With The Seven Warlords being disbanded by the World Government during the Reverie arc, many of the strongest pirates in One Piece are now on on the run from the Marines. With former warlord Trafalgar D. Water Law recently having shown his awakening and defeating Big Mom in the raid on Onigashima, it’s clear there exists a wide gap between the strongest Warlords and the weakest.
Being a warlord doesn’t indicate a level of strength, but rather a level of notoriety. Strength in One Piece is not simply determined by one’s devil fruit or experience, but also by the strength of one’s will and determination to follow one’s dreams. This means that the strength of the warlords varies greatly, from characters the Straw Hat’s defeated before even entering the Grand Line to Yonko-level foes they have yet to face off against.
Buggy
Buggy the Clown was once a young member of the Roger Pirates alongside future Yonko Redhair Shanks. Despite his early friendship with Shanks, Buggy does not even come close to the same level of power as him.
In fact, Buggy is defeated by Luffy in Orange Town way back in the East Blue. Since then, Buggy has likely gotten stronger, but throughout the series, Buggy is shown to luck his way into his achievements, such as his warlord position, which he obtained only because of his connection to the Roger Pirates. Despite his devil fruit’s potential, Buggy has been and remains a comic relief character.
Gecko Moria
Gecko Moria at the Thriller Bark is past his prime. Once, Gecko Moria was said to be a rival to Kaido. But after having his crew wiped out, Moria lost his resolve and began to cultivate a crew of zombies that the Strawhats face at Thriller Bark.
Moria’s fruit has some strong abilities, but it is a very situational power that requires shadows in order to work. This means that if a fight happened during the day, Moria would already be at a significant disadvantage. Bearing in mind that Moria’s power can be completely nullified by a speed blitz like when he was attacked by Donquixote Doflamingo, a fast opponent would spell trouble for Moria.
Crocodile
Crocodile is the antagonist of the Alabasta Saga. Crocodile’s narrative follows Gecko Moria’s, of an older generation of pirates who ventured into the New World only to be crushed by one of the Yonko. In his younger days, Crocodile’s crew was crushed by Whitebeard in his prime, causing him to retreat into the Paradise section of the Grand Line and lose his ambitions to become the Pirate King.
Crocodile having forsaken his dream puts him at a disadvantage. Though Having even survived against someone as powerful as prime Whitebeard shows that Crocodile was stronger in his younger years, he grew complacent during his scheming to take over Alabasta and did not train to attain a level of strength that would let them compete with some of their fellow warlords.
Edward Weevil
Edward Weevil is the alleged son of Whitebeard, and while his intelligence leaves much to be desired, he makes up for it in raw strength. As a result of his naive nature, Weevil’s mother, Miss Bakkin, manipulates him, ultimately seeking to destroy the former whitebeard pirates and secure Whitebeard’s treasure.
Weevil is mostly an unknown quantity, having not encountered the Straw Hats yet, but he single-handedly destroyed 16 of Whitebeard’s allied crews. This feat is doubtlessly impressive, but its true scale is unquantifiable because the strength of the crews that Weevil fought is currently unknown. As a consequence of his mostly unknown nature, it can only be said that Weevil is at least strong enough to hold his own with some of his fellow warlords.
Boa Hancock
Boa Hancock is the empress of Amazon Lily, an island that is home to the Kuja Tribe, a tribe of all-female fighters. Hancock wields the Love-Love Fruit, which allows her to make her opponents fall in love with her. It affects the user regardless of their gender, and even works on the World Government’s powerful Pacifista cyborgs.
Hancock’s fruit also has some limitations, the target must have lustful or loving thoughts in order for it to work. As such, her fruit did not work on Luffy, and others such as Mihawk and Crocodile have been shown to resist it. Hancock also has been shown to easily destroy Pacifistas, who are all based on Kuma, her fellow warlord.
Bartholomew Kuma
Bartholomew Kuma is not only one of the warlords, but he’s also a former member of the Revolutionary Army, and he was turned into a Pacifista by the world government. What separates him from the other Pacifistas is the Paw-Paw Fruit, which he used to single-handedly decimate the pre-time skip straw hat crew at Sabaody Archipelago.
Kuma’s Fruit is a frighteningly powerful and versatile one, with many of his attacks being light-speed by his own admission. Kuma is also likely to have the will to resist Hancock’s Love-Love Fruit since he is able to resist his cyborg programming during his fights with the Straw Hats and spare them when he is supposed to capture or kill them.
Jinbe
Jinbe is the newest and one of the strongest members of the Straw Hats, and he is a master of Fish-Man Karate, which he has used to square off against powerful opponents like Big Mom.
Jinbe can use his Fish-Man Karate to control water, creating massive tidal waves such as Vagabond Drill, which he used to knock back Big Mom during the Strawhat’s escape from Whole Cake Island. Although the result of their fight is unknown, both appeared in Wano sometime later seemingly unharmed which speaks to Jinbe’s abilities, putting him somewhere near the Yonko level.
Donquixote Doflamingo
Donquixote Doflamingo is the main antagonist of the Dressrosa arc and has the String-String Fruit, which allows him to create incredibly sharp strings he can use to cut opponents or even stitch up his own wounds. Doflamingo can also use the strings for mobility, allowing him to swing around by attaching them to buildings and even clouds.
His awakening also allows him to increase the strength of his attacks and defenses by weaponizing the environment. Doflamingo surviving a punch that shattered the island of Dressrosa shows that he has insane durability, even when fatigued from a long fight. However, Doflamingo held his own against Luffy’s Gear Fourth but was ultimately overpowered by the transformation, a stronger version of which could not even make Big Mom or Kaido flinch.
Trafalgar D. Water Law
Trafalgar D. Water Law is a man with as many names as abilities at his disposal. Law’s devil fruit is one of the most complicated in the entire series. This wide toolkit makes Law a very powerful and versatile fighter, though, and has allowed Law to tangle with powerful fighters like Doflamingo and Big Mom.
Law also recently displayed that he has awakened his devil fruit, and this, along with some teamwork with Eustass Kidd, was enough for him to take out Big Mom. Law stands just outside of the Yonko level of power, and that puts him well above many of his fellow Warlords.
Dracule Mihawk
Dracule Mihawk, mentor to Zoro and rival of Redhair Shanks, is the most powerful swordsman in the world. That title alone put Mihawk in the top tier of fighters in One Piece, considering how many fighters we see wielding swords.
It is not yet known exactly how powerful Shanks is but his fellow Yonko, Big Mom and Kaido, are both described as being inhumanly strong. Shanks also dissuaded Kaido from interfering in the war at Marineford so he can be considered relative to Kaido, and Mihawk can be considered to be above Shanks because he holds the title of the strongest swordsman in the world, placing him comfortably in the Yonko tier.
“Blackbeard” Marshall D. Teach
Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, is a former member of Whitebeard’s crew and one of the Yonko. Blackbeard wields two of the most powerful devil fruits which he used to wipe out the remnants of the Whitebeard crew in the Payback War.
Blackbeard also gave Shanks the scar over his eye, and Shanks warned Whitebeard about Blackbeard’s intentions before the war at Marineford, showing that even before he obtained two powerful devil fruits he was strong in his own right. Blackbeard is also shaping up to be one of Luffy’s final foes, which puts him above current antagonists like Big Mom and Kaido from a narrative perspective.
