Updated December 21, 2022 by Ernie
One Piece has an absurd number of villains and it keeps increasing as Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat crew continue their adventures in the Grand Line. During the course of the series, the Straw Hat Pirates have encountered a lot of adversaries that brought them to where they are now and if it weren’t for them, our beloved main characters wouldn’t be as strong as they are in the series. And so, here we bring you the strongest villains encountered in One Piece!
Table of Contents
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POWERFUL VILLAINS IN ONE PIECE!!
26. Axe Hand Morgan
We start off with Axe Hand Morgan, the very first villain in the series and is the father of Helmeppo. Morgan is a Marine Officer with a high rank during the Romance Dawn Arc. When Luffy recruited Zoro to be a part of his crew, they teamed up to fight against Morgan and defeated him with a finishing blow from Zoro (One Piece, Episode 3).
Morgan doesn’t really have any special abilities himself but due to his large build and the giant axe attached to his arm, he’s not someone who you can easily take on.
25. Don Krieg
During Luffy’s voyage to the Red Line, he and his crew first went on a detour to a restaurant ship called Baratie. It is also here where they encountered Sanji and their next major enemy, Don Krieg. The pirate, Don Krieg, is known for his despicable schemes and unfair way of fighting which also made him famous for the name Foul-Play Krieg (One Piece, Episode 22).
Despite his bad reputation as a pirate, Don Krieg is still considered as the most notorious pirate in all of East Blue because of his high bounty. Other than that, most of his abilities are focused mostly on guns and firepower. His fight against Luffy also put him in an advantage because they were fighting in the middle of the sea. But as Luffy tries to hang on for his own survival, Don Krieg was eventually defeated (One Piece, Episode 29).
24. Buggy the Clown
Now you might be wondering why Buggy was so low on this list despite being a part of the Four Emperors. Well, that’s only because of Buggy’s immense luck that he ended up in the spotlight where he was mistakenly seen as one of the most notorious pirates. Because of this, he managed to fool everyone in the world making him one of the Four Emperors (One Piece, Episode 1053).
But in reality, Buggy was actually nowhere as strong as the likes of Shanks. Basically, one of the things that helped him survive up to this point is because of the Devil Fruit he ate called Bara Bara no Mi. This Devil Fruit allows his body to be purposefully chopped into several pieces and that means you can’t easily cut him down. As for his offensive capabilities, he only relies on his knives and bombs called Buggy Balls—bombs that can destroy several structures in an instant (One Piece, Episode 5).
23. Perona
Perona was once a member of Gecko Moria’s army during the events of Thriller Bark and was also one of the antagonists at that time. She is also a Devil Fruit user of Horo Horo no Mi which grants her the ability to control ghosts and can even manipulate her own soul leaving her body in an unconscious state.
Luckily for her, she was not defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates because of Bartholomew Kuma teleported her to Mihawk’s mansion. But before that, she had encounters with the Straw Hats, especially a one-on-one fight against Usopp. You could say that Usopp managed to defeat her by completely fooling Perona of the “10-ton hammer” he was carrying only for it to be revealed as just a balloon after it hit her. This resulted in Perona collapsing due to intense shock as the thought that it was the end of her life (One Piece, Episode 361).
22. Monet
Monet was Caesar Clown’s subordinate during the events of Punk Hazard. She is a known Devil Fruit user of Yuki Yuki no Mi and takes the form of a harpy with gigantic bird-like claws and white wings. Unknown to Caesar, she was also a secret agent working for Doflamingo as part of the Don Quixote Pirates (One Piece, Episode 598).
Monet can be a troublesome enemy to deal with in battle since she’s a Devil Fruit user who can manipulate the power of ice and her giant ice picks as her choice of weapon. Monet’s fight against Zoro was a quick one as Zoro simply made one single strike to cut in her half, however, this was not enough to stop Monet from her movements, and still managed to attempt a sneak attack until Tashigi made her move to finish her off (One Piece, Episode 613).
