World Nobles

The World Nobles (世界貴族, Sekai Kizoku), also known as the Celestial Dragons (天竜人, Tenryūbito, literally meaning "Heavenly Dragon Folks"), are the descendants of the Twenty Kings who had established of what is now known as the World Government. The World Nobles can be considered as the main antagonists of the Sabaody Archipelago Arc.

"World Nobles... Slaves... Human shops... Against the "purity" of these "upper classes", the villains of the world look positively humane in comparison. It's because the world's in the hands of scum like them that it's all screwed to hell... I mean, we're not the nicest of guys, but at least we're honest about it."
 * —Kid Eustass, commenting on the World Nobles.

Appearance
World Nobles wear their hair, or a part of it, combed upward with a distinct curl on top, unless they do not have enough hair to do so, as Mjosgard's father is partially bald. They all wear the same kind of white robe that resembles a spacesuit (sometimes accompanied by a cape) with a skirt, although the border designs of each Noble's clothing appears somewhat different and original and there are variations in the skirt's length. Male World Nobles seem to have a different style of collar than female World Nobles. While outside Marie Jois, World Nobles wear an oxygen tank attached to a bubble or glass case around their head in order to not breathe the same air as the "lowly commoners". However some are less likely to do so while in Marie Jois, though others still feel the need to. A majority of World Nobles, such as Jalmack, Charloss, Mjosgard and his father, are notably overweight, if not outright obese. A typical Celestial Dragon also has a rather haughty, if not arrogant, look on their face, showing neither pity nor sympathy for those of lesser statuses.

When the Don Quixote Family abandoned their statuses, they ceased wearing their World Noble attire, and changed their hairstyles as well. Notably, even before their departure, this family alone seemed to have no members who are overweight, and had rather remarkably kind facial features (except Doflamingo, who possesses the same, nigh-perpetual arrogant look as his amoral former brethren). The male members all grew up to be rather tall.

Background
Most World Nobles seem to have the same hairstyle (Mjosgard's father is an exception, as he is partially bald) and wear an oxygen tank attached to a bubble or glass case around their head in order to not breathe the same air as the "lowly commoners". All World Nobles also seem to wear the same kind of white robe that resembles a spacesuit (sometimes accompanied by a cape), although the border designs of each noble's clothing appear somewhat different and original. Male World Nobles seem to have a different style of collar than female World Nobles.

Doflamingo Don Quixote is one known World Noble who did not share such a dress-style.

About
These are the people who are allowed to live in the Holy Land of Marie Jois. However, due to their connection to the World Government, they constantly abuse their power and look down on the people below them, referring to them as commoners. They can be sometimes seen walking around Sabaody Archipelago, but are disconnected to the point that they wear resin bubbles over their heads to prevent them from breathing the air of the common people. In the case of visiting places out of the Archipelago, they wear other types of helmets, as the bubbles will pop out of the area. Whenever one appears people instantly bow as not to upset them, with the exception of the guards, servants, and slaves that are alongside them.

The Celestial Dragons each possesses a government-issued identification chip to identify their statuses; Homing handed his family's over to the government official escort when he had their statuses rescinded.

Abilities and Powers
So far, except for Doflamingo Don Quixote, the typical Celestial Dragons have shown absolutely no physical combat abilities whatsoever, and appear to merely be simple humans. They have great pull in the government as well as a vast amount of wealth to do whatever they please with. Through the political power they have with the government, they can order things of such magnitude and triviality like the creation of a bridge to connect to every island for no other reason than simply they wanted to, as well as make any commoner they want into a slave of theirs right off the street. They are also completely immune to the entire legal system and justice set by the World Government, as seen where they are allowed to kill anyone that simply crosses their path. Their political authority is above even that of the Five Elder Stars, as they can distribute news of a Warlord's resignation — something that can shake the Three Great Powers' balance — and then easily tell the world it was fake, all of which even the Gorosei could not disobey.

They each seem to possess a firearm of some kind, but more often than not are quite inefficient using it, only to injure and murder people they dislike at pointblank range. Usually, they simply rely on people's fear of them, but their greatest weapon is that when they get attacked in any way they can summon an admiral to obliterate their attackers. CP-0 is said to be the strongest of all Cipher Pol units, including the assassination specialists, CP9. It is said that nothing good can come from this group's presence. They work directly under the command of the World Nobles. However, if there are no witnesses to report an attack against a World Noble, then the threat of an admiral is nullified, which would leave said noble weak and vulnerable. Indeed, when the Don Quixote Family abandoned their statuses, they found themselves struggling for survival due to their pampered past, and helplessly facing the wrath of angry civilians who took full advantage of the family's lost protection. Although Homing Don Quixote and his wife died shortly after leaving the holy land due to their lack of experience with the outside world, their sons Doflamingo and Rosinante managed to survive due to being rescued by their respective circumstances: Doflamingo awoke the rare Conqueror's Haki that saved him from being tortured any further and impressed his four friends — Vergo, Trebol, Diamante and Pica — who protected him and raised him to become their king; Rosinante was saved by Sengoku and recruited into the Navy, training him in survival.

A World Noble has tremendous amounts of influence, even more so than any kings and queens of the Reverie. As such, they are able to affect the decisions of the meetings with their words alone. With the support of one, Otohime was able to get many signatures from Merman Island for a petition promoting the relationship between humans, mermens, mermaids and fishfolks.

The Celestial Dragons possesses a national treasure that, if exposed to the world, could shake its foundations, and is of such importance that they were forced to comply with Doflamingo Don Quixote's blackmail. If this treasure is used in combination with the Op-Op Fruit, it would allow the person to effectively conquer the entire world.

