One Piece has A LOT of good Antagonists, but which one is actually the best ?
In this list we’re talking about overall portrayal, and not just powerwise.
We looked at the motives and purpose of every One Piece character and we came up with a list of how we think they should be ranked.
This list is made up of characters that either have been fully fleshed out, or from whom we already know a lot of things.
So characters like Imu, The Gorosei, Cp0 members ( except for 1 ) and other big players that haven’t made a real move yet, are excluded from this list.
the list also includes Anti-heroes, so don’t think everybody on this list is just straight-up evil, some has just been rivals/obstacles to either Luffy or the Straw hats. With that being said, lets begin !
Top 10 One Piece Antagonists Ranked
10. Crocodile
Mr 0 himself was one of the first obstacles the Straw Hats had to overcome.
Not only was he a very powerful and influential individual, he also had a massive criminal organization under his wings that had a lot of powerful members among them.
He’s also the first villain that straight up brought Luffy to the verge of death.
His reasoning is also quite interesting since he was searching for a ancient weapon and despite not being as evil as some people on this list, he still did some pretty messed up stuff.
For example starting a civil war just because he wanted to place himself on the throne afterwards.
And then he has moments like in marineford, where he just straight up helps Luffy out, at the most crucial moments possible.
He bears a lot of what looks to be hatred towards the government, which also makes him quite interesting because he worked for them as one of the Seven warlords, and he abused his position for his own agenda.
Makes you wonder what he knows about them.
9. Judge Vinsmoke
This probably surprises a lot of you, but I think its more then logical to put him on this list.
Although he isn’t a villain whom Luffy had to beat, he still was an obstacle in the stories of one of our main characters.
Not only did he forced his wife to take certain medicine to cancel their kids emotions, He also used them as weapons to further his ambition, only to get betrayed in the end by his so called ally, and saw his ‘’failure son’’ save everything he had left.
I also think Judge is a very conflicted man as he did show love towards the more successful siblings, he still didn’t gave a crap about Sanji or whatever happens to him, which shows us that he is capable of showing love/affection but only when someone benefits his cause.
Even after he Sanji saved them, he still continued to question why Luffy wants to be around such a failure.
His character has a lot of depth to it, and even tho he’s a scumbag, he was a pretty interesting character on his own.
8. Eustass Kidd.
The reason why he’s on the list is because he already showed us a lot of potential to be one of Luffys biggest rivals on the whole sea.
Not only are his ideals VERY similar to the main character, he even walks a similar path.
For example him challenging and getting defeated by multiple Yonkou, is something Luffy also has done.
He’s not an overall bad guy either, as we saw that he deeply cares about what happens to the people close to him, like when he found out what Kaido and Orochi did to his first mate Killer.
one of my top 3 favourite One Piece quotes also comes from him, which goes as follows “Compared to the “righteous” greed of the rulers, the criminals of the world seem much more honorable. When scum rule the world, only more scum is born.”
He’s such a interesting character to follow, and everytime he pops up, you cant just help yourself but wonder what he has been upto and what his next steps are going to be.
7. Charlotte LinLin
The very first Yonkou Luffy had to face after the timeskip !
Big Mom deserved her spot on this list, because she is a very conflicted induvial overall and kinda misunderstood if you ask me.
Her overall goal is not very villain like, she just wants everyone to live under harmony, but the way she goes about it is very ‘’iron fist’’ like.
She also has a lot of history on the seas and is the longest standing Yonkou Luffy has ever faced.
What makes her special imo, is that she’s a mother and she somehow made an entire empire with mostly her kids !
A lot of people like to clown her because of portrayal in the recent arc, but best believe Big Mom is long from done in the story.
6. Rob Lucci.
I think a lot of people we’re waiting on where he would rank up in the list.
Lucci was the first opponent that showed Luffy how evil the world government truly is.
Not only was he an absolute monster, he also was a very cunning man, and he was good enough to infiltrate the Galley-la company without anyone (including the viewers) having a clue of his true motives.
He was the first opponent that forced Luffy to surpass his limit, which is a very good feat on its own.
