Best Yonko Commanders In One Piece, Ranked

Summary

• Perospero, the first son of Big Mom, is allowed to govern Candy Island, has an interesting design.
• Beckman, Shanks’ right-hand man, held a pistol to an Admiral at Marineford.
• Marco The Phoenix, Whitebeard’s right-hand man and Straw Hat ally, has a powerful healing ability.

In One Piece, every pirate crew has members that perform different roles. Some are cooks, musicians, navigators, snipers, but every crew has a second-in-command that compliments their captain well, and this is just as true for Yonko crews as it is for any other.

In fact, there are often two characters who both share the role and can be considered co-commanders for their respective Yonko crews. Some may disagree on the placement of some characters, but we can all agree these are the commanders for the strongest pirates on the sea.

This list will contain spoilers for the whole series, although anime watchers should be fine to read on.

12

Perospero

Charlotte Perospero is one of Big Mom’s many, many, children, and is the eldest among them. As the eldest, Perospero is allowed to govern over Candy Island, which is one of the smaller islands around Whole Cake Island.

Perospero has an interesting design, although it is hit or miss depending on your tastes. His personality, like a lot of the Big Mom pirates, and the lady herself, can be pretty abrasive and leans into One Piece’s goofier side, almost bordering on the absurd. Sometimes this can work, such as most hijinks that Luffy or Usopp get up to, and sometimes it is just off-putting or doesn’t work as well, like a lot of the Big Mom pirate’s designs.

11

Alvida

Alvida was the very first antagonist of the series, and deserves at least some credit for still being here all this time later. She joins up with Buggy due to their shared hatred for Luffy, and she sticks with him the whole way.

Other than that, she is boring. One of the interesting things about her was her larger design, and it was almost immediately changed to a more classic One Piece female design, with the excuse being her devil fruit did it. After losing that, she is just there to be a recognizable face among Buggy’s crew, and not much else.

10

Van Augur

Van Augur is the ranged specialist of the Blackbeard Pirates, and is often seen at Blackbeard’s side. He is a tall man that doesn’t show much, if any, emotion. He is sort of the Benn Beckman to Blackbeard’s Shanks.

Similar to Beckman, although we have seen much more of Blackbeard than we have of Shanks, we don’t know much about Van Augur in terms of his backstory or character, aside from his skills as a sniper. His design is not bad, nor particularly memorable. It is simple. We also know he has the Warp Warp fruit, capable of teleporting himself and others to a place of his choosing.

9

Mr. 3 (Galdino)

Galdino, also known as Mr. 3, was first introduced early on as one of the assassins of the Baroque Works group, the same group that Crocodile and Nico Robin were a part of. Eventually, similar to Alvida, he ends up joining forces with Buggy, though this was much later after the breakout of Impel Down and the battle at Marineford.

Though Mr. 3 has some funny moments, and doesn’t seem like the worst guy in the world, he doesn’t have much else going for him. His power does not hold up in the current state of power-levels, and his design is on the goofier side, but not in a good way. It is cool that he has stayed around this long, but that’s about it.

8

Benn Beckman

In terms of pure coolness factor, Benn Beckman should be at the top. He is the right-hand man of Shanks, and though we have seen very little of all the Red-Hair pirates, Benn is the one we’ve seen the most of besides Shanks himself.

One of the coolest moments in the series is when Shanks and his crew show up to Marineford, and we see Benn hold a pistol to Borsalino, one of the strongest Admirals in the Navy, to which Borsalino simply raises his hands in surrender. The main reason he is not higher is that we simply haven’t seen enough of him, so it would be unfair to put him at the top based purely on the little we have seen in comparison to other commanders.

7

Shiryu Of The Rain

A former jailer for Impel Down in the Marines, Shiryu was locked up in Impel Down of his own accord, due to how violent he was with prisoners. During Blackbeard’s raid and breakout on the prison, Shiryu was offered a position with his crew, to which he accepted and became Captain of the Second Ship of the Blackbeard Pirates.

