One Piece: The 15 Strongest Active Pirate Crews, Ranked
There are hundreds of pirate crews in the masterful Shonen series called One Piece. And who can blame them for going down this path of crime? The "romance" of the open ocean, complete freedom, conquering the seas, it all sounds pretty nice. It's sort of why so many different pirate games exist. Unfortunately, as the story has gone on, a lot of the crews have met their end at the hands of the Marines or another pirates crew, were disbanded, or have gone missing entirely.
Now, in the New World, there aren’t many crews left that pop-up, as it takes some truly powerful folks to make it into the second half of the Grand Line. So, let’s take a look at some of the strongest ones that are currently active.
Updated June 29th, 2021 by Jacob Buchalter: Since the time of this article going up, a lot has happened in the One Piece manga. Luffy figured out how to fight Kaido, they're in the middle of the raid on Onigashima, and things are really kicking off all around in the neverending story that is One Piece. And, with that said, most if not all of the active pirates of the New World are under the banner of one of the Four Emperors (five including Luffy). With that in mind, we decided to separate the Straw Hat Grand Fleet into its separate crews, as well as taking another look through the canon One Piece films, older (but still active) pirate crews, and more to search for any absurdly strong crews that were missed. Here's what was found.
15 The Yonta Maria Grand Fleet
Not much is known about the Yonta Maria Grand Fleet, other than the fact it is 4500 strong and has 56 ships all led by one man, Orlumbus the Adventurer. After the events of Dressrosa, Orlumbus also pledged his loyalty to the Straw Hat Grand Fleet and went back to his home island, the Standing Kingdom to resign from his position and become a pirate.
Outside of Orlumbus himself, who was strong enough to fair pretty well in the Dressrosa Coliseum, not much is known about the strength of his crew. But the sheer number of them and the fact that they’ve survived in the New World implies this is a much different situation than Don Krieg’s crew, which had numbers but almost no "real" strength.
Notable Crew Members
- "Massacre Ruler" Orlumbus: 148,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- Columbus: Unknown Bounty, trusted by Orlumbus.
14 The Treasure Pirates
Quite frankly, a lot of the villains in One Piece movies aren’t fellow pirates, but rather people that are not part of any organization or marines. Yet, The Treasure Pirates, the crew that function as the antagonists of the Heart of Gold special that would later tie into the plot of One Piece, Film: Gold, are an exception.
Most of the crew is about as forgettable as many of the pirate crews in One Piece, but Captain Mad Treasure, as well as his two trusted companions Psycho P and Naomi Drunk, are all pretty powerful. They were able to put up pretty decent fights against Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy.
They’re near the bottom of this ranking in terms of strength, and the last time viewers saw them they were still stuck inside a giant Sea King angler fish, but they are still assumedly active and could very easily survive on their own in the New World.
Notable Crew Members
- Mad Treasure: Unknown Bounty, Captain, held his own against Luffy when he was at a 500,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- Naomi Drunk: Unknown Bounty, Sniper.
- Psycho P: Unknown Bounty, Elite Crew Member, and Devil Fruit user.
13 The Tontatta Pirates
The Tontatta Pirates are yet another crew underneath Straw Hat Luffy, as there aren’t many crews in the New World in general who isn’t “part” of the Four (now tentatively five) Emperors in some way. The Tontatta Pirates are made up entirely of 200 dwarves from Dressrosa, under the command of The "Warrior" Leo, wielder of the Sew-Sew Devil Fruit.
The thing is, each of these tiny creatures has strength far surpassing that of an average man, being able to wreck entire buildings singlehandedly in an instant. Plus, they’re absurdly fast, innately stealthy, and overall very capable warriors. And, outside of Leo, this crew has two other Devil Fruit users as well. Honestly, if these dwarves weren't so hopelessly trusting, they could easily become one of the most fearsome crews in the New World (outside of the Four Emperors).
