Claiming he wanted a glorious death in battle, a sea full of monsters out there yet he spent a solid 20 years in Wano, the only notable top tier he fought being one that WENT there😭. His top 5 is based on distant memories, a sneak (he’d still have won but whatever) and a ducked fade. Spent his entire prime prepping for war and got snuffed by 5 rookies because he couldn’t lock in quick enough. TOP 1🔥🔥
My pick for the top 4. Mihawk, the world’s strongest swordsman. His case is much simpler than my previous two picks. His title is simply enough to put him that far up. The whole point of his character revolves around strength, nothing else, no other relevance to the plot for him. He sits at the top of the swordsmanship world as the strongest of them all, waiting for Zoro to surpass him. His title is the only one of the three we’ve seen that is actually true, no whats ifs and buts. No sickness holding him back, not a rumour, a statement with nothing in the story to disprove it. Let’s get Kaido’s title out of the way since it’s literally a rumour and his actual title is “King of the beasts”. In Whitebeard’s case one could take it as it is and not dive deeper, thinking Oldbeard>Mihawk, Shanks and any top tier of the current era solely off of that. However, we know Whitebeard was weakened by his sickness, as even before ever getting attacked in Marineford he couldn’t react to Squard stabbing him, something Marco said he should have been able to do so. Whitebeard himself admits he can’t remain the strongest forever. That doesn’t mean he realised he lost the credence of his title moments before he said it, he knew it wasn’t true for a while now. It’s not as if he came in Marineford thinking he was the strongest then suffered some injuries and then had an epiphany. It just proved what he knew was true. He hadn’t been the strongest for some time now, being sick and all. He was 72. He was relative to old Garp at best, since they were relative in their prime and he was sick while Garp wasn’t. Essentially his title is marred by that big asterisk being his sickness. Mihawk’s title however HAS to be true. Otherwise Oda will have made a joke out of both his and Zoro’s characters and he obviously won’t do that. He has to be able to give eos Zoro an extreme diff fight. He’s in his prime, he’s completely healthy and the narrative not only supports but DEMANDS he truly be that strong. So the title is flawless and therefore true. He also wields the strongest blade in the history of one piece that’s also a black blade. While it hasn’t been explicitly stated that it’s been blackened by him, it’s asinine to assume otherwise and pure agenda. A supreme grade black blade. Even Ryuma, the only other person in history to have blackened his blade didn’t have that strong a blade. If Zoro has acoc, then it’s also safe to assume he does too, on a much higher level and mastery. His title being true implies he has to be stronger, even if slightly, than the likes of Shanks, the strongest Yonko in history, someone who has shown some of the best feats in the story. He gets slandered every single day by people who are too deep in their agenda and can’t understand nuances. They take his showings in Marineford at face value and unironically scale him at YC4 or some shit. Mihawk was simply cruising there. A jobber approach, a 9-5. Do the bare minimum, do some side quests and leave. While fighting Vista he was literally thinking about Luffy. The most casual war participant on the whole battlefield, also the strongest. He had no reason to fight seriously. Nothing for him to gain there. Also, not holding back, doesn’t mean going all out, it’s sad that the difference needs to be explained. He simply wouldn’t restrain the power of his blade. He wanted to test Luffy’s strength and intelligence when facing a ridiculously stronger opponent. Either out of curiosity for someone Zoro would choose to follow, or purely out of interest for Luffy himself, since he’s made a good impression on him already. If you genuinely think Mihawk wanted to kill Luffy and couldn’t, drop the manga. Mihawk could also be related to Imu, the universally accepted top 1. But that’s just a theory. Still, not required for his placement. At worst, the man is stronger than anything Shanks will show. Another preserved for the endgame case. Another one that will make the sub go on a meltdown once we see him actually going all out. Dracule Mihawk. Top 4.
