One Piece is a top-rated series with hundreds of characters but here are the 10 most popular. This list is from a lot of lists and polls. (THIS LIST CONTAINS KEY SPOILERS FOR THE ANIME AND MANGA)
10. Ace
Ace is undoubtedly one of the most popular One Piece characters because of his significance to Luffy and One Piece in general, he was the son of the king of the pirates and was the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He was the cause of an all-out war, Marineford. His first appearance was in episode 92 and he met with Luffy and the crew in episode 95. He was revealed as Luffy's brother and he looked like it. He, Luffy, and Sabo were raised by Luffy's grandfather and the father of the person who made the revolutionary army, Garp.
Ace has probably the saddest death in all of One Piece as Luffy died in his arms during the Marineford War. Blackbeard captured Ace in an attempt to kill Blackbeard because he wanted to get revenge on the crew member that Blackbeard murdered to get his Devil Fruit. A fun fact about Ace is that he was named Ace because it symbolizes death and the afterlife. In Marineford he was buried beside Whitebeard and there were three cups of Sake because of the toast they made when they were kids.
9. Nico Robin
Nico Robin is the 6th member of the Straw Hats and probably one of the most popular. She is from the land of Ohara and one of the only people in One Piece history to read Poneglyphs. She was one of the few people who survived a buster call. When she was only eight, she passed an archaeology exam easily and was considered a scholar. She however wanted to find the true unfiltered history of the world, like her mom. She was caught spying on the other scholars as they discussed something important, Poneglyphs. The world government heard about them knowing about the Poneglyphs and ordered a buster call to kill everyone there. When they did, there was an evacuation boat that unfortunately got shot down. Then Robin immediately had an enormous bounty of 79 million which increased rapidly once she joined the Straw Hats.
She has the Hana Hana no mi, a devil fruit that grants the user the ability to sprout any part of their body on the ground or any object. If the user has Haki it gives them a big advantage that would increase their power and attack potency, but unfortunately, she hasn't unlocked Haki but probably will near the end of the series.
8. Nami
Nami is the 3rd straw hat and probably one of the most important straw hats as she has an amazing talent for navigating very effectively and has tools that could change the weather around her. Her backstory was when she was on a burning island when she and another child were rescued by someone named Bellemere. She then raised both of them even though she was not in a financial position. Nami wanted to learn about the world and make maps, so she started stealing books from the library and researching and drawing maps about the world. One day, however, a Fishman took over the town named Arlong. He demanded everyone there must pay a fee of 50k berries for children and 100k per adult not to get killed by Arlong. Bellemere only had 100k berries but when Arlong's crew saw 3 plates and signs of other people living there, she confessed that her kids were here and she then got shot and killed by the Arlong pirates. She then joined the Arlong pirates to save her village and tried to get 100 million berries.
After Nami joined the Straw Hats she felt at home with them instead of tricking them into giving their treasure. She felt like a family with them but was still determined to save her village so she took off with her boat and gave Arlong the 100 million berries. Arlong told her that there was never a deal and he wouldn't give her the village back. Then she saw Luffy and the others she then asked if he could defeat Arlong. Luffy then agreed and defeated Arlong in a battle.
7. Whitebeard
Whitebeard is the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and was one of the members of the Rocks Pirates until it disbanded. The Whitebeard Pirates were started because Whitebeard always wanted a family and made it a reality when he had 1,617 members of his crew. One of the most important crewmates was Portgas D Ace, aka the person who triggered the Marineford war by being captured and going to be executed in Marineford. Whitebeard knew Ace's potential and had accepted him as one of his children so he went to war with the Marines and the World Government. As a result of that, he got stabbed by one of his accomplices, had 2 holes in his chest, and had been shot and stabbed hundreds of times. That resulted in Whitebeard's death which was somber but opened the opportunity for other pirates when Whitebeard said the One Piece was real.
Whitebeard was a part of the Rocks Pirates, probably the oldest generation's most powerful pirate crew. He was not on good terms with the other people in his crew because they didn't like to work together, resulting in their crew being disbanded and the God Valley Incident. The God Valley Incident was Rock's attempt to attack the Celestial Dragons (The people that have the World Government creator's blood) which ended up with Roger and Garp teaming up to stop him.
6. Gol D. Roger
Gol D. Roger is the one who started a multitude of people going for the One Piece and was one of the reasons that the worst generation was as big as it is. He is as important as he is because he is the only known pirate king in the One Piece world. There are some very similar qualities to Luffy and Roger. Roger had a very important crew because his vice-captain was Silvers Rayleigh, aka the person who trained Luffy in all 3 types of Haki. His crew also had some of the most important figures of One Piece like Shanks and Buggy.
Gol D. Roger has one of the best haki in all of One Piece. His overall power was so much that he would rival Whitebeard on equal terms, which is just insane. He was affected by his disease after he became pirate king so he gave himself up to execution in Lougetown. Roger had a legacy that most couldn't even get close to.
5. Shanks
Shanks is a very important figure in One Piece because he is the whole reason that Luffy ever became a pirate besides Ace and Sabo. Shanks is one of the most powerful people in One Piece and has such a Haki mastery that he could use Conqueror's Haki from 100s of miles. He showed an example of this in episode 1082 when he scared admiral Greenbull by using his Conquerors and his true power is shown when he packed up Kid in a battle with his version of Roger's attack, Divine Departure. Shanks also possessed the straw hat he gave to Luffy and got from Roger.
Shanks also had a big impact on Marineford as he was the one who stopped Kaido from interfering in the war. He is the one who stopped the war because the world government had a good relationship with him and knew his true power. Sengoku knew the result of Shanks interfering in the war so he ended it right there on the spot.
