The Celestial Dragons, (Tenryubito) also known as the World Nobles, are major and extremely despicable villains from the One Piece series.
They are the descendants of the founders of the World Government, the organization that rules the One Piece world. They live in the Holy Land Mariejois, where the headquarters of the World Government and the Marine HQ are located.
The Celestial Dragons are allowed to do absolutely anything they want without punishment. They can even get away with murder and slavery has not been fully abolished for their use. No one can insult them and no one can even oppose them.
In particular, they are able to buy people, including pirates, who have been captured and put into slavery and their actions are overlooked by the World Government. They use a branding iron to mark their slaves with the Hoof of the Flying Dragon on their backs.
According to Boa Hancock, anyone who bears this mark is not seen as a human being but as an item or a possession. World Nobles have been shown to be incredibly cruel and heartless towards their slaves. As many people who were their slaves were treated so harshly that many committed suicide after being freed, another stating his eyes were plucked out solely for sport and another burned alive just for laughs. The horrors the Nobles leave on the slaves is shown to severely traumatize them even after their release, as both Koala and Hancock, through their horrid experience, were terrified of showing weakness ever again towards others. Even Fisher Tiger, who freed many slaves commented on them representing the “madness” of humanity and warped his personality forever from his years as a slave.
Everyone in the world hate them and revile them, but they suffer in silence and try their best not to get involved out of fear of the Marine Admirals.
However, this power didn’t scare Monkey D. Luffy, who fearlessly punched a World Noble for hurting one of his friends in front of a room of shocked witnesses. He and his crew later escaped, leaving the Nobles angry and humiliated.