Highlights

• Luffy faces countless powerful villains as he strives to become the Pirate King in One Piece.
• Some of the villains, like Captain Kuro and Don Krieg, had unique abilities and dirty tactics, but were ultimately defeated by Luffy.
• The ongoing Final Saga introduces even stronger villains, like Orochi and Caesar Clown, who pose a greater challenge to Luffy.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece begins with the execution of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, following which the Great Pirate Era kicks off. During this age, Luffy, One Piece's protagonist, sets out to sea to become the Pirate King.

Over the years, Luffy has become an extremely powerful pirate who ranks among this world's strongest fighters, however, he's had to face countless villains to grow to this level. While a lot of the villains weren't all that capable, some of them are worthy of being called the strongest in the story.

Updated on November 29, 2023, by Rei Penber: Oda has carefully crafted the one piece world and seen to it that every arc has its set of intimidating major villains. Without the villains in the One Piece world, the story would not be as impactful as it is today. With time, One Piece has only added to its incredible array of amazing villains. While this list already goes over the vast majority of major villains in One Piece, there are also many new ones that have been introduced, thanks to the ongoing Final Saga. These villains are stronger than ever before and, as such, they deserve a mention of their own.

24 Captain Kuro

Major Arc: Syrup Village

Captain Kuro was one of the major villains in the East Blue Saga of One Piece. He played the role of the major antagonist of the Syrup Village arc, where he stood in the way of Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. Captain Kuro was eventually fought by Luffy and taken down.

He wasn't all that strong and certainly not the strongest in the East Blue Saga. To his strength, he had his incredible Pussy Foot Maneuver and, at the same time, sharp claws which he could slice opponents with. Nonetheless, Luffy adapted to his strengths quickly and defeated him.

23 Don Krieg

Major Arc: Baratie

Don Krieg was one of the strongest characters that Luffy faced in the East Blue arc. He proclaimed himself to be the strongest on the sea and actually managed to give Luffy quite a challenge. Krieg had powerful weapons all over his body which he used in a failed attempt to take Luffy down.

As with most early villains, he wasn't as strong as the ones who came after him. Krieg's usage of dirty tactics in battle gave him quite an edge, however, and he didn't shy away from using any tactics for victory, showing that he's a pirate through and through.

22 Arlong

Major Arc: Arlong Park

Arlong was the main antagonist of One Piece's Arlong Park arc. Being a Fishman, he was born ten times as strong as a human. Arlong's power was great enough to destroy an entire town with ease, as seen when he ruled over Cocoyashi village.

Arlong proved to be quite a challenge for Luffy. However, his control over the Fishman Karate was very poor. Nonetheless, Arlong was strong enough to crush strong pirates such as Zoro and Sanji without much trouble.

21 Orochi

Major Arc: Wano

Orochi is a major villain in One Piece's ongoing Wano Country arc. First mentioned during the Zou arc, Orochi was introduced to the fans in Wano where his goal to drive the country into the dirt was revealed.

While he is certainly one of the vilest villains One Piece has produced, he isn't all that powerful. Orochi has a Mythical Zoan Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Yamata no Orochi which allows him to transform into an eight-headed serpent. He does have eight lives, but other than that he's quite weak.

20 Buggy

Major Arc: Orange Town

Buggy was yet another powerful villain that fans saw in the East Blue Saga. He was the main antagonist of the Orange Town arc and the first Devil Fruit user other than Luffy that fans saw. His Devil Fruit made him quite an interesting villain and, ever since Orange Town, he has continued to play his role as a villain across many other arcs as well.

Buggy is certainly not the strongest of pirates, however, he is one who has found quite a lot of fame. He is currently among the Four Emperors of the Sea and is likely to have strengthened quite a lot.

19 Gecko Moria

Major Arc: Thriller Bark

Gecko Moria was the main antagonist of One Piece's Thriller Bark arc. Being one of the Shichibukai, Moria was quite powerful. His strength earned him a bounty of 320 million before it was finally frozen. Moria is a user of the Kage Kage no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows him to manipulate shadows at will.