4. Trafalgar D. Water Law
Trafalgar D. Water Law aka Law is a very popular One Piece character known for his excellent doctor skills and his devil fruit. Law is the captain of the Heart Pirates and the crew has a very funny and relieving character named Bepo. Law was also a part of the 7 Warlords before it was disbanded after the world government didn't want the pirates to create chaos like Crocodile did in Alabasta and Doflamingo for doing heinous crimes against the people of Dressrosa. Law was one of the victims of Doffy's wrath when he joined his crew when he had a certain disease that killed almost all of his village.
Laws Devil Fruit is the Ope Ope No Mi and rightfully so because this Devil Fruit is one of the most overpowered because of its qualities to make a spherical forcefield and can rearrange, take apart, and remodel it. Law made his debut in One Piece when he was in Sabaody and was in the auction where Luffy punched the Celestial Dragon. Law then allied with Luffy in Sabaody because they couldn't take all the marines at once. This time Law and another rookie that allied with Luffy and Law, Kid escaped. Law is a brilliant person as he mainly focuses on his medical field while using a sword for combat and infusing it with his Devil Fruit and haki.
3. Vinsmoke Sanji
Sanji is one of the most One Piece characters as he should be because he is one of the monster trio. Sanji doesn't have any Devil Fruit unlike some of the others on this list, he has become very popular because of his fighting style and his mastery of cooking. Sanji was the 5th Straw Hat as he was introduced in episode 20 and later joined in episode 30. Sanji has a very cool upgrade that makes him a superhuman: the Germa exoskeleton. His Germa exoskeleton allowed him to be very durable and tough, also it made his kicks and punches stronger. He only unlocked this when he was fighting against Queen in Wano country.
Sanji's backstory is a sad and terrible tale of a bad father. Sanji and his siblings were given genetic enhancements but Sanji wasn't able to unlock it. As he was slower and weaker than the rest of the family he was ridiculed and tortured by his family. Sanji's mom and sister however helped him and were nice to him, unlike his brothers and dad. Sanji's sister helped him escape the Germa kingdom to go somewhere else safer.
2. Roranoa Zoro
Roranoa Zoro aka Zoro is the right-hand man of the future pirate king, Luffy. Zoro is a skilled swordsman who has been trained by the world's strongest swordsman, Mihawk. That was during the time skip after Marineford. Zoro is from Wano County and you can see that in his family tree. Zoro was one of the first straw hats and has a very undying loyalty to Luffy because of what position he saved him from. He has many memorable moments in One Piece such as the nothing happened moment when Zoro almost died taking Luffy's pain in Thriller Bark. Zoro's weird but cool style of swordsmanship is unique as he uses 3 swords and the 3rd sword goes into his mouth.
Zoro's backstory wasn't a backstory but showed where he trained. He went to a dojo where he challenged the sensei to a sword duel. The sensei then smiled and told him to fight his daughter in a sword duel and he was confused. How was she going to pose a challenge? She was a very skilled swordsman and beat him in a duel. Then Zoro was stubborn so he started training. He trained and trained hard and went into some very challenging workouts that even adults would find challenging. Then suddenly for the 2000th time, she said that she couldn't make it far because she was a woman. Zoro then made a bet to her that however becomes the world's strongest swordsman first wins. The next morning Zoro found out that Kuina died trying to carry out swords and tripped and the blade cut her.
1. Monkey D. Luffy
Well, this is not surprising. Luffy is the literal face of One Piece so it makes sense that he would be number one. Luffy has the Gomu Gomu no Mi which is the fruit in disguise of the Hito Hito no Mi Model: Nika. The world government has been looking for the Devil Fruit and it was in the possession of Shanks before Luffy found it and ate it out of anger. Luffy was probably the best candidate for this fruit as he uses the creativity of this fruit to another level. He has made multiple gears that give him a massive enhancement. Gear 2 made him fast and Gear 3 made him strong. Gear 4 had multiple versions but combined gears 2 and 3 with haki. Gear 5 combines all of them and also awakens his devil fruit allowing him to change the landscape of his fight.
Luffy became a pirate because of Shanks who was mentioned earlier in this list but that made Luffy set his motives to be a pirate, his grandpa, Garp said otherwise and beat him whenever he mentioned being a pirate. Luffy was trained by Garp as a kid but didn't learn haki until he was trained by Rayleigh. That is because Garp didn't want to teach him haki unless he was going to be a marine. Most of Luffy's family has conquerer's haki except Dragon and Sabo. Luffy has fought many opponents but his most difficult opponent was probably Kaido as he defeated a weakened version of Kaido. Luffy became an emperor of the sea once Big Mom and Kaido were defeated. When his crew was separated, Luffy said that they would meet back in 3 days. After Luffy found out that Ace, aka his brother, was being executed. Luffy was the main part of Marineford and the reason the tide of the war changed and he showcased conquerer's haki without even knowing it. After Ace died he went through a series of trauma and fainted due to the stress of his body and the mental toll it took on his health. After Luffy calmed down from the events of Marineford, he told his crew that he would train under Silvers Rayleigh for 2 years. That was a good move because Rayleigh helped Luffy learn all 3 types of haki and gave him a key to learn an advanced version. Luffy has also mastered all 3 types of Haki and unlocked future sight and advanced conquerors in Wano and Whole Cake Island.
Conclusion
As you can see One Piece has a very unique and diverse world full of characters. I hope you learned something new about One Piece and I hope you enjoyed my ranking as one of the most popular characters in One Piece. Thanks and see you next time.
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