8 Strongest Villain Groups, Ranked

With nearly three decades of serialization, One Piece has become an extremely long-running series, and throughout its run, the series has done incredibly well to introduce quite a few villain groups, each with their own purpose, led by some compelling villains. That being said, not all of these rogue groups are created equal. Some of them are so powerful that they strike fear into the hearts of even the strongest, including the likes of the Straw Hat Pirates, and can give them a great challenge. These include groups that have already been defeated, such as the Beast Pirates, or groups that remain to be properly fought, including the Five Elders.

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CP0

• Conductor: Rob Lucci

• Affiliation: World Government

Before the time jump, the Straw Hat Pirates faced off against CP9. Now, after over a decade, all members of CP9 have returned under a new label, called CP0. They made their debut during Whole Cake Island with Stussy and were once again involved in the Wano Country Arc. Most recently, they played a major role in Egghead, where Rob Lucci and Kaku returned. With their Devil Fruits now awakened, they were a force to be reckoned with. Even Zoro couldn't completely defeat Lucci. They are definitely strong, but still not the strongest now in One Piece.

Cross Guild

• Leader: Buggy

• Affiliation: Pirates

The formation of cross guild came as a shock to many fans. A previously weak pirate with an underwhelming crew, Buggy received a major upgrade when the likes of Mihawk and Sir Crocodile teamed up with him after the dissolution of the Shichibukai.

The Cross Guild proves to be a major antagonistic force and they will cause a lot of trouble in the world of One Piece. The Straw Hat Pirates, at some point in history, may have to face them, one way or another, as Mihawk has to go up against Zoro eventually.

Holy knights

• Leader: Garling Figarland

• Affiliation: World Government

In the last tale of One Piecea new major villain group has been introduced by Oda, and this group is known as the holy knights. They are composed of some of the World Government's strongest fighters with the power of immortality and regeneration. The Holy Knights operate under Imus' control and their leader is Garling Figarland. Their captain is Shamrock Figarland, and some of their notable members at the moment include Manmayer Gunko, Shepherd Sommers, Rimoshifu Killingham and Satchels Maffey.

The Holy Knights all seem to have some sort of Devil Fruit ability and on top of that they also get the Deep Sea Covenant from Imu, which gives them a host of powers. They are definitely one of the strongest groups out there and will be a major force to face in the current Elbaf arc.

Big Mom Pirates

• Leader: Big Mom (former), Katakuri (Adopted)

• Affiliation: Pirates

The Big Mom Pirates was a terrifying force that the Straw Hat Pirates had to face during the Yonko Saga. The Big Mom Pirate team is led by Charlotte Linlin and her strongest minions include the Sweet Commanders, consisting of Snack, Smoothie, Cracker and the strongest of the bunch, Katakuri.

Luffy had an incredible fight against Katakuri in the Whole Cake Island arc. Big Mom and her crew met again in Wano, where their leader fell. The Big Mom Pirates still exist in some capacity at the moment, with Katakuri presumably taking the lead.

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Beast Pirates

• Leader: Kaido

• Affiliation: Pirates

The Beast Pirates were the last enemy group that the Straw Hat Pirates faced in One Piece's Yonko Saga, and they were the main villains of the Wano arc. The Beast Pirates are led by the strongest creature, Yonko Kaido, and his best minions consist of the All Stars and Tobiropo. Kaido himself was quite a challenge to take on, and Luffy had to awaken Gear 5 to beat him.

Queen and King were also impressive fighters who gave Zoro and Sanji some trouble during this arc. Beast Pirates, however, was completely destroyed after the events of Onigashima, with Kaido presumed dead and the rest of his crew captured.

Blackbeard Pirates

• Leader: Blackbeard

• Affiliation: Pirates

The Blackbeard Pirates are set to be one of the largest enemy groups in the whole One Piece. They were first mentioned during Drum Island, but it was in the Jaya arc that fans officially got to meet them. The crew would only continue to expand during the Summit War Saga, with the infiltration leading to the escape of many dangerous villains from Impel Down.

At the helm of the Blackbeard team is Marshall D. Teach, the greatest threat with two legendary Devil Fruits: Gura Gura no Mi and Yami Yami no Mi. Some of his most powerful minions include Kuzan and Shiryu of the Rain.

Marines

Image by Toei Animation

• Leader: Akainu

• Affiliation: World Government

The Marines of One Piece the world constitutes a rather powerful antagonistic group. They are a massive and diverse organization. Generally, the biggest threat from their ranks are known as the Admirals.

Before the time jump, the three main admirals were Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji; but after the time jump and Kuzan's defection, Akainu became the Fleet Admiral and the three new main members became Kizaru, Ryokugyu and Fujitora. The Marines are quite a force to be reckoned with, with the Admirals being a powerful group of enemies to face in the Final Saga.

Five elders

• Leader: Imu

• Affiliation: Word Government

Of all villain groups in One Piecethe most dangerous seems to be the five elders. The five elders are the most powerful fighters among the entire government working under Imu and they consist of quite a few ancient and powerful warriors. The Five Elders are granted Yokai powers through their Abyssal contract with Imu.

This contract also grants them immortality and infinite regeneration. Fans got a glimpse of its potential in Egghead, and it's only grown in strength with the new addition of Garling Figarland after Saturn's death. This group will be terrifying to face.

One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

One Piece

Release date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Author

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

• 

  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)