21. Caesar Clown
Caesar Clown is the main antagonist during the Thriller Bark Arc and he is known to be Doctor Vegapunk’s former disciple. He is a scientist with evil intentions and experiments on creating artificial Devil Fruits (One Piece, Episode 615).
Caesar himself was also a Devil Fruit user of the Gasu Gasu no Mi, a type of Logia Devil Fruit that allows his body to be turned into poisonous gas itself. His gases can also be considered to be powerful since it was one of the factors that Smiley, a giant poison slime, was created. Since Caesar specializes in toxic gas, he can be very hard to deal with since it can endanger anyone’s life who deals against him (One Piece, Episode 597).
20. Zephyr
Zephyr or also known as Black Arm Zephyr is the main enemy in the movie, One Piece Film: Z. He is a guy with huge muscles and has a prosthetic machine gun attached to his right arm. Zephyr was also a former officer of the Marines and after he left the organization, he created his own called the Neo Marines.
Ever since becoming the leader of the Neo Marines, he only had one goal and that is to get rid of all pirates including the One Piece. To do this, he called this grand plan of his the Grand Reboot. One of his renowned abilities is the Busoshoku Haki which he mastered during his prime. Due to his powerful Haki, that is where he earned the nickname Black Arm. Other than that, Zephyr also excels in physical combat which makes his mechanical arm very useful in battles.
19. Arlong
Arlong is the leader of the Arlong Pirates, a group of fishmen who took over Nami’s hometown in the Conomi Islands. As a fishman, Arlong possesses superhuman prowess like enhanced strength, speed, and also has terrain advantage in water. Before Luffy defeated him, Arlong has the highest bounty in East Blue and was the last major antagonist during the Romance Dawn Saga.
Despite not being a Devil Fruit user, Arlong and his crew managed to put up a strong fight against the Straw Hat Pirates but still lost after Luffy used all of his powers to give one final strike to Arlong (One Piece, Chapter 93).
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18. King
King is another major enemy in the series during the Wano Arc. He also goes by the name of King the Conflagration and is the most trusted subordinate of Kaidou. Among other Devil Fruits, King possesses a rather unique one himself called the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Pteranodon. Just like Chopper’s Devil Fruit, King can also transform himself into different forms such as a hybrid Pteranodon or a fully-transformed Pteranodon (One Piece, Episode 924).
He was also one of Zoro’s most formidable opponents since King always manages to gain the upper hand against the swordsman. But once Zoro learned King’s weakness, King was utterly defeated with Zoro’s final strike. Other abilities of King also include fire manipulation and with this, he can even create a fire dragon that surges through his enemies (One Piece, Episode 1035).
17. Vinsmoke Judge
Vinsmoke Judge was initially introduced as an antagonist during the Whole Cake Island Arc but eventually allied themselves with the Straw Hat Pirates after they discovered Big Mom’s ulterior motives. He is the Germa Kingdom’s only king and is also Sanji’s true father (One Piece, Episode 793).
Because of Judge’s huge stature, he obviously has tremendous physical strength and even managed to fight Sanji equally. What makes Judge more of a formidable enemy is his advanced weapons that grant him electrically-powered attacks. Some of his moves are called the Denji Crack where he electrifies one of his feet to release a powerful impact on his opponents (One Piece, Episode 793).
16. Kurozumi Orochi
Kurozumi Orochi is another antagonist introduced during the Wano Arc. He is the user of the powerful Devil Fruit, Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Yamata no Orochi. According to Japanese legends, Yamata no Orochi is an eight-headed snake and this is also similar to the transformation of Orochi’s Devil Fruit.
In terms of combat, Orochi is known for his incredible marksmanship and can effectively use ranged weapons such as flintlocks and pistols. Most of Orochi’s strong points in battle lies in his Devil Fruit because he literally transforms into an Eight-Headed Snake. This gives him full advantage in his surroundings and can perform various attacks in different directions (One Piece, Episode 927).