Shiryu is unique in that he is a former marine who has not only turned tail and become a pirate, but joined up with one of the most nefarious crews on the sea (and he did so before Kuzan, too). His devil fruit is also an incredibly interesting choice for a swordsman, as he has the Suke Suke no Mi, which allows him to become invisible, something he uses to get sneak attacks on enemies.

6

Queen

Queen is one of the right-hand men of Kaido, King of the Beasts. He is the scientist and engineer of the crew. He is much more flamboyant and outward than his co-commander, King, even setting up a whole concert and dance number for the party on Onigashima.

He is a very large man, and bears the Ryu Ryu no Mi: Brachiosaurus model devil fruit, which he has also modified with his own cybernetic enhancements. In contrast to King’s elegance and handsome physique, Queen is abrasive and fat, and serves as a great juxtaposition to his counterpart. This means he ends up not being as easily likable of a character as King, but is one of the coolest commanders nonetheless.

5

Sanji

One wing of the future Pirate King. The Chef of the Straw Hat crew and son of Vinsmoke Judge, Sanji is always there to help lift Luffy up, alongside Zoro. Though his main role is the cook, he is often one of the frontline fighters of the crew, known among the fandom as one of the ‘Monster Trio’ – Luffy, Zoro and Sanji.

Despite this, there are a few things that, unfortunately, hold Sanji back. For one, he is stuck with the classic anime pervert characteristic, which has only gotten worse over time. Granted, this bothers some people more than others, but regardless, it is not a great aspect of his character. And though the Whole Cake Island arc was fantastic for his character, it did involve him abandoning the Straw Hats and fighting Luffy.

4

King

King is the other right-hand man of Kaido, and serves as the muscle if Queen is the brains. He is the Zoro to Kaido’s Luffy, serving as Kaido’s swordsman, who is always by his side and backing him up in any situation.

This culminates in an epic confrontation between Zoro and King, both fighting for the captain they feel they owe everything to. It also helps that King is… well let’s be real, he’s super hot, and not just because he can create fire at will. He is also the first look we get at one of the Lunarian people, a near-extinct race, and all of this makes King one of the more memorable Yonko commanders in the series.

3

Katakuri

Katakuri is another child of Big Mom, and arguably the fan-favorite among her whole crew. He fights Luffy at the tail-end of the arc, and even causes Luffy to bring out his next form, Gear Four: Snakeman.

Katakuri is also quite fun because his Devil Fruit, the Mochi Mochi no Mi, ends up being almost a copy of Luffy’s (believed to be at the time) Gum Gum fruit. This allows Katakuri to use his Mochi body to stretch and absorb attacks, making for a perfect mirror match for Luffy and showing how far he still can go with his power. His design is also very cool, being an extremely tall, muscular man with a fur sleeveless coat and tattoos.

2

Zoro

Zoro has been there for Luffy since the very first episodes. Formerly a pirate hunter, Zoro is now the honorary (to the fans, anyway) vice-captain to Luffy, although we see in the Wano arc that both Zoro and Sanji are considered the two wings of the pirate king.

However, in comparison to Sanji, Zoro does not have the same things holding him back as a character. He has never swayed from Luffy’s side except for one chapter during the Baroque Works arc, and helps make sure Luffy always has a clear head on his shoulders and backup when he needs it, often fighting the second-strongest members of the antagonist pirate crews while Luffy fights the captain.

1

Marco The Phoenix

Marco The Phoenix is the right-hand man of the former Yonko Whitebeard, or Edward Newgate. Marco was the doctor for the Whitebeard crew, and was integral in the battle at Marineford, due in part to his powerful Phoenix devil fruit ability, making him powerful, capable of flight, and extreme healing.

Even after the Whitebeard pirates disbanded, Marco shows up to help the Straw Hats during the Wano arc, and they would not have survived without him. Marco is the exemplification of what it means to be the right-hand man to a Yonko, and a good man that any person would be lucky to have at their side.