During the Thriller Bark arc, Moria showed enough power to control Oars. What's more, Luffy had to use Gear Second and Gear Third together to take him down.

18 Vergo

Major Arc: Punk Hazard

Vergo was one of the members of the Donquixote Pirates and certainly Doflamingo's closest aide. He was incredibly powerful and, even though he did not have any Devil Fruit ability, his Haki was known to be very impressive.

He was able to take on Smoker in combat and that in itself is quite impressive. He was also able to take on Law in combat, however, only when he did not have access to his own heart. Vergo was strong, however, in the end, he was taken down in a single shot by Trafalgar Law.

17 Hody Jones

Major Arc: Fishman Island

Hody Jones served as the main villain of the Fishman Island arc. As an accumulation of hatred, Hody was quite a great villain that Oda expanded upon in terrific fashion, however, he wasn't all that strong.

As a Fishman, Hody's skill wasn't all that great either. He had to rely on steroids to make himself strong and, even then, he wasn't able to match Luffy in combat. Eventually, Hody was beaten rather easily by the Straw Hat captain. Despite his weakness, however, he left quite a mark on the overall story and established himself as a great villain.

16 Caesar Clown

Major Arc: Punk Hazard

Caesar Clown was the main antagonist of the Punk Hazard arc. Punk Hazard was the first island Luffy and his crew set foot on in the New World. There, Caesar was revealed to be carrying out experiments of gigantification on children. At the same time, it was also revealed that he was manufacturing SAD and Smile Devil Fruits for Doflamingo, who was supplying them to Kaido, one of the Four Emperors of the Sea.

Caesar was a small villain in the grand scheme of things, however, during the arc, he was certainly a major villain. He stood in Luffy's path and ended up getting absolutely crushed by him. He also posed quite a challenge and tested Luffy's skills in the New World. Fans got to see his growth in quite some fashion and, for that reason, Caesar certainly served the role of a great villain.

15 Enel

Major Arc: Skypia

Enel appeared during One Piece's Skypiea arc as the main antagonist. With the power of the Logia-type Goro Goro no Mi, Enel became incredibly powerful. He completely destroyed Birka with its power and six years later, planned to do the same to Skypiea.

Enel's strength was enough to completely defeat several powerful fighters at once such as Zoro, Wyper, Robin, and Gan Fall. It took Luffy all he had to defeat Enel in combat.

14 Rob Lucci

Major Arc: Enies Lobby

The strongest of the CP9, Rob Lucci was the main antagonist of the Enies Lobby arc. As expected, he was Luffy's opponent during the storyline. With a Doriki of over 4000, Lucci was much stronger than Luffy.

Lucci's usage of the Rokushiki was incredible, which was evident from the fact that he could use the Rokuogan. Despite having learned Gear Second and Gear Third, Luffy struggled to defeat Lucci. Had Usopp not helped him, Luffy would certainly have lost the fight against him.

13 Crocodile

Major Arc: Arabasta

Just like Moria, Crocodile was one of the Shichibukai. He was the main antagonist of the Alabasta arc, where he defeated Luffy twice in combat. To overcome Crocodile, Luffy had to rely on a lot of luck and surpass his limits. Crocodile's usage of the Suna Suna no Mi made him incredibly powerful.

Being a Logia-type user, few could match up to him in combat. After his escape from Impel Down, Crocodile appears to have gotten much stronger than he was during the Alabasta arc.

12 Magellan

Major Arc: Impel Down

Magellan was the main antagonist of One Piece's Impel Down arc. Being the warden of the world's greatest prison, he was quite powerful and put Luffy in a near-death state when the two fought. Magellan has the powers of the Doku Doku no Mi and with this fruit, he can produce poisons of many kinds and manipulate them accordingly to his will.

He even took out all of the Blackbeard Pirates on his own during the Impel Down arc, which just goes to show how skilled he truly was. Despite all the prisoners joining forces to take him down, they had no option but to run from him and make an escape from Impel Down.