Really makes you wonder where his story is going to head next, because he works for the same organization that betrayed and abandoned him after everything he did for them.
5. Kaido
The strongest creature alive HAS to be on this list !
He’s the biggest obstacle the straw hats have faced until now, and his story arc is the longest running one in the entirety of One Piece ( up until now atleast ).
The first enemy to defeat Luffy in his gear 4th form in a SINGLE SHOT !
His behaviour is also something which i personally have never seen before.
He wants to be a mighty ruler of the seas but at the same time he wants to commit suicide and wants to engulf the entire world into a massive war, because its simply to boring for him.
Of course their could be more to his motives, but that on its own is already crazy enough to place him in the top 5 of this list.
His existence alone is something fans can speculated hours upon because we aren’t exactly sure what he is.
This, and his aggressive violent nature, is what makes him one of the greatest villains One Piece has ever seen !
4. Akainu
I know a lot of people really hate this man, but I think he’s one of the greatest villains not only in One Piece but in the entirety of Shonen anime (I said one of, not the best so no panic).
He’s a very straight forward individual and that’s actually what makes him so great.
In his head its just his justice is good, other ways of doing things is bad and thats it.
Not only is he strong enough to fight and survive an enraged Whitebeard, he also managed to be the MVP of the Marineford war, because it were his actions that brought the marines the victory they had that day.
Now that he’s a Fleet Admiral his role in the story only became even more interesting, because he has a lot more flexibility now to follow his own sense of justice.
3.Katakuri
Yup, Mochi man made it to the top 3.
‘’but why ?’’ you may ask, and the answer is pretty simple.
He’s a NICE GUY !
No seriously, this man is the strongest commander of a relatively vicious Yonkou, but he somehow still manages to be a reasonable and understanding man.
We saw how his fight with Luffy became one of the best fights in the entirety of One Piece, and how his observation haki was a whole game changer if we’re talking about powerscaling.
Not only did he carried the burden of being looked at as the pinnacle of power, he carried it with proud and anyone who dares to test his loyalty towards his family, is going to end up getting ‘’Zangiri Mochi’d ’’ into oblivion.
Katakuri is forever going to be one of the BEST antagonists Luffy has ever faced ! (atleast for me he is).
2. Doflamingo
There is no way that the heavinly demon wouldn’t be top 3 in this list !
the Dressrosa arc is easily top 5 best One Piece arcs, and that’s only because it had this man at the front of it.
From his heritage all the way to his goals, this man was an unstoppable walking disaster that HAD to be put down by Luffy.
His personality is also something which is straight out of the ordinary, and even tho he’s capable of loving people, he gets rid of them in a split second if they turn out to be traitors to his cause.
This man even killed his own father because he blamed him for everything that went wrong after they left the holy land.
What makes him such a good character, is the fact that he’s the perfect example of what happen when you got bad influences from very early on.
lets hope we get a return from him somewhere during the final war, because we all know he’s going LOVE the chaos.
1.Blackbeard
And last but DEFINITELY not least, Mister Zehahaha !
I think its only fair to put him on number one, since he’s an anti-Luffy basically.
Everything Luffy despises is what Blackbeards stands for and vice versa.
He has some of the best Quotes in the whole story, and if you look where he started and where he is now, you cant do anything but respect the grind.
His role definitely intensified with the whole Rocks introduction, because he has a lot of connections to Rocks, and we all know that Blackbeard is going to bring the biggest chaos the One Piece world has ever seen.
What makes him such an interesting character is the fact that he shares the initial ‘’D’’ just like a lot of characters but he’s the odd one out, because he doesn’t act like his ‘’Clan members’’ at all.
He probably is going to have a very sad backstory too, since we saw Oda depicting him crying when he was a little kid.
Blackbeard easily is one of the most motivated villains out there, and he’s definitely going to be Luffy’s biggest obstacle to overcome in the entire series.
What do you guys think ?
And, did we end up satisfying your feels with the list, or was triggering all we got out of it ?
Let us know in the comments below, and until next time Nakama !