Four Emperors

The Four Emperors, which make up one of the Three Great Powers, are a group of four pirates considered to be the most notorious and powerful captains in the world. Currently, the Emperors are Red-Haired Shanks, Blackbeard, Straw Hat Luffy, and Buggy the Star Clown; Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaidou of the Beasts are the former known members.

The Four Emperors are not typically allies, nor are they strictly enemies of one another. Rather, the four prefer to remain autonomous under most circumstances. The Emperors have historically individually resided within the second half of the Grand Line (known as the "New World"), exerting impressive influence and control over dozens of other pirate crews and self-governing islands. Compared to antagonistic individuals and groups the Straw Hat Pirates face earlier in the series, the Emperors serve as a far bigger threat during the second half of the One Piece series (most notably in the Whole Cake Island Saga and Wano Country Saga, where Big Mom and Kaidou serve as the respective main antagonists).

In the decisive Summit War of Marineford, Whitebeard met his end towards the climax of the war. Although Kaidou wished to attack Whitebeard before the war, he was stopped by Shanks, who then arrived at Marineford and insisted on a ceasefire. Whitebeard's former subordinate and murderer, Blackbeard, subsequently usurped his position within the following year after the Payback War.

Two years after the war in Marineford, following the events of the Whole Cake Island Arc, the World Economy News Paper referred to Monkey D. Luffy as standing adjacent to the Four Emperors as the "Fifth Emperor" of the sea. This was both due to the events of the arc and interviews performed with Cavendish and Bartolomeo, who informed the journalists of the 5,640-member Straw Hat Grand Fleet. Then, after the respective defeats of both Kaidou and Big Mom at the end of the Raid on Onigashima, Luffy and Buggy were publicized as new Emperors to replace them.

Overview
A threat...a demand...when issued by one with absolute, overwhelming power becomes simply inevitable fate...after all, who could possibly oppose it? That is the existence known as the Four Emperors! And this is what it means to be driven to your very wit's end...!



As an entity, the Four Emperors are one of the Three Great Powers of the world, the others being the Marines and the SSG (the latter replacing the now disbanded Seven Warlords of the Sea). Their strength and influence are such that they live quite literally as though they are sovereigns, doing mostly as they please as the "Emperors of the Sea" (海の皇帝).

Individually, the Emperors are usually considered to be the most powerful pirates in the world, with devastatingly powerful and versatile Devil Fruit abilities, immense physical prowess, a sheer mastery of Haki, or, most often, a combination of all three. Their individual bounties are among the highest in the world, with the lowest being 3,000,000,000 and the highest (formerly) over 5,000,000,000. The only known pirates with comparable bounties to the Four Emperors are their greatest known rivals. The captain of the Heart Pirates: "Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law and the captain of the Kid Pirates: Eustass "Captain" Kid are Straw Hat Luffy's biggest rivals among the Worst Generation, having the same reward as him; Hawkeye Dracule Mihawk was Red Hair Shanks' old swordsman rival before the latter lost an arm, and the Pirate King and captain of the Roger Pirates, Gol D. Roger, was Whitebeard's rival back when he was alive.

The only known exception to this is Buggy, who got his position and new massive bounty because of the many misconceptions made by the Marines, similar to how he was made a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.



In addition, all known former Emperors (Whitebeard, Kaidou, and Big Mom) were once members of the legendary Rocks Pirates, considered the world's strongest pirate crew of their time. Also, two of the current Emperors (Shanks and Buggy) are former members of the Roger Pirates under the service of the late Pirate King, and the other two (Teach and Luffy) are carriers of the Will of D.

During a Marine briefing, it was stated that an alliance between two of the Four Emperors could lead to the formation of the strongest pirate crew in recorded history, and that the collective bounty of such an organization's captains alone would easily dwarf that of even the Pirate King himself.

The backing behind the Emperors are so powerful that a small conflict involving an Emperor can result in war. As such, a Vice Admiral or higher's approval is needed to engage in combat, and even CP0 aren't allowed to engage them without being ordered to. Furthermore, even a Marine admiral will try to avoid a fight with an Emperor if it can be helped, as seen when Admiral Ryokugyu decided to avoid getting into a fight with Shanks in Wano.

Fleets
Though undeniably powerful in their own right, much of the Four Emperors' martial strength can be attributed to their large crews filled with hundreds or even thousands of elite combatants; as well as to their close alliances with other pirate captains.



Whitebeard's main crew amounted to 1,616 men, and he also had 43 subordinate New World crews to aid him in his efforts to rescue Ace, each headed by an infamous pirate captain. Big Mom's crew is even larger, consisting of tens of thousands of soldiers and Homies and led by dozens of her children, further boosted by an unknown number of subordinate crews who married into the Charlotte Family. Furthermore, Big Mom's family is considered the "strongest family in the world." Kaidou's crew has been amounted to be over 20,000 strong, of which over 500 possess the power of artificial SMILE fruits. Kaidou later gained an additional 10,000 samurai and ninja under his command after betraying Kurozumi Orochi as part of his world domination plans. Luffy currently has nine other crew members on his ship: Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, Brook, and Jinbe, who are dubbed as Senior Officers, each of whom are each very powerful and skilled at their roles. In addition, he also has de facto command of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet which has at least 5640 members, many of whom—such as the representatives of the seven crews—are powerful pirates in their own rights. Buggy leads a pirate mercenary group known by the name of Buggy's Delivery, which is considered to be one of the most influential organizations in the Underworld. He later became public leader of Cross Guild, a group including Crocodile and Dracule Mihawk, both former Warlords themselves.



