One Piece has a large cast of villains, being that the series largely focuses on piracy. These villains all come with distinct character traits and motivations. Some want to rule the world, while others are on the hunt for legendary treasures. Some of these villains are well developed and nuanced, while others are simply awful and silly.
Regardless of where they fall on the serious to silly scale, most of these criminals end up being a major threat to the civilians of the One Piece world, due to their above human strength.
10 Worst: ALVIDA
"Iron Mace" Alvida is one of East Blue's most notorious pirates and the first villain that pops up in the series. With her mace, she rules over her ship with a strong will and a decent amount of fighting power. She consumed the Slip-Slip fruit which turned her into a Slip-Human, which means that objects and people slip off her when they try to make contact with her. Before consuming this fruit, Alvida was easily defeated by Luffy, who had just begun his pirating journey at that time. Since then, Alvida has gone on to become a significant contributor in Buggy's delivery service.
9 Best: CROCODILE
Crocodile is a criminal mastermind who plotted to overthrow the Alabasta government, in order to retrieve the ancient weapon, Pluton. This was all to achieve his dream of becoming one of the great pirate era's strongest pirates. In order to do this, Crocodile pretended to be a hero to the people of Alabasta, all while running a criminal organization that both undermined Alabasta directly, as well as supported rebels hell-bent on seeing the country fall. To make it a success, Crocodile planned meticulously and executed any person who failed him. In his time, his cruelty has caused much harm to the people of the One Piece world.
8 Worst: MORGAN
"Axe-Hand" Morgan is a disgraced former captain of the Marines, and one of the earliest One Piece villains the Straw Hats came across. While stationed at Shell Town, Morgan handed out his severe and corrupt form of justice to pirates, marines and even random citizens.
Originally thought to be strong, Morgan would use his superior physical abilities to easily defeat the petty criminals that he would encounter. But, in reality, he was a big fish in a small ocean; one who quickly got swallowed up by the new wave of piracy.
7 Best: DONQUIOTE DOFLAMINGO
The former king of Dressrosa, a former Warlord of the Sea, a former Celestial Dragon, and current prisoner of the great prison, Impel Down. Doflamingo is a maniac who sits amongst the pirating elites, a man known for his cunningness as much as for his overwhelming strength. Doflamingo used his physical power, lineage, and intellect to carve out a pivotal part in the criminal underground. Under the moniker, " Joker", he ran the most lucrative underground business seen in One Piece. On the surface, he ruled as a benevolent but, secretly, he toyed with his citizens' lives for sport. Amongst the cruelest things the "Heavenly Demon" has done includes killing both his father and brother; a detestable man indeed.
6 Worst: VANDER DECKEN XI
Vander Dexken XI consumed the Mark-Mark fruit which turned him into a target human. This means the user can aim at anybody that comes in contact with their hands and, no matter how far away, any object that this user aims at, his attack will home in on them. This means that the devil fruit has a lot of practical uses but one must also remember the drawbacks of this particular fruit. For instance, if Decken falls unconscious the targets reset. Decken used this ability to target the mermaid princess, Shirahoshi, but it turned out to be more of an inconvenience as opposed to being an actual threat to her life.
5 Best: MARSHALL D TEACH
A current Yonko and member of the " Worst Generation", Blackbeard is a pirate who has risen to prominence over the last two years. Blackbeard is known to be a usurper, driven in the pursuit of his goals and will seemingly do anything he needs to achieve this.
This attitude is seen when he ruthlessly murders his own crewmate in order to gain the Dark-Dark devil fruit. Teach would later sink deeper into his depraved ways when he killed Whitebeard, (with assistance from his crew) and then stole his devil fruit power. Blackbeard would then go on to wreak havoc at Marineford, announcing himself as one of the world's most prominent pirates.
4 Worst: WAPOL
Wapol is the former king of the Drum kingdom and half of the current ruling monarchy of the Evil Black Drum Kingdom. This kingdom was given to him by the World Nobles, after he was defeated and sent away from his original country by Monkey D Luffy. Wapol is a conniving menace, who has no regard for the citizens of the countries he rules. Instead, he believes that a king's wishes should be absolute, no matter what. Under this ideology, Wapol turned his country against him when he exiled the doctors of the country, leaving only his personal doctors to tend to the citizens. This type of devious power play is typical of Wapol, who recently sold secret information to "Big News" Morgans.
3 Best: ROCKS D XEBEC
Rocks D Xebec is largely considered to be the Pirate King, Gol D Roger's greatest foe. That alone automatically makes him one of the deadliest pirates to ever exist. But, if that wasn't enough, Xebec is well known for having some of the strongest pirates ever working under his flag. The legendary pirate, Whitebeard, the Yonko, Big Mom, "The Strongest Creature in the World", Kaido, Captain John and the Golden Lion, Shiki were all apart of this man's crew during its heyday. Rocks was a deeply curious man, who studied the forbidden history of the world and dreamed to be king of the world itself. He was a vicious and rowdy man who removed whatever obstacles that stood in his way, all but Roger. This is a man that was so dangerous that the World Government decided to remove his existence from the world's history.
2 Worst: BUGGY
A former member of the Roger Pirates and a former Warlord of the Sea, Buggy the “Star Clown”, is one of the earliest One Piece villains from its opening saga. Buggy has grown in popularity throughout the series, both as a character and as a pirate. Up until the recent dismantling of the Warlord system, Buggy was one of the world's most prominent pirates having amassed power, via his delivery business. Buggy carved out a place in the criminal underworld for himself which sees him operate as a mercenary, sending out strong fighters for whoever is willing to pay. Despite this, Buggy is still largely used for comedic relief, meaning he’s still one of the series’ weaker villains.
1 Best: IM
Im-sama is largely considered to be the most powerful person in the One Piece world. He sits atop the Empty Throne and rules over the world. It's a commonly held belief that the world is run by the Five Elder Stars but, secretly, they act under the guidance of Im. Im's position is so powerful that even great men have to bow when in his presence. Undoubtedly, Im is aware of the world's hidden history and he definitely plays a massive role in both keeping this hidden, as well as eliminating those who threaten it. The World Government is an organization known for the exploitation of the masses and Im-sama is the person in charge of shaping how this governing body operates