Garp Is Overpowered, But These Characters Are Just As Strong

It would be hard to argue that Monkey D. Garp isn’t one of the strongest characters in all of One Piece. After all, this is the guy who was able to obliterate an entire island with a single punch, and is also one of the only people in history who has been able to hold his own against the Rocks Pirates. Needless to say, the Hero of the Marines is an absolute powerhouse, but there are still several other Pirates and Marines in One Piece who are also pretty absurd when it comes to their power level.

Most of the time, this will come as a result of their Devil Fruits, which enables them to utilize multiple different techniques and abilities to overcome their opponents in mere seconds. Still, even if someone is born with a strong Devil Fruit, they still need to put in the time and efforts to fully master it, enabling them to access a whole new realm of power if they choose to do so. While there have been many discussions over the years about how ridiculously strong Garp is, it’s time to take a deeper look at a few other One Piece characters who also feel extremely overpowered for their own set of reasons.

Akainu

It’s Hard To Get Close To Akainu Without Being Melted By His Magma

• Devil Fruit: Magu Magu No Mi

It’s not difficult to see why Aakinu earned the position of Fleet Admiral when witnessing just how immensely strong he was in the Marineford War. Thanks to his Magma Devil Fruit, which is considered to be one of the most destructive in the series when it comes to its offensive capabilities, Akainu is able to incinerate anyone who dares to stand in his way, and since he’s a Logia user, it also means he can absorb slashes and blows from regular pirates without feeling a thing.

Since he is always surrounded by a ring of heat anytime he activates his Devil Fruit ability, it means Akainu possesses an incredible level of durability, making it virtually impossible for most people to get even remotely close to him without putting themselves in danger. While Akainu is yet to show the full extent of his abilities in the story, it’s pretty clear that Oda is saving this for much later down the line for when there’s a perfect opportunity to show how strong he truly is.

Whitebeard

Whitebeard Could Create Entire Earthquakes With A Single Punch

• Devil Fruit: Gura Gura No Mi

Though Whitebeard’s name had been thrown around multiple times in the early arcs of the story, it wasn’t till the Marineford War that the legendary captain himself appeared in the flesh, and to say he made a strong first impression would be putting it mildly. To kick off the chaotic conflict, Whitebeard shows off his Devil Fruit ability by creating a terrifying earthquake, all with a single punch. What makes this feat all the more impressive is that, by this point, Whitebeard was far past his prime, and was actually severely ill once he decided to take off to try and save Ace.

Despite that, he was able to survive a countless number of sword lashes, bullet holes, and Devil Fruit attacks, all while continuing to lead his crew into the battlefield. Considering Whitebeard had earned the title of ‘strongest man alive’, it makes sense that Oda would make him this overpowered, but it’s still hard to fathom just how immensely powerful this guy really was, especially when he was clashing against Roger in his younger days.

Kaido

It Took Luffy Multiple Attempts To Finally Take Down The Ferocious Yonko

• Devil Fruit: Uo Uo No Mi, Model: Seiryu

When Luffy first arrived in Wano county, it wasn’t long before he made the worst decision any pirate could make – charging head first at the Yonko Kaido. Despite being incredibly powerful by this point in the story, Luffy barely lasted a few minutes before being decimated by Kaido’s Thunder Bagua, but after their initial interaction, Luffy would again be humiliated multiple times before he was able to deal any kind of damage to Kaido’s body.

As was made clear with his epic introduction, this ferocious beast has long been considered unkillable. Despite being captured by the Marines and sentenced to death numerous times, they simply didn’t have any tools or weapons that could actually kill Kaido, considering his size and durability. In fact, Kaido is so absurdly overpowered that it seems as though he had actually started to get bored with his own strength, spending most of his time drinking away his sorrows and lashing out at the residents of Wano. In the end, Luffy would be forced to awaken the true potential of his unique Devil Fruit power to even stand a chance of defeating Kaido, but this certainly wasn’t a walk in the park for the protagonist.

Shanks

Luffy’s Role Model Isn’t A Pirate To Be Messed With

• Devil Fruit: Doesn’t Possess A Devil Fruit

Despite probably having less overall screen time than Bartolomeo, Oda has still managed to do an excellent job at conveying just how overwhelmingly strong Shanks truly is throughout the story. One popular example of this is how Shanks was able to stop the Marineford War from escalating any further just by arriving on the battlefield with this crew, with every Marine and Pirate realizing that they would stand no chance of taking on a fit and healthy Shanks even if theywanted to.

A more recent example is how Shanks completely humiliated Kid, who almost blew up his entire ship with his rail gun. After peeking into the future and realizing that Kid’s gun would deal significant damage, Shanks was able to slice apart the weapon, and its user, with a single attack. Therefore, while Shanks may be a very outgoing and jolly fellow, it’s certainly not a good idea to get on his bad side considering the staggering amount of overwhelming power that he is able to unleash at a moment’s notice.

Blackbeard

Two Of The Most Powerful Devil Fruits Belong To A Single Man

• Devil Fruits: Yami Yami No Mi / Gura Gura No Mi

As if acquiring a Devil Fruit that can manipulate and control darkness itself wasn’t already enough, Blackbeard also decided to steal the Earthquake fruit from his previous mentor, Whitebeard, during the Marineford War. While it should be impossible for a single person to possess more than one fruit, Blackbeard is the exception, and as a result, he is now one of the most feared individuals in the entire world, considering how much destruction he is capable of causing.

Not only is he able to create earthquakes just like Whitebeard could, but he also possesses a fruit which can not only throw out devastating dark attacks, but can also disable his opponents from using their own Devil Fruits in combat. It’s not hard to see why so many people theorize that Blackbeard will be Luffy’s final opponent in the story, especially considering he’s probably only going to get stronger as time goes on, if that’s even possible.

Monkey D. Luffy

Garp Would Be Proud Seeing Just How Far Luffy Has Come

• Devil Fruit: Hito Hito No Mi, Model: Nika

Since Luffy is the main protagonist of the One Piece story, it makes sense that he would become stronger over time, but he’s now reached the point where he is essentially viewed as a type of omnipotent god by many of those around him, considering his newfound strength. While he had already become a lot more powerful thanks to his Gear techniques, it was really unleashing the power of his Devil Fruit, and more specifically, his Awakening, that enabled him to reach a whole new level of power.

By channeling the power of the Sun God Nika, Luffy can turn the surrounding environment into his own cartoonish playground, as was shown during his fight with Kaido, where he was able to toss the Yonko around without breaking a sweat. When Luffy enters this ‘Free Form’, there are not many characters who can stand up to him, and it’s honestly difficult to imagine how he can become any stronger considering he’s already facing off against Admirals and Yonko pretty effortlessly.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Writers

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)