Due to the sheer size of their crews, most of the Four Emperors utilize several executive officers to lead their forces. Because of their great strength and exposure as the top brass for the Emperor crews, they are regarded as a huge threat by the Marines, second only to their captains. This is further reinforced by their massive individual bounties, surpassing many infamous pirate captains and even the billion mark. Whitebeard had his 16 Division Commanders, each of whom had a hundred crew members under their command. Big Mom has the Sweet Commanders Katakuri, Smoothie, Cracker, and formerly Snack, who are the strongest of all of Big Mom's children. Kaidou has his three-right hand men known as the All-Stars, also known as the Disasters. Blackbeard has the Ten Titanic Captains, some of whom were the most powerful and ruthless criminals ever to be locked up in Impel Down, and also has the former Marine Admiral Kuzan under his crew. Luffy has the Senior Officers of his main crew, and seven representatives of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, each of whom was instrumental in the fight against Doflamingo and his forces and even helped defeat his best fighters. These top officers are seen to be able to contend with the elites of the other two Great Powers: the Seven Warlords of the Sea and the Marines. However, even the strongest of these officers cannot compare to the Four Emperors themselves, as seen when Big Mom easily overpowered Queen the Plague, one of the All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates, and Marco the Phoenix, the former 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.



Even with their already vast number of resources and strong subordinates, the Four Emperors continually seek to further their military might. Kaidou takes advantage of the superior craftsmen in Wano to make weapons that could otherwise not be made, as well as monopolize vast amounts of artificial Devil Fruits for his subordinates to eat. Kaidou also forces captive pirate captains into hard labor to break their spirits and make them subservient. Teach and his crew utilize the unknown method for stealing another person's Devil Fruit post-mortem in order to gain multiple powers. Big Mom constantly increases the strength of her crew by creating more and more Homies and by marrying her dozens of children into various powerful organizations to create a network of familial connections, forming the infrastructure of her army.

Trafalgar Law claimed that there are only two methods of surviving in the New World; one is to become the subordinate of an Emperor and be protected under the umbrella of their dominion. The other is to constantly oppose their authority.

Influence
I'll never forget that day...! With that one sentence, he ended the plundering of Fish-Man Island forever! Now that's power! And he protects many other islands as well. He may be a pirate captain, but it's wrong to take him down! The government must know what will happen if he's killed!

Accordingly, each of the Four Emperors have a large number of territories that they govern within the New World. The Four Emperors provide protection to all who reside within their territories, keeping the borders safe from any faction that may wish to invade them. Because of their power, the Four Emperors can declare any chosen locations as their own. The mere declaration is often enough to compel others, both Marines and pirates alike, to acknowledge and respect their authority. When Whitebeard declared the crime-ridden Fish-Man Island to be under his control, he immediately ended all pirate attacks on the island as well as its slave trade.

Some of the Emperor's also have an island designated as their home base; this main territory of theirs would be heavily fortified and any pirate crews unfortunate enough to venture there would likely either be wiped out or become subordinate to the Emperor. Big Mom's main territory, Whole Cake Island and the rest of Totto Land, for example, is heavily protected by scouting ships and by maritime watchtowers called Tartes that dot the coastlines of each of her islands, both prepared to inspect and potentially shoot down any ships not affiliated with her crew. She also has territorial sea slugs that patrol the waters, warning would-be intruders that they are entering her territory. Finally, Big Mom has 34 ministers as part of her administration, one to run the affairs of each of Totto Land's islands. Kaidou and his crew took over Wano Country as their main territory after conspiring with the Kurozumi Family to overthrow the Kozuki shogunate twenty years ago. Since then, the Beasts Pirates consolidated their power by monopolizing the country's resources to manufacturing weapons at mass production for the underworld, specifically with Joker as their main broker and primary seller in the SMILE trade. Ryokugyu noted how Kaidou's presence in Wano had served as a deterrent in keeping many Marines and outsiders at bay.

The Four Emperors themselves are the linchpin to their respective crews' influence in the world, as Charlotte Perospero feared that if Big Mom were to die from a possible poisoned wedding cake, her crew and the entire Totto Land empire would collapse. When Whitebeard died, all the locations he declared to be his territory were instantly open for attacks and for other Emperors to take, and the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates were mainly shunned aside by the crew that usurped their infamy in the great sea.



Shanks was even able to infiltrate the World Government capital, Mary Geoise and granted an audience to speak with the Five Elders in person and was later seen sailing free. Even more impressive was that this happened while two Marine Admirals Fujitora and Ryokugyu were both in Mary Geoise at the time.

