One Piece is known for many things; varied character designs, inventive special abilities, exemplary world-building, and impressive ship designs to name a few. One Piece is also known for its impressive fights.
One Piece fights aren’t as fluid as early Dragon Ball, but the series is always coming up with new ways for its characters to engage in battle. This often manifests as new special moves. Occasionally, special moves are only used once. Although fans might want to see them again, it's always better to leave an audience wanting more.
10 Best: Nightmare Luffy Battled Oars With The Strength Of 101 Pirates
In Thriller Bark, Luffy had to face a zombie giant named Oars who had Luffy's powers and more. In an attempt to make the battle fair for Luffy, the Rolling Pirates stuffed the shadows of 100 pirates into him. While most humans could only handle three, Luffy could maintain more because of his unmatched strength and rubber body.
In this form, Luffy could expertly wield a sword, match the speed of his Gear 2nd form, and become stronger than Oars. Luffy nearly defeated Oars on his own, but the Nightmare form ended a bit too soon, causing Luffy's crew to step in and help Luffy finish the fight.
9 Best: Luffy's Thor Hammer Ruined Shiki's Plans
In the 10th One Piece movie, Strong World, Luffy faced an aged pirate named Shiki who ate the Float-Float Fruit. This Devil Fruit allowed Shiki to circumvent the inability to swim that comes with eating Devil Fruits. He floated over water. Shiki was also able to float weapons, ships, and islands.
Shiki outclassed Luffy in many ways, but in their final showdown, Luffy unveiled a new move using Gear 3rd. To perform Thor Hammer, Luffy stretched his leg high into storm clouds, expanded his leg with Gear 3rd, then brought his giant leg back down to devastate Shiki.
8 Worst: Franky Centaur Worked But Also Looked Incredibly Silly
Franky Centaur was a form that debuted during Franky's fight against Nero atop the seafaring locomotive, Puffing Tom. The name of this form would indicate a horse-like appearance but Franky's legs extended forward instead of behind him, making Franky a very strange centaur.
Franky Centaur was effective but was circumstantial. It has only appeared once in the entirety of One Piece. It allowed Franky to pin Nero to the floor with Franky's four legs and deliver a metal fist directly into Nero's face with such force that both combatants fell through the roof they were on.
7 Best: Frapper Gong Surprised Everyone
In another example of Thriller Bark's exceptional One-Time Attacks, Franky and Chopper teamed up for a massive punch from Chopper's Heavy Point and Franky's Strong Right. Anyone normal hit by this attack would have likely been sent flying but their opponent was Oars. Though Oars was not instantly felled by Franky and Chopper's attack, he was still quite jarred. The anime even added a "Gong" sound effect to Oars being knocked back by the punch.
6 Best: Afro Luffy Was Long Ring Long Land's Greatest Boxer
Luffy donned an Afro wig while fighting Foxy during the Davy Back Fight's final round. The battle was supposed to be a relatively fair boxing match, but just as the rest of his crew cheated, Foxy cheated as well. During this fight, Foxy used many weapons and traps aboard the Sexy Foxy to defeat Luffy. Due to the strength given to him by the Afro, Luffy was able to come out on top despite Foxy's unfair fighting.
The afro was stated by Usopp to "Summon a man's wild instincts and make punches stronger." It was likely a reference to the afro-wearing Japanese boxer named Yoko Gushiken. It would be fair to assume that Usopp's statement was just conjecture, but there may have been some truth to it considering the outcome of the match.
5 Worst: Tactic 15, Pirates Docking 6 (A.K.A. Giant Warrior Or Big Emperor) Failed Miserably
Unlike the Frapper Gong or Nightmare Luffy, Tactic 15 was an utter failure. Franky is known for his incredible ideas but trying to "dock" with other Straw Hats to create a stronger pirate may have been one of his worst ideas yet.
Tactic 15 consisted of Franky standing atop Zoro and Sanji's shoulders while holding Usopp and having Chopper sit on Franky's head. It's unknown how Franky intended to fight in this formation, but the plan failed when Robin refused to dock, causing Oars to get upset and easily swipe the pirates away.
4 Best: Ace's Great Flame Commandment, Flame Emperor Allowed Him To Produce A Small Sun In Battle
Flame Emperor was Ace's last resort while fighting Blackbeard because of its destructive force that could consume entire islands with flame. In this move's only canon appearance, it collided with Blackbeard's Dark Star, which may have been the only move in One Piece that could possibly counter it.
3 Best: Franky Dunked Usopp At The Secret Dock
It might be a bit unconventional to consider this an attack since Franky was not actually trying to injure Usopp, but it looked cool. This was vital to the development of Franky's face-turn and to the fans' understanding of Merry's sorry state.
In Chapter 351 of the manga and Episode 247 of the anime, Franky tried to convince Usopp to dismantle the ship for parts, but believed that the only way to show Usopp the damage sustained by the Merry Go was through tough love. Usopp refused to part ways with the Merry and fought Franky for the ship. Franky launched Usopp into the air and delivered a devastating blow that sent him into the water below Merry and forced Usopp to see the irreparable damage the ship had sustained.
2 Worst: Nose-Storm, The Killer Blade Was Zoro's Least Impressive Technique
Like Tactic 15, this was another combination formation consisting of Zoro holding Sniper King who was, in turn, holding Zoro's sword. Zoro considered this attack because the two pirates were handcuffed together. In retrospect, it may have been their only option when it came to surviving against Jabra and Kaku's attacks.
Luckily, Zoro and Sniper King were freed from each other once Monster-Point Chopper and Nami interrupted their battle, allowing the swordsman and sniper to face Jabra and Kaku at full power, once again.
1 Best: Doflamingo's Birdcage Created A Centralized Apocalyptic Event
At the climax of the Straw Hat Fleet's battle against Donquixote Doflamingo's forces, Doflamingo decided that he would rather kill everyone on Dressrosa than lose his battle against Luffy and The Marines. Doflamingo's Birdcage attack created innumerable razor-sharp wires that formed a cage over Dressrosa.
It quickly shrank, causing everyone on the island to either run to Doflamingo's location or get sliced. This attack was one of the most destructive attacks ever shown in One Piece. The Birdcage wouldn't be used in a normal fight, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying when considering the fates of those who were not able to get away from it in time.