World Nobles (One Piece)

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 established what is now known as the World Government. In the Viz Manga and FUNimation subs, "Tenryubito" was accurately translated as Celestial Dragons.

Tenryuubito

Appearance

All World Nobles seem to have the same hairstyle and wear a 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.

About

“

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.

”

— Eustass Kid, commenting on the World Nobles.

These are the people who are allowed to live in the Holy Land of Mariejois. 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 from even 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.

Abilities and Powers

So far they have shown absolutely no physical combat abilities whatsoever, and appear to merely be simply human. It could even be assumed that they are weaker than an average human as they hardly do any physical activity. However, aside from that they have great pull in the government as well as a vast amount of wealth to do so whatever they please with. Through the political power they have with the government, they can order 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 to see into a slave of theirs right off the street. They are also completely immune to any form of Justice, as seen where they are allowed to kill anyone that simply crosses their path.
They each also 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. 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.
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 Fishman Island for a petition promoting the relationship between humans and fish folks.

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 Hoof of the Flying Dragon (天駆ける竜の蹄, Ama Kakeru Ryū no Hizume, FUNimation subs translate this as "The Claw of the Celestial Dragons") on their backs. According to Boa Hancock, anyone who bears this mark is not seen as a human being but as an item or a possession. At some point, fifteen years prior the current storyline, fishman Fisher Tiger the Adventurer climbed the Red Line with his bare hands and caused havoc in Mariejois, the home of the World Nobles, in the name of all fishmen and despite his dislike for humans, Fisher Tiger freed slaves of all races as he destroyed the city and told them to "run and never get captured again". It is later revealed that Fisher Tiger was in fact, a slave himself and but chose not to reveal his past until he lay upon his deathbed. Boa Hancock, Boa Marigold and Boa Sandersonia were some of the slaves freed by Tiger's rampage. The former fishmen slaves were taken in by Tiger and formed the Sun Pirates.

The mark of the World Nobles, "The Hoof of the Flying Dragon",
as seen on Boa Hancock's back.

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.
They also seem to be immensely wealthy; Charloss casually spends