Key things
- Straw Pirates have 10 members, each with a designated role.
- The Fake Straw Hat Crew had 8 members and was formed to capitalize on the reputation of the original crew.
- The Ideo Pirates consists of 4 members who joined the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
Pirate crew in One piece they tend to be quite large. Most pirates seek power, and to some extent there is such a thing as strength in numbers. That being said, not every crew has the luxury of having that many pirates.
Although many who are the main antagonists tend to have a group of grunts in addition to their higher ranking members, the other crews tend to be quite small in terms of their ensemble. This list takes a look at some of the smallest crews overall One piece series and how they came about.
6 Straw Hat Pirates
Number of pirates: ~10
- Crew: Monkey D. Luffy (Captain), Roronoa Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, Brook and Jimbei
- The main ship: Thousand Sunny, Going Merry (previously)
The series' primary crew is relatively small compared to most pirate crews seen. At the beginning of his career in piracy, Luffy only wanted 10 or so crew members. It's currently around 9, with Nami's boyfriend Zeus being considered more of an extension of himself than a full member. It remains to be seen who will be his final crewmate, or if the amount he saved himself will be the true final number of Straw Pirates.
Although Luffy invites anyone he thinks is interesting enough to join his crew, in practice each official crew member has a designated job to perform upon joining the crew. Jimbei, their newest official member, serves as the helmsman and uses his strength and skill to maneuver the ship. Aside from the practical applications, it is recognized that each Straw Hat is a remarkable pirate in his own right, as said by Marine Admiral Kizaru, who called everyone in the crew a monster.
The crew bolstered their numbers with the aid of the Grand Fleet of Straw Hats, who swore an oath to Luffy out of gratitude for the crew. This means they are not official crew members and Luffy does not even recognize them as subordinates, instead treating the group more like an alliance.
5 Fake Slam Hat Crew/ Fake Kid Pirates
Pirates count: 8-4
- Debut: Chapter 598 (Manga), Episode 517 (Anime)
- Crew: Demalo Black (Captain; Fake Luffy), Manjaro (Fake Zoro), Monblutain (Fake Sogeking/Usopp), Drip (Fake Sanji), Chocolat (Fake Nami), Nora Gitsune (Fake Chopper), Cocoa (Fake Robin) and Turco (fake Franky)
- The main ship: Unknown
This bunch of cheaters was created to capitalize on the reputation of the original. They tend not to resemble their counterparts, but share enough superficial similarities to make this scheme somewhat successful for a while. They notably lacked Brook in their lineup, even though he was a crew member at the time of their debut. This is probably due to the fact that his membership status was recent and not very public at the time of their formation. The fake Straw Hats are all voiced by the real Straw Hat artists, but are assigned to other crew members. For example, their captain Demalo Black is voiced by Sanji's artist. Some fake strawmen will brag about their rewards and connections, which real members don't normally do.
Unlike Luffy, Black cares little for his subordinates, other than using them to further his own goals. He attempted to grow a larger crew, gathering powerful pirates with high bounties to act as his subordinates in a manner not too dissimilar to Buggy. These crews included Caribou Pirates who wanted to kill them from within. However, this deception was quickly exposed when the real Straw Hats returned to piracy. Most of the crew were thought to have been buried alive by the Caribou, but this was apparently not fatal as some of them were later seen alive and captured.
At least four crew members continued this type of grift while held at Naval Base G-4. Black, along with Manjar, Drip, and Turco, pretended to be the Kid Pirates, who were recently thought to be lost at sea.
4 New giant war pirates
Number of pirates: 5
- Debut: Chapter 706 (Manga), Episode 639 (Anime)
- Crew: Hajrudin (captain), Stansen, Road, Goldberg and Gerd
- The main ship: Naglfar
This crew consisted of five former mercenaries hailing from Elbaf. They worked for Buggy's Delivery and were generally recognized as her best earners. After their leader Hajrudin was rescued by the Straw Hats in Dressros, he left the organization and formed a pirate crew in the vein of the Giant Warrior Pirates. Hajrudin became one of the seven captains of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, an organization of subordinate crews devoted to Luffy.
Like the Straw Hats, each of these pirates has a specific role in the crew. Stansen is a boatman, Goldberg is a cook, Road is a navigator and Gerd is a doctor.
