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Nov 13, 2023

10 Strongest Non

Although One Piece contains many Devil Fruits that grant their wielders unique abilities, it also features many strong characters that don't use them.

While Devil Fruits are the most common way for characters in One Piece to gain powers, there are plenty of powerful figures in the series who don't use Devil Fruits to fight. These characters often rely on One Piece's secondary power system, Haki, to supplement their innate strength. While their abilities may not be as flashy as some of the Devil Fruit Users in the series, they can easily match many characters in terms of power.

Surprisingly, many of these characters have been some of the most important figures in the series from the very beginning. This speaks to the great storytelling of series creator Eiichiro Oda, whose subtle early inclusion of concepts like Haki proves he had One Piece’s plot planned from the start. This also makes the overwhelming power of many of these characters even more believable despite the incredibly strong Devil Fruit users in the series.

Koby may still be in training, but he is quickly becoming one of One Piece's strongest characters despite that. Initially starting off as a weaker counterpart to Luffy, Koby would eventually train under the Navy Vice-Admiral Garp and learn to dent battleships with only a punch just like the older marine.

His most impressive feat proved that he could even destroy a gigantic stone arm of an island with a single Haki infused punch, making him a worthy replacement for Garp. By the end of the series, Koby may easily become one of the most powerful characters.

Jinbei is the newest member of the Straw Hat crew, but this doesn't make him a weakling. Before joining the Straw Hats, Jinbei rose to the status of Shichibukai, meaning he was a pirate strong enough to make the World Government not want to face him.

With his powerful Fishman Karate skills, it isn't hard to see why Jinbei is able to take down his opponents in physical combat and manipulate the water around him. While he is outclassed by many of the other combatants in One Piece, he is still an incredibly strong character.

Fans unfortunately don't get to see much of Oden outside a brief flashback, but in it, Oden proved that he is a force to be reckoned with. From his childhood feats of defeating giant animals, to his time with the Roger pirates, Oden showed time and time again that he is one of the best swordsmen in the series.

His most impressive feat was being able to land an attack on Kaido so powerful that it scarred the incredibly strong Yonko. While Oden is no longer alive, these feats will always mark him as one of the strongest characters in One Piece.

Sanji is one of the strongest Straw Hats, being a part of the so-called Monster trio, and he has only gotten stronger as the series has continued. His main form of attack are his devastating kicks, which are so powerful they set his legs on fire, but recently he has gained powerful upgrades from his family of evil Power Rangers-esque scientists.

While these new powers still haven't been fully explored, they include the ability to turn invisible as well as some degree of healing factor. While Sanji doesn't like these powers, he will still use them if he has to, and this combined with his already impressive base strength puts him on this list.

Mihawk is commonly cited as being the strongest swordsman of all time in One Piece's world, which may make his placement on this list seem relatively low, especially compared to some of the characters placed higher on this list. The reason for this is that fans haven't actually seen Mihawk in a serious fight since he fought a young Zoro back in East Blue.

Mihawk has been a major figure in the series since then, becoming a founding member of the Cross Guild with the new Yonko Buggy and training Zoro during the time skip, but he needs to show off his skills in battle more before earning a higher spot on this list.

Silvers Rayleigh is a former member of the Roger pirates who the Straw Hats met on Saobody. Despite his age, Rayleigh's mastery of Haki enables him to still fight incredibly powerful enemies, going toe to toe with the Naval Admiral Kizaru to protect Luffy and his crew.

It also made him a perfect mentor for Luffy when the young pirate learned Haki during the time skip. As of now in the manga, Rayleigh is on Amazon Lily along with Boa Hancock, and so is unlikely to serve a major role in the final Saga, but if the battles of the inevitable final war do reach him, he will likely once again show fans why he is still feared.

Easily the strongest Straw Hat without a Devil Fruit, Zoro is a powerful swordsman who has taken down a myriad of the crew's enemies. As the series has continued, Zoro has just gotten stronger, both improving his technique and getting new more powerful swords.

His incredible power has been most clearly shown in the recent anime episode featuring his battle vs King, which showed he is able to defeat the top lieutenants of the other Yonko. Zoro is likely only going to grow in power as One Piece continues, so he could easily rise in this ranking in the future.

Fans have always known that Garp is an incredibly powerful figure in the Navy, dating back to the time of Roger and Whitebeard, but until recently they had never seen him actually show off his skills in action. With Sword's assault on Fullalead island to reclaim Koby from the Blackbeard Pirates, Garp has finally had a chance to show off his true power.

Despite his capture at the end of the fight, Garp absolutely devastated the massive force against him, with his incredibly powerful punches and ability to fight through brutal attacks. If this is what he can do as an old man, then it is hard to imagine how strong he likely was in his prime.

Roger could potentially take the number one spot on this list in the future, but fans unfortunately haven't seen enough of him to place him above the last non Devil Fruit User on this list. That being said, Roger was able to show off his strength in the excellent Oden flashback during Wano, going toe to toe with Whitebeard in his prime.

In addition, Roger was strong enough to claim the title of Pirate King while he was alive, only being executed by the World Government by his own will after turning himself in. Hopefully Oda will show more of Roger before the series ends and when that happens he may take the top spot on this list.

Similar to lower entries on this list like Mihawk and Roger, fans unfortunately haven't seen much of Shanks yet. With his recent takedown of Kid, Shanks has revealed a level of Haki mastery that easily establishes him as the best observation Haki user in the series.

Additionally, at the end of Wano he showed the incredible range of his Conqueror's Haki in an impressive fashion. And he is powerful enough to end the Marineford war by just showing up. Of course, this last feat may be due to Shanks' theorized status as a Celestial Dragon, but regardless of that he has still proven himself to be one of if not the most powerful character in the series so far despite only having one arm and not having eaten a Devil Fruit.

Many of the characters on this list still have yet to reveal their full power, although if the opening arcs of the Final Saga are any indication, they will likely soon get to do so. In addition, many characters like Koby, Zoro, and Sanji will likely grow more before the series ends, increasing their power levels. Thus, One Piece's most powerful non Devil Fruit users prove that characters don’t need to have the flashy abilities of a Devil Fruit in order to still be incredibly strong and important.

Ben Sockol has been writing articles for the comics section of Screen Rant since early 2022. Growing up watching a variety of Saturday morning cartoons and then voraciously reading through the comics they were based on, Ben developed a love of the superhero genre from an early age. And upon discovering anime in high school and college he became a manga fanatic as well. After double majoring in Physics and Mathematics at MIT and doing a brief stint as an Analyst at an investment firm, he realized that writing about his nerdy interests was his true calling. When Ben isn’t writing about comic books, he is most likely reading them or engaging in one of his many other hobbies like card magic. Ben has his own YouTube channel YGOFrom0 where he does deep dives into historic formats of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game. You can occasionally find him on Twitter @bsocks8.

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