#8 – Shiki the Golden Lion
Shiki is the Admiral of the Golden Lion Pirates.
Alongside Roger and Whitebeard, Shiki is one of the most powerful pirates of his generation. He has tremendous physical strength supplemented with his supreme sword skills, allowing him to slay an army of Marines at Marineford, and it took the combined efforts of both Garp and Sengoku to subdue him with the conclusion of their fight leaving half of Marineford destroyed.
Shiki is the first prisoner ever to escape from Impel Down. After he amputated his own legs to break free of Sea Stone Shackles, Shiki forcefully grafted his swords into the inner stumps of his legs. He is also capable of attacking from a distance with them, by sending slashes from his sword legs in a Rankyaku like fashion.
Shiki ate the 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. He uses the surrounding environment against his enemies, shaping earth or snow into giant lion heads and launching them towards his foes, or even making water float to drown his opponents in it.
#7 – Kong
Kong is the World Government Commander-in-Chief. He was the Fleet Admiral of the Marines at the time of the Battle in Edd War twenty-seven years ago and at the time of Gol D. Roger’s execution twenty-four years ago.
Due to his muscles, his former rank in the Marines, and his numerous scars, he could be considered rather strong, however he still has yet to reveal his powers in the series.
#6 – Dracule Mihawk
Mihawk is the current holder of the title, “Greatest Swordsman in the World”.
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. He possesses an immense amount of skill in battle and has exceptional eyesight.
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.
#5 – Silvers Rayleigh
Silvers Rayleigh, also known as the “Dark King”, is the former first mate of the Roger Pirates, known as the “Right Hand of the Pirate King.
Rayleigh is extremely powerful, easily one of the strongest characters introduced.
He could intercept Kizaru’s attack when the Admiral was about to kill Roronoa Zoro without Kizaru noticing, and also managed to keep up with his light enhanced speed.
Rayleigh is one of very few people who can use all 3 types of Haki: Armament Haki, Observation Haki and Conqueror’s Haki.
Rayleigh infact has shown to possess great mastery of Haki, and made use of all three types while teaching Luffy about them, and training him in the basics.
#4 – Sengoku the Buddha
Sengoku was the fleet admiral of the Marines pre-timeskip, succeeding Kong and preceding Akainu. He was also one of the major figures along with Whitebeard, Shiki, and Monkey D. Garp during the times when Gol D. Roger was still alive, and still continues to be in the present, even after his retirement from the Marines.
Even without his Devil Fruit powers, Sengoku has great strength and speed; he is also shown to have a strong will as he was able to resist Luffy’s unconscious burst of Haoshoku Haki. Sengoku is one of a very small number of people who can use all three types of Haki: Kenbunshoku, Busoshoku, and Haoshoku.
Sengoku ate the “Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu”, a rarer-than-Logia Mythical Zoan-class Devil Fruit which allows him to turn into a gigantic Daibutsu. This ability gives him a massive power boost to his already impressive strength, enough to cause the execution stand to collapse in one indirectly connecting punch, despite the combined effort of Luffy’s Gear Third and Mr. 3’s Candle Wall to absorb the attack. He can also launch an explosive shock wave with a palm thrust, enough to send a majority of the Blackbeard Pirates flying a fair distance.
#3 – Monkey D. Garp
Monkey D. Garp is one of the most powerful Marines seen in the series so far. He’s a Marine vice admiral and also a “hero” of the Marines, and as such is known for cornering and fighting Gol D. Roger many times. Roger also stated that he and Garp had almost killed each other on numerous occasions. As another true testament of sheer power, Garp defeated and nearly killed Don Chinjao in the past with a single punch, whose bounty was worth over 500,000,000 Berries in his prime and was said to be able to split a continent with a headbutt.
The extent of Garp’s power and fame is evident round the time of the Battle of Edd War, three years before the future Pirate King died. It was revealed that he was offered the promotion to the rank of admiral more than once, but repeatedly refused the promotion.
Another example of Garp’s strength is when he was shown to easily strike down Marco of the Whitebeard Pirates and knock him back, despite having his Devil Fruit abilities activated at the time, which was something that both Kizaru and Akainu seemed unable to do.
#2 – Akainu
Akainu has an immense amount of superhuman durability, illustrated by the fact that not even two Haki/Busoshoku Haki enhanced quake-powered blows, which caused far more damage at point-blank range, from Whitebeard were able to keep him down, the one of which was powerful enough to split Marineford in two, and he was still able to fight the Whitebeard Pirates and two former Shichibukai (Crocodile and Jinbe) all at the same time. He is also shown to possess tremendous strength, as seen when he pinned Whitebeard’s giant bisento down to the ground with just one leg.
Akainu possesses the Magu Magu no Mi, a Logia-class Devil Fruit which grants him the ability to transform his body into magma and manipulate it at will, as well as produce near-limitless amounts of it. As a Logia, Akainu can let physical attacks pass through him without injury, and can only be wounded with the use of Haki and Seastone. His ability is naturally of a higher order than Ace’s pyrokinetic abilities, as the higher heat and smothering abilities of his magma allowed him to successfully harm Ace despite Ace’s Logia-defense, and ultimately kill Ace due to this superiority.
#1 – Monkey D. Dragon
Monkey D. Dragon is the infamous leader of the Revolutionary Army who has been attempting to overthrow the World Government. He is the World Government’s greatest enemy and is the most dangerous and most wanted man in the world. Dragon is already a powerful threat in his own right, as well as having powerful subordinates such as Sabo, Ivankov, Bartholomew Kuma, and Inazuma who are in comparison, lower in rank. This only speaks volumes of Dragon’s true power.
When he was mentioned at the Summit War everyone froze, just at the thought of Dragon. Everyone is scared of him. He is at least Yonko level. Maybe the strongest character of the series.