Notable Crew Members
- "Warrior" Leo: Unknown Bounty, Captain and Devil Fruit user.
- Bomba and Rampo: Unknown Bounty, the crew's two Vice-Chiefs.
- Bian: Leader of the "Pink Bee" Squad and Devil Fruit user.
- Kabu: Leader of the "Yellow Kabu" Squad and Devil Fruit user.
12 Buggy's Delivery AKA The "Pirate Dispatch Organization"
If this list was made before the time, the crew of Buggy the Clown wouldn’t be anywhere near it, since they were one of the weakest pirate groups that Luffy encounter early on in his adventures. Sure, Buggy’s Chop-Chop DF is pretty useful, but his combat ability and overall cowardice lead him to avoid most fights he isn’t absolutely sure he can win. That said, after the events of Impel Down, the Marineford War, and the timeskip, Buggy the Clown has lucked his way into building up an organization all his own called Buggy's Delivery.
Before the Seven Warlords system was disbanded, Buggy was able to operate this Pirate Mercenary service while sanctioned by the Marines. And, this rather large collaboration between pirates includes criminals from all levels of Impel Down, Devil Fruit users like Alvida and Mr. 3, and (for a time) included some Giants as well. It’s not a crew made up of big-name pirates, but there are thousands of them. And, they all swear by Buggy’s leadership, which makes sense, given the popularity Buggy somehow manages to hold on to.
Notable Crew Members
- Ex-Warlord Buggy The Star Clown: 15,000,000 Million Beli Bounty (Pre-Warlord).
- Mr.3 AKA Galdino: 24,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- "Iron Mace" Alvida: 5,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Mohji "The Beast Tamer": Unknown Bounty, First Mate.
- Cabaji "The Acrobat": Unknown Bounty, Chief of Staff.
- Many Of The Powerful Pirates From Impel Down: Total Bounty, unknown.
11 The New Giant Warrior Pirates
In the world of One Piece, the Giants have always been a mysterious race of warriors known for their absurd natural battle prowess. In fact, the legend of Dorry and Broggy, the two captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, has been elaborated on more and more ever since their initial appearance at Little Garden. And, for numerous reasons.
Now, The New Giant Warrior Pirates are a crew made up entirely of Giants and are a spiritual revival of the Giant Warrior Pirates that were previously mentioned. There are only five of them so far, led by Hajrudin. But, just like Luffy’s crew, each one is likely able to handle hundreds of normal fighters on their own. Lastly, like most of the notable pirate crews not associated with the Four Emperors, they are also part of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
Notable Crew Members
- Hajrudin: Unknown Bounty, Captain.
- Road: Unknown Bounty, Navigator.
- Goldberg: Unknown Bounty, Cook.
- Gerd: Unknown Bounty, Doctor.
- Stansen: Unknown Bounty, Shipwright, was the Giant Silvers Rayleigh saved from the slavers in Sabaody Archipelago.
10 The Thriller Bark Pirates
Luffy managed to beat Gecko Moria pretty early on in the story, but the guy and his crew are still pretty powerful. Before Moria decided to leave everything to his subordinates, he was a pretty good fighter in his own right, even managing to make it to Kaido's domain rather quickly. Sadly, Kaido and his crew defeated the Gecko Pirates with relative ease, and most of Moria’s crew was killed in the process.
This completely changed Moria’s outlook on life, deciding to make a new crew of zombies he controlled rather than humans he trusted, which became The Thriller Bark Pirates. Moria has the largest pirate ship in existence, can "make" a new crew in almost no time flat, and has the power of a very strong Devil Fruit on his side. Sadly, Absalom is no longer with him, but with Perona running back to his side, and Hogback making him an endless supply of Zombies (called "Marios"), Gecko Moria usually has a pretty fearsome crew at his side. Currently, this crew doesn't seem very strong, which is why it's so low on the list, but given enough time it could easily ascend the ranks.
