The following article contains spoilers for One Piece.
One piece the latest developments have been great and fans are waiting for more (as they are also waiting for the new season to be released in April 2026). Although One piece promises a bright future, there is also much to be said for the past, as the best swordsmen of all time in the series.
There are many sword-wielding characters in the franchise, and not all of them are technically swordsmen, though fans usually don't mind too much who is worthy of that title. However, only one can hold the official title of 'World's Strongest Swordsman'. While we only know the identity of the current holder, there are some good guesses as to who was probably the most powerful in the past. But before that, let's dive more into the eras One piece and what the chronology looks like in the series.
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World eras in one piece
World One piece it's a bit like our world with a vast timeline that starts before civilizations exist. As in the real world, there is also more than one calendar: there are two, the Age of the Sea Circle (ASC) and the Age of Heaven (AH), but it is not known which one predominates. What we do know is that Mont Blanc Noland dates the events using the Age of Sea Circle in his book and Nico Robin refers to the Age of Heaven. The age of the sea circle appears to be similar to the Gregorian calendar.
The timeline could be broken down as follows:
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Before Void Century (-3500s ASC to 500s ASC);
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Void Century (600s ASC to 700s ASC);
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After Void Century/Before Current Century (800s ASC to 1400s ASC);
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Incident in the last century before God in the valley (1440s ASC to 1500s ASC);
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God Valley Incident (1500 ASC);
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The Great Pirate Era (1500 ASC to 1538 ASC);
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Luffy's Journey (from 1539 ASC forward; the story is currently in 1541 ASC).
Notice how the time span shortens as we approach the current era, as the most important events in the story have only recently happened. Much of what happened centuries ago is only part of a larger tradition that creates One piece feel like a real universe with its own chronology and development. However, it is important to note that while One piece offers fans glimpses into the past, refers to events that happened centuries before the main story (such as the era of dinosaurs millions of years ago or the construction of Alabaster thousands of years ago), this does not mean that the story attempts to create a 100% faithful reproduction. This just gives fans a sense of a somewhat consistent history to reveal.
Furthermore, in the real world, knowledge about centuries ago is more difficult to find due to the lack of surviving documentation, so it makes sense that information about ancient times in One piece would be rare. If we collect some of the major events of the recent timeline, the most important ones in the story are:
|
Era |
Event |
|
After the Void Century / Legendary Era |
Establishment of the World Government (about 800 years before Luffy's journey) |
|
After the Void Century |
Era of Rocks Pirates (Rocks D. Xebec ruled the sea about 40 years before Luffy's journey) |
|
The God Valley incident |
Defeating Rocks D. Xebec (about 38 years before Luffy's journey) |
|
The Great Pirate Era |
Era of Roger (Gol D. Roger ruled the sea about 25 years before Luffy's journey) |
|
Luffy's Journey |
It begins in 1539 ASC |
Why is the God Valley incident so important?
The God Valley incident represents a pivotal moment in the story of One Piece. Several years before the incident, Figarland Garling, currently one of the Five Elders, stopped at God Valley, an island rich in natural resources and the hideout of the Davy Family, enemies of the World Government. He then offered the island membership status in the World Government, but was rejected. He also met a local woman who eventually became the mother of Shamrock and Shanks.
Still, Garling doesn't give up on the island. As part of the World Government, he suggested that the next Native Hunter Competition be held in God Valley, as the name of the island was considered blasphemous by the World Nobles. Native Hunting Contests are tournaments where world nobles compete to kill the most native/resident inhabitants of a location. It's basically a genocidal contest organized with the help of the Marines.
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Anyway, God Valley was chosen to host the next competition and at first it was just like any other Aboriginal hunting competition (which is bad enough), it also served as a punishment for the Davy Family. However, Rocks and Roger came to the island to save the people, and others followed, forcing Ima, the secret ruler of the government, to intervene – many people, including Rocks, died. The God Valley incident was highly censored and the island was officially removed from maps as if it never existed. Also present were Monkey D. Garp and Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy's grandfather and father (respectively). Although censored from official records, the event was a turning point for many of the characters who were there.
What is the meaning of swordsmen in one piece?
History of the world in One piece it goes back ages, but the history of swordsmen is shorter. There is no information on when exactly swordsmen appeared, but they have been around for centuries – if we consider the logic of the real world, they probably appeared thousands of years ago when mankind learned to make swords. Therefore, we only have information about a handful of them, and most of the swordsmen we know are either from the current era or Roger's era.
Only I can call my dream stupid!
What we do know is that there were swordsmen for centuries in the land of Wano, where they were called 'samurai'. But fencing is not just about being able to wield a sword: there are qualifications to be met and techniques to be mastered. However, people can call themselves swordsmen even though they technically aren't. There are places (dojo) around the world where people can learn the art of fencing. Well, the whole concept is quite based on real swordsmanship, its ethical and technical behavior and so on. And then the best swordsman can eventually hold the title of World's Strongest Swordsman – which can be achieved by defeating the current holder.
The best swordsmen in every era
Since we only have information about the most recent eras, we will only consider them. It's possible that Oda will continue to explore swordsmen from other eras in spin-offs or other media. First, we'll identify the best of each era, and then dive deeper into each swordsman on the list:
|
Name |
Era |
|
Shimotsuki Ryuma |
Legendary Era (about 400 years B.C One piece) |
|
Go D. Roger |
Great Pirate Era (much claimed, unlikely to hold official title) |
|
Silver Rayleigh |
Great Pirate Era (believed to have held the title before Mihawk) |
|
Dracula Mihawk |
Current holder |
The legendary samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma
Ryuma wasn't originally a One piece character, but Oda reunited Monsters to change Ryuma's cannon to One piece franchise. He lived in Wano centuries before Luffy's journey began and was considered a sword god. The title of Strongest Swordsman in the World probably didn't even exist yet, so this is probably the closest title to it.
Roger and Rayleigh in the Pirate Era
Roger and Rayleigh are both considered extremely skilled in swordsmanship. Since there is no official information on who held the title of Strongest Swordsman before Mihawk, fans often believe that one or both of them held the title at different times. Roger is a legendary pirate known as the Pirate King and Rayleigh was his right hand man.
Although Roger is dead after his execution, Rayleigh is still alive, living in Sabaody and considered a legendary pirate. He sort of became friends with Luffy and taught him how to control Haki and mentored him during the two year time jump between the Marineford Arc and the New World Saga.
Mihawk must forfeit the title
Dracule Mihawk is the current holder of the title of Strongest Swordsman, but fans usually consider Shanks to be stronger than him, mainly due to Hakim. Mihawk is also a pirate, known as the Marine Hunter, and has a long rivalry with Shanks. In any case, Roronoa Zoro sees Mihawk as his greatest rival, and it is likely that Zoro will eventually gain the title of World's Strongest Swordsman.
One piece
- Release date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- directors
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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 Imayomura, Yashiôhiro Mayuū Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Writers
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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)
