In One Piece, pirates are typically romanticized as gallant rogues whose only interest is finding treasure and ignoring the tyrannical World Government. Though an interesting spin on the concept, it fails to sufficiently explore what a traditional pirate is or how evil they can be.
There are a handful of villains that embody the darkest aspects of the seafaring profession. Whether usurping a country or waging war against the surface world, these monsters have caused some of the greatest disasters in history and justified a need for the marines, making Luffy and his friends look even better by contrast.
10 Don Krieg Was Notorious For Being Underhanded
The leader of the egotistically named "Krieg pirates," Don Krieg used his massive armadas to prey on weaker targets. To him, honor didn't exist and kindness was merely the easiest path to exploitation.
For example, he attacked the chefs of the Baratie immediately after they fed him in hopes of claiming the restaurant as his next warship. His crimes were so serious that Mihawk even took it upon himself to hunt the villain down personally.
9 Queen Manufactured Bio Weapons In Service Of Kaido
Queen earned his nickname, "the Plague," for a good reason. He was responsible for creating Kaido's bio-weapons, polluting Wano's rivers, and brutalizing the slaves of Udon. His callous disregard for the Beast pirates' opponents made him a perfect sycophant to enforce his master's will.
Despite reveling in the pain he inflicts, Queen's sinister tendency usually backfires. For example, he hoped to kill Luffy by forcing him to fight a continuously growing tide of opponents. However, Luffy never exhausted and used his "executioners" as training dummies to hone his advanced armament haki.
8 Gecko Moria Had No Respect For The Dead
Gecko Moria was a former warlord of the sea and the master of Thriller Bark. His entire crew consisted of zombie vassals, using Doctor Hogback in order to prepare the bodies and his own devil fruit in order to enchant them with living shadows.
Moria is evil for a number of reasons. Not only does he defile the dead by using them as weapons, but he also uses living shadows in order to fuel them. So long as the victim remains alive, they can never enter the sunlight again.
7 Crocodile Fueled A Civil War To Procure A Super Weapon
A crime lord without conscience, Crocodile was responsible for fueling and exacerbating the Alabasta civil war. He masqueraded as a local hero in order to gain the peoples' trust, all while Baroque Works endeavored to plunder the country of its most valuable secrets.
Crocodile is equally treacherous to his own subordinates. He planned to kill Nico Robin after using her to translate a poneglyph, which would ensure that his newfound secrets never spread. After escaping from Impel Down, Crocodile remains at large in the New World along with his most trusted minion, Daz Bonez.
6 Doflamingo Wanted To Destroy The World
Vengeful against the Celestial Dragons, Doflamingo made it his mission to destroy the entire world. He worked toward this end by usurping Dressrosa, blackmailing his way into the Seven Warlords program, and working as a SMILE broker to Kaido.
Savage and remorseless by nature, Doflamingo was willing to butcher his own crew and subjects in order to ensure that no one escaped from Dressrosa. Luckily, the Straw Hat Grand Fleet and marines worked together in order to halt the bird cage while Luffy defeated him.
5 Hody Jones Tried To Start A Race War Between Humans & Fish-Men
Hody Jones was the leader of the New Fish-Man pirates. An avowed enemy to humanity, he mustered 100,000 soldiers in order to wage war against the surface world. This would have been disastrous for the people of Fish-Man Island since it'd inevitably make them targets of the World Government.
Not only did Hody disregard the lives of his subordinates, but he also had no reason to harbor a vendetta against humans in the first place. Instead, he'd merely been enchanted by Arlong's stories and thought that his role model didn't go far enough in his hatred.
4 Kaido Enslaved Wano, Murdered Oden, & Wanted To Start A Huge War
Kaido was a living nightmare to the people of Wano. Easily over fifty meters tall in his dragon form, he defeated Oden and forced his retainers into hiding. For the next twenty years, he worked alongside Orochi in order to dismantle the country and turn it into his personal weapons factory.
Worse yet, Kaido's sole ambition is to start a war that will shake the Earth to its foundations. His primary motivation is seeking a good death, as the pending battle would summon the world's mightiest champions to stop him.
3 Blackbeard Murdered His Own Adoptive Father & Replaced Him
Blackbeard officially began his villainous career by murdering Thatch and stealing his devil fruit. The vindictive Ace pursued him across the ocean, but he was eventually defeated in a fateful clash.
When given the opportunity, Blackbeard finished off an exhausted Whitebeard at the conclusion of the Marineford conflict. After stealing his devil fruit, he became one of the strongest pirates in the world. Subsequently, Blackbeard reaped the rewards of his treachery and replaced Whitebeard as an emperor of the sea.
2 Big Mom Was Willing To Murder Her Own Children When Put In A Bad Mood
Despite claiming to want peace and love between races, Big Mom was the most evil woman in the series. She murdered her own children amidst her violent hunger pangs, taking decades off their lifespans and adding them to her own.
Big Mom is also extremely treacherous. Despite inviting Germa 66 to the wedding between Sanji and Pudding, she sought to kill the entire family and seize their vast technological empire. Should Luffy and Bege not have intervened, Big Mom would have become better equipped through ill-gotten Germa equipment.
1 Rocks D. Xebec Was One Of The Greatest Villains In History
Rocks D. Xebec was a villain so evil that it required Roger and Garp to put aside their difference in order to defeat him. The greatest contender for pirate king of his era, Rocks was a foil for Roger just as Blackbeard is to Luffy.
He was also the progenitor of the emperors, having been captain to Kaido, Big Mom, and Whitebeard before his defeat. Considering the powerhouses aboard his ship, Xebec's potential return through Moria would be a nightmare to behold.