One Piece is a shonen action manga/anime franchise that features dozens of high-voltage battles involving devil fruits, haki, terrifying weapons, and martial arts. Some of these fights are surprisingly bloodless or don’t call for bone-crushing violence, such as tricky fights between devil fruit users. Other One Piece fights do call for extreme violence, and they rank among the show’s best.
One Piece‘s most violent, bloodiest battles have simple rules: both sides must use all their strength to beat the other side into submission, and anything goes. Protagonist Monkey D. Luffy cares more about friendship and adventure than beating up bad guys, but if they must, Luffy and his crewmates will roll up their sleeves and deliver a beating to save the day.
10 Luffy Vs Don Krieg
In the East Blue saga, Monkey D. Luffy fought some pretty brutal battles by early One Piece standards. Some of Luffy’s enemies could be beaten with tricks, such as Buggy the Clown, but foes like the militaristic Don Krieg would only be defeated by brute force.
Don Krieg and his men surrounded the Baratie restaurant ship and tried to capture it. For Sanji Vinsmoke’s sake, Luffy got to work and fought the armored Krieg in a vicious slugging match, and Luffy simply pounded his way through Don Krieg’s defenses to win that violent scuffle.
9 Luffy Vs Arlong
In the Arlong Park arc, Luffy’s tsundere navigator Nami returned to her home islands to buy back that territory from the fish-man pirate Arlong, but it was all for nought. Arlong reneged on the deal, and Nami, almost out of options, turned to Luffy for help.
An outraged Luffy lent his hat to Nami, then took on Arlong in the East Blue saga’s most brutal and satisfying battle. Arlong had superhuman strength and sharp teeth, but Luffy persisted and delivered a righteous beatdown to save Nami’s home and vanquish the Arlong pirates.
8 Sanji Vinsmoke Vs Mr. 2 Bon Clay
In the Alabasta arc, Sanji Vinsmoke took on the swan-themed Mr. 2 Bon Clay who, like Sanji, used heavy kicks in battle. The two of them were evenly matched, so their kicking duel became an exhausting and bloody battle of endurance in Alubarna’s streets.
Sanji and Mr. 2 dealt many nasty kicks to each other, and each of them took the slightest opportunity to beat the other senseless. Mr. 2 even used steel-tipped shoes to deliver kicks like giant bullets, but in the end, Sanji narrowly triumphed in this vicious battle.
7 Roronoa Zoro Vs. Mr. 1
While Sanji dueled Mr. 2 and Luffy chased after Sir Crocodile in Alubarna, the swordsman Roronoa Zoro ran into Mr. 1, or Daz Bonez. Mr. 1 was an elite Baroque Works agent who could turn any body part into sharp weapons like blades or saws, so a fierce slashing duel ensued.
Zoro suffered greatly as Mr. 1 hacked him apart, and Mr. 1 even cut into Zoro’s chest with circular arm-saws when Zoro was helpless. That ultra-violent battle finally ended when Zoro learned how to cut steel, got up, and slashed right through Mr. 1 in a single bloody move.
6 Luffy Vs Hody Jones
After the timeskip, One Piece‘s first major story arc took the Straw Hats to Fish-Man Island, a community under the sea. Down there, Luffy met many new allies and enemies, including the vicious Hody Jones, who sought to continue what his old pal Arlong had started.
To save Fish-Man Island and its royal family, Luffy stepped forth and used his haki to knock out Hody’s men, then took on Hody himself. A brutal underwater, hand-to-hand fight ensued, and although Hody was stronger in his native element, Luffy triumphed with sheer force and prevented the Ark from destroying Fish-Man Island.
5 Luffy Vs Rob Lucci
In the Water 7 arc, Nico Robin was captured and taken to Enies Lobby, so Luffy and his friends, raced off to rescue her. The CP9 government organization was responsible, and Luffy gladly faced them in battle even if that meant becoming an enemy of the world.
Luffy unveiled Gears 2 and 3 in this sequence, including his easy victory over Blueno. Then Luffy used those Gears to take on the leopard-themed Rob Lucci in a savage duel of fist vs fist. Luffy eked out a narrow and painful victory, and Nico Robin was soon saved.
4 Straw Hat Pirates Vs Nightmare Luffy
In the Thriller Bark arc, the Straw Hats arrived at the gigantic island-ship Thriller Bark, home of the sinister warlord of the sea Gecko Moria. A variety of creative fights and chase scenes ensued, many of them based on Gecko Moria’s use of his Shadow-Shadow Fruit to create zombie minions.
Gecko even stole Luffy’s shadow and created the giant warrior “nightmare Luffy” as one of his greatest weapons. A savage fight broke out when Gecko personally piloted nightmare Luffy like a mecha suit to fight the Straw Hats with brute force, and there was some serious collateral damage, too.
3 Luffy Vs Donquixote Doflamingo
The lengthy and exciting Dressrosa saga featured many great One Piece fights, such as Luffy vs Caesar Clown and various fights in the colosseum. The single best and most violent fight, meanwhile, pitted Monkey D. Luffy against Donquixote Doflamingo, Luffy’s and Trafalgar Law’s worst enemy thus far.
Doflamingo was enormously powerful with his string-themed devil fruit, and he dealt serious damage to Luffy during their no-holds-barred battle. To survive and win this incredible fight, Luffy finally unleashed Gear 4, and he dealt some truly devastating blows against his foe until the battle was won.
2 Luffy Vs Charlotte Katakuri
Even if Charlotte Katakuri has his hidden soft side as a great lover of doughnuts, he is scary and serious in combat, as Luffy saw for himself. In the Whole Cake saga, Luffy took on Katakuri in Brulee’s mirror-world, and Katakuri’s Mochi-Mochi powers made him similar to Luffy, but stronger.
The two warriors stubbornly slugged it out, and even Katakuri’s fellow Big Mom pirates were astonished by what they saw. Katakuri gave Luffy the beating of a lifetime, but Luffy clung on despite his bruises and exhaustion, and bitterly fought his way to a narrow victory.
1 Luffy Vs Kaido
Luffy’s strongest enemy yet, the mighty Kaido, is said to be the strongest living thing, but Luffy didn’t dare back down. Luffy’s battle against Kaido was the highlight of the beloved Wano saga, and it’s actually still ongoing in the One Piece anime series.
Luffy used every ounce of his strength to challenge the world’s strongest creature, and not even Gear 4 was enough to win this bone-crushing slugfest. So, Luffy activated Gear 5 with his awakened Gum-Gum Fruit, and managed to do the impossible and take Kaido down with brute force.