Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro

Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro is one of the Five Elders who publicly head the World Government, holding the title Warrior God of Finance.

Along with the other Elders, he is one of the overarching antagonists of the entire One Piece series, especially in its Final Saga.

Appearance

Like his fellow Elders, Nusjuro is an extremely tall man of advanced age, with a pale-grayish complexion and neither head nor facial hair, compared to the other Elders who have beards and/or mustaches. He has a wrinkled face, a hook nose, thin eyebrows, and wears round, metal-frame glasses resembling the Windsor style. Clothing-wise, being the only Elder not to wear a suit, Nusjuro instead dons a white, loose-fitting keikogi held closed by a golden obi, but open enough to expose his chest and abdominals, and for footwear has beige geta sandals. Nusjuro’s personal katana is always held in his hand instead of fastened to his obi.

Personality

Like the other Elders, Nusjuro cares about the balance in the world as orchestrated by the Three Great Powers and wishes to maintain it. He exercises meticulousness in perpetuating this balance, as he viewed the loss of even a single Warlord as important, and grew extremely concerned at the loss of three Warlords during the Summit War of Marineford. This also includes preserving the image of the World Government by keeping the events of the Void Century a secret; the other Elders and himself will immediately have anyone destroyed who is found to be studying it. However, he was the first person to recognize that the current balance may not be sustainable after everything that has transpired since the Summit War of Marineford, suggesting a “cleansing” was in order. Nusjuro attributes the Will of D. to danger, and expressed discomfort that said name came to the knowledge of many.

Nusjuro seems to have some familiarity with Zunesha, Zou, and Wano Country; he knew that the elephant’s departure from the latter was a confirmation that Wano’s borders had not been opened.

Nusjuro also seems to be quite callous, showing no regard for the casualties caused by Imu’s order to test the Mother Flame on Lulusia Kingdom. He instead showed more interest in them being able to use the Mother Flame’s power freely.

Like the other Elders, he has little tolerance for people of lower rank challenging their authority, as shown during the Elders’ meeting with Marine Fleet Admiral Sakazuki.

Abilities and Powers

As a member of the Five Elders, Nusjuro is one of the few to have the “highest authority of the World Government”, being above even the World Nobles. He has control over every facet of the World Government, including the police, the Marines, and Cipher Pol, and even the Fleet Admiral of the Marines is incapable of challenging his power. As a result, he has authority to declare a Buster Call, and he and the other Elders can use their great influence and power to manipulate the media and withhold facts from the general public, including erasing entire segments of history, most notably the Void Century. The only known person who seems to outrank the World Nobles is Imu.

Transformation

Nusjuro has an ability that allows him to transform into a tall, lanky bipedal creature with a pronounced humanoid head and a large ring-like appendage on his back. In this form, he could withstand a point-blank blast of fire from Sabo without difficulty. It is unknown if this power is related to a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.

Weapons

Nusjuro carries a long katana with him, bearing a saya with a distinctly wooden appearance as well as a tsuba shaped like a rounded-out cross pattée, thus reminiscent of the Kitetsu line of swords originating in Wano. Nusjuro has been seen personally polishing his sword’s blade with an uchiko silk ball, and while his actual skill in wielding the weapon remains unknown, Nusjuro did unsheathe it when intending to assassinate King Cobra.

History

Past

As recognition for his genius inventions in MADS, Dr. Vegapunk was invited to Mary Geoise for an audience with the Five Elders.

Twenty-two years ago, the Five Elders spoke via Den Den Mushi to Professor Clover, an archaeologist from Ohara who was revealed to have been studying the Poneglyphs. Clover revealed that he knew too much about the Void Century, causing the Five Elders to order the Cipher Pol unit on Ohara to eliminate him and for a Buster Call to destroy Ohara and its historians.

Less than fourteen years ago (over ten years since Gol D. Roger’s execution), Spandam persuaded the Five Elders to give him the authority to seek out the blueprints for Pluton.

Sky Island Saga

Jaya Arc

A Marine came to the Room of Authority to report that Shanks had made contact with Whitebeard, but Nusjuro stated that their first priority was finding someone to replace Crocodile in the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Water 7 Saga

Long Ring Long Land Arc

The Five Elders got a call that Marine Admiral Aokiji had gone off on his own.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc

The Five Elders received a report that Shanks had successfully met with Whitebeard himself, to their shock.

