I knew the One Piece community could argue for days about power scaling, but I did not expect the World Government to completely fracture our latest rankings. Based on 6 rankers who dared to tackle the [Strongest One Piece Characters](https://ranklist.io/list/strongest-one-piece-characters) list this week, the battle lines are drawn right at the top of the food chain.
It looks like we are struggling to agree on where the Five Elders and their holy knight counterpart actually land. St. Figarland Garling is causing the absolute biggest headache for voters. He is practically breaking the scale, with rankers placing him all over the map. I get the confusion. Garling has the ultimate hype pedigree as the former champion of God Valley, but we still have not seen him go all-out in a proper fight. Some fans are ready to crown him as an absolute god-tier fighter, while others are understandably waiting for more proof before they put him comfortably ahead of established pirates.
Then we have the rest of the Five Elders. St. Shepherd Ju Peter, St. Topman Warcury, St. Marcus Mars, and St. Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro are all closely bunched together in terms of how much they are dividing the community.
I think the split comes down to how we define strength in the current arc. We are trying to balance their terrifying, seemingly immortal regeneration abilities against their actual offensive output. St. Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro showed off some incredible speed and swordplay on Egghead, which probably explains why some rankers want to push him ahead of his peers. Meanwhile, St. Topman Warcury has shown some of the most ridiculous durability in the entire series, easily shrugging off attacks that would have flattened other top-tier characters.
Yet, despite their monstrous forms, some rankers seem hesitant to rank them above the likes of Luffy or Shanks. It is the classic debate of raw power versus defensive tricks. If you think their immortality makes them unbeatable, they belong at the very top. If you think they are just carried by a gimmick that will eventually be figured out, they settle much lower down.
Personally, I think some of us are sleeping on St. Figarland Garling. The narrative momentum is heavily on his side, and he is likely to edge out several of the Elders once we see him do more than execute people. But right now, the community is in total chaos over these placements.
Check out the current standings on the [Strongest One Piece Characters](https://ranklist.io/list/strongest-one-piece-characters) list. Do you think the Elders are being overrated, or are we disrespecting the true power of the Gorosei? Disagree? Rank it yourself.