This article contains spoilers from One Piece's Final Saga.
When he comes into the world One piecefans are well aware that Yonko are by far the strongest among mortals. Aside from Imu, who has now been confirmed to be the ultimate villain One piece Yonko are among the strongest in the story, and that certainly won't change in the Final Saga anytime soon.
The 9 Strongest Non-Yonko Pirates in One Piece, Ranked
Yonko are powerful, but they are not the only powerful pirates in One Piece.
Among the Yonka, fans saw some kind of upheaval immediately after the Wano Arc. Before Wano, The Yonko consisted of Kaido, Big Mom, Shanks and Blackbeard. A new Yonko appeared after Wano and the others fell. Kaido and Big Mom replaced Luffy and Buggyand current Yonko are basically made up Luffy, Shanks, Buggy and Blackbeard. While it goes without saying that all Yonko are powerful, not all are equally strong. Buggy, for example, is quite easily the weakest of the bunch right now. Now, Oda also seems to have confirmed the strongest of the Yonks, and that is none other than Shanks.
Yonko are the strongest monsters in the seas
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Four kings fighting for one piece
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Their abilities even frighten the Navy
To understand who is truly the strongest of the Yonks, we must first understand the concept of a Yonka. The Yonks are the leading elite pirates who rule the New World like kings. They are pirates who have their own territories and huge influence over large regions that usually span multiple countries. Yonko has immense power and with it comes immense notoriety. They have the highest rewards in the world One pieceand at the same time they use this influence to protect different countries.
Yonko also have massive alliances as there are only two ways to survive in the New World:
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Fight the Yonky and end up replacing or crushing them
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Connect with Yonky by forming alliances
Yonko basically form a group large enough to challenge even a world government. Their power is such that even the government dare not oppose them except in special circumstances, and not even an admiral is directly allowed to detain a Yonko unless requested by such a fleet admiral or a higher rank as the Five Elders.
This is the power of overpowering, also called Supreme King Color Haki. Most people who have become famous in the world have this power. Although you can control the Supreme King's color, you cannot directly train it to be stronger. It is the embodiment of the spirit of the user. It only gets stronger when the user itself gets stronger. — Silvers Rayleigh explains Conqueror's Haki to Luffy
quite clearly Yonko are a monstrous threat in the world of One Piece. When it comes to Yonko power, fans are well aware of what makes them special. Yonko either have legendary Devil Fruits like Kaido with his Devil Fruit dragon and Big Mom with her soul manipulating Devil Fruit, or they have incredibly powerful Haki.. In both cases, the Yonko have above average Haki, with immense control even over High King Hakim.
All Yonko are powerful, but there is one that stands above them all, especially considering the recent revelation made by Oda in the Elbaf arc, and that is Shanks.
Shanks is officially the strongest Yonko
Based on the recent revelations in the Elbaf arc regarding Shanks, it is very clear to fans that he is easily the strongest of the four emperors..
To really understand Shanks' power, we have to look at the Elbaf flashback where Rocks D. Xebec's power was officially revealed by Oda. Fans know that Rocks D. Xebec was a legend so strong that he could easily kill an admiral. He was Roger's fiercest opponent and his power was at one point even greater than Roger's.
Later, Roger most likely matched Rocks or maybe even surpassed him, but fans know they were relative.
I won't say it's not fair, sailor. But attacking the worn new green leaves that changed the era of piracy forever? Don't you think you're doing too much? Are you afraid of the new age? – Shanks
Rocks wasn't the only one standing on top of the era. Fans know that Harald was as strong as him and was his rival. Rocks D. Xebec and Harald have faced each other on various occasions and Oda has made it clear to fans that they are evenly matched. However, in the end Harald overcame the Rocks and that was after receiving the Deep Sea Covenant from Imu. This gave him immense superhuman strength and also ensured him immortality.
Eiichiro Oda prepares the death of the strongest character in the world in one piece
The death of the strongest character is already set in stone in One Piece.
In One Piece Chapter 1170, fans saw a character so strong that he was able to defeat even Harald despite gaining such monstrous powers. This character is none other than his own son Loki. Loki eventually tamed Ragnir and earned his recognition in Chapter 1170 shortly after. Loki also continued to consume the legendary Devil Fruit of Elbaf, the power of which is such that even Harald could not stand up to him in battle. This is exactly the same Loki was eventually defeated by Shanks eight years after the events at Aurust Castle in Elbaf.
In other words, Loki is so strong that he could rival or even beat Rocks D. Xebec in his prime. This means that Loki is stronger than Harald and Rocks now Shanks is even stronger than people like Loki. It quite clearly makes Shanks one of the strongest pirates, maybe even above Gol D. Roger's level, and overall the strongest individual in all of One Piece aside from the Void Century figures. This also makes Shanks the strongest of the four emperors.
Shanks has a power that fans haven't seen before
The truth is, fans have yet to see Shanks' full powers. Many fans might wonder why Shanks doesn't hold the title of World's Strongest when he's been so strong all along. The truth is that Shanks never revealed his true abilities to anyone. Shanks is someone who only really moved when he saw Nika return to the world.
His mission from Roger was to make Nika come back and that is very clear based on his actions like stealing the Gomu Gomu no Mi and staying in East Blue for over a year looking for the next user of this Devil Fruit. Shanks even sacrificed his arm for this, and all his life he just wanted to continue the legacy of Captain Roger, whom he considered his own father.
Shanks had no interest in moving at the time and all he cared about was keeping his balance until Nika arrived. Now that Nika has arrived, Shanks has started to really move and unleashes his true powers that fans haven't seen before.
Eiichiro Oda's One Piece focuses on the journey of Monkey D. Luffy and the straw pirates who sail the seas to claim the great treasure known as One Piece. The manga is currently in its Final Saga. One Piece will be featured in Weekly Shonen Jump this week. The official release date for One Piece Chapter 1170 is January 4, 2026. In Japan, One Piece drops on Monday at 12:00 PM JST, which is 11:00 AM EST or 8:00 AM PT. Fans can read this chapter for free on Manga Plus and Shonen Jump apps. This ensures that fans will always support the author.
