The Most Powerful One Piece Characters Ranked

Since the original manga launched in 1997, "One Piece" has gone on to become a worldwide hit. The manga, written by Eiichiro Oda, is over 100 volumes in length. Its animated adaptation has been running since 1999. In 2023, a live-action adaptation premiered on Netflix. The story, simplified to its most basic elements, follows the adventures of pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his never-ending quest to claim the title of Pirate King. Along the way, Luffy picks up new allies, learns new abilities, battles enemies, crosses the World Government, and even (tragically) loses friends, family, and mentors. Any fan of the show knows there's much, much more to "One Piece" than Luffy's struggles. There are tons of other fleshed-out major and minor characters, a seemingly endless amount of lore, and some of the most unique throwdowns ever to grace the small screen or manga pages.

Given the immense size of the world Oda has created, it should be no surprise that many incredible characters cross paths and duel over the long timeline of "One Piece." With that in mind, we've assembled a list of the most powerful characters in "One Piece" to make sense of how the show's most powerful combatants stack up against one another. It's worth noting that since the series has not reached its finale, this list takes into account the totality of a given player's strength over the course of "One Piece" so far. Also, since this list will be discussing specific battles specifically as depicted in the show, be warned — spoilers lay ahead.

The next ranking member to appear on our list (and just outside of the Top 10) is one Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk (Takeshi Aono and Hirohiko Kakegawa). Dracule holds this spot for one reason alone: He is currently the world's strongest swordsman. Mihawk rose to prominence before the Golden Age of Pirates and has maintained his title as the greatest sword fighter alive since the series began.

He wields the infamous "Black Blade," one of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades. He's dealt definitive defeats to both Roronoa Zoro (Kazuya Nakai) and Luffy. And he currently manages the Cross Guild with Sir Crocodile (Ryūzaburō Ōtomo). Buggy (Shigeru Chiba), a vain and psychotic pirate with a clownish appearance, serves as the organization's figurehead, but only to throw off any authorities concerned with Mihawk's powerful influence. This effectively makes Mihawk one of the Four Emperors (even if he's choosing to operate from the shadows). 

He's also the only thing standing between Roronoa Zoro and his goal of one day becoming the world's greatest swordsman himself. Luckily for fans, Zoro will eventually have to defeat Mihawk to achieve this dream. The pair's eventual duel should deliver on one of the series many, many long-running promises.

So far on the list, we've only accounted for pirate power. But pirates aren't the only party terrorizing the seas — there are also their natural enemies: the Marines. Few soldiers are more powerful than the current fleet admiral of the Marines, Sakazuki aka Admiral Akainu (Michio Nakao and Fumihiko Tachiki). Akainu's strength comes from his vicious brutality and deep sense of violent justice. This is a character without a single chill bone in his body. His brand of law and order, known as Absolute Justice, is simple: Burn the bad guys to the ground and eradicate evil from the world at all costs. Given his Devil Fruit (the Magu Magu no Mi) power grants him the ability to wield molten magma — this goal isn't too much of a reach for the current leader of the Marines.

As the Marines' fleet admiral, Akainu answers to virtually nobody (save the highest-ranking posts in the World Government). He runs the Marines at his discretion. While there's still plenty more story to go in the world of "One Piece," given Akainu's growing connection to Luffy (Akainu kills Luffy's brother and actively hunts Luffy's revolutionary father), there's a high possibility the pair will have a final showdown before the series reaches its climax. Here's hoping the lovable leader of the Straw Hat crew is ready for whatever eruptions Akainu sends his way.

In the No. 7 spot is the pirate protagonist we all know and love, Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy has come a long way since fans first met the aspiring pirate king. Reminder — he didn't even have his own boat at the outset of the series. Today, Luffy is one of the Four Emperors of the New World and commands the powerful Straw Hats pirate crew.