Notable Crew Members
- Ex-Warlord Gecko Moria: 320,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Dr. Hogback: Unknown Bounty, creator of all Moria's zombie "Marios".
- "Ghost Princess" Perona: Unknown Bounty, former Commander of both the Wild Zombies and Surprise Zombies, as well as a Devil Fruit user.
- Army Of Undead Shadow Zombies: Zombie soldiers of all different strengths that are at the mercy of Moria's Devil Fruit, the amount of them fluctuates throughout the series, but usually numbers in the hundreds to the thousands.
- Oars, The "Continent Puller": The corpse of a Giant that's four times the size of a normal Giant. Currently lifeless, but previously held Luffy's shadow.
9 The Fire Tank Pirates
Up now are The Fire Tank Pirates, a crew led by Capone Bege, one of the most memorable members of the Worst Generation. Bege has the Castle-Castle Devil Fruit, allowing him to keep all his crew, weapons, and treasure inside his very own body that is literally a fortress. This, combined with the sheer number of crew members he has, his willingness to do anything to win, and their villainous nature, makes them one of the most fearsome crews out there. Think about it, this one man might be hiding hundreds of pirates inside his very own belly at any moment.
Notable Crew Members
- Capone Bege: 350,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- "Monster Gun" Vito: 95,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- Gotti: 90,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- Charlotte Chiffon: Unknown Bounty, daughter of Big Mom and wife of Capone.
8 The Kid Pirates
Here’s the thing, out of all the pirate crews introduced in the Worst Generation, The Kid Pirates (outside of the Straw Hats) are probably the strongest on average from crewmate to crewmate. For example, Trafalgar Law is insanely strong on his own, but the rest of the Heart Pirates doesn’t seem to be nearly on the same level (sorry Bepo).
Meanwhile, The Kid Pirates have Eustass Kid and Killer as their two frontliners, two people who are relatively comparable to Luffy and Zoro. It's unclear how strong the rest of the members of his crew are, such as the men known as Heat and Wire, but there aren't many of them, so they must all be at the very least capable. Remember, this crew has gone up against Shanks, Big Mom, and Kaido and lived to tell the tale.
Notable Crew Members
- Eustace "Captain" Kid: 470,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Killer AKA "Kamazo The Manslayer": 200,000,000 Million Beli Bounty
7 The Kuja Pirates
People for some reason seem to forget this, but The Kuja Pirates have always been insanely strong. For one, they’re led by Boa Hancock, former Warlord of the Sea, who’s basically unstoppable with the Love-Love Fruit thanks to her unmatched beauty.
Two, Boa's second-in-command are her two sisters, both of whom are giant women (but not Giants) who ate Snake-type Zoan Devil Fruits and can use Haki. Three, the bulk of the crew is made up of warriors from Amazon Lily, most if not all of which can use Haki as well. And, lastly, they have a ship that can cross the Calm Belt, which is a rare thing for a pirate to have.
Notable Crew Members
- Boa Hancock The "Pirate Empress": 80,000,000 Million Beli Bounty (Pre-Warlord) and Devil Fruit user.
- Boa Sandersonia: 40,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Boa Marigold: 40,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- A Crew Full Of Capable Amazon Warriors: All of whom can imbue their arrows with Armament Haki.
6 The Golden Lion Pirates
The Golden Lion Pirates are canon, considering that Shiki is an actual character in the mainline story. They come from the film One Piece: Strong World, one of the better OP films, as it turns out. In any case, this is a crew led by the Golden Lion Shiki, the man who fought with Gol D. Roger multiple times (and lost). Shiki has the Float-Float Devil Fruit, a Paramecia-type ability that is much more powerful than it first appears. And, because of this power, his crew gets to travel in style on their flying pirate ship. Now, the Shiki crew (in their prime) had numbers that rivaled the entire naval force...nowadays they have a ton of mutant monsters and a few key crew members. Still, this is the man who was the first ever to escape from Impel Down, was a member of the Rocks Pirates, and had an ongoing rivalry with Roger. So, of course, his crew is still one of the strongest around.
