12 – “SOUL KING” BROOK
Brook uses a type of sword called a shikomizue, a sword concealed inside a cane.
In battle, he is an extremely skilled sword master who is able to dispatch numerous enemies at once with swift and precise strikes. His swordmanship is a combination of classical fencing and iaidō. Like Zoro, Brook can now cut materials that are harder than steel as he was able to cut down a dragon, whose scales are tougher than steel. Anyway the power he applies in swordsmanship are not of the same caliber as Zoro’s, who has a tremendous amount of physical strength in addition to his skills as a master swordsman as Brook’s swordsmanship is more focused in speed and precision instead of power.
11 – CAVENDISH
Cavendish has an extremely high level of skill in swordsmanship, acknowledged by Vice Admiral Bastille as the prodigious “Genius of the Sword.”
When taken over by his alter ego Hakuba, Cavendish’s prowess as a swordsman significantly increased. He also cut down Dellinger, who is noted by the dwarves to be one of the best fighters of the Corrida Coloseum, in a single slash.
10 – KIN’EMON
Kin’emon is highly skilled in swordsmanship. His skills has great versatility, able to wield either one or dual wield both his swords with incredible power and precision.
His Fox-Fire Style allows him to generate, attack with, and cut with fire.
He also proved that he is able to easily cut through steel, slicing apart the emergency shutters to Caesar’s lab at the request of Zoro.
9 – CHARLOTTE CRACKER
Cracker wields a huge double-edged sword named Pretzel, a blade larger than himself with a crossguard shaped like a biscuit. He claims that it is a unique sword which has no peers. Cracker’s Biscuit Soldiers each wield one or more much larger replicas of Pretzel made out of biscuit.
Cracker is extremely skilled in wielding Pretzel, as he can attack very quickly despite the sword’s size. Combined with Busoushoku Haki, he can cut through Luffy’s Gear Fourth enhanced Haki defenses with his sword.
8 – TRAFALGAR D. WATER LAW
Law is extremely skillful in wielding his Nodachi Kikoku, a sword about as tall as he is. In contrast to the ranged slashes of traditional swordsman, Law’s sword slashes don’t travel but simply provide the cutting effect while his spatial manipulation within his ROOM provides the range. Through spatial slicing, he can dismember people without harming them and attach separated parts in any manner he sees fit.
His swordsmanship combined with his Devil Fruit powers enable him to mutilate numerous people at once faster than they can react, apparently defeating Kin’emon a very powerful swordmaster who is capable of cutting steel and use fire enhanced slashes in this manner. His greatest swordsmanship feats shown so far have been defeating Vergo, where the wake of his slash was capable of cutting apart Caesar’s laboratory and the surrounding mountains, and cutting a meteor in half.
7 – RORONOA ZORO
Zoro is an extremely powerful master swordsman, being able to use one, two, and three swords in varying attack styles. He is even able to use Flying Slash Attack, a high level sword technique that utilizes the very air pressure of sword swings itself to strike the enemy from a distance.
Since no one else has been seen using anything similar to his Santoryu style, it can be assumed that Zoro invented not only Santoryu but most, if not all, of his sword techniques.
After his two years of training Zoro is now able to easily cut through materials even stronger than steel. He also learned how to imbue his swords with Haki.
6 – FUJITORA
Fujitora wields his sword in a reverse-grip style, with the blade pointing in the direction opposite of his thumb.
Despite his blindness, Fujitora has shown to be an exceptionally powerful and skillful swordsman able to skillfully block powerful attacks as he was able to parry Zoro’s powerful flying slash that was strong enough to bypass the incredibly heavy gravitational force generated from Fujitora’s Devil Fruit abilities and blast Fujitora himself away a considerable distance, as well as defend against Luffy’s Elephant Gun which is strong to defeat a giant Kraken.
His swordsmanship combined with his Devil Fruit powers allow him to fight equally with Sabo, an immensely powerful fighter wielding a staff enhanced by flames generated from the Mera Mera no Mi without any injuries at all.
5 – SHILIEW
Shiliew is extremely proficient in wielding his nodachi, having used it to kill numerous prisoners of Impel Down, all who were noted to be powerful and dangerous criminals. When his sword was returned to him after a long term imprisonment, Shiliew killed several of his fellow Impel Down officers in a split second, demonstrating extraordinary precision and dexterity in his swordsmanship.
4 – VISTA
Vista has extraordinary mastery in dual wielding swordsmanship and even Mihawk acknowledged his skills. Vista 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.
3 – SILVERS RAYLEIGH
Rayleigh is not only one of the strongest characters of the whole series, he is also a tremendously powerful and skilled swordsman, though he claimed to have degraded in skill somewhat from his younger and healthier days. Like Zoro, he could create extremely powerful compressed air slashes as shown when he cut the ground with ease to prevent the Marines chasing after Luffy.
Rayleigh combines Busoshoku Haki with his swordmanship, allowing him to fight equivalently with Kizaru, who himself is a highly skilled swordsman wielding his Ama no Murakumo light energy sword and also managed to cut and draw blood from Kizaru’s face, who is a Logia user.
2 – SHANKS
Shanks is known to be one of the four strongest pirates in the world.
As the former rival of Mihawk who is known as the world’s greatest swordsman, Shanks himself is an immensely powerful swordsman. Shanks could match a blow from Whitebeard with only one arm, which is a testament of his prowess in swordsmanship. Shanks is also powerful enough to easily defend against Akainu’s magma fist using his sword and Busoshoku Haki.
Shanks appears to have favored his left arm before he lost it, as he is always seen holding his sword in his left hand during flashbacks. He is presumed to have been left-handed.
1 – DRACULE MIHAWK
Mihawk is the current holder of the title, “Greatest Swordsman in the World”.
In terms of combat, he is the single greatest swordsman alive in the world, proven by his absolute mastery of swordsmanship: two years ago, he was capable of effortlessly defeating a three sword-wielding Zoro, who was renowned all over the East Blue, with a single dagger that he generally uses as a dinner knife. He has been known to have frequently dueled with the Yonko Shanks when they were younger.
Mihawk demonstrates tremendous dexterity and supreme skill in swordsmanship, especially when using his main sword, Yoru. His swordsmanship is extremely versatile, from destroying entire fleets of ships and giant icebergs with immense power 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, as demonstrated with the steel-bodied Mr. 1, whom even Zoro struggled to defeat.
