There are few anime series that have stood the test of time as One Piece has. The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew as they seek out the grand treasure of the sea and embark on thrilling adventures along the way, thanks in part to the super-powered devil fruit bearers the world is filled with.
With over 1000 episodes and manga chapters, there has been a myriad of epic battles throughout the One Piece series. While fans have been arguing over the semantics of the power curve of this series for decades, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has delivered some of the biggest and scariest villains with abilities to match. Here are our top picks from the One Piece show and manga.
10. Rob Lucci
As the strongest member of the government assassin squad CP9, Rob Lucci is a man not to be messed with. Even Bratholomew Kuma of the Seven Warlords of the sea recognized his strength and was surprised when he was eventually defeated by Luffy during the Water 7 arc. This was supposedly the only time Lucci has been defeated in battle.
Lucci is considered to be 400 times stronger than a common, armed soldier. He is extremely durable and has mass reserves of stamina. While he has the devil fruit power of the Neko Neko fruit to turn into a Leopard man, he is an incredibly skilled fighter with both the Busoshoku Haki and Kenbunshoku Haki. It is still unknown whether or not he has grown in strength during or after the time skip.
9. Arlong the Saw
Arlong was one of the first major villains in the One Piece saga. As a fish-man, Arlong possesses superhuman strength and razor-sharp teeth.
Filled with hatred for the human race, Arlong terrorized a small village in the East Blue sea. He enjoyed killing the villagers and held them hostage over Nami in order to make her return. This was Nami’s hometown, where she was forced to work and steal for him, believing that she would eventually buy their freedom. It was only once Luffy and his friends showed up that the town was finally freed from the cruel control of Arlong and his vicious crew.
8. Hody Jones
Hody Jones is another fish-man antagonist in the series introduced during the Fish-Man Island Arc. He is the captain of the new Fish-man pirates and an admirer of Arlong. He too shares Arlong’s hatred of humans and views King Neptune as a coward for trying to link Fish-Man Island with the rest of the world, including the human society. This results in Hody attempting a coup.
Hody uses Energy Steroids to overpower his enemies, a power-up that almost defeats Luffy in combat, who was already struggling to fight in the open ocean. Thankfully, those pills drained Hody of his youth and energy, leaving him no longer a threat.
7. Kurozumi Kanjuro
Kurozumi Kanjuro is not one of the strongest villains in One Piece history. Kanjuro, however, was featured in one of the biggest twists in the series. For over 300 chapters Kanjuro was believed to be one of the good guys, only to turn on the crew and his country during the final skirmish on Wano.
His betrayal came as a huge surprise to fans and the characters, having used his non-dominant hand to draw pictures using his Fude Fude no Mi devil fruit, one that allows him to manifest his ink drawings to life. Initially, his drawings are crude, but once he betrays the crew and samurai, he starts using his right hand and manifests true art skills.
6. Magellan
Magellan is considered by fans to canonically be one of the strongest characters in One Piece, but is held back by his devil fruit causing him to suffer from constant stomach aches. As the chief warden of the prison Impel Down, he was in charge of preventing the prisoners from escaping. After Luffy and other prisoners escape, he was demoted to the vice warden.
Magellan is said to have easily fought back against Blackbeard and has earned the fear of even Warlords Jimbe and Crocodile. He controls the Doku Doku no Mi devil fruit, which gives him control of poison. He is able to create deadly and highly corrosive toxins that can kill even the strongest of prisoners, an ability he is legally given to execute at will.
5. Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard)
Marshall D. Teach, or Blackbeard as he is more commonly known, is a contender in the race to find the legendary One Piece treasure. He is also the only person in the series to have the power of two devil fruit powers, the Yami Yami no Mi (darkness fruit) and Gura Gura no Mi (earthquake fruit), the latter of which he stole from the dead body of Whitebeard.
Blackbeard is hungry for power and will do whatever it takes to become the next Pirate King, even betraying and killing Whitebeard, his former captain. He formed a crew of the strongest pirates who survived the battle and has been wreaking havoc in his wake ever since.
4. Dracule “Hawk Eyes” Mihawk
Dracule Mihawk was depicted as being an incredibly strong swordsman very early on in One Piece. Since then he has shown up only to decimate the Marine forces and slip back into the shadows. He also served as a mentor to Zoro during the time skip, helping him to become a stronger and deadlier swordsman.
Mihawk is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and is considered to be the rival of Shanks, one of the four Yonko (Emperors). Recently, he formed an alliance with Crocodile and Captian Buggy — who is now also a Yonko — to hunt down and take on the Marines/World Government.
3. “Joker” Donquixote Dolfamingo
One of the hardest fought battles in One Piece history was between Luffy and Donquixote. He was a former Warlord who took over the kingdom of Dressrosa which he ruled with an iron fist, enslaving many of the people in toy form thanks to the ability of one of his crew. He also tricked the native people into working in his Smile factory, where he produced manufactured devil fruits.
Donquixote holds the power of the Ito Ito no Mi fruit, which gives him the power to create and control strings. He is able to cut people with razor-sharp strings, zip between clouds in the sky, and puppeteer living beings. During his fight with Luffy, he even began to cut the country of Dressrosa into slivers.
2. Sakazuki/Akainu
As the current admiral of the Navy, Sakazuki is a formidable enemy. Not only does he have control of the entire Marine forces. but he also is extremely strong in his own respect. Sakazuki is able to also call in a Buster Vall on an island he deems a threat, a military action that can lay waste to an entire island.
Sakazuki is an aggressive man with a deep hatred toward pirates. He even murdered Luffy’s brother Ace right in front of him and attempted to kill Luffy at that moment, but was unable to reach him during the enormity of the battle surrounding them. It is suspected that Sakazuki will be a major villain for the Straw Hat Pirates to face before they reach their final destination.
1. Kaidou
As an Emperor of the Sea, Kadiou is a god-like figure that rules over the restricted land of Wano with an iron fist. He is considered the world’s “Strongest Creature” and leads the Beasts Pirates, an army of over 500 devil fruit users. Free from the control of the Navy forces, Kaidou has been terrorizing and starving the people of Wano for over 20 years.
His ability to turn into a dragon is only one part of his power. With a height of over 710cm, Kaidou is a giant muscle-bound figure. He was even one of the crew members of Gol D. Roger, the previous Pirate King as a young man. His body is practically indestructible, taking many of Luffy’s strongest attacks without damage. If it wasn’t for his penchant to get drunk —and Luffy pulling out a secret new form — he may have won the battle.