15. Hody Jones
Next up is Hody Jones, another fishman pirate antagonist during the Fish-Man Island Arc. Just like Arlong, Hody Jones also possesses the same strength and abilities as him since they are both the same race but stronger. Since the Arc took place underwater, Hody Jones had complete advantage in his abilities since fishmen gets more powerful in the water.
What made Hody Jones get defeated is not because of the Straw Hat Pirates but due to overuse of his energy steroids. By using energy steroids, Jones gets instantly powered up making able to fight more against Luffy and his crew but as he consumes insane amounts of steroids, his body decides to give up making him weak enough to get captured by Neptune’s men (One Piece, Episode 569).
14. Charlotte Katakuri
Charlotte Katakuri is a member of the Charlotte Family and is a part of the Three Sweet Commanders in Big Mom’s army. Even though he’s mostly an antagonist, there were times that he briefly allied with the Straw Hat Pirates during the movie, One Piece Film: Red to fight against Uta.
As for his abilities, Katakuri is known for his incredible physical strength along with the mastery of using his trident called Mogura. He can also move with extreme speed and agility which is also quick enough to catch up to Luffy’s Gear 4. On the other hand, Katakuri is also a Devil Fruit user of the Mochi Mochi no Mi that grants him the power to create mochi. Yes, I know it sounds cute and harmless but Katakuri can actually use this to create powerful attacks and can even become much stronger if he merges it with his Busoshoku Haki (One Piece, Episode 851).
13. Bartholomew Kuma
Bartholomew Kuma first appeared during the Thriller Bark Arc by launching Perona to some island. After that, he makes another appearance in front of the Straw Hat Pirates after they defeated Gecko Moria. Since Kuma was ordered to kill everyone on Thriller Bark, Zoro offered an agreement with Kuma to prevent him from killing Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats (One Piece, Episode 377).
One of Kuma’s deadly abilities were shown when he extracted all of Luffy’s pain into one giant bubble and as a part of his deal with Zoro, Kuma released all of this pain to the swordsman leaving Zoro covered in blood. During the Straw Hat’s time in the Sabaody Archipelago, they encountered Kuma again only for them to get launched into different places and then reunited after a 2-year timeskip (One Piece, Episode 405).
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12. Gecko Moria
Gecko Moria was once a member of the Seven Warlords during the events of Thriller Bark but was eventually revoked upon his defeat against the Straw Hat Pirates proving that he is not strong enough for his title as a Warlord. He was also the main antagonist of the said Arc.
Moria is also a Devil Fruit user of the Kage Kage no Mi that allows him to control the shadow of any living being, even himself. But that’s not all because what makes Moria strong is that he can steal the shadows of his targets and uses the undead as a vessel to become a part of his zombie army. His greatest feat in using the full power of his Devil Fruit is when he used Luffy’s shadow to awaken the giant Oars (One Piece, Episode 364).
11. Crocodile
The first major enemy of the Straw Hat Pirates when they entered the Grand Line was none other than Crocodile himself, the leader of the Baroque Pirates during the events of Alabasta Saga! Luffy’s fight against Crocodile is where he had the most difficult time because Luffy completely lost against him in their first fight.
Just like several villains in this list, Crocodile is also a known Devil Fruit user of Suna Suna no Mi, a Logia Devil Fruit that turns his body into literal sand. It is also because of his Devil Fruit powers that Luffy almost died in their first encounter but after Luffy discovered his weakness to water, he used this as an advantage to overcome the mastermind of Baroque Works.
10. Aokiji
Aokiji was once a part of the Three Admirals in One Piece before he retired from the position upon his defeat against Akainu when they battled in Punk Hazard. Eventually, he has also joined the ranks of Blackbeard’s crew as a member of the Blackbeard Pirates (One Piece, Chapter 1064).