So what makes Luffy so strong? For starters, his Devil Fruit (the Gomu Gomu no Mi) powers have turned his body into rubber, making him fairly durable and unexpected in a fight. What's more, he also spent two years training to master Haki (including the genetically rare Conqueror's Haki) with Silvers Rayleigh (Keiichi Sonobe), another surviving member of Gol D. Roger's (Chikao Ōtsuka and Masane Tsukayama) crew. Lastly, Luffy unlocked Gear 5 of his Devil Fruit, turning him into the "Warrior of Liberation." In short, this state of power enables Luffy to fight and contort his own body in any way he can imagine. He can even manipulate his environment to behave like rubber.

Aside from his combat abilities, Luffy seems to genuinely inspire other pirates and people he encounters to rally behind him. Unlike some other, more ruthless members of this list, Luffy seems to gain power from inspiration instead of fear.

Monkey D. Garp aka Garp the Fist (Hiroshi Naka) is basically to the Marines what Gol D. Roger is to the pirates, except Garp is alive when "One Piece" starts proper. The vice admiral is for all intents and purposes a living legend. In his day, he and Gol D. Roger teamed up to stop Captain Rocks. Plus, the story goes that Garp and Roger nearly killed each other most times they battled. Garp's also probably a good indicator of how strong Luffy will turn out to be, since he is the central pirate's paternal grandfather.

In more recent events, Garp has dealt with powerful pirates like Marco the Phoenix (Masakazu Morita) easier than many of his peers. But maybe the biggest testament to his sheer power is his open disdain for the World Nobles. The nigh-untouchable ruling class of "One Piece" does basically whatever it wants, but even with the nobles' global influence, they won't come after Garp.

All of this is even more impressive considering Garp's strength is basically natural. Without using Haki, Garp spent his life training by using retired ships as punching bags. The guy can still whip a cannonball faster than a ship can fire one. Not bad for an old man.

Next, in the No. 3 spot, is one of Gol D. Roger's few rivals, Edward Newgate aka Whitebeard. For a long time following Roger's death, Whitebeard was known as the "Strongest Man in the World" and the "Man Closest to the One Piece." His Devil Fruit ability gives him the power to control earthquakes, so the man can level islands with his hands. Plus, he wields the massive Murakumogiri, a naginata (think a large spear with a sword's blade at one end).

Beyond his immense stature and reputation, Whitebeard proves to be one of the series' more thoughtful characters. Unlike other powerful pirates from D. Roger's time — like Big Mom and Kaidou — Whitebeard doesn't lord over his domain as a tyrant. He values the choices people make for themselves and wants to help the younger generation of pirates make their way in the world. He even considers himself a father to his own crew.

Unfortunately for Whitebeard, his compassion may have proven to be his Achilles heel. After Whitebeard's friend Ace (Toshio Furukawa) is set to be executed by the Marines, Whitebeard goes to war to rescue his companion. Though Whitebeard is well out of his prime (and battling an ongoing illness), he still manages to give his enemies a serious run for their money. In the end, his death is as legendary as his life, as Whitebeard literally dies standing up. Slain but never fallen, Whitebeard likely looms large in the mind of any "One Piece" fan.

Finally, we're finishing things off with the strongest character: Captain Xebec Rocks. Not much is known about this list's strongest pirate, but stories of the leader of the Rocks Pirates are peppered throughout the show.

So why is he in the top spot you might ask? Easy. He commanded a crew of some of the series' most formidable characters and pirates, including young Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaidou. Plus, it's believed none of these crew members particularly got along, so Rocks mostly secured his position with sheer strength alone. In his day, Rocks didn't simply wish to be king of the pirates — he wanted to be king of the world. He'd attack anything and anyone if he felt it might secure him more power. He kicked up such a global panic that the World Government opted to erase his name from the history books after his defeat. 

If all of that was not a significant enough argument for the legendary figure's position at the top of the list, consider the fact that it took an alliance between Pirate King Gol D. Roger and the then-leader of the Marines, Monkey D. Garp (who were otherwise sworn enemies), to put an end to Xebec's reign of terror.