Yonko refers to the strongest active pirates in the world of One Piece. Considering that there are only ever four Yonko spots up for grabs at a time, it means only a handful of pirates are ever considered worthy enough of earning the title, since to do so, they need to demonstrate that they possess not only immense raw strength but also powerful Haki abilities. Needless to say, the Yonko are an absurdly strong group of individuals, which is why it’s so rare for someone to face off against one of them without being killed in the process.

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There’s nothing more fascinating than hearing a character’s war story about how they once took on a mighty Yonko, but throughout One Piece‘s story, there have only been a handful of individuals who have been able to tell such tales. The Yonko are all more than happy to kill anyone who gets on their bad side, but these characters were lucky enough to continue on with their lives after confronting one of them.

8

Eustass Kid

Fighting Yonko Has Become Somewhat Of A Hobby For Eustass Kid

• Targets: Shanks, Big Mom, Kaido

While the Straw Hats were busy training and honing their skills for the adventure ahead of them over the 2-year timeskip, Kid and his crew were making moves, eventually stumbling across the Red Hair Pirates. While the fight is stated by Killer to have been very one-sided, Kid ended up losing an arm during the battle, which is why he lugs around a giant mechanical replacement when he appears later in the story.

As if one Yonko wasn’t enough, Kid, who shows up in Wano and also musters up the courage to face off against Big Mom. Kid takes some nasty hits during this fight, but with a little help from Law, the duo manage to take down the gigantic emperor once and for all. He would later try to get revenge on Shanks with his giant railgun, only to be cut down to size yet again. While Kid’s fate after this last encounter is still unknown (though it does seem likely that he’s still alive), the mad pirate still managed to survive several interactions with the Yonkos even before this battle.

7

Brook

Brook Put Up A Courageous Fight Against Big Mom In Order To Help Out His Crew

Many fans agree that Brook’s shining moment thus far in the series came during the Whole Cake Island arc, where he challenged Big Mom to a battle all by himself in order to rescue his dear friend, Sanji. Seeing the quirky skeleton stand his ground against not just Big Mom but also her dangerous Homies is a truly epic moment. That said, this moment had many fans worried because it seemed like there was no way he would be able to take them all on by himself.

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In the end, Brook manages to survive the ordeal, but he is essentially kidnapped by Big Mom and taken as one of her personal toys. It turns out that this was all worth it, though, as Brook reveals soon after that he managed to extract a copy of the Poneglyph, proving that he decided to stand up to Big Mom for more than just bragging points.

6

Killer

Kid’s Second In Command Proves His Worth Against The Mighty Kaido

• Targets: Shanks, Kaido, Big Mom

Killer, the second in command on Kid’s crew, goes through a pretty hellish ordeal during and after the timeskip. After he and his crew are embarrassed by Shanks’ crew, Killer is then forced to consume a SMILE fruit upon being taken to Wano, meaning that all he can do is laugh uncontrollably. However, despite the embarrassment, Killer eventually proves his worth to Kid by stepping up to Kaido near the end of the Wano arc.

Of course, Killer is far from a Yonko himself, so he also had a lot of help from Zoro, who did much of the heavy lifting. With that being said, though, Killer still deserves credit for landing a few clean hits on Kaido and also for not losing his own life considering how dangerous his foe was.

5

Kizaru

Kizaru, Despite Not Wanting To, Is Forced To Fight Against Luffy As Part Of His Mission

• Targets: Whitebeard, Luffy

While Kizaru does have a few small skirmishes with Whitebeard during the Marineford War, there was another fearsome Yonko that he went up against: Luffy. With Luffy officially becoming a Yonko after the Wano saga, and with his Devil Fruit now being awakened, Kizaru struggled to deal any significant damage to the pirate.

Seeing Luffy holding off an Admiral is a truly impressive feat, and though it would be expected that Kizaru would make it out of this confrontation in one piece, it was far from a walk in the park. Not every Marine would be willing to take on a Yonko as part of their mission, and while Kizaru expresses a lot of doubts due to his friendship with Vegapunk, he still tries to maintain the agenda by putting his life on the line.

4

Trafalgar D. Law

Law’s Run-Ins With Yonko Haven’t Gone All That Smoothly For The Captain

• Targets: Kaido, Big Mom, Blackbeard

Fighting a Yonko is no easy task, and while Law is well aware of this, he unfortunately finds himself clashing blades with Blackbeard after the terrifying captain manages to ambush him and his crew. Blackbeard uses his two Devil Fruit abilities to obliterate Law’s crew, with the captain himself barely hanging on for dear life until a Sulong Bepo swoops in to save him in the nick of time.

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Before this point in the story, Law succeeded in defeating Big Mom, though it certainly took a lot out of him. On this occasion, though, while he technically made it out of the fight still breathing, the battle is definitely going to have a lingering effect on him both physically and mentally going forward.

3

Akainu

Akainu’s Hatred For Pirates Kept Him Motivated After Whitebeard Almost Obliterated Him

The Marineford War was a bloody conflict that saw thousands of casualties for both the pirates and the marines, but one loyal soldier who refused to give up was Admiral Akainu. One thing to know about Akainu is that he’s incredibly strong, so much so that he even manages to go hand-to-hand with the strongest man in the world, Whitebeard.

After Akainu kills Ace right in front of his captain, Whitebead goes into a frenzy, using his Gur Gura no Mi Fruit to shake the earth while trying to pulverize Akainu with his massive fists. Though Akainu was the one to come out of the battle alive, it’s no exaggeration to say that if he wasn’t a Logia Devil Fruit user, he would have been blown to smithereens by Whitebeard during their heated interaction.

2

Roronoa Zoro

Kaido Would Prove To Be One Of Zoro’s Toughest Opponents And Biggest Challenges

Zoro is the kind of right-hand man who will always be there to support his captain, even if he’s decided to rush head-first into a battle with one of the strongest pirates on the planet. When Zoro heads up to the roof of Onigashima with Luffy, he wonders whether he will truly be able to land a cut on Kaido, but with Enma absorbing his Haki, he managed to land a significant slice while the dragon was distracted.

Kaido would even be forced to dodge some of Zoro’s attacks, which is a very big deal, considering the durability possessed by this Yonko means that he’s usually more than happy to take attacks head-on. After the battle finally ended, Zoro was able to recognize not only the power possessed by his new sword, Enma but also how far he himself had come in terms of raw strength and Haki ability.

1

Monkey D. Luffy

Kaido May Have Knocked Luffy Out A Few Times, But He Never Succeeded In Killing Him

It would take a long while before Luffy was strong enough to face off against a Yonko, but even by the time he reached Whole Cake Island, he still struggled to even land a hit on Big Mom. Though he and his crew escape her island with their lives intact, Luffy re-shifts his focus to Kaido, who humiliates the naive captain on more than a few occasions with his tremendous strength and surprising mobility.

Despite being knocked out many times over, Luffy always gets back up, and continues honing his Haki until, eventually, he begins to deal some damage. His Devil Fruit’s hidden potential would also give Luffy a much-needed power boost to deal any kind of damage to Kaido while he was in his dragon form. Luffy would become a Yonko himself after overcoming both Kaido and Big Mom, being one of the only pirates in existence who can say they were able to hold their own against both of them.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

• 

  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)