The amount of influence they can possess, or are perceived to hold, is a crucial factor in deciding an Emperor in the public's eye. This is shown after the Raid of Onigashima, with Kaidou and Big Mom gone, the ones to replace them were Luffy and Buggy. In spite of nearly all the recently abolished Seven Warlords receiving bounties over a billion belly (with Mihawk possessing a bounty trumping either of the new Emperors'), and Law and Kid now holding a bounty equal to Luffy's, none of them were pronounced an Emperor, most likely due to their apparent lack of influence. On the other hand, Luffy's reputation and "fleet" gives him great sway, while Buggy was mistaken as Crocodile and Mihawk's superior, with Crocodile's underworld connections helping fuel the newly established Cross Guild. Thanks to said influence on top of their own personal power (which Buggy truthfully lacks), neither the Marines nor any World Government official can carelessly face an Emperor, at the risk of causing an all-out war that they aren't prepared for.

They can also motivate others to partake in a life of piracy. Shanks personally inspired Luffy, and Whitebeard's last words inspired many pirates to travel to the Grand Line.

Balance of the Three Powers
It is only with the combined efforts of the Marines and the Seven Warlords of the Sea, as well as the distrust amongst themselves, that keeps their power in check. During the Summit War of Marineford, the Marines and Seven Warlords of the Sea needed to fight together just to engage one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard, his crew, and their allies. The arrival of a second Emperor, Shanks, and his crew, immediately brought an end to the hostilities, showing the power and influence they have without even needing to resort to combat.

The Four Emperors themselves are not a coalition like the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and they follow their own discrete agendas. Nevertheless, some of the Emperors still have the intention of locating the One Piece and becoming Pirate King, while former Emperor Whitebeard had no such interest in doing so.

The possibility of two or more of the Four Emperors forming an alliance was enough of a threat to cause the World Government to panic, as seen when it unsuccessfully attempted to prevent a meeting between Shanks and Whitebeard. The World Government feared that the two Emperors would unify, creating a much more imposing threat that would disrupt the balance between the Great Powers. This feared scenario ultimately came to fruition when the Emperors Charlotte Linlin and Kaidou formed an alliance during the Wano Country Arc. A war between two of the Four Emperors is considered a terrifying crisis, as Shanks' interception of Kaidou's advancement on Whitebeard had taken the Marines by shock and awe, putting the World Government in a "cold sweat" as stated by one of the Marines.

Though very powerful, they do have potential threats from even lower ranked fighters and pirates. For example, it is said that once Elizabello II has gathered enough strength, his King Punch can knock down even an Emperor, though this may just be an exaggeration. However, because of their immense power, it is necessary for factions aiming to oppose them to first form an alliance with other factions in order to bring any member of the Four Emperors down. However, even with pirate crews forming multiple alliances, the chances of defeating an Emperor are still very low. When the Straw Hat Pirates and the Heart Pirates formed an alliance to defeat Kaidou, Law informed Luffy that he believed their chance of success was still only 30%. This alliance would eventually grow to the massive Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, consisting of over 5000 men, and yet its numbers still paled in comparison to the combined forces of the Beasts Pirates and their Wano allies, who were 30,000 strong, around six times bigger.

The relationship between the Four Emperors is best described as a four-way standoff. Due to how much power each of them has, they try to avoid warring with one another since it would result in massive casualties for both sides, leaving the victor vulnerable to the Marines or remaining Emperors. An example is when Big Mom and her crew attempt to invade Wano Country, Kaidou furiously ordered his crew to shoot her ship down fearing all-out war with Big Mom.

This also applies to the World Government and Marines, as fighting an Emperor can lead to war between them. Even high-ranking members, such Vice Admirals and CP0, aren't allowed to engage an Emperor without permission from the Fleet Admiral themself. Additionally, even if they get permission, they would require an Admiral to be with them before they engage.

Past
Over 40 years ago, three of future Four Emperor members: Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaidou (as an apprentice) were members of the Rocks Pirates, named as the most dangerous pirate crew in the era. After the Rocks Pirates' defeat against the combined force of Roger and Garp at the God Valley Incident 38 years ago, the crew was disbanded.

At least 33 years ago, Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaidou started recruiting.

During Gol D. Roger's time over 25 years ago, Whitebeard, Shiki, and Big Mom were the most powerful pirates behind the Pirate King. Kaidou was not recognized as one of the top pirates in the world until around the time when Gol D. Roger was executed.

At least 25 years ago, Kaidou allied with the shogun of Wano Country. After the execution of Kozuki Oden 20 years ago, Kaidou attempted to kill the rest of his family, but Toki sent her son and some of his retainers to the future. Kaidou took over Wano Country and transformed most of it into a wasteland.

It was about six years ago when Shanks started being referred to as an Emperor.

