The Strongest First Mates In The One Piece Anime

Summary

• Jesus Burgess, despite a frozen bounty, is a key member of the Blackbeard Pirates with immense strength and trust from the crew.
• Trebol of the Donquixote Pirates exemplifies the role of a strong First Mate with operational control and influence second only to the captain.
• Ben Beckman of the Red Hair Pirates, a rare First Mate, showcases power without Devil Fruit by mastering Haki, maintaining a smooth crew operation.

In the real world, First Mate is an actual position with actual responsibility. They are the ones who execute the captain’s orders and also the ones who ensure the crew does their jobs properly. In the world of One Piece, however, things are a bit different. There are only a handful of Pirate crews that assign the position of “First Mate” to a particular crew member. Most of these Pirates either don’t have an official hierarchy or have a completely different system that doesn’t utilize the traditional First Mate role.

For those reasons, this list expands the definition of “First Mate” to include “Vice-Captain”, “Second-in-Command”, and the “Second Strongest Person in the Crew.” Not only that, but this list also features individuals who used to be a First Mate before the events of the current story. With that in mind, here are the strongest First Mates in One Piece, ranked based on their bounty.

10

“Champion” Jesus Burgess

Captain Of The First Ship Of The Blackbeard Pirates

• Bounty: At least 20,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 222
• Japanese VA: Tetsu Inada

Out of every member of the Blackbeard Pirates, the one who has the right combination of power, responsibility, and has earned the trust of his captain and fellow crew members is the helmsman and the captain of the first ship, Jesus Burgess.

Burgess ate the Strong-Strong Fruit, which allows him to increase his strength exponentially. Don’t let his seemingly low bounty give the wrong impression. The only reason why an important crew member of the Blackbeard Pirates has a bounty as low as 20,000,000 Belly is because the Marines froze his bounty when Blackbeard became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. For some reason, they haven’t updated his bounty even after Blackbeard became one of the Emperors of the Sea.

9

Trebol

The Staff Officer Of The Donquixote Pirates

• Bounty: 99,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 700
• Japanese VA: Taiki Matsuno

The Donquixote Pirates don’t have a First Mate. What they have instead is a group called the “Elite Officers”, which consists of Trebol, Diamante, Pica, and Corazon. Each of these elite officers oversees certain parts of the organization, and they also command their own troops.

Out of those four elite officers, the one who acts as the Staff Officer and has the most control over the day-to-day operations is Trebol. His influence within the Donquixote Pirates is second only to Doflamingo himself. Similar to Jesus Burgess of the Blackbeard Pirates, Trebol also has the right balance between strength and operational responsibility, which is why he is the most suitable person for the role of a First Mate.

8

“Murder Machine” Killer

The Right-Hand Man Of Captain Kid

• Bounty: 200,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 498
• Japanese VA: Kenji Hamada

This is the part where the list moves away slightly from operational responsibility and veers towards strength instead. After all, Killer the Murder Machine is the last person anyone would want running a proper crew, but violent tendencies aside, he is undoubtedly the second most powerful person in the Kid Pirates.

Despite not having any Devil Fruit power, Killer managed to climb the ranks and became one of the eleven super rookies with the biggest bounty in the world, known as the Eleven Supernovas. His power comes purely from his own strength and devastating blade techniques. In that sense, he is quite similar to Roronoa Zoro from the Straw Hats.

7

Charlotte Katakuri

The Top Sweet Commander Of The Big Mom Pirates

• Bounty: 1,057,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 860
• Japanese VA: Tomokazu Sugita

In the Big Mom Pirates, every major crew and officer is the child of Big Mom herself. Out of her many sons and daughters, the three strongest ones belong to an elite group called the Sweet Commanders. They are the second son, Charlotte Katakuri, the 14th daughter, Smoothie, and the 10th son, Cracker.

Out of the three Sweet Commanders, the one who commands the greatest respect and is considered the strongest among Big Mom’s children is Charlotte Katakuri. His devastating Devil Fruit power, combined with his remarkable mastery of Haki—especially the Armament Haki and Observation Haki—makes him one of the most powerful individuals in the world.

6

“Knight Of The Sea” Jinbe

The Vice Captain Of The Sun Pirates

• Bounty: 1,100,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 528
• Japanese VA: Katsuhisa Hōki

Before Jinbe became the Helmsman for the Straw Hat Pirates, he used to be the vice-captain of the Sun Pirates when they were still under the command of the late Fisher Tiger. He learned everything he could about leadership from the great Fisher Tiger, which was why the crews admired and respected him so much. This was also the reason why Jinbe became the next captain of the Sun Pirates after the Fisher Tiger’s passing.