Notable Crew Members
- Shiki The Golden Lion: Unknown Bounty, but he was one of Gol D. Roger's rivals and is a Devil Fruit user.
- Dr. Indigo: Unknown Bounty, the genius Scientist who created all of the monsters in the crew.
- Scarlet: Unknown Bounty, a literal red gorilla, but surprisingly strong.
5 The Straw Hat Pirates
Even without the whole Straw Hat Grand Fleet aspect, The Straw Hat Pirates were always going to be up there in the rankings. Monkey D. Luffy is basically the 5th New World Emporer at this point, they've beaten almost everyone they've ever gone up against, and they're very well-rounded.
There are no weak members of the Straw Hats, especially after the Time Skip. Nami learned a ton of new tricks with her Clima-Tact, Usopp got buff and studied how to use the Pop Greens, even Chopper has managed to train his odd DF into something powerful enough for the New World. Plus, both the Dressrosa and Whole Cake Island arcs proved their strength is real in numerous ways, including some insanely long battles that rivaled even Dragon Ball Z. It’s pretty clear that the Straw Hats have truly become legendary in their status, strength, and partying potential (especially when it comes to eating). Still, they're a very small crew compared to all the rest of the big names in the New World.
Notable Crew Members
- Monkey D. Luffy AKA "Straw Hat Luffy": 1,500,000,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Jinbe, The "Knight Of The Sea": 438,000,000 Million Beli Bounty, Ex-Warlord, and Helmsman.
- The "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro: 320,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and First Mate.
- Sanji "Black Leg" Vinsmoke: 330,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Cook.
- "God" Usopp: 200,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Sniper.
- Nico "Devil Child" Robin: 130,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- "Cyborg" Franky AKA Cutty Flam: 94,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Shipwright.
- "Soul King" Brook: 83,000,000 Million Beli Bounty, Musician, and Devil Fruit user.
- "Cat Burglar" Nami: 66,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Navigator.
- Tony Tony Chopper AKA "Cotton Candy Lover": 100 Beli...total, Doctor and Devil Fruit user.
4 The Blackbeard Pirate Fleet
Finally, we’re getting to the Four Emporers of the New World, with the most dastardly coming first, that being The Blackbeard Pirates. Marshall D. Teach, the only wielder of two Devil Fruits (one amazing Paramecia and one unique Logia), isn’t exactly a combat specialist. But, through his sheer strength, odd body makeup, underhandedness, and double Devil Fruit powers, he’s managed to beat most everyone he’s come up against.
At the very least, the guy has always been absurdly strong in the Pirate Warrior spin-off games, so that's something. Plus, because of his expertly timed attack on Impel Down, Blackbeard was able to add some truly monstrous members to his crew before the timeskip that have only become stronger after.
Notable Crew Members
- Marshall D. Teach AKA Blackbeard: 2,247,600,000 Billion Beli Bounty (Pre-Warlord) and Devil Fruit user.
- "Death God" Doq Q: (Last recorded at) 72,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- Van Augur: (Last recorded at) 64,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- "Demon Sheriff" Laffitte: (Last recorded at) 42,200,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Jesus Burgess: (Last recorded at) 20,000,000 Million Beli Bounty.
- Shiryu Of The Rain: No bounty yet, ex-Vice Warden of Impel Down and Devil Fruit user.
- Avalo Pizarro: No Bounty, previous Level 6 prisoner in Impel Down.
- Catarina "Crescent Moon Hunter" Devon: No Bounty, previous Level 6 prisoner in Impel Down and Devil Fruit user.
- The "Colossal Battleship" Sanjuan Wolf: No Bounty, previous Level 6 prisoner in Impel Down, Giant, and Devil Fruit user.
