四皇

INTRODUCTION

The Four Emperors, which constitute 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 from the previous generation prior to their succession.

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 the antagonistic individuals and groups the Straw Hat Pirates faced 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.

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".

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 D. Water 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 bounty as him; "Hawk Eyes" Dracule Mihawk was Red-Haired 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 is so powerful that a small conflict involving an Emperor can result in war. As such, a Vice Admiral's or higher's approval is needed to engage in combat, and even CP0 are not allowed to engage them without prior clearance.