One Piece officially unveils a new Overwhelmed Holy Knight

One Piece Chapter 1185 was officially released on June 15, 2026 in Shueisha's Weekly Shounen Jump Issue #29, and it continued the events of Esperia Kingdom in the Elbaf Arc. With the Esperia flashback shedding quite a bit of light on the characters of Brook and Shuri, we expected a lot of information about the Holy Knights to be revealed. But when this flashback began, hardly any of us expected that Eiichiro Oda, the creator of the series, would reveal to us a powerful new Holy Knight.

IN One Piece Chapter 1185, Eiichiro Oda revealed the official design of a brand new Holy Knight member who, from the looks of it, is incredibly overpowered. He played a significant role in the destruction of an entire kingdom and had enough strength to accompany Saint Mars to Esperia. This holy knight will soon be seen in action, and we can't wait to see what he can do in battle.

One Piece Chapter 1185 officially reveals a new Holy Knight in Esperia Kingdom

One Piece Chapter 1185 marked an important step towards the conclusion of the Esperia Kingdom flashback, which officially began in Chapter 1183, released May 25, 2026, in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #26. Since then, this flashback has continued to deliver incredibly important revelations, showing the destruction of yet another kingdom from the West Blue and, more importantly, charting the full backstory of the wild swordsman Brook, as well as Princess Shuri. IN One Piece Chapter 1185, the tragedy of Esperia Kingdom officially unfolded. After a smog covered the island for months, the Queen of Esperia, Candelle, passed away. Shortly thereafter, it was officially announced that the kingdom had become so poor that they could no longer afford the heavenly tribute. As such, it would become an illegal country. To compensate for this, the Holy Land had demanded a thousand slaves, which King Reuven refused to give them.

“There will be a war against the World Government. They have demanded 1000 slaves from us. It is the only way to get out of the Heavenly Tribute this year. Being a slave in the Holy Land might as well be death.” — King Reuven explains the tactics of the Holy Land, One Piece Chapter #1185

As such, war was waged against Esperia. In this war, they saw both the navy and the world government trying to destroy the kingdom. While Brook fought valiantly against the invading forces, things came to a head as Princess Shuri was ultimately revealed to have been Domi Reversed by Nerona Imu. Likewise, King Reuven was also shown to have been Domi Reversed, but Shuri had already killed him in the same panel. Eiichiro Oda also revealed Saint Mars to us in Esperia for the very first time in this chapter. Most importantly, there was a new, powerful Saint Knight right next to Saint Mars in the same chapter.

Brook: Your Majesty!! Princess Shuri!!

Shuri: The war will be over, Brook!! Aren't you happy?

— Exchange between Brook and Shuri, One Piece Chapter #1185

This new Holy Knight looks very similar to Shiryu in terms of appearance. He smokes a large cigar and has a double chin, and he also wears the famous robes of the Holy Knights with the World Government badge on top. There is absolutely no doubt that this person is a member of the Holy Knights and is incredibly powerful. Based on the design alone, he appears to be one of the stronger members of the group and is likely still active to this day, given that he received immortality from Nerona Imu through the Depths Covenant, which was officially introduced in One Piece Chapter 1169.

Why the Named Saint Knight has immense power

The Holy Knights were officially introduced in the Final Saga of One Piecespecifically in Chapter 1054, by none other than Akainu on July 25, 2024, in WSJ Issue #34. Since then, they've been slowly incorporated into the story, and Elbaf gave us our first look at these mighty knights.

“In the Holy Land, only God's Holy Knights have jurisdiction to arbitrate disputes. It's a complicated situation to say the least.” — Admiral Akainu mentions the Holy Knights for the first time, One Piece Chapter #1054

While the Holy Knights are incredibly powerful, they are more of a hit-or-miss. Some Holy Knights have enormous powers up their sleeves and can actually even take on Yonko-level enemies in battle. Other Holy Knights are much weaker than expected and can even be damaged by the likes of Nico Robin. This new Holy Knight, which was officially introduced to us in One Piece Chapter 1185 June 15, 2026, seems to be incredibly overwhelmed. Eiichiro Oda has given him a much more serious design, which he only does for characters that are incredibly powerful.

The new Holy Knight is also quite reminiscent of Shiryu and Akainu in terms of character design. In addition, he follows the Saint Mars of the Five Elders, which means that he has enough strength to help him in battle. Most importantly, this Holy Knight seems to be superior to Shuri in terms of overall power, at least. In particular, this means that his overall strength is very high.

“Oh princess, the garden we used to stroll through is now on fire. Your majesty, the dump we hung out at is now in flames.” — Brook laments the destruction of Esperia, One Piece Chapter #1185

One Piece's Unnamed Holy Knight was able to fight Brook in Chapter 1186

The new Holy Knight that Eiichiro Oda featured in One Piece Chapter 1185 has not been fully seen in action yet. He was first seen after he had already played a significant role in the destruction of Esperia, sitting next to Marcus Mars when Shuri killed his own father, King Reuven. But this is about to change, as Brook springs into action in an attempt to save Shuri while also attacking Marcus Mars as well as the new Holy Knight, in One Piece Chapter 1186. It is possible that Brook's forehead scar is from this new Holy Knight, and it will certainly be an incredible addition to the overall story.

Additionally, this new Holy Knight may also have a deep connection to Brook in the sense that he may very well be Shuri's real father. As has been made quite clear in the story, Shuri belongs to the Manmayer family and has something to do with the celestial dragons. King Reuven is also highly unlikely to be her real father, and sooner or later her true parentage will be revealed in the story. Maybe the new Holy Knight that Oda introduced recently One Piece chapter is her real father, in which case Shuri may be a reflection of the true potential that he has. As One Piece moves deeper into the final saga, the Five Elders as well as the Holy Knights will focus on much more, and as such we will all have plenty of opportunities to witness this new Holy Knight as well as all the others in action.

The latest chapters of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.