About four years ago, Kaidou formed a partnership with Donquixote Doflamingo and Caesar Clown so that the two would give him Artificial Devil Fruits known as SMILEs, which he used to create an army of Devil Fruit users known as Gifters.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc


Shanks initiated a meeting with Whitebeard, and the two Emperors met with each other despite the World Government attempting to form a blockade. Shanks warned Whitebeard about the rise of the latter's former subordinate Blackbeard and told Whitebeard to call off Portgas D. Ace's pursuit. However, Whitebeard refused, and the two briefly fought, with their clash of blades splitting the heavens.

Impel Down Arc
In an attempt to rescue Ace from execution, Whitebeard summoned all of his allies from the New World in preparation for war. Kaidou attempted to attack Whitebeard, but he was intercepted by Shanks.

Marineford Arc


Whitebeard and his crew and allies arrived at Marineford three hours before Ace's scheduled execution and initiated what would be known as the greatest war since the beginning of the Golden Age of Pirates. During this battle against the Marines, Whitebeard revealed how debilitated he had become over the last two decades, and he steadily acquired increasingly critical wounds from his enemies because of his weakened state.

During the battle, he destroyed most of Marine Headquarters, easily defeated two large giants who were at the rank of vice-admirals and withstood the combined efforts of the three admirals. He was able to help free Ace with the aid of Monkey D. Luffy and his own ragtag group of allies, but Admiral Akainu executed Ace afterwards. An enraged Whitebeard dealt a serious blow to the admiral, but it was not enough to completely incapacitate him.



Remaining at Marineford alone to resolve the conflict with the Marines, Whitebeard was attacked and ultimately killed by the Blackbeard Pirates. Shortly afterwards, Shanks arrived at Marineford with his crew. His presence spared the remaining allies of Whitebeard and brought the war to an end. Shanks challenged Blackbeard, which the latter turned down before leaving with his own crew.

During the Timeskip
After the death of Whitebeard, Big Mom took over as the protector of Fish-Man Island in exchange for a large amount of candy every month, forming an alliance with the Sun Pirates. She also formed an alliance with the Fire Tank Pirates.

Blackbeard also usurped Whitebeard's position as the fourth Emperor as the Five Elders predicted, having managed to conquer most of Whitebeard's former territory and becoming stronger by hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users and taking their abilities after killing them. He became recognized as an Emperor after overwhelmingly defeating Marco and the remaining Whitebeard Pirates a year after the Summit War in the "Payback War."

Fish-Man Island Arc


When the candy factory was demolished during the uprising of the New Fish-Man Pirates and Flying Pirates, Fish-Man Island almost provoked Big Mom's wrath, since the island did not have enough candy for the tribute to her. Monkey D. Luffy pledged that he would claim Fish-Man Island as his protectorate by defeating Big Mom, shifting her fury from the island to him.

Dressrosa Arc
Blackbeard sent Jesus Burgess to Dressrosa in order to win the Mera Mera no Mi in the Corrida Colosseum tournament. While talking with Burgess over Den Den Mushi, Blackbeard came into contact with the passing Luffy and the two had a brief clash of words.



That night, Kaidou went up to Ballon Terminal on a sky island and jumped onto an island 10,000 meters below to attempt suicide. He survived the fall with no injuries and confronted the Supernovas Eustass Kid, Scratchmen Apoo, and Basil Hawkins as he shouted a declaration to start the world's biggest war because he felt it had become too mundane. Kaidou then defeated and imprisoned Kid while Apoo and Hawkins became his subordinates.

Zou Arc


Big Mom formed an alliance with Vinsmoke Judge who arranged for his third son, Sanji, to marry her 35th daughter, Charlotte Pudding. Big Mom ordered her crew to retrieve Sanji unharmed, and to escort him to the wedding on Whole Cake Island.

Kaidou found out about the loss of his SMILE supply and entered drunken mood swings in response, but despite his subordinates' concern, he refused to pay any mind to Luffy and Trafalgar Law, who had destroyed the source of his SMILE.

According to a newspaper report, Blackbeard and his crew attacked the Revolutionary Army's base on Baltigo, destroying it by the time the Marines and Cipher Pol arrived. The Blackbeard Pirates fled after briefly clashing with Cipher Pol.

Whole Cake Island Arc
Big Mom discovered that the Straw Hat Pirates had invaded Totto Land to try to rescue Sanji from his wedding, and she lured them into a trap on Whole Cake Island. However, she herself briefly put Whole Cake Island in danger when she went on a mindless rampage for croquembouche. Her subordinates were successfully able to capture Luffy and Nami, and she met with Judge and the Vinsmoke Family. However, she was secretly plotting with Pudding to assassinate all of the Vinsmokes during the upcoming wedding and take their technology for herself. Big Mom went to confront Brook of the Straw Hats after he had broken into her Room of Treasure. She defeated and captured him, but unbeknownst to her, he had copied the text from all of her Poneglyphs.



