The 10 Strongest One Piece Characters

Image via Funimation

When you think of anime it’s hard to look past One Piece. One of the big three with its iconic charismatic hero Luffy at the helm, there is a lot to like about this anime.

With a show set on the high seas with pirates of all kings, it should be no surprise that there are plenty of powerful characters.

Whether they’re from the Pirates, Navy, or just strong entities in their own right there is plenty of variety when it comes to characters in One Piece and what they are capable of. Here are our picks as the strongest characters in the franchise today.

10 – Hawkeye Mihawk

When it comes to master swordsmen there is no one more skilled than Dracule “Hawkeye” Mihawk. One of the seven warlords of the sea and eventual mentor to focal character Roronoa Zoro, Mihawk has not only displayed unmeasurable skill with bladed weapons, but the stories of his past tell of even more power. Having duelled Shanks often in the past, Mihawk only stopped after losing an arm to the renowned pirate, but the pair still have a good rapport. Mihawk boasts mastery of the Busoshuku Haki, a skill which he taught Zoro that can be used to protect his swords from damage, but he also has the ability to use Kenbunshoku Haki too.

9 – Big Mom

One of the four emperors, Charlotte Linlin or Big Mom is one of the strongest characters alive in One Piece today. Boasting immense physical strength, and a unique devil fruit Soru Soru no Mi power that allows her to manifest people’s souls as an eternal substance she can grab ahold of. One of her other powerful tools is her Haki abilities that include creating a shield of energy around herself.

8 – Monkey D. Garp

Monkey D. Garp is an interesting character as he would have placed much higher on this list had he not aged out of his prime and other characters entered there. Garp boasts incredible strength that makes him capable of crushing mountains with his bare fists. Garp alongside Gold D. Roger took on and defeated four of the characters placed above him on this list, however, in more recent times we haven’t seen him display power capable of doing so now. Nonetheless, the grandfather of the show’s main character Luffy, Garp is still one of the strongest characters in the series right now.

7 – Whitebeard

Edward Newgate, or Whitebeard was known for the longest time as the strongest man in the world of One Piece. With a title like that it should be no real surprise why he takes a spot on this list. After eating the Gura Gura Devil Fruit this pirate was gifted the ability to cause quakes and generate powerful shockwaves. Along with this Whitebeard also wields one of the 12 Supreme Swords, Murakumogiri which he is incredibly skilled in using.

6 – Blackbeard

Another of the four emperors, Marshall D. Teach or more commonly referred to as Blackbeard is undeniably one of the strongest characters in One Piece. Blackbeard is the only person in the franchise who wields the power of two devil fruits Yami Yami no Mi and Gura Gura no Mi. He acquired the power of the Gura Gura after defeating Whitebeard and can now generate powerful shockwaves and quakes alongside his power of darkness that can “reduce anything to nothingness.” Another thing that makes Blackbeard so strong is his Haki abilities that allow him to sense power and build spiritual armor around himself.

5 – Kaido

The members of the four emperors keep on coming and this time it’s Kaido. While he isn’t the world’s strongest man, he is its strongest creature, and for good reason. Along with his physical abilities, Kaido has the power of the Uo Uo no Mi devil fruit that allows him to transform into a serpentine Azure dragon and a human-dragon hybrid at will. Along with this, he has mastery of multiple Haki abilities including Haoshoku and Busoshoku, even Kenbunshoku.

4 – Luffy

Luffy might seem like an odd pick to place on this list but as the vocal character of the show his power is always rising and at this point he is exceptionally powerful. Not only does he possess immense physical strength and the stretchy benefits of the Gomu-Gomu no Mi Fruit, but Luffy has mastered three kinds of Haki which provide him extremely useful benefits when paired with the Gear moves of his devil fruit. The reason that he has jumped up this list so far in recent times is after he defeated Kaido in battle unleashing his new extraordinarily powerful Sun God transformation. With this, he is easily one of the show’s most powerful characters and lands the number four spot on our list. Despite his strength, the Straw Hats captain has escaped death his fair share of times and you can read more about these here.

3 – Shanks

Shanks’ place on this list may be up for debate but as one of the four emperors that have been said to be on par or stronger than the others he had to take a spot on our list. While we haven’t seen all of Shanks’s power revealed, not even close to it. What we have seen he possesses an extremely powerful mastery of Haki, excellent swordsmanship, and undeniable physical abilities. Given that he is so respected by all characters within the series it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine him as the strongest living character today. While Shanks continues to be shrouded in mystery who are learning more about the character thank to One Piece Film Red.

2 – Gold D. Roger

Gold D. Roger is the character on which the story of One Piece is based upon. Hell, he was the introduction in the very first episode. While this king of the pirates may be dead there is no doubting he was one of the strongest characters in the franchise. It only took Gold and Garp to take out all of the Kaido, Big Mom, and Whitebeard which means he must have had an incredible power of his own. While he was plagued will illness in his final years and we don’t know exactly how powerful he was, Gold D. Roger still deserves one of the top places on our list.

1 – Rocks D. Xebec

There is no real argument, Rocks D. Xebec is the strongest character in One Piece so far. It took both Gold D. Roger, the would-be king of the pirates with his crew pairing up with Monkey D. Garp and the Marines to ultimately take down Rocks. While we don’t know a lot about this character or his powers, to command such a powerful crew of his own he was most definitely one of the most dangerous pirates of all time.