Culture of the Higher Classes
The Celestial Dragons have various rights and privileges not held by many other people in the world. In particular, they are able to buy people, including pirates, who have been captured and put into slavery and their actions are overlooked by the World Government. They use a branding iron to mark their slaves with the The Claw of the Celestial Dragons (天駆ける竜の蹄, Ama Kakeru Ryū no Hizume) on their backs. According to Hancock Boa, anyone who bears this mark is not seen as a human being but as an item or a possession.

Their method of discipline is to inject tranquilizers into the slave to stop them from escaping, in addition to the use of explosive collars. They tend to treat their slaves poorly, working them to exhaustion then punishing them for their weakness. Each Celestial Dragon shown so far has been seen wielding a firearm, mostly for shooting people they dislike. When faced with defiance from commoners that they cannot immediately rectify through the use of their pistols, they have the power to summon an admiral to deal with the offender. Failure in dealing with the offender is considered unacceptable.

Although they often buy people from auction houses, they can make anyone a slave that they choose to. They may also have as many spouses as they wish, can take anyone they wish as their spouse off the street, and can dismiss them in an instant, as demonstrated by Saint Charloss.

They also seem to be immensely wealthy; Saint Charloss casually spends 500,000,000 berries to buy Camie, a price that even the royalty present could not afford, just to see her try to outrun a pack of piranhas in his fish tank. They can also easily afford the rare and highly expensive Cursed Fruits to feed to their slaves simply for sick entertainment, as the Gorgon Sisters suffered.

The World Nobles claim to possess "the blood of this world's creators", which is their sole justification for their actions. This single fact allows them to utterly disregard any facet of law or society that does not serve their own interests. They have no regard for Justice, at best paying it lip service if at all, and are above any retribution for their actions (to the extent that they cannot be punished by the law, anyway). Kid Eustass regards them as a prime example of how corrupt and absurd the world is.

Although commoners bow down at the presence of an approaching World Noble, they fear and despise such people due to their arrogance and cruelty, yet do not dare attack due to the fear of an admiral's wrath. Certain people, however, are willing to look past the admirals and attack anyways, such as Tiger Fisher and Luffy D. Monkey. In fact, the Celestial Dragons are so unpopular amongst citizens, especially slaves who escaped, that if given the chance, people would eagerly try to kill them. A prime example is Mjosgard became a prime target when nobody would report his murder to an admiral, and instead could be written off as another "shipwreck incident". Even the normally good-natured mermaids appear to support Mjosgard's attack, so long as there is no backlash.

Despite their arrogance, the World Nobles can have a sense of appreciation for people with lesser status when they leave a good enough impression, as Otohime managed to retrieve a support from one World Noble for Merman Island's migration, and Wapol's company earned so much renown the Celestial Dragons granted him an entire kingdom. Indeed, Goa Kingdom went to great lengths (bribery, arson, murder and betrayal) to obtain a visiting World Noble's gratitude in the prospect of elevating their own noble status.

Current

 * Roswald
 * Shalulia
 * Charloss
 * Jalmack
 * Saruu (the dog owned by Roswald's family)
 * Mjosgard
 * Mjosgard's Father
 * Camael

Former

 * Homing Don Quixote (Deceased)
 * Homing's Wife (Deceased)
 * Doflamingo Don Quixote
 * Rocinante Don Quixote (Deceased)

Translation and Dub Issues
All the World Nobles are referred by "Saint" as a prefix-honorific. In Japanese, it becomes a suffix, with the males being "-sei" (聖, sei) and females "-gu" (宮, gū).

Trivia

 * Though they are said to have a great power over the world, it has not been stated if they have any restrictions under the Five Elder Stars, as all they do is use their power and wealth for their own selfish reasons. However, the Marines themselves appear to be used to do their bidding, such as using them to bring back slaves who had escaped, despite slavery itself being illegal.
 * They seem to be based off of the stereotype of Old Money, people who believed they were superior to those they saw as lower class, and see themselves as better because of what their ancestors accomplished. This, mixed with a belief that they are somehow godlike, is reflected in how they are referred to as "Saints" (ironic, as they have shown themselves to be extremely cruel; caring little for human life) and live in the "Holy Land".
 * Among other acts of cruelty, real-life tyrant and oppressor Jie of Xia rode on people's backs like a horse while drinking wine, just as Charloss and Jalmack did. In one incident, Jie was riding on the back of a top chancellor, and after a while the chancellor was exhausted to the point that he could no longer crawl or move. He asked King Jie to spare him, and Jie immediately dragged him out to be executed. Similarly, Charloss sold off his slave who was too exhausted to carry him any further.
 * The World Nobles are also like Marquis de Sade, a 18th-century French libertine nobleman who was resistant to authority and committed acts that disregards religion, morality, and law.
 * The World Nobles are also somewhat similar to the four debauched and corrupted libertines from Sade's infamous novel "The 120 Days of Sodom".
 * They are able to obtain Cursed Fruits and feed them to their slaves for sick entertainment, although none of the World Nobles shown have been seen using Cursed Fruit powers, suggesting they do not eat them themselves.
 * Doflamingo Don Quixote managed to deceive the entire world that he resigned from the Seven Warlords of the Sea, which is considered to be an impossible feat by anyone less than a World Noble. Doflamingo later revealed that the Don Quixote Family was one of the 20 royal families that created the World Government, but when asked if he was a Celestial Dragon his response was that although he used to be one, this was no longer the case.