The former admiral first appeared during the Water 7 Arc in an attempt to kill Nico Robin as the sole survivor from Ohara Island. Aokiji is a Devil Fruit user of Hie Hie no Mi that grants him the power of Ice and since it is also a Logia type, he can turn his body into ice and everything that surrounds him. During his first fight against the Straw Hats, Luffy and his crew stood no chance against him and almost cost Robin’s life. This brilliantly displayed how powerful Aokiji is and the powerlessness of the Straw Hat Pirates at the time (One Piece, Chapter 228).
9. Magellan
Magellan was the Chief Warden of Impel Down during the Summit War Saga. He first appeared when Boa Hancock requested him to take her to Ace’s prison cell as part of her mission while Luffy takes the long route of going down the underwater prison. When Luffy and his other companions made their way in Impel Down, they eventually encountered Magellan and had their first battle (One Piece, Chapter 435).
Magellan is a Devil Fruit user of Doku Doku no Mi, a Paramecia fruit that allows him to use the power of poison just like Caesar Clown. The only difference between Magellan and Caesar is that the former uses poisonous slimes while the latter use poison gases.
What makes Magellan powerful is one of his Devil Fruit abilities called Kinjite. It is said that Kinjite can destroy the whole place of Impel Down due to its strong toxins (One Piece, Chapter 534).
8. Rob Lucci
Rob Lucci is the main antagonist of the Enies Lobby Arc and is known to be the strongest among CP9 because of his Devil Fruit, Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard. This Devil Fruit basically allows him to transform into a muscular humanoid Leopard with increased stats in strength, speed, durability, and everything else! (One Piece, Chapter 305).
Luffy definitely had such a hard time fighting Rob Lucci that he was even forced to use all types of attacks he knew. He even risked himself in using his Gear 3 since that’s the strongest ability he has at the time. Even though most of the time it looked like Lucci was about to win the fight, Luffy eventually found an opening to defeat Lucci with his Jet Gatling (One Piece, Chapter 309).
7. Kizaru
Kizaru is another one of the Three Admirals along Aokiji and Akainu. He looks like a laid-back guy at first but in reality, he is actually very merciless, especially towards pirates. The Straw Hats first encountered him when they were in Sabaody Archipelago while preparing to venture out to the New World (One Piece, Episode 404).
As an Admiral, Kizaru possesses insane combat prowess in speed and strength all because of his Devil Fruit, Pika Pika no Mi. It allows him to use his own body to move at the speed of light making him a type of opponent that is almost impossible to defeat. Most of the time, Kizaru mostly uses his kicks to attack his enemies at the speed of light and it can be considered to be quite deadly if the target is not strong enough to defend against it (One Piece, Episode 404).
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6. Doflamingo
Doflamingo is the captain of the Don Quixote Pirates and a member of the Seven Warlords in the series. He is also the main antagonist during the Dressrosa Saga. When it comes to his combat capabilities, Doflamingo already excels in his physical attacks since he can easily destroy structures with his fully strong kicks (One Piece, Chapter 680).
Add to that his Devil Fruit powers when he ate the Ito Ito no Mi that grants him the ability to control strings that are sharp enough to cut through anything! But not only that, he can also use these strings by attaching it to anyone making them his own puppets! He first showed this ability when he completely stopped Jozu from his movements (One Piece, Chapter 469).
5. Enel
Next up is Enel, the main villain during the Sky Island Saga and is the Devil Fruit user of Goro Goro no Mi. It grants him the power of thunder and is an extremely deadly ability since it can unleash over 2 million volts that is enough to extinguish a whole island. Even Nico Robin herself stated that it is an unrivaled Devil Fruit (One Piece, Chapter 180).
Despite having one of the strongest Devil Fruits, there is only one guy who is completely immune to his electrical attacks and that’s Luffy. Luffy’s rubber-like body has strong resistance to electricity and that’s why Luffy didn’t have a hard time dealing with him. However, Enel was not completely defeated and still managed to continue his mission by setting out to the moon and it is there where he made his own empire (One Piece, Chapter 473).