- Vasco Shot AKA "Heavy Drinker": No Bounty, previous Level 6 prisoner in Impel Down.
3 The Big Mom Pirates
The Big Mom Pirates are both similar and different to Kaido’s in many ways. On one hand, it’s a crew made up of thousands of strong members with a ton of DF users mixed in. But, Big Mom considers her crew to be family while Kaido’s crew only welcomes strength.
Sure, Charlotte Linlin is a lot to handle, especially if she gets out of control, but the sheer variety of powers and specialties her children have in the crew is what makes them so fearsome. Whether it’s Katakuri’s Mochi powers (or him seeing the future with his Haki), Smoothie’s….smoothie powers, Cracker's artistic Biscuit abilities, or the candy powers of Perospero.
Notable Crew Members
- Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin: 4,388,000,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Charlotte Katakuri: 1,057,000,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Charlotte Smoothie: 932,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Charlotte "Thousand Arms" Cracker: 860,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Charlotte Perospero: 700,000,000 Million Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- All The Other Big Mom Officers: 73 of Big Mom's 85 Children, most of whom have some sort of Devil Fruit ability and Bounty.
- The Entirety Of Big Mom's Army Of "Homies": Linlin's Soul-Soul DF allowed her to create thousands of capable warrior "Homies" out of the souls of other people.
2 The Beasts Pirates
The Beast Pirates are the crew readers/viewers are currently finding out about due to the Wano Arc. They follow Kaido, the uncounterable invincible Emporer himself (who seems to be a real master of all forms of Haki), and there is truly a staggering amount of them.
Plus, because of Kaido’s effort to make the artificial Devil Fruits (called SMILE) with Caesar Clown and Doflamingo, the majority of his crew has Zoan-type abilities as well. In fact, out of all the pirates in the land, Kaido probably has the most DF users in his crew. So, that means that this group of pirates has the power, numbers, prestige, and backing to take it all the way to the end of the Grand Line.
Notable Crew Members
- Kaido "King Of The Beasts": 4,611,100,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Queen, "The Plague": 1,320,000,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- "The Wildfire" King: Over 1,000,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- Jack, "The Drought": 1,000,000,000 Billion Beli Bounty and Devil Fruit user.
- The Tobiroppo: A group of people who have real Zoan DF powers, directly underneath the All-Stars (King, Queen, and Jack)
- The Shinuichi: Another group of Gifters directly under the Tobiroppo, though most have eaten artificial Zoan fruits
- The Gifters: The "grunt" level of pirates who have all successfully gained Zoan powers from SMILE fruits.
- The "Numbers": Giant monster-like pirates who were failed experiments Kaido bought from Caesar in Punk Hazard.
- Samurai: Samurai from Orochi's rule who switched sides to the Beasts Pirates.
- Ninja: Ninja from the Oniwabanshu who defected to the Beasts Pirates
1 The Red Hair Pirates
The thing about this top-ranked pirate crew is...no one really knows how strong they are. The Red Hair Pirates don’t show themselves too often, and when they do they usually get what they want without fighting much. For example, when they showed up in the Marineford War, led by their captain Shanks, the mere appearance of them on the battlefield was enough to basically stop the fighting altogether.
According to Commodore Brannew, the Marine Officers who assign bounties to pirates, the Red Hair crew has the highest average bounty on the Grand Line. So, even if their numbers are more comparable to the Straw Hat main crew than the sheer size of the Big Mom or Beasts Pirates, it seems like their fighting strength is still about equal or higher to an Emperor's army.
Notable Crew Members
- "Red-Haired" Shanks: 4,048,900,000 Billion Beli Bounty
- Rockstar: 94,000,000 Million Beli Bounty, newest "Elite" member of the crew
- Ben Beckman: Unknown Bounty, First Mate
- Lucky Roux: Unknown Bounty, Elite Crew Member
- Yassop: Unknown Bounty, Sniper, and Usopp's father.
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