11 Doflamingo

Major Arc: Dressrosa

Doflamingo was the King of Dressrosa and the main villain of the island's arc in One Piece. After the timeskip, Doflamingo was the first pirate to give Luffy a run for his money. With the power of the Ito Ito no Mi, Doflamingo could control strings at will. Doflamingo could also use all three Haki types, making him quite a unique pirate.

To defeat him, Luffy had to tap into the power of Gear Fourth twice, highlighting just how powerful of an opponent Doflamingo was.

10 Bartholomew Kuma

Major Arc: Thriller Bark

Bartholomew Kuma appeared as an antagonist during the Thriller Bark arc. While Gecko Moria was the main villain of the arc, Kuma showed up towards the end and it was quite clear that he was an even bigger threat than Moria ever was. Kuma ended up fighting against Roronoa Zoro and he managed to defeat not just him but the entirety of the Straw Hat Pirates and the other pirates on Thriller Bark.

Kuma would have taken Luffy's head had it not been for the Straw Hat Pirates, specifically Zoro. Later on, he also was responsible for separating the crew on Sabaody Archipelago, however, in reality, he was saving them. Kuma's roles as a villain and a savior are mixed, however, he does both jobs phenomenally.

9 Greenbull

Major Arc: Wano

Green Bull is one of the Admirals of the Marines and that in itself is enough for him to be considered among the strongest One Piece characters. He has a bounty of Three Crowns on his head and this equates to 3 billion berries.

Green Bull has access to the Mori Mori no Mi, which is a powerful Logia type of Devil Fruit that allows him to turn into a forest and control all types of vegetation at will. Green Bull also has access to powerful Haki and it appears that he's also a swordsman of sorts. He is easily one of the strongest characters in One Piece and, towards the end of Wano, he appeared as a villain. While Green Bull did not play the role of a major antagonist in Wano, he will certainly have to do that in the Final Saga and, for a character as strong as him, a high ranking is certainly deserved.

8 Kizaru

Major Arc: Egghead Island

Kizaru made his introduction in the story during the Sabaody Archipelago arc. There, it was revealed to the fans that he possesses the power of the Pika Pika no Mi, which is an incredibly powerful Logia Devil Fruit that allows him to manipulate light and transform into it at will. He absolutely demolished the Supernova on Sabaody.

What's more, he is also a recurring villain in the later story arcs. Specifically, he's already returned in the Egghead arc and is currently leading a fleet of 100 ships towards Egghead, where Luffy is. All his actions make him a major antagonist for the Egghead arc, as well as the Sabaody arc.

7 Akainu

Major Arc: Marineford

Akainu is one of the biggest villains in One Piece, and he stood in Luffy's path for the first time during the Marineford arc. He used the power of the Magu Magu no Mi to try and kill Luffy twice but failed. Akainu has since then become the Fleet Admiral of the Marines, meaning he's much stronger than before.

Akainu is one of the very few people capable of fighting the Yonko, which goes to show that he is one of the strongest villains in One Piece.

6 Blackbeard

Major Arc: Marineford

One of the Yonko, Blackbeard is an extremely powerful pirate who wields two Devil Fruits, the Gura Gura no Mi and the Yami Yami no Mi. Over the years, he's become extremely powerful and his influence continues to grow in One Piece's world.

Blackbeard was responsible for Ace's death and even killed Whitebeard. He is one of the few people who rival Luffy to become the Pirate King and would use any method necessary to get his hands on the One Piece.

5 Big Mom

Major Arc: Whole Cake Island

Charlotte Linlin, also known by the name of Big Mom, is one of the Yonko of the One Piece world. She appeared as the main antagonist of the Whole Cake Island arc and has continued to be a thorn in Luffy's path ever since. Big Mom possesses the power of the Soru Soru no Mi and the skill to use all three Haki types.

Over the years, Big Mom has acquired a bounty of 4,388,000,000 berries, which goes to show how powerful she truly is. Without a doubt, Big Mom is one of the most powerful villains in One Piece.