10- VISTA
“Flower Sword” Vista is the 5th division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He is one of the most prominent members of his crew.
Vista has extraordinary mastery in dual wielding swordsmanship and even Mihawk acknowledges his skills. He even managed to deflect Mihawk’s flying slash attack which is powerful enough to cut through battleships. In the anime, he was also able to block bullets with his swords to protect his allies from being shot while escaping.
Another indication of his strength is that during the Battle of Marineford, despite having fought against individual Shichibukai and Admirals as well as numerous Marine officers, he sustained no significant injuries.
9- SILVERS RAYLEIGH
Silvers Rayleigh, also known as the “Dark King”, is an extremely powerful and famous retired pirate who formerly served as the first mate of the legendary Roger Pirates, known as the “Right Hand of the Pirate King”. Rayleigh is one of the major figures, along with Whitebeard, Shiki, Monkey D. Garp, Sengoku, and Kong from the times when the “Pirate King” was alive.
Rayleigh is shown to possess great mastery of all three types of Haki. He is a tremendously skilled and powerful swordsman, though he claims to have degraded in skill somewhat from his younger and healthier days.
8- FUJITORA
In terms of combat strength, Fujitora is considered to be one of the strongest fighters within the entire World Government structure.
Fujitora wields a shikomizue (a sword blade in a cane-like mounting) in tandem with his Devil Fruit ability, channeling his gravity powers through the sword. Usually, Fujitora wields his weapon in a reverse-grip style, the blade pointing in the direction opposite to his thumb. Despite his blindness, the admiral has shown to be rather potent and skillful in his bladework, able to deflect or block incoming attacks, even extremely strong ones or surprise attacks, with little issue using simple parrying maneuvers, demonstrating lightning-fast dexterity all the while. Fujitora’s swordsmanship, combined with his Devil Fruit powers makes him one of the best swordsmen in the whole series.
7- SHIKI
Shiki the Golden Lion, also known as the “Flying Pirate”, is the admiral of the Golden Lion Pirates and the first known prisoner ever to escape from Impel Down.
During Roger’s era, he was one of the most powerful figures of the time, being on par with Sengoku, Garp, Whitebeard, and Roger. Before that era, Shiki was a member of the Rocks Pirates, a powerful crew whose members included three future Yonko.
Shiki possesses great skills in swordsmanship as he dual-wielded Oto and Kogarashi to single-handedly massacre an entire army of Marines before getting subdued by Garp and Sengoku.
After the two swords became his prosthetic legs, not only he has little difficulty in standing or walking while using them, he is also capable of attacking from a distance with them by sending slashes from his sword legs in a Rankyaku like fashion. These air-blades have a light-yellow/gold color-scheme, matching his epithet.
He also combines his sword skills with his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, a Paramecia type Devil Fruit which allows him to make surrounding non-living matter levitate once he has come in contact with it.
6- ZORO
Zoro has devoted his life to becoming a powerful swordsman and fighter, and in his time as a bounty hunter and later the combatant of the Straw Hat Pirates, he has become extremely well-renowned for his exemplary abilities and accomplishments in battle.
Although Zoro usually wields three swords as part of his style known as “Three Sword Style”, he has shown himself to be an exceptional duelist and combatant while wielding two swords or even just one.
Besides Advanced Armament Haki and Observation Haki, Zoro can use Conqueror’s Haki, a very rare form of Haki whose users are stated to have the qualities of a king. He was first noted to have it by Kaidou after the Emperor was struck by Zoro’s Nine Sword Style attack.
During Zoro’s battle against King, in deciding to go all out using Haki, he ended up using its advanced application, infusing it into his three swords, with all three emitted streams of black lightning signifying its infusion. As their battle continued on, Zoro managed to gain conscious control over the advanced technique, infusing it into all three swords, or infusing it into Sandai Kitetsu to deal significant damage to King.
5- KOZUKI ODEN
Kozuki Oden was the daimyo of Kuri in Wano Country. He had tremendous physical strength since infancy and was an extremely powerful master samurai, dual wielding the legendary blades Ame no Habakiri(the sword said to be able to cut “heaven” itself) and Enma(the sword said to be able to cut to the “bottom of hell”) in a style of swordsmanship known as Daito Nitoryu.