Summit War Saga

Post-War Arc

The Five Elders talked about the aftermath of the Summit War of Marineford, and as he sat cleaning his sword, Nusjuro grew worried over the state of the Three Great Powers, wondering how they would fill the three vacant Warlord positions they had. With Luffy and Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, on the rise, Nusjuro noted that those who bore the D. seemed to be on the rise and causing great trouble.

Dressrosa Saga

Dressrosa Arc

Fleet Admiral Sakazuki came to the Room of Authority to question the Five Elders about why they let Donquixote Doflamingo use the World Nobles’ authority to misinform the entire world. The Elders reminded Sakazuki of his place and reprimanded his insolence, when a Marine came in and revealed that Luffy and Trafalgar Law’s alliance had taken down Doflamingo, and that their victory had been broadcast to the entire world, shocking the Elders and Sakazuki.

Whole Cake Island Saga

Levely Arc

As the Levely was beginning, the Five Elders were approached by Shanks. Because of his position, they reluctantly allowed him to talk to them about a certain pirate. After meeting with Shanks, they headed toward the Empty Throne, and talked about how King Nefertari Cobra of Arabasta had requested to meet with them. Nusjuro then stated that with all the waves of disturbance in the world, the balance could not be maintained forever, and a “great cleansing” might be needed. Upon reaching the Empty Throne, they knelt before its occupant Imu as they requested that Imu tell them the name of the “light” that needed to be extinguished from history.

Wano Country Saga

Wano Country Arc

Shortly following their meeting with Imu, the Elders granted Cobra the audience he requested at the Empty Throne. Cobra brought up his ancestor, Nefertari Lili who was one of the First Twenty founders of the World Government, and explained how she disappeared following her decision to abdicate living in Mary Geoise; he asked if the Elders had any records of what became of her. The Elders claimed to have no answer for this, and Cobra then asked about the meaning of the initial D. Nusjuro questioned why he would ask that, and Cobra revealed to the Elders’ shock that a letter from Lili had been passed down through the Nefertari Family. Imu then entered the room and sat on the Empty Throne, and the Elders were shocked at Imu’s decision to be revealed to Cobra.

Imu talked with Cobra about Lili and the D., and the Elders drew flintlocks as they intended to execute Cobra for seeing Imu. Imu was the first to strike Cobra, but then along with the Elders was attacked by Sabo using Hiken. Following the attack, the Elders and Imu transformed into beastly forms and pursued Sabo as he fled the room with Cobra. Following another strike by Imu, Cobra sacrificed himself to allow Sabo to flee and was promptly killed; Nusjuro then noticed that Wapol had been spying on the affairs in the room through a small peephole.

Following the Levely’s conclusion, the Five Elders were in the Room of Authority discussing Sabo and the growing issues with Vegapunk on Egghead when they received a call from Imu, who wished to test out Vegapunk’s Mother Flame invention; Nusjuro advised to test it on a forested area rather than in the sea. Imu told them to test it on the Lulusia Kingdom, and Nusjuro and Ju Peter both noted how useful the weapon could be to quell long conflict if they could one day use it freely. Imu also gave them the command to find and seize Nefertari Vivi.

They later they also discussed the Raid on Onigashima, namely the orders they had given to eliminate Nico Robin and prepare to have the Marines assume control of Wano Country in the aftermath of the battle. The Elders then discussed the potential of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, which was consumed by Monkey D. Luffy, actually being the renamed “Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika” and awakening; a course of action they did not wish to occur. The Five Elders commanded Guernica to interfere in the battle between Luffy and Kaidou to eliminate the former, and Guernica sacrificed himself to allow Kaidou to inflict a deadly blow on Luffy. Nusjuro noted that the World Government had been attempting to acquire the fruit for the last 800 years but had never succeeded.

The Five Elders’ attempt to eliminate Luffy proved a failure, as they later came to learn that the Gomu Gomu no Mi had indeed been awakened and Kaidou and Big Mom had both fallen in battle. Upon hearing that the great elephant Zunesha had departed from Wano, Nusjuro realized that the country’s borders were not opening as they had initially thought; the Elders called off the Marine invasion but maintained the order for Robin to be captured.