Luffy, Nami, and Brook managed to escape from Big Mom's clutches with the help of their crew, but she did not notice as the wedding day arrived. However, the Straw Hats crashed the wedding with the help of Big Mom's subordinates the Fire Tank Pirates and Caesar Clown, and as Big Mom tried to deal with them, she was hit with another blow as her subordinate Jinbe also defected to join the Straw Hats, and the Vinsmoke Family was freed after the assassination attempt proved unsuccessful. The enemy alliance destroyed Big Mom's prized portrait of Mother Carmel, putting her in a psychological crisis that rendered her weak to attack. The Fire Tank Pirates were unable to successfully assassinate her though, and Big Mom regained her senses and easily subdued the enemy alliance with the help of her crew. However, Big Mom's prized treasure the Tamatebako was sent falling and created a massive explosion that toppled over the Chateau. The enemy alliance got away, but as Big Mom's crew began to pursue them, she got a craving for wedding cake. Entering a mindless rampage, she pursued the Straw Hats, who she believed had the cake.

Big Mom pursued the Straw Hats off of Whole Cake Island and into the seas of Totto Land for several hours and grew skinnier and weaker as time passed on. She then attacked the Sunny to find the cake, threatening to kill the Straw Hats onboard. Bege's ship later arrived with the cake, diverting her attention away from the Straw Hats. Big Mom then pursued the Fire Tank Pirates and followed them to Funwari Island, where she ate the cake and ceased her rampage, collapsing from the deliciousness of the cake. Later when she woke up, she was briefed on the current situation. Rather than attempting to chase after the Fire Tank Pirates, she headed towards Cacao Island where her crew was battling the Sun Pirates and Germa 66, who stalled the Emperor's crew from pursuing the Thousand Sunny. After the Straw Hats successfully escaped, Big Mom arrived at the island before the Sun Pirates and Germa 66 could retreat.

Levely Arc
News of the events between Luffy and Big Mom were published in the World Economy News Paper, which claimed the incident as Luffy's victory and declared him to be "the Fifth Emperor" among the Four Emperors. All four of the Emperors read the newspaper and commented on Luffy's new status.

Big Mom later contacted Kaidou and they argued over who had the right to kill Luffy. Shanks went to Mary Geoise to speak with the Five Elders about a certain pirate.

Wano Country Arc
At Wano Country, a drunk Kaidou transformed into his Beast Form and flew to Kuri, where he ordered Jack to bring his enemies to him. When Hawkins told him that Luffy and Law were hiding in Oden Castle, Kaidou proceeded to destroy the castle ruins. Afterwards, Luffy attempted to defeat Kaidou only to be overpowered by a single blow. Kaidou then decided to take Luffy prisoner and turn him into a subordinate.



Meanwhile, Gecko Moria attacked Blackbeard's territory on Hachinosu to find his missing subordinate Absalom, whom the Blackbeard Pirates had killed. Blackbeard offered for Moria to sail under his flag after the latter found out what had happened.

Big Mom and her crew reached Wano Country and attempted to scale the waterfall around it as Kaidou tried to have his men stop her. King of the Beasts Pirates flew in and attacked the Big Mom Pirates' ship, causing them to fall back down. Big Mom fell into the ocean and washed up on Kuri Beach but ended up losing her memories.

Later, she arrived at the Prisoner Mine, where she got into a confrontation with Queen, one of Kaidou's crew members, and recovered her memories in the process. However, Queen captured her when she fell unconscious. Immediately, Linlin was taken to Onigashima, where she was held in handcuffs as a prisoner, until Kaidou ordered her released. At that moment, both began to fight, with their clash of weapons splitting the sky.



After a few days, Kaidou and Big Mom eventually stopped their clash and came to an agreement. The two then announced that the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates were officially forming a pirate alliance to take over the world.

However, news of their alliance also lead to Marco and Izou of the Whitebeard Pirates to accompany Nekomamushi to Wano Country to assist the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, with Marco stopping the Big Mom Pirates from entering Wano Country by knocking them down the waterfall again during their second attempt to enter the country, preventing them from joining Big Mom in Onigashima.

During the Fire Festival, the joint celebration held by the Beasts Pirates and Orochi's forces held at Onigashima, Kaidou announced the New Onigashima Project, an operation to enslave the remaining populace of Wano and turn the island into a pirate paradise to combat the Marines and their new forces, the SSG. After being joined by Linlin, they declared their intention of seizing the Ancient Weapons and the One Piece, in order to trigger the "final war." Kaidou then beheaded Orochi just as he raised opposition, before giving the samurai who served the shogun an ultimatum, join them or die. The samurai ultimately chose to join the Beasts Pirates.

Just as Kaidou was about to execute Kozuki Momonosuke, who was captured earlier by the treacherous Kurozumi Kanjuro, the Nine Red Scabbards and Izou appeared, ambushing Kaidou. At this point, the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, who infiltrated in disguise, revealed themselves, with Luffy declaring all-out war on the Beasts and Big Mom Pirate Alliance. Kaidou then dragged the Nine Red Scabbards and Izou to the roof of the Skull Dome, where they engaged in battle. Jack and some of the Beast Pirates also arrived to support Kaidou, while the Inuarashi Musketeer Squad and the Guardians faced them.