Akainu is my pick for top 3. Behind Dragon and Imu (kinda interchangeable with Dragon but i'm leaning more towards Dragon). Why? Simply put he's that important to the story strength wise. He's been hyped by Oda himself on several occasions, under his leadership the marines are the strongest they've ever been, he moved the navy hq in the middle of the new world, basically saying he doesn't fear any pirate, essentially challenging them. His will to completely rid the one piece world of pirates is matched by none. Nobody hates pirates more than Akainu in this story. Most people gravitade towards Garp when the strongest marine of all time discussions come, but it's Akainu. Once again, he'll prove it before the end. The narrative supports it. Why would Luffy's direct opposition in the current era be any less tough than the one of Roger's? We are aware that the seas are more dangerous in the current era, the marines are stronger than ever too. Why wouldn't that apply to the fleet admiral of the current era as well? If Sengoku and Garp were giving Roger a run for his money back in the day, then Akainu will be able to do so too to Luffy. The main arguement however, regarding why Sakazuki is so strong, lies in his fated fight with Luffy down the road. To this day, and probably until the end of the story, Akainu is the only person to have ever broken Luffy's will. He permanently scarred Luffy physically (further solidifying their fated clash, scars matter in this story) and more importantly, he also did so emotionally. He killed his brother right in his arms, showing him just how out of his leauge he really was at that point in the story. Luffy, the man who shouts he'll be king of the pirates probably every other episode, was doubting himself, claiming he's weak. Broken will to the point that had Jimbei not intrevened in Amazon Lily, he'd have probably gotten himself killed due to his injuries. Luffy NEEDS to get back at Akainu for himself. Again, no other person has managed to break Luffy's will in the story. Not Lucci, not Doffy, not Katakuri, not even Kaido, who beat him over and over again (literally emitting concueror's haki unconscious after their first clash). Also, Akainu is the exact antithesis of Luffy. He is the face of authoritarianism in the world of one piece (on the navy side at least) while Luffy represents freedom. Their ideals are complete opposites of each other. Add to that their personal history and the grudge Akainu seems to hold against Dragon (never once called Luffy Luffy in marineford, always referring to him as "Dragon's son", probably a deep connection there, another parallel, hence my take on them being interchangeable). Essentially, it all boils down to Akainu having to face Luffy in the future, a Luffy who will be stronger than the one currently in Elbaph. How is Akainu supposed to give Luffy an extreme diff fight if he isn't near Luffy's level or stronger at the start of their fight? Unless you're one of the people who think he'll get "Blueno'd", (sure that makes sense, Oda will simply write slop to satisfy your agenda lol) then that is what's required of him as a villain: give the main character catharsis threw his defeat, along with a very tough fight to grow from in order to proceed to more important and stronger enemies. Also, the fact that people think Sabo, who is a revolutionary, whose fight is mainly against the celestial dragons and the holy knights, who wasn't even there on Marineford think has a better case because he "inherited Ace's will and has his devil fruit" is laughable in comparison to Luffy's case and surface level reading comprehension at best. Besides, literally as Whitebeard's dying, when referring to the inheritance of will, he's literally talking about Luffy AND IT'S SHOWN TOO. People need to understand that "eos" Akainu IS current Akainu. The man is in his prime, nowhere else to go for him, he will simply portray his strength against Luffy, unless something else pops up before that. He's been built up as one of Luffy's final opponents since pre-ts, same as Blackbeard, just not as important as him. Akainu being one of the most hated characters by the fanbase is bound to get this downvoted, since people can't put aside their feelings when scaling. But they'll turn around when the time comes. Top 3. HIM.
Monkey D. Dragon is one of my three candidates for top 1 and the one I think is the most likely to be so (with the sole exception of Nerona Imu of course). Why? He’s the only Monkey D. currently in his prime, the father of the main character, clearly reserved for the endgame as a very important character. There’s a certain trope for characters like Dragon and he falls right into it. He has led the revolutionary army for decades now, being the only consistent opposition to the world government in the current era. If Haki represents one’s will, then an argument could be made for his Haki to be one of, if not the strongest in the series (with the sole exception of Nerona Imu of course). 1181 chapters in, we’ve seen nearly every single important character’s strength portrayed (to an extent at least), yet Dragon’s power remains unseen. Not even a teaser barring what he did in Loguetown. We’ve seen the full extent of Rocks, Whitebeard, Garp, Roger, Kaido, glimpses of Shanks, even feats from Imu recently, but Dragon is saved for later. That’s an obvious indication of his strength in this story and the pivotal role he has yet to play. He’s on that one panel after all. Being the leader of one of the relevant factions requires him to be that strong. The will required to not give up on the liberation of the work from the government’s oppression is unfathomable, given how much of an outsider the rest revs are in comparison. He can’t be careless like Luffy so he can’t risk making mistakes, hence why he couldn’t help Kuma or Ginny himself. They are but one pawn in the game that he’s been playing for so long. Too much has gone into the fight for him to risk resources for any single member. He’s called a fraud for that (which is hilarious) but that’s the nuance behind it. The notion of the next generation surpassing the previous one supported by the narrative should also place him above the likes of the old gen (said notion should obviously only apply to top tiers with an extreme relevance to the story, not every top tier in the current era carried that weight). No reason to have the current benchmarks of strength be lesser than the ones of the previous era. There are certain people currently in the story with no foreseeable power ups that are in their prime. Their “eos” strength IS their current strength. They represent the bar that is to be surpassed for the next gen to be over the previous one and the one before that. He is Oda’s biggest wildcard, not a figurehead, not a fraud. What the story holds for him regarding his fights I can’t tell, but he’ll prove that he really is that strong before the end. Invest in Monkey D. Dragon, my pick for top 1.
P.S.: I think it’s ridiculous that some people genuinely believe he’s nothing but a tactician with no actual strength of his own. Simply ludicrous