The following events are Non-Canon and therefore not considered part of the Canon story.

One Piece Film: Red

The Five Elders watched Uta’s concert in Elegia from the Den Den Mushi. They discussed about Uta being the daughter of Shanks, a serious threat that was opposed to the Great Pirate Era, and how to stop her rebellion, with even Topman Warcury voicing out that they needed to eliminate her quickly. Though Nusjuro brought up some hesitation among them to carry out her elimination as he was worried, she may be related to the Figarland Family. Also, they were very concerned about Uta’s connection with Tot Musica and they could not afford to be cautious if she summoned that as a threat. The Five Elders were the only ones who didn’t fall asleep to Uta’s powers as they already muted her songs. They were later informed by Lucci about an estimate being 70% of the world’s population would be pulled into Uta World.

The Five Elders, horrified, witnessed Uta turning everyone including Saint Charlos into inanimate objects. As they couldn’t afford more casualties, they had to make a decision even if a Celestial Dragon would get caught in the crossfire. They witnessed Tot Musica, finally summoned by Uta, attacking the Marine ships. After Tot Musica was defeated by Luffy and Shanks, the Five Elders witnessed Uta releasing everyone from the Uta World through singing.

Concludes non-canon section.

Final Saga

Egghead Arc

Having received their orders from Imu, the Elders then also received a call from Marine Headquarters revealing they had traced Sabo to Lulusia, and the Elders took note of this stroke of fortune as the Lulusia Kingdom was completely annihilated by the Mother Flame soon afterward, with the Five Elders declaring it never existed in the first place.

The Five Elders also received a call by York, who was aspiring to become a Celestial Dragon, that Vegapunk was doing forbidden research on the Void Century and decided to send a squad of CP0-Agents to assassinate Vegapunk and all his satellites, including York.

Following Saturn departing to Egghead, the remaining elders in the Room of Authority were contacted by York again. While their conversation was overheard by Saturn and Kizaru, Nusjuro complimented the satellite for having survived this long, before questioning her about CP0 and the Straw Hats on the island. Upon the elders negotiating a deal with her, York revealed that she needed saving from Luffy before he kills her, much to Nusjuro’s shock.

Major Battles

• Five Elders and Imu vs. Sabo

Merchandise

Video Games

Non-Playable Appearances

• One Piece: Grand Battle! 3
• One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush!
• One Piece Odyssey

Trivia

• Nusjuro’s name is based on Venus, the second planet in the real-life Solar System, keeping in relation with the planet-themed names of the Five Elders.
  • Nusjuro’s middle initial, V.（ブイ） and the characters of his given name -nasu (ナス^?) roughly equals bīnasu (ビーナス^?) or vīnasu (ヴィーナス^?), the Japanese-English pronunciation of “Venus”. In the English adaptation of the manga, Nusjuro’s name retains this etymology by combining “V.” (vee) and “Nus-“.
  • Nusjuro’s title as the Warrior God of Finance references how in classical East Asian astrology, the planet Venus is considered the “Gold Planet” (Japanese: 金星, Kinsei^?), representing “Metal” among the Chinese Five Elements, where gold is often associated with finance.
• The Japanese pronunciation of “Nus” (Nasu) means “eggplant” in Japanese.
  • Additionally, this pronunciation is based on Nasu County in Tochigi Prefecture in Japan, which is the namesake of below-mentioned Nasu Family (Jūrō and Yoichi).
    • The name and design corresponds with Nasu no Jūrō (那須十郎^?), later called Senbon Tametaka (千本為隆^?). The elder brother of Nasu no Yoichi, Jūrō was a samurai known to be highly skilled in archery, and his skill reputed to surpass even his brother’s.
• Nusjuro is the only character in the series that has a middle initial that is not a D.
• Nusjuro’s design may be based on Mahatma Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. His elderly appearance includes a bald head, aquiline nose, Windsor-style eyeglasses, and a loose, white-colored robe; whether this resemblance is intentional on Eiichiro Oda’s part remains to be confirmed.

References