3 Ideo Pirates
Number of pirates: 4
- Debut: Chapter 799 (Manga), Episode 744 (Anime)
- Crew: Ideo (Captain), Blue Gilly, Abdullah and Jeet
- The main ship: Unnamed (formerly owned by Orlumbus)
The Ideo Pirates were one of several crews formed as part of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, a coalition of pirates sworn to serve the Straw Hats as thanks for their actions in Dressros. Although some members were active as pirates before forming the crew, others chose to become pirates for this purpose. Unlike other crews created for fleet service, such as the Happo Navy and Yonta Maria Grand Fleet, the Ideo Pirates had no previous incarnation.
Four members of this crew were participants in the Corrida Coliseum, who later joined the battles with the Donquijote pirates. Notably, all four were cursed by Sugar, who turned them into toys to serve as slaves to Doflamingo, effectively erasing them from everyone's memories, including the others. After their liberation, they remained loyal to the Straw Hats and defeated those who wished to claim their rewards.
Ideo, the captain of the crew, is an accomplished martial artist with long arms who has won the New World Central Fighting Tournament twice. Blue Gilly is a practitioner of the Jao Kun Do style, belonging to the longleg tribe. The remaining two crew members, Abdullah and Jeet, are a pair of ex-bounty hunters who tend to fight in tandem. They gained infamy for bombing a government building at some point in the past. In keeping with the crew's martial arts theme, both are based on and named after famous Canadian professional wrestlers.
Their ship had been gifted to them by Orlumbus, who, having previously commanded the fleet himself, had the most ships and crew of any captain in the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. It is unclear if the Ideo Pirates are looking to expand as their goals have not been identified other than wanting to serve Luffy.
2 Macro pirates
Number of pirates: 3
- Chapter 197 (Cover Story), Episode 386 (Anime)
- Crew: Macro (Captain), Gyaro and Tansui
- The main ship: Unnamed (Destroyed by Hatchan)
The Macro Pirates are one of two crews that split off from the Sun Pirates after their new captain, Jimbei, became a warrior. Due to this origin, they are an exclusively fish pirate crew. They are further characterized by each member catching a freshwater fish, with Macro being the pelican-eel fisherman, Gyaro being the pop-eyed goldfish, and Tansui being the male arowana.
As a member of the Sun Pirates, Macro was one of its more ruthless members who enjoyed killing people. Despite this, along with Gyaro and Tansui, he idolized Koala, a former human slave who had been released to her family by the crew. Unfortunately, this act would split the crew as their captain, Fisher Tiger, was killed and Arlong captured after the Koala family contacted the Marines to arrest them in exchange for letting them overlook Koala's slave status.
It is unclear how much this perceived treachery shaped the philosophy of the Macro Pirates, but despite their history as members of the Sun Pirates, a crew led by and including former slaves, they seemed to have no problem enslaving others. Notably, they attempted to capture Camie, the gourami kissing mermaid, 31 times, due to her high value as a slave. The Macro Pirates also tried to capture their former friend Hatchan at least once for similar reasons.
The crew did not prove to be particularly competent as they failed to capture anyone on screen. They used to be linked to the Flying Fish Riders, but with their leader Duval having a change of heart, that's probably no longer the case. The small size of the crew is probably due, at least in part, to the general unpopularity of slavery among fishmen.
1 Foxy Pirates
Number of pirates: 3
- Debut: Chapter 304 (Manga), Episode 207 (Anime)
- Crew: Foxy (Captain), Porche and Hamburg
- The main ship: Sexy Foxy (formerly)
The Foxy Pirates were once a gigantic pirate crew boasting hundreds of members. They tended to expand their size through Davy Back Fights, a pirate tradition where crews fight, with the losers often forced to hand over their shipmates to the winners. They once encountered the Straw Hats and attempted to humiliate them and steal their coveted crewmates, but failed. Although they cheated a lot in Davy Back Fights, their members seem to be really skilled at the events they choose to participate in. Their captain is Foxy, whose Devil Fruit allows him to temporarily slow anything trapped in the beams he can emit.
However, even in their most capable form, they are put to shame by the much stronger pirate crews in the New World, especially the Straw Hats. Since their initial failure, the crew has tended to be largely a joke, mostly serving as an accessory to non-canonical events in the anime. The Final Saga confirms that the Foxy Pirates have hit rock bottom, as only Foxy, Porche, and Hamburg are seen on a small ship that is not their previously established primary ship, the Sexy Foxy. Although not directly stated, it is possible that most of the crew, along with their ship, were lost in one or more Davy Back Fights with other crew in the New World.