Meanwhile, Big Mom attempted to take on the Straw Hats herself but was skillfully driven away by Jinbe and Robin. She ended up meeting her eldest son, Charlotte Perospero, who brought Marco along with him in hopes of taking out Kaidou with his cooperation, but she shot down Perospero's misgivings about her alliance with Kaidou. She then used her Homies to fly to Kaidou.



In the meantime, Kaidou fought the Red Scabbard and Izou atop the Skull Dome in his Beast Form, with the Samurai putting up a fierce fight and even inflicting wounds on him. However, after transforming back into his Human Form, Kaidou soon defeated them, before using his Flame Clouds to levitate the entire island of Onigashima, with the intent of dropping it atop the castle in the Flower Capital. Big Mom soon joined him afterwards, allowing Prometheus and Zeus to feed on the clouds and the flames from the battle. They are soon confronted by Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid and Killer of the Worst Generation, with Luffy starting the fight with an attack that actually caused Kaidou some damage.

As the fight continued, the Worst Generation came to the conclusion that as long as the two Emperor's fought together, the outcome would be their own defeat. As such, they successfully pulled off a strategy to separate the two, with Kid and Killer volunteering to face Big Mom inside Onigashima, while Law and Zoro retreated downstairs to recover from their wounds, leaving Luffy alone to face Kaidou.

However, Luffy soon lost to Kaidou, and was thrown off the island, leaving Kaidou free to pursue Momonosuke. Though he managed to corner the Kozuki heir and Shinobu on the edge of the island, thanks to the kunoichi rotting of the edge of the island, allowing them to escape to Wano mainland. He was then challenged by his own child Yamato, atop the Skull Dome, which he accepted. In the meantime, Big Mom had replaced Zeus with a new special Homie, Hera and soon found herself confronted by Kid, and later Law. Big Mom proved strong enough to force the two Supernovas to use their respective awakened devil fruit abilities, and though it injured her she soon got up. She then consumed a year of her own lifespan in order to empower herself, before continuing the fight.

Kaidou started to overpower Yamato, but he soon received support from Luffy and a giant pink dragon, who turned out to be Momonosuke. Luffy had Yamato leave with Momonosuke, and though Kaidou tried to attack the two, he ended up getting restrained by Luffy, allowing them to flee safely. Luffy and Kaidou then resumed their third round, trading blows and attacks with each other, being on-par with each other. Meanwhile, within the Skull Dome, Law and Kid, after using their awakened abilities a second time, managed to defeat Big Mom, blasting her straight through Onigashima and deep under Wano, into a magma chamber under the island.

Atop the Skull Dome, just as both Luffy and Kaidou charged at each other, intent on unleashing their final blow to end the duel, their fight was interrupted by a CP0 agent who restrained Luffy, thus aiding Kaidou in becoming victorious. Kaidou, furious about the interruption, presumably killed the agent before heading into the Skull Dome to assist his crew. However, though Luffy was thought dead by Kaidou and everyone else, his Devil Fruit then awakened, revealing that the Gomu Gomu no Mi was actually a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, which grants him the power of the “Sun God Nika.” Dubbing his new form "Gear 5," Luffy used his newfound abilities to drag Kaidou back outside and engage him in a fourth and final battle. Eventually, Luffy managed to defeat Kaidou with his Gomu Gomu no Bajrang Gun, punching Kaidou deep under Wano into the same magma chamber Big Mom fell into, leading to the victory of the Ninja-Pirate-Samurai-Mink Alliance over the Beast Pirates.



With Kaidou defeated and Orochi removed as Shogun, Kozuki Momonosuke introduced himself to the people of Wano as their new leader, ending the tyrannical reign of Kaidou over the country. After this event was revealed to the world, Luffy, Kid, and Law all had their bounties raised to 3,000,000,000 and Luffy was declared as one of the new Emperors of the Sea, along with Buggy.

One week after the raid, Shanks and his crew arrived near the shores of Wano, while Luffy was still partying with others to celebrate their victory. When Admiral Ryokugyu arrived at Wano with the intention to take Luffy's head to impress his senior Sakazuki, he was interrupted with the Scabbards, before witnessing Shanks' Haoshoku Haki from the outskirts of Wano. The Emperor angrily asked if the New Age frightens Ryokugyu that much, with the admiral decided to disengage the fight and leaving the country, not wanting to confront Shanks. Shanks would then pick up Marco from Wano and bring him back to Sphinx before he attended to Beckman and asked him if it was finally time for them to claim the One Piece.

Egghead Arc
Following his declaration of claiming the One Piece, Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates, as well as dozens of their fleet's underlings, were partying at Elbaf with the Giants when the Kid Pirates, who were approaching Elbaf earlier, were closing in on the island. Surprised by their arrival, Shanks ordered his crew to prepare to fight the Kid Pirates instead of setting sail as they initially planned. In addition, Shanks asked for support in their fight from the Giant Warrior Pirates and made his way towards the coast alongside his crew. Before they arrived there, he had Rockstar deliver a message to Kid to either leave their Road Poneglyph copies with him and leave or fight for them in a winner-takes-all battle directly against him and his crew.



