This is a list of villains (major antagonists only) what I consider least evil to most evil. They must be a main antagonist of an arc to be considered. They are determined by the cruelty of their behavior, as well as redeemable qualities (if any).
28-MAGELLAN
Just doing his job
27-BUGGY
He’s a typical pirate. Selfish, violent, but cares about his crew and is capable of forming alliances with rivals.
26-ALVIDA
Typical pirate with a slightly more cruel edge than Buggy.
25-KATAKURI
He’s ruthless to his enemies for sure, but he’s very protective of his family, has a sense of honor, and is magnanimous in defeat. I was going to put him as least evil but what he did to those chefs was pretty nasty.
24-GEKKO MORIA
He’s what a pirate should be. Lazy, selfish, and ruthless. He cares about his crew and even suffers from the loss of his previous one.
23-BELLAMY
He was a very cruel person but has changed his ways.
22-BLUEJAM
He’s a really bad guy but he’s a bit too pathetic and sad for me to rate him highly.
21-MORGAN
Oppressive tyrant who is capable of killing children. The thing is, he didn’t always seem to be that way. Being hypnotized by Kuro may have some lingering effects.
20-BIG MOM
She is seriously mentally ill, and was nice before her childhood trauma. She may be a very cruel person now, but her vision of the how the world should be still isn’t bad.
19-AKAINU
Killing pirates is what he’s supposed to do, but killing civilians is not. He is an extremist with a twisted view of what Justice is.
18-ARLONG
He’s a selective sociopath. He has no empathy whatsoever for humans, but cares about his fellow fishmen, a great deal.
17-MARSHALL D. TEACH
He is without morals. Murdering a crewmate, and double crossing your crew of 20 years is despicable to say the least. I don’t believe he CARES about his own crew so much that he IS loyal to them.
16-WAPOL
Total coward, extremely selfish and oppressive. Cares for no one but himself. He seemed somewhat disturbed by Shirahoshi’s attempted enslavement, his only semblance of morality.
15-CROCODILE
He was fully capable of mass murder and showed no care or loyalty to his subordinates (except for maybe Daz Bonez). The thing is, he probably has lived a life of crime from a very young age. It’s somewhat understandable that he is completely numb to taking lives. He has shown to be a somewhat changed man capable of alliances with enemies.
14-ENEL
Arguably the most vain villain in the series, he cares for no life but his own and his behavior reflects this.. I guess he might have somewhat changed his ways, he doesn’t seem all that oppressive towards the moon people.
13-KAIDO
There isn’t much that he isn’t capable of. Nothing redeeming about him except for the fact that he hasn’t really shown any signs of being sadistic.
12-KRIEG
He is irritatingly arrogant, massively overestimating his strength. He has no sense of gratitude or loyalty, cares nothing for his crew, and shows no redeemable qualities whatsoever. The only reason he isn’t higher on the list is because his actions don’t amount to much other than typical piracy.
11-KURO
Same boat as Krieg with nothing redeeming about him but with a more sadistic streak. Kills his crew members for no reason
10-ROB LUCCI
Cold sociopath and sadist. He expressed disgust at Spandam’s abuse of Robin, showing he has a very rare and selective sense of morals.
9-SPANDAM
He’s a despicable human being. Beats a woman, and doesn’t care in the slightest for innocent lives. He would be higher, but he WAS raised by a terrible person, so who knows if he ever had a chance.
8-VINSMOKE JUDGE
He inflicts severe emotional abuse on his own son, only cares for his other children as long as they’re useful, cares nothing for his soldiers, and forced his wife to turn their children into sociopaths. Absolutely loathsome person. No morals apart from some sense of gratitude.
7-HODY JONES
Has no empathy whatsoever for humans and unlike Arlong he doesn’t care much about his fellow Fishmen either. He hasn’t experienced much racism himself, basing his hatred of humans entirely on his sense of superiority. Shows no remorse for any of his actions. Its’s debatable if he cares for his fellow fishmen at all
6-JACK THE DROUGHT
Unlike his boss he has a clear sadistic streak. He very nearly committed mass murder on an entire city that was WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH HIM. Unlike Crocodile he very nearly succeeded at mass murder.
5-DONQUIXOTE DOFLAMINGO
As traumatic as his childhood was, he already showed signs of celestial elitism. Expressing disdain for commoners and seeing slavery as normal. As an adult he is by far one of the most sadistic villains in the series. Finding death and pain to be very amusing. He expressed nothing but anger when he killed his father and brother, and while he may have felt a semblance of compassion for his crew, I believe he was capable of killing them at the drop of a hat all the same.
4-KUROZUMI OROCHI
Having been twisted by the Kurozumi Family’s unfair persecution since his childhood, Orochi is an extremely cruel and oppressive tyrant who takes joy in making his subjects suffer as revenge for his family’s persecution.
Orochi is extremely domineering and unreasonable with absolutely no tolerance of anyone defying him or speaking ill of him, even if it is out of his earshot and in casual discussion. He is petty enough to mercilessly attack and kill anyone who offends him, whether they are a man, woman, or child (though may hesitate with a woman he has feelings for).
3-CAESAR CLOWN
It doesn’t get much more evil than kidnapping children, experimenting on them, and eventually killing them as he planned. He has no care or loyalty for his subordinates, has no qualms about committing genocide through chemical warfare, released poison into air in a hissy fit, and was shown to be egomaniacal.
2-IMU
Imu is a mysterious individual, bearing the highest sovereignty within the World Government that even the Five Elders bow down to and sits on the Empty Throne. Imu is considered the overarching antagonist of the whole One Piece series.
Imu has demonstrated greater cruelty and apathy than the Five Elders, who reluctantly ordered the destruction of Ohara, while Imu coldly annihilates entire islands in order to erase them from history, causing said destruction for personal reasons.
1-CELESTIAL DRAGONS
They are easily #1. Systematic oppression, humiliating and demeaning others, slavery, the erasure of history, they eclipses everything any other villain has done, bar none. We don’t even know how atrocious the events that occurred during the Void Century actually were, and we don’t know anything about Im or much about the CDs in general, so it’s likely they’re even worse than we’ve seen so far. And they don’t think they’re doing anything wrong.
*List by ExceedsTheCharacterL
