Alright, conspiracy theory time. Given what we now know about the structure of the World Government, it doesn’t make sense for the Elder Stars to be the ones unilaterally deciding to destroy Ohara.
In the panels where we actually see the Elder Stars, the speech balloons never have tails indicating who’s talking. In fact, it seems to me strange that even in the panels showing the Elders, the speech bubbles have a double ring, indicating that the voice is coming from over a den den mushi
This, admittedly, might simply be for clarity, but with all the shadow we never actually see any of the Elder’s opening up their mouths to speak until the order is given to kill Clover
But the thing is, four of the five Elder Stars have beards and/or mustaches, and the one who doesn’t has a differently shaped nose than the man shouting the order. While I concede that one of the goatees is maybe thin enough to not show in silhouette
(this guy, for those curious)
I think there’s a possibility that this is actually our first look at Im. Which, incidentally recontextualizes one of the most interesting panels in the flashback, aka that time it looked like the Elder Stars were upset at the destruction of Ohara. Because in the end it probably wasn’t their decision, and they know the value of what they’re killing and were saddened by it