Shanks though did not underestimate Kid and his crew since he was aware of their accomplishments in Wano and Kid's high bounty and even advised his crew to be careful of their strength. However, as he sensed Kid senselessly and recklessly preparing a lethal and devastating attack on his crew and underlings, he did not hesitate to step in to stop Kid, slashing him with Kamusari, ending his attack before it launched and simultaneously defeating Kid and Killer, who attempted to shield his captain. He then took the Kid Pirates' Road Poneglyph's copies before leaving their ship just before it was destroyed by Dorry and Brogy.



Buggy is revealed to have become an Emperor when he offered to help Crocodile advertise the new company, Cross Guild, which specialized in hunting down Marines for bounties. However, Buggy's overzealous subordinates, unaware of the new hierarchy, placed him as the leader of this new group over Crocodile and Dracule Mihawk on a flyer, leading the World Government to mistake him as an extremely dangerous individual with tremendous charisma. They imposed on him a bounty of 3,189,000,000 and the title of Emperor. Although Crocodile and Mihawk were very displeased with this mishap, they ultimately yielded to the results, placing Buggy as a figurehead leader of Cross Guild. Mihawk expressed his lack of interest of being an Emperor himself, and was content with using Buggy as a figurehead. Luffy was among the few who doubted Buggy earned his title of Emperor legitimately.

The success of the Cross Guild was not unnoticed by the Marines, especially after the news of T Bone's death at the hands of a citizen who was motivated by their bounty system and decided to take action against the Marine. Buggy, unaware of the impeding threat, sent the promised money to the assassin's family and invited him into his organization, offering him protection under his title as one of the Four Emperors. Buggy was then shown the newly built flagship for the Cross Guild but much to his horror it exclusively featured Buggy as the figurehead, which did not go unnoticed to Mihawk and Crocodile, who decided to punish Buggy for the ship as he had promised them to take care of having a ship built for the Cross Guild. Taking him to an unknown room inside Kara Barai Island, Mihawk and Crocodile heavily beat him up and had his head dangle upon a hook while discussing the Cross Guild's success and Crocodile still ongoing Operation Utopia. Buggy, hearing the conversation, questioned the Operation's existence and rather suggested they should all look for the bigger picture, something everybody was looking for, which offered wealth and power. Before they tried to silence him, Buggy remembered a past conversation he had with Shanks the day Roger was executed where they were talking about Shanks's ambitions and qualities to step into Roger's legacy and go for the One Piece. But Shanks replied he did not have any plans to take it yet, which led to Buggy being left betrayed and disappointed in Shanks and declare their friendship ended and becoming enemies until they would meet again. Buggy then brought up Shanks's sudden interest in claiming the One Piece and, feeling both motivated and provocated by Shanks's move, shared to Crocodile and Mihawk his ambition to become Pirate King himself and claim the One Piece, earning only their distrust in his plan and rejection, denying him any support. They could, however, not stop Buggy from announcing said ambition to his followers on the island over an open broadcast, leaving them in awe of his ambition and Mihawk and Crocodile furious.

After the Levely, with the release of the news that the World Government was abolishing the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Teach ordered his crew to set sail with plans to acquire Boa Hancock's Mero Mero no Mi before the Marines could take it. Upon reaching Amazon Lily, Teach knocked aside the Marine ships and invaded the island with some of his subordinates. They briefly clashed with the Marine's new human weapon, the Seraphim, before the cyborgs were ordered to retreat. Teach managed to capture Hancock after she had petrified most of the Marines and pirates, including Devon and Shot. Koby tried to negotiate Hancock's release so she could restore those who had been petrified but Teach refused to trust Hancock. Before Teach could kill her though, Silvers Rayleigh arrived and intimidated Teach into sparing Hancock and leaving Amazon Lily and everyone was unpetrified. However, Teach captured Koby instead. He then took Koby to Hachinosu, intending on using Koby as a bargaining tool to negotiate with the World Government about turning Hachinosu into a kingdom with him as the ruling king and turning it into "Blackbeard Kingdom". However, his efforts were seemingly in vain when Koby told him that, due to his position as a SWORD member, the World Government would not negotiate with Blackbeard. Kuzan then explained to Blackbeard the nature of SWORD and the members' unique position inside the Marines, but decided to still keep Koby prisoner due to his status as a hero of the public, knowing the value Koby had to the public, and had him imprisoned on the island.



Blackbeard later sent his crew to capture Charlotte Pudding, which they succeeded in doing. Now that both Kaidou and Big Mom were gone, Teach then laid an ambush on Winner Island for any of the three pirate crews that defeated the Beasts Pirates, which resulted with his crew clashing with the Heart Pirates. Blackbeard himself fought Trafalgar D. Water Law in attempt to steal the Road Poneglyphs in his possession. In the end however, the Blackbeard Pirates defeated the Heart Pirates and destroyed their submarine. While Blackbeard was wondering of what he would do with Law and his Ope Ope no Mi, Bepo used a drug (crafted by Chopper) to enter Sulong form to repel the Blackbeard Pirates while also grabbing Law, before making their escape by swimming away into the ocean.

