As the undisputed king of Shonen, One Piece prides itself on its quality characters. From the supporting cast to the bad guys’ squad, each and every character was meticulously designed. Describing the series as a cocktail of characters wouldn’t be doing it a disservice as every character posses a certain individuality that is unique to them, and them only.
Having said so, one of the few common grounds that are shared by the One Piece villains' squad is, of course, evil. A villain without evil is certainly no villain, and luckily for us, the villains of One Piece possess evil in spades. The cream of the crop of the series' antagonists can range anywhere in the evil spectrum. Some just have great ambitions, and choose evil as a means to fulfill said ambitions. While others genuinely wish chaos to the worldーthese are the baddest of bad guys!
10 Rob Lucci
Though he technically wasn’t the commander of the CP9, Rob Lucci certainly was their big boss. As Luffy’s final hurdle in the Water 7 saga, that automatically nominates him to the series’ upper brass of villains.
Lucci is a government agent who prioritizes orders more than anything. And while he won’t go out of his way to commit evil for his own selfish motives; he would surely do so if he was ordered to.
9 Gecko Moria
Moria often gets severely underrated by the One Piece fandom-- which is very justified. On his own, he might be a solid villain; but if compared with his counterparts, he would easily get the shorter end of the stick.
Nonetheless, his incompetence doesn’t make Moria any less evil. As far as we are concerned, Moria doesn’t go out and actively hunt for shadows. Though he doesn’t mind robbing any unlucky visitor of their shadow were they to set foot in his territory.
8 Arlong
Arlong has always been a ball of flaming hate since his youth; he was just contained by Jinbe and Fisher Tiger. However, the tragic demise of the latter was the final straw that led Arlong to aggressively embrace the dark side.
Arlong was the biggest fish of East Blue; has the Straw Hats not put an early end to his plans, he would’ve proceeded to terrorize the entirety of the Blue.
7 Sakazuki/Akainu
Under the pretense of justice, Sakazuki committed multiple heinous crimes that even pirates would shy away from. Some of these crimes include but not limited to: him sinking a ship of innocent Ohara refugees and killing his own comrades due to their ‘incompetence’.
In all likelihood, Sakazuki wouldn’t mind getting rid of two civilians in trade for one pirate's life. That alone speaks volumes of his camouflaged evil.
6 Enel
As evil as Sakazuki is, his hands are pretty much tied. He wouldn’t be able to practice his extreme justice, a.k.a evil, with the presence of senior Marine officers such as Garp and Sengoku.
Enel, however, had all the space to commit whatever crime he sees fit, he is a god after all-- or so he is convinced. He planned to destroy Skypiea alongside its thousands of residents, a testimony of his wickedness.
5 Crocodile
Crocodile was one of the first villains to remind us of the brutality of the world of One Piece. He was willing to starve thousands of civilians while simultaneously using them in order to fulfill his selfish ambitions.
Everything about him screamed evil; he had zero regards for life, even for that of his closest subordinates. He would readily sacrifice everyone for the sake of his grand plan.
4 Kaido
Due to how nonchalant and uninterested he usually appears, Kaido can easily be mistaken for being tame. While in reality, Kaido is easily one of the most chaotic individuals in the series. He has no interest in One Piece and certainly couldn’t care less about ruling the seas.
His grand plan features him and his ever-growing army fighting it out with the Marines in a great never-before-seen war. Why? Because, according to the Yonko, the world is too ‘mundane’.
3 Blackbeard
When even other pirates call you vile, you know you have it going on. Blackbeard has proven to stoop to the lowest levels in order to further advance his ambitions. No moral shackles can keep this man from embracing grandiose dreams!
Backstabbing, murder, theft… you name it. Nothing is too extreme for Blackbeard and his gang of similarly evil goons.
2 Big Mom
You wouldn’t even think that in spite of all the colors surrounding Big Mom, she would have one of the darkest hearts in the series. Like Blackbeard, Big Mom will shy away from no actions if it meant she’d eventually get that sweet, sweet One Piece.
Using her children-or rather, tools- murder, and betrayal are just the tip of the iceberg. Just her messed up Totto Land is enough to garner her a mention.
1 Doflamingo
Arguably the evilest man in the entirety of One Piece. This Heavenly Demon is involved in plenty of questionable and inhumane businesses. Slave trade, manipulating, blackmailing..etc; Doflamingo has done it all.
But what truly highlights Doflamingo’s evil are the aspirations he is vying for-- not world domination, but world destruction. He seeks to destroy the world and every known civilization-- the purest kind of malice.