Fish-Men pride themselves not only on their strength, but also on their unique brand of martial arts, called the Fish-Men Karate. When it comes to Fish-Man Karate, Jinbe is undoubtedly the best practitioner in the world. From shooting high-speed water bullets to changing the tide of the sea, his mastery over the Fish-Man Karate is unmatched.

5

“Pirate Hunter” Roronoa Zoro

The Second-in-Command Of The Straw Hat Pirates

• Bounty: 1,111,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 3
• Japanese VA: Kazuya Naka

When Luffy decided to sail under the banner of the Straw Hat Pirates, Roronoa Zoro was his first crew member. Since that moment, Zoro has been fighting alongside Luffy and protecting the crew as best as he can.

From the moment they sail in a tiny boat until the Straw Hats became the crew of one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, Zoro has always stood beside Luffy as his second-in-command and the second-strongest person on the ship. Not only that, but Zoro is currently one of the most powerful swordsmen in the world, with only a handful who can go toe-to-toe with his signature three-sword style.

4

Marco The Phoenix

The 1st Division Commander Of The Whitebeard Pirates

• Bounty: 1,374,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 234
• Japanese VA: Masakazu Morita

At their height, the Whitebeard Pirates were the biggest Pirate fleet in the world, boasting over 16 divisions—each with their own massive crews—and dozens of other affiliated crews who sailed under the banner of the legendary Whitebeard.

The Commander of the 1st Division of the Whitebeard Pirates, and the man closest to the Whitebeard himself, is Marco the Phoenix. Thanks to his Zoan-type Devil Fruit power, Marco wields the blue flame of Phoenix, which can not only burn everything in its surroundings but also heal minor injuries. Upon the captain’s passing, Marco takes the reins as the crew’s new leader before eventually disbanding the entire Whitebeard fleet.

3

King The Wildfire

Beasts Pirates’ Top Executive

• Bounty: 1,390,000,000 Belly
• First Appearance: Chapter 920
• Japanese VA: Makoto Tamura

Among the Beast Pirates, the three strongest members of the crew belong to an elite group called the “All-Stars.” They are King “The Wildfire”, Queen “The Plague”, and Jack “The Drought.” Each of them commands their own armies of Devil Fruit users, but the one who can stand proudly beside the captain, the Thousand Beast Kaidou himself, is none other than King.

King has been with Kaidou since the mighty dragon freed him from his confinement when he was a child. He’s been Kaidou’s right-hand man ever since. His Devil Fruit abilities, combined with his rare Lunarian powers, make King one of the strongest combatants in the Beast Pirates, second only to Kaidou himself.

2

Benn Beckman

The First Mate Of The Red Hair Pirates

• Bounty: Unknown
• First Appearance: Chapter 1
• Japanese VA: Aruno Tahara

Benn Beckman is the First Mate of the Red Hair Pirates and the right-hand man of Red Hair Shanks, one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. Beckman is one of the few people who actually holds the title of a First Mate on this list, and he is definitely the best person for the job. After all, not only is he responsible for making everything on the ship run as smoothly as possible, but he also has the power to support Shanks in battle.

The Red Hair Pirates are one of the rare pirate crews where most, if not all, of their crew lack Devil Fruit powers. All of them, including Shanks and Beckman, rely on their mastery of Haki. Even Kizaru, one of the three Marine Admirals, stops dead in his tracks when Beckman threatens to shoot him with a Haki-infused bullet. Ben Beckman’s bounty hasn’t been revealed yet, but considering he has been part of the Four Emperors’ crew for a while now, it’s safe to assume that his bounty is in the billions of Belly.

1

“Dark King” Silvers Rayleigh

Right Hand Of The Pirate King

• Bounty: Unknown
• First Appearance: Chapter 19
• Japanese VA: Keiichi Sonobe

Before Shanks, Beckman, and the rest of the Red Hair Pirates dominated the seas through their mastery of Haki, the Roger Pirates were the ones who used that formula first. After all, most of the members of the Roger Pirates—including the Pirate King Gol D. Roger and his First Mate, Silvers Rayleigh—also didn’t have Devil Fruit powers and relied solely on their absurd strength and terrifying Haki.

As the First Mate, Rayleigh is the second-strongest person in the Roger Pirates. Even now, in his twilight years, Silvers Rayleigh can go toe-to-toe with a Marine Admiral without breaking a sweat. Just like Ben Beckman, the series hasn’t revealed Rayleigh’s true bounty total yet. However, considering he is the right-hand man of the Pirate King, it’s safe to assume that Rayleigh has one of the highest bounties in the world. That’s why he is the strongest and arguably the best First Mate in One Piece.