Meanwhile, on Teach's base, Hachinosu, the Blackbeard Pirates were searching for Koby, who had staged a mass escape, with the assistance of Perona, who wanted him to free Moria who was also imprisoned. He was soon cornered, but thanks to friends from SWORD who had invaded to rescue him, he managed to escape the pirate's encirclement, with Garp making a grand appearance and defeating a large number of pirates. However, as the Marines attempted to escape, Kuzan soon appeared and got in their way, freezing Hibari in the process. Aokiji then faced Garp, who punched him into the ground with Blue Hole.

On Egghead, Luffy meets Dr. Vegapunk, who asks to leave with him and his crew to avoid being assassinated by the World Government. While on the island, Luffy reunited with his longtime enemy, Rob Lucci. Even though Luffy's status as an Emperor means that he cannot be engaged without permission due to the possibility of war, the two fought when Rob Lucci has disobeyed the Government's direct order just to have his revenge on Luffy for defeating him 2 years ago during the Enies Lobby incident. Luffy would go out victorious from this fight and later reunited with his crew in the upper phase of the island to plan their escape from Egghead while taking Vegapunk with them. Mysteriously though, the main Vegapunk Stella went missing and everyone inside the Labophase split into different groups to search for him. Later on, Luffy and everyone on the Labophase were trapped as the defensive mechanisms of the Dome were activated and the Seraphim were mysteriously attacking everyone inside the building, including the Vegapunk satellites. Due to these events, Luffy was forced to enter into an alliance with Rob Lucci to fight back against the Seraphim and protect the Vegapunk satellites.

A day later, the Straw Hat Pirates, Bonney, Vegapunk, and Lucci reunited, where York was subdued and contacted the Five Elders against her will, leading to the elders conversation and deal with York being listened in on by everyone. As York solidified the deal, she eventually begs them to save her from the Straw Hats, with the elders shocked to learn of her capture, their survival, as well as the information that was just leaked.

Translation and Dub Issues
The term "Four Emperors" is used by all official One Piece translations and is also displayed in Episode 957 of the anime, as well as the Chapter 1054 color spread of the manga. However, the untranslated "Yonkō" has been common in fan translations, and is frequently used among the fandom. Although "Yonkō" directly translates to "Four Emperors," the term is also used in the original Japanese to refer to a single member of the Four Emperors, which does not grammatically work when translated.

Trivia

 * The cover of Volume 25, which came out in 2002, features the current Emperors, which was revealed in 2022, in the exact same order as the newspaper article announcing them. The cover to Volume 105 recreates the cover in their timeskip appearances.


 * According to Skull in One Piece novel A, the original Four Emperors are stated to each have their own point when they are most fearsome: Shanks when he is enraged, Whitebeard when someone does dishonorable or inhumane things, Big Mom when she is in a bad mood, and Kaidou has always been terrifying.
 * In the first Romance Dawn story, the main antagonist, Crescent-Moon Gally was aiming to become one of the "Best 3" (ベスト), which could be considered the prototype of the Four Emperors.
 * Linlin claimed that had she managed to marry off her daughter Charlotte Lola to Elbaf prince Loki to secure a political alliance, she would have gained the strongest army of giants that would have allowed her to defeat the other three Emperors and become the next Pirate King.
 * Shanks was stated to have earned his title of Emperor six years before the present time. It is unknown, however, if the title of "Four Emperors" already existed before that point and if Shanks had a predecessor in the group.
 * Shanks is so far the only Emperor to not have not eaten any Devil Fruit, both in the current and original lineups.
 * Of the current and former emperors, Buggy is the only one who doesn't possess any kind of Haki.
 * Teach is the only Emperor of the current lineup to have never been active in the East Blue.
 * Due to his age, Luffy is the youngest of all past and current Emperors, as well as the only member so far to have never served under another captain before forming his own crew.
 * In addition, Luffy is also the only member of the current lineup to have never been a pirate apprentice.
 * The current Four Emperors have hair colors that match with the colors of the Chinese constellations.
 * Shanks has his famous red hair, matching with the Vermilion Bird of the South.
 * Blackbeard has black hair, matching with the Black Tortoise of the North.
 * Luffy, in his Gear 5 form, has white hair, matching with the White Tiger of the West.
 * Buggy has blue hair, matching with the Azure Dragon of the East.
 * The original Four Emperor lineup, except for Shanks, were all former members of the now defunct Rocks Pirates. Due to this, the quartet were all involved in the God Valley Incident, with then 1-year old Shanks being found inside a treasure chest by the Roger Pirates at the site.
 * With Big Mom no longer being an Emperor, the list of the Four Emperors are now all males.
 * Each of the current Four Emperors played a significant role in the Summit War of Marineford. Blackbeard was the chief instigator of the conflict through his capture of Ace, Luffy and Buggy took part in the war itself, and Shanks was the one who ended the war through forceful mediation.

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