With the addition of Kaido Big Mom, Kid, and Law, Luffy and his crew have temporarily gained the upper hand. As for why it's only temporary, it's because the Five Elders possess the thorny issue of immortality!
Looking at Luffy's side, only Luffy, Ace, and Dragon have the ability to defeat the Five Elders or the God's Knights in a short time. Even Zoro, Kuzan, Kaido, and Big Mom cannot completely break their immortality in a short time!
Ace's enemy is Shamrock, Shanks ' twin brother and the leader of the Holy Knights. His strength is no less than any of the Five Elders, and even Ace in his current state cannot defeat him in a short time.
Luffy couldn't do that either. He was originally fighting three God's Knights alone, but Kid took one of them away, which greatly reduced the pressure on him.
But the remaining two God's Knights worked together very well, giving Luffy no chance to attack them to the death!
Only Dragon could defeat his opponent, because the God's Knights he stopped was only of average strength within the Holy Knights, and he was alone. Dragon only chose him as his opponent because the other party was extremely cruel and inhuman!
Even a powerful Five Elders like Nusjuro died at the hands of Dragon, so that short God's Knights had practically no ability to resist!
Despite his strong confidence and calm demeanor, ability and confidence are not directly correlated!
In other words, only Dragon is truly capable of defeating the opponent now, while the others are merely locked in a stalemate.
But the God's Knights and the Five Elders are least afraid of a stalemate. They possess immortality and unlimited endurance, so who can outlast them? The longer the battle drags on, the more disadvantageous the situation becomes for Luffy!
So they only have the upper hand temporarily. Once everyone is exhausted, the situation will reverse!
Dragon had been observing the overall situation while fighting, preparing to adjust his battle strategy at any time, so he did not launch a fierce attack on the short God's Knights!
Now that the battle situation has stabilized, he knows he has become the key to breaking the deadlock. Now it's a race against time. It depends on whether he can take down his opponent first and cooperate with others to eliminate all the enemies, or whether the enemies can hold out until they are exhausted and their combat strength declines, thus completing a counterattack!
Having grasped the situation, Dragon stopped holding back and unleashed his strongest attack. The powerful tornado left the short God's Knights helpless, trapped within its confines and unable to move freely. Even his previously calm demeanor was completely shattered!
In the face of life and death, few can remain calm, not even the self-proclaimed noble Celestial Dragons God's Knights!
Then Dragon infused the tornado with Conqueror's Haki, which became his sharp teeth and claws that tore him apart. With a desperate scream, the cruel and bloodthirsty little God's Knights was gone forever!
The fate of the short, God's Knights attracted a great deal of attention. Not only were the pirates who wanted to attack the Thousand Sunny stunned, but even Luffy and his crew were momentarily taken aback.
As for the other God's Knights and the Five Elders, their eyes were filled with killing intent and a sense of bewilderment. Dragon had killed another powerful being with an immortal body, which was very bad news for those of them who possessed immortality!
Just as Dragon was about to join the others in the battle after defeating the short God's Knights, another unexpected event occurred on the battlefield!
Just like the commotion when the Holy Knights appeared, more than a dozen more areas on the field were now shrouded in black flames!
The Five Elders and the God's Knights didn't react much to this, presumably because it was the result of their internal discussion and request for help from Imu, so it was within their expectations.
But others weren't so calm. Some watched with curiosity, some with worry, some with doubt, and some with fear. From different perspectives, the emotions that welled up inside them were also different!
The group that arrived via the teleportation array was indeed sent by the Five Elders and Shamrock after the shortest possible time following the death of the short God's Knights, after they had discussed and decided to request help from Imu!
The pressure from Dragon was immense; his ultimate attack, capable of taking down the short God's Knights in one blow, posed a threat to the lives of most of the God's Knights!
If they remain idle and wait to die, Dragon could potentially halve their fighting strength in a short period of time. At that point, along with the Straw Hat Pirates, Kaido and Big Mom, Kid and Law, they will all be left with their lives here!
Although this group of people were only trainee members of the Holy Knights, their strength was already not much different from that of the official God's Knights. It's just that there were only so many official member positions, so they didn't have the opportunity to be promoted.
Just like that middle-aged man who had just been promoted to a full member, he only became a full member of the Holy Knights after Garling was promoted to one of the Five Elders. This is what is meant by one person for one position!
Unlike the Five Elders, the God's Knights do not have long lifespans. Trainee members only have a chance after the older God's Knights die or retire.
Of course, there are also times when unexpected things happen during missions, such as encountering the Straw Hat Pirates, who are capable of taking them down.
The trainee members of the Holy Knights also signed Soul Contract with Imu, but they were not granted the ability of immortality!
They work their way up through the ranks, and their treatment is the same; trainee members only have the ability to use teleportation arrays!
Official members, on this basis, possess immortality!
The Five Elders, who are not only official members of the Holy Knights, also possess an exceptionally long lifespan!
Regardless of their relative strength, their positions are the source of their abilities. Clearly, Imu is also secretly encouraging these elite Celestial Dragons to compete and become stronger!
Although Imu can decide their life or death with a single word after signing the Soul Contract, he cannot help them cultivate; they still have to rely on themselves to become stronger!
Although the new batch of God's Knights Trainee doesn't have the ability to be immortal, they are quite strong, and most of them are powerful Devil Fruit User!
Furthermore, their numbers were considerable; once they joined the battle, the slight advantage that Dragon had just gained vanished instantly!
If these trainee members were to replace some of the officially recognized members who possess immortality, then Luffy and his crew would be in grave danger!
This is a strategy that any normal person could think of; the Five Elders couldn't possibly have missed it!
When Dragon saw those clusters of black flames, a shadow fell over his heart. He didn't know that these people were not immortal, but the fact that the World Government had new forces joining it was undeniable!
The Five Elders were not stupid. The moment the black flames dissipated, those God's Knights Trainee immediately rushed towards the weaker members of the Straw Hat Pirates!
The Five Elders were well aware that these God's Knights Trainee did not possess immortality. If they encountered someone far stronger than themselves, such as Dragon, Straw Hat Boy, Fire Fist Ace, Kuzan, and Zoro, then their purpose in coming here would be rendered meaningless.
Therefore, they could only target the weak, freeing up the truly immortal God's Knights to besiege those few powerful God's Knights capable of breaking their immortality. This was the most correct decision!
After the trainees were teleported over, the Five Elders immediately used their internal voice chat to deploy this strategy to them, which was specifically aimed at the variable, Dragon!