaido's mythical Zoan fruit, but these Devil Fruits still get the job done.
For example, Gunko terrorized the Straw Hat crew with her Arrow-Arrow Fruit. He can force people to move in whatever direction the arrows are pointing, which is an effective way to turn a team's combat power against itself. Gunko can also use his arrows to create a bird and fly around Elbaph with ease. Then there's St. Sommers, whose Thorn-Thorn Fruit lends itself to hostage situations with pointy, invisible thorns to deter enemy God Knights. St. Killingham is the one who can turn people's nightmares into reality with his Dragon-Dragon Fruit, creating MMAs that can keep even giant warriors at bay.
God Knights have exemplary teamwork
Other groups of villains split up to fight the Straw Hats
Even though groups like Baroque Works and Big Mom Pirates are outnumbered by heroes, these crews often fail to capitalize on this advantage. Instead of keeping things simple One piece splits a team battle into a series of duels. For example, fans may remember Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy battling the top three agents of the Baroque Works in the Alabasta Saga. And even in the chaos of the raid on Onigashima, the fighting was often a matter of duels. Teamwork between the Beasts Pirates was somewhat limited.
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The same is not true for God Knights, who make teamwork the core of their fighting style. Their Devil Fruit powers and personalities may vary greatly, but these warriors are quite adept at fighting together. Gunko and Sommers combined their fruit powers to create a difficult hostage situation during the Elbaph Arc, for example, all while Killingham's MMA keeps everyone away. The God Knights also switch members to suit mission needs, such as Sommers and Killingham replacing Shamrock on Elbaph.
The God Knights allow Im to possess them at any time
Imu appears in everyone with the right contracts
All God Knights have unwavering loyalty to Im, and that extends to ownership. For the most part, God Knights are content to simply obey Imu's orders and exercise the authority of the being, but some situations call for more. As One piece readers have already seen, Imu can directly take command of a God Knight's body to fight their enemies personally, as Imu did with Gunk. In a flashback sequence on God Valley, Imu did something similar to Jaygarcia Saturn.
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This suggests that both God Knights and Five Elders are fair game for Imu's possession as they all have advanced Covenants. That and such fighters clearly have the power and authority to suit Imu's tastes, with it being terribly unlikely that Imu would bother to possess admirals or vice-admirals. When an Elder or God Knight is possessed, they will set aside their own powers in favor of the likes of the Domi Reversi.
God Knights guard the world's nobles
Only someone like a god knight can judge a heavenly dragon
This aspect of God Knights is not often seen on screen since then One pieceThe current plot favors action and flashbacks over Marijoa's insular political landscape. Still, it's instructive to learn how God's Knights operate in their homeland, and it speaks volumes for their lofty authority. Yet, One piece led fans to believe that the World Nobles could do whatever they pleased as untouchable elites, but that's not quite true. Admirals cannot bypass or judge sky dragons, but god knights can.
The God Knights guard the world's elite in the Holy Land, a task that no other group should be able to accomplish. God Knights can punish or even execute a world noble for serious wrongs, such as when the noble acts in defense of the common masses. In particular, it is the supreme commander of the god knights who can pass judgment on the heavenly dragons, such as Figarland Garling himself.
God Knights have a simple command structure
The Navy has many more ranks
The Navy boasts the largest and most complex command structure of all One piecefrom lowly marines to petty officers to vice admirals and admirals. Even the Five Elders are part of the Navy's command structure. Then there's the God Knights, a much smaller group that doesn't need as many ranks or as many admirals.
This is the simplest and most practical aspect of God Knights, a reflection of how small and cohesive this group is. The God Knights seem to only have eight members, so even if they adopted the Navy's ranking system, not all ranks could be filled. Instead, the God Knights have a supreme commander, the rank held by Figarland Garling, along with the rank of commander directly below that, held by Shamrock. The other members are simply full-fledged knights who obey both the commander and the will of Imu. There are a number of smaller, sub-members known as Devoted Blades of God who serve as core warriors who can be welcomed into the main group if they prove themselves worthy.
One piece
- Release date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imayomura, Yashiôhiro Mayuū Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Writers
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
