@The:
Even if they were the eternal leaders of the WG(i doubt it), i still think they're just going to get kicked out the door by Akainu. And either way i don't want these guys to be in any way strong.
The same five guys, depicted exactly the same, regardless of how far back they've been shown, going unmentioned ever by the old guys of that past period (Whitebeard, Garp, Sengoku etc) when talk is made of their generation, yet clearly combat experienced in both scars and at least one weapon.
This theory is really only outlandish if you haven't sat down and really thought over the Gorosei and what exactly has been depicted.
If you do at the very least the idea of them being disposable stuffy bureaucrats should be cleared from your head.
These aren't crusted over random old guys, these are very likely five guys (maybe even five of the founding kings) who made some sort of crazy Knight from Indiana Jones pact to sit atop the WG and make sure no one ever open's pandora's Raftel. From way back during the Void Century.
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More to the point of the "exactly the same". This is Oda. Who among his many passions, absolutely LOVES depicting how current characters looked in the past, or even just over a couple years.
And I do mean absolutely loves. And yet there is no change to them whatsoever in Franky's flashback. Even down to their clothing. Not the slightest change.
Even the shadowed outlines of them in Robin's (22 years ago!) flashback suggest identical appearance and clothing. Which in of itself makes it suspicious why Oda chose to shadow them as such.
And not even the slight chance to alter regular character appearance a bit, something done with every single other character, has happened over the timeskip. They're exactly, literally exactly, the same looking.
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@Shobu:
Come back when you know their names, please.
So do you decide to completely ignore reading other people's stuff in threads unless they respond to you? Because boy it sure sounds like you think I'm a supporter of the Gorosei as final villain(s).
Why no guy, I'm not. I support the character who had a name before we even saw him, who showed up in volume 24 in clear plain light and has existed as a looming horizon like growing threat ever since. That's the one I'm into.
So lemme flip that on you. Come back in this thread when and only when you have an actual name or even face of the final villain to suggest.