4. Akainu
Akainu is the last of the Three Admirals in this list and possesses the power of Baku Baku no Mi, a Devil Fruit that grants him the ability to create magma. During the Marineford Arc, he is famously known as the one who killed Ace by striking through his chest. Eventually, Akainu was promoted to be the next Fleet Admiral when Sengoku retired from his position (One Piece, Chapter 570).
What makes Akainu so strong is because of his explosive attacks due to his Devil Fruit powers. Aside from shooting off magma, he can even turn himself into one making his body immune to most types of attacks. When he fought against Aokiji, he managed to turn an island into a complete hell permanently filled with blazing fires (One Piece, Chapter 582).
3. Big Mom
Big Mom is the captain of the Big Mom Pirates and is the main villain during the events of Whole Cake Island Arc. But before she was Big Mom, she was Charlotte Linlin and was a part of the Four Emperors. Big Mom is a powerful villain since she is the user of Soru Soru no Mi.
Basically, this Devil Fruit works by stealing the soul of his targets and can even decrease their lifespan. So if she really wants to kill someone on the spot, she can just easily steal the whole lifespan of the enemy. It is truly a fearsome power for a villain such as Big Mom (One Piece, Chapter 789).
2. Blackbeard
Blackbeard is who you can consider as one of the most powerful Devil Fruit users out there since he is the only to be able to use two Devil Fruits at the same time namely the Yami Yami no Mi and the Gura Gura no Mi after he stole its powers from the standing corpse of Whitebeard (One Piece, Chapter 486).
Since Blackbeard now owns two Devil Fruits, we can easily see that he is already unstoppable the way he is now and will continue to become even more stronger the longer he stays alive. It is highly possible that we will get to see more of Blackbeard’s true power as the Final Saga of One Piece progresses.
1. Kaido
The last one for this list would be Kaido, the strongest adversary of Luffy so far. It is in this battle that Luffy first unlocks his Gear 5 and becomes the next Sun God, Nika, just to beat him. Kaido was also a part of the Four Emperors of the Beast Pirates’ General (One Piece, Chapter 1044).
Kaido’s Devil Fruit is called the Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu which grants him the power to transform into a mythological Azure dragon. Other than having a large transformation, he possesses incredible powers and can even manage to levitate islands such as Onigashima! Since he’s a dragon, he obviously can release powerful fire blasts from his mouth and can destroy several structures at once (One Piece, Chapter 913)!
CONCLUSION
Villains can be truly powerful, especially in the world of One Piece and it is also because of them that Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats can push themselves to the limits making them stronger individuals in the series! Since One Piece is nearing its end for just a couple more years, it’s not too late to catch up despite the number of episodes it has!
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References:
One Piece, Episode 3
One Piece, Episode 5
One Piece, Episode 22
One Piece, Episode 29
One Piece, Episode 361
One Piece, Episode 364
One Piece, Episode 377
One Piece, Episode 404
One Piece, Episode 405
One Piece, Episode 569
One Piece, Episode 597
One Piece, Episode 598
One Piece, Episode 613
One Piece, Episode 615
One Piece, Episode 793
One Piece, Episode 851
One Piece, Episode 924
One Piece, Episode 927
One Piece, Episode 1035
One Piece, Episode 1053
One Piece, Chapter 93
One Piece, Chapter 180
One Piece, Chapter 228
One Piece, Chapter 305
One Piece, Chapter 309
One Piece, Chapter 435
One Piece, Chapter 473
One Piece, Chapter 469
One Piece, Chapter 486
One Piece, Chapter 534
One Piece, Chapter 570
One Piece, Chapter 582
One Piece, Chapter 680
One Piece, Chapter 789
One Piece, Chapter 913
One Piece, Chapter 1064
