One of the pinnacle groups vying for power in One Piece is the Worst Generation: the group of pirates, with particularly high bounties, who finished up the first half of the Grand Line at about the same time. Our beloved best boy, Monkey D. Luffy, is naturally part of this group. But how do we make sense of the rest of them, especially since they’ve been making a huge mark in the New World? As emperors and as emperors’ lackies even?
When ranking characters in One Piece, you typically rank them by strength. Or, perhaps, by bounty. Or maybe even by how good they’d be on a date. But what if—and hear me out—you rank them by how much you want to throw tomatoes at them and boo them? Or, at least, that’s your bottom tier. At your top, you have the bonafide heroes, the best of the Worst Generation. How about that, eh?
Here are the One Piece Worst Generation members ranked from worst to best.
12. Marshall D. Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard
This guy sucks. He’s partially responsible for Ace’s death, fully responsible for Whitebeard’s, and takes advantage of people in ways I find genuinely upsetting. I can’t wait until Luffy eventually beats the crap out of him. The fact that he’s one of the Emperors of the Sea, and has two Devil Fruit powers, be damned. Bad vibes and general shittiness get you nowhere on this highly coveted and respected list.
11. Scratchmen Apoo
I wanted to like Apoo. I was quite excited when he was first introduced at Sabaody. But from there, he proved himself to be a slimy little traitor with no backbone. Worse than that, his music isn’t even good. Your whole body is made of musical instruments, and the best you can do is some half-hearted derivative hip-hop beats? And they’re not even catchy when you’re attacking? Get outta here.
10. Basil Hawkins
Hawkins here is another guy I was looking forward to liking. Guy with weird eyebrows who’s obsessed with fortunes? Peak One Piece. Very fun. But then I found that Hawkins is someone who, as a villain, becomes somewhat annoying. Because we know Luffy is going to defy your stupid odds, Hawkins. Don’t live your life like that, guy. You’ll never take any risks. And, judging by the fact he joined up with Kaido, he’s clearly not taking any. Get outta here.
9. Capone “Gang” Bege
Bege here gets a bump because I’m Chicago born-and-raised. I appreciate the nod to a villainous entity from my hometown popping up in my favorite anime. And he’s a devoted family man! To be honest, part of the bump is also because I really like Bege’s wife, Chiffon, out of loyalty to her twin sister from the Thriller Bark arc, Lola.
On the negative side, Bege shot Pekoms, and we don’t love that. Plus, his Devil Fruit power gives me the creeps—thousands of people? Inside your body? Living there? It’s quite distressing if you think about it too long.
8. Urouge
Out of all the Worst Generation characters, Urouge is the one we’ve seen the least of. He’s kind of barely done anything. But, at least he seems to not be as shitty a person as Hawkins or Apoo. (Teach is another level.) And I enjoy his genuine but very menacing smile. Besides the fact that his crew is named the Fallen Monk Pirates—which begs some serious questions that I’m excited to have answered.
7. Killer
Surprisingly, Killer is much more collected and caring towards his allies than his name, mask, and very nifty rotating swords make him out to be. Killer plays an incredibly similar role in the Kid Pirates as Zoro does in the Straw Hats: he’s the more level-headed check on his impulsive captain. And like his captain, Kid, Killer’s had a hard time since the time skip. Poor guy was forced to eat a faulty SMILE fruit and live the rest of his life with a smiling visage and laugh he has no control over. While being named Killer.
6. Eustass “Captain” Kid
Kid is a character who’s stock has grown tremendously in my book since his first appearance. Largely because the chaotic chemistry between he, Luffy, and Law is enjoyable as all hell to watch. Still, there’s the fact that his bounty, upon arriving at Sabaody, was so high because he’s personally responsible for attacks with high civilian casualties. And we don’t love that. (Do I hold Bartolomeo to the same standard? Absolutely not. That man is wonderful.)
But the poor guy had a rough time of it after that: he got his arm sliced off by Shanks (I know, I kinda forgot about that, too), betrayed by his alliance, and imprisoned by Kaido. And it seems like, while he’s still arrogant and fiery as hell, maybe he’s matured a bit. And his loyalty to his crew—as witnessed by how he’s handled the Killer scenario—rivals even Luffy’s.
5. X Drake
The man can turn into a goddamn t-rex. What more do you need to know?
Aside from having the single coolest Devil Fruit in all of One Piece (except maybe Marco’s), X Drake positively stinks of a fascinating backstory. We have a bunch of tantalizing pieces of that backstory, and they’re begging to be put together. Remember, his father is the pirate who was going to sell the Op-Op Fruit to the Navy when Rocinate stole it for Law. Which means—X Drake is the kid who escaped Doflamingo’s birdcage by fleeing to the Navy ship. At which point he turned from pirate to Navy man, and then back to pirate, but this time undercover for the Navy. And then he got untangled with Kaido, but was still undercover. Just… what the hell. What’s up with this guy. He’s great. I like ‘im.
4. Roronoa Zoro
Look, we all love Zoro. He’s the Straw Hat’s number two, the future best swordsman in the world. There are some people who like Zoro more than even Luffy. Alas, I am not one of those people. Actually, I’m still a bit mad at him over how he treated Tashigi way back in Punk Hazard. But I have respect for the man, along with his ridiculous skills, his dedication, his general Coolness, and his formidable lack of direction.
3. Jewelry Bonney
If you’re surprised I’ve rated Jewelry Bonney so high, perhaps consider what website you’re on? And therefore that the person writing for the feminist website feels particularly drawn to the one member of the Worst Generation who’s not a dude?
Besides, Jewelry Bonney rules. Her Devil Fruit just f**ks with people by either turning them into a baby or an old geezer. That is excellent. And she’s clearly got a huge grudge against the Celestial Dragons. That plot line has only been teased, but I’m thrilled—thrilled, I tell you—to see it play out. Make no mistake: Jewelry Bonney hasn’t been in the series much yet, but she’ll play an important role in the final saga.
2. Trafalgar Law
I… I have to issue an apology here. I have somehow written countless articles about One Piece for this website, even going so far as to talk about how it relates to my trauma healing, while barely talking about Trafalgar Law. One of my favorite characters. Maybe even my favorite non-Straw Hat character. My beautiful, grumpy boy. My immaculate stick in the mud. My simmering, oft-thwarted third wheel.
Law is such a rich character. He has a phenomenal, albeit tragic as hell, backstory which so wonderfully augments and fits in with the role of One Piece as a whole. And he’s the perfect foil for the ever-effusive Luffy. And, and he’s a secret softie. You don’t have the likes of Bepo in your crew if you’re not. We haven’t even gotten into how cool his Devil Fruit is.
And he’s hot. You got me, okay? I think this cartoon character is hot.
1. Monkey D. Luffy
I know it’s lame to place the main character of the series at the top of a list. It’s uninteresting and predictable. But One Piece has very carefully crafted a situation where you can’t not place Luffy at the top of this list, no matter what metric you’re using: likability, strength, whatever. I love my carefree, stretchy boy. We’ve seen him work so goddamn hard, starting from square one. How can he not be number one?
(image credit: Toei Animation)