Even 20 years after his death, Kaido acknowledges Oden as the strongest samurai, and stated his belief that there will never be another samurai who could match Oden. Oden’s strength left a big impression on Kaido who, even 20 years after Oden’s death, considers Oden as one of the very few people, alongside Rocks D. Xebec, Gol D. Roger, Edward Newgate, and Shanks, who can match him. Despite Zoro managing to leave a scar on Kaido 20 years after Oden’s death by using his strongest attack, Kaido was still standing after the attack and was totally fine as he was more concerned about Zoro being able to use Conqueror’s Haki, than the fact that Zoro scarred him, with him still calling Zoro a runt, showing Oden’s supreme mastery in terms of strength, haki, and swordsmanship over Zoro, as Oden left a massive scar on Kaidou (much bigger than the cut Zoro did 20 years later), had him screaming in pain, and knocked him to the ground, with Kaidou still speaking highly of Oden’s strength 2 decades after he died.
4- SHANKS
As the former rival of Mihawk, the “Strongest Swordsman in the World”, Shanks is an immensely skilled swordsman. Prior to losing his left arm, he competed in ruthless duels on a daily basis with Mihawk. Even after losing his arm, Shanks is able to match a blow from Whitebeard which is a testament to his prowess in swordsmanship. He is also powerful enough to easily block Akainu’s magma fist using only his sword and Busoshoku Haki. Along with his mastery of Haki, he could replicate the techniques of his former captain Roger, having enough power and skill to defeat both Kidd and Killer in a single attack.
Shanks apparently favored his left arm for combat before he lost it, as he is always seen holding his sword in his left hand during flashbacks. As such, he is presumed to have been left-handed or at least ambidextrous before losing said limb.
3- GOL D. ROGER
Roger is hailed as having been one of, if not the strongest pirate of all time, considered nearly unstoppable in battle.
Very few people are known to have ever matched Roger in battle: most prominently the legendary “Hero of the Marines” Monkey D. Garp as well as Whitebeard, who held the power of the strongest Paramecia Devil Fruit and was called the “Strongest Man in the World”, even before Roger’s death.
Another person known to rival Roger was Rocks D. Xebec who was considered to be his first and most formidable rival.
Roger was a tremendously skilled and powerful swordsman, overpowering the legendary master samurai Kozuki Oden with only one strike. He was also able to clash equally against Whitebeard’s Murakumogiri, creating a powerful shockwave that blew back everything on the island as well as the Moby Dick by the coast.
2- RYUMA
Ryuma was a legendary world-famous samurai who lived during Wano’s “Country of Gold” era centuries ago. He was revered for his mastery of swordsmanship that earned him the title Sword God, as well as his feat of slaying a dragon.
He was renowed for his immense mastery in swordsmanship. His skills resembled a mix of Kenjutsu and Battojutsu. He could slice through copper, kill Cyrano, a first-rate swordsman, and an enormous dragon with little effort.
He was renowned as the strongest swordsman of his time. Due to this, as well as his strong belief in protecting others, Ryuma was also called “King,” the swordsman who carries the world’s greatest “Warrior’s Soul”.
At some point in time after his death, he came to be known as the Sword God in Wano Country and his skills continue to be regarded as legendary.
Ryuma possessed a sword called Shusui, one of the 21 Great Swords. It is distinguished by its black blade and flower-shaped guard. Shusui was not always a “black blade”, it became one after many battles alongside its master. Due to its association with Ryuma, Shusui is considered the national treasure of Wano Country.
1- DRACULE MIHAWK
Mihawk is the current holder of the title, “Greatest Swordsman in the World”.
Mihawk is one of the most powerful pirates to appear so far, possessing incredible skill in battle. Part of Mihawk’s reputation as the most powerful master swordsman in the world is also due to his tremendous superhuman physical power and fortitude which supplements his mastery of swordsmanship.
Mihawk demonstrates tremendous dexterity and supreme skill in swordsmanship, especially when using his main sword, the Black Sword Yoru.
His swordsmanship is extremely versatile, from destroying entire fleets of ships and giant icebergs with immense power using the Strong Blade swordsmanship to being able to deflect the course of bullets with masterful and graceful precision. He is also able to cut through steel with immense ease and swiftness.
The fact that Mihawk used to be a rival of one of the Yonko implies that Mihawk might be one of the strongest characters in the series. Infact he has been known to have frequently fought with Shanks when they were younger. Their battles were said to shake the whole of the Grand Line and Mihawk often sought Shanks out for duels. However, Mihawk lost interest in him after Shanks lost his left arm. Mihawk has remained unharmed thus far throughout the entire series.
