Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece Film: Red.The world of One Piece is filled with heinous villains, and the series' newest film might have just proven who among them is the top threat. Among the recurring villains in One Piece, the ones most involved with the lore and history of the setting are the Celestial Dragons. As the descendants of the founders of the World Government, they’re given the freedom to do whatever they want, and that freedom is used to harass, enslave, and kill anyone they want without a single ounce of remorse.
The Celestial Dragons stand out as among the worst villains in all of One Piece, and One Piece Film: Red does a great job of reminding people of that. Saint Charlos of the Celestial Dragons has a cameo in One Piece Film: Red, and when he appears, everyone stops going along with Uta’s plans and starts fearfully remembering the realities of their world, which causes fighting about Uta’s plans that leads to her having another meltdown and turning everyone into inanimate objects to silence them. Everything starts to go downhill when Saint Charlos shows up, and that does a great job of selling the Celestial Dragons as the true villains of One Piece.
The Celestial Dragons Represent The True State Of One Piece’s World
The Celestial Dragons are terrible people, but that does a perfect job of representing how One Piece’s world truly is. While One Piece usually makes itself out to be just a goofy story, the larger state of its world is one that’s constantly suffering from the oppressive dictatorship of the World Government. One Piece's villainous World Government routinely allows people to fall into poverty and be forced into slavery, and they’re often the ones doing it because they only think of what’s good for themselves. People have to live in fear of the selfishness of those above them, and the Celestial Dragons being so unflinchingly terrible perfectly represents that.
There’s 1 One Piece Villain Who’s Still Above The Celestial Dragons
Even with the Celestial Dragons being as terrible as they are, there’s still one villain in One Piece who stands above them: Im. As the mysterious king of the world, Im is likely meant to be the true antagonist of One Piece, meaning that every atrocity that the World Government has committed throughout the story has been performed with their approval. As such, as bad as the Celestial Dragons are, it won’t be until One Piece's true final villain Im is deposed that any true change can be brought to the world, and that will likely be how the final saga of One Piece concludes.
The Celestial Dragons aren’t heavily involved in One Piece Film: Red, but the fact that everything starts to fall apart when one shows up does a great job of proving that they’re the true villains of One Piece. Even if Im is technically above them, they still represent everything that’s wrong with the world of One Piece by being selfish tyrants who use their power to abuse whoever they want. As of the current Egghead Island arc, the One Piece manga has officially entered its final saga, so with any luck, the Celestial Dragons will finally be dealt with sooner rather than later.