One Piece: 11 Characters Who Can Beat Shanks

Highlights

• Shanks is potentially the strongest pirate currently, with even Luffy able to challenge his power level.
• Other strong characters like Garling Figarland, Sengoku, and Saint Saturn could also take on Shanks in a battle.
• The Five Elders and characters like Mihawk, Sakazuki, Dragon, Blackbeard, and Imu are formidable contenders against Shanks.

Shanks is one of the Four Emperors of the Sea in One Piece and easily among the strongest characters alive at the moment. Following the war of Wano Country, Yonko Big Mom and Kaido fell from their throne and are, thus, no longer believed to be active pirates.

That makes Shanks potentially the strongest pirate of this generation. That said, there are several other strong pirates who are either rising in power or have already established themselves as strong enough to challenge the throne of the Emperors. Some of them are worthy of taking on Shanks in battle and even toppling them.

Updated on February 25, 2024, by Rei Penber: the red-haired Emperor of the Sea, Shanks is one of the most ferocious characters in One Piece. Now that the story is tackling the Final Saga, Shanks is more relevant than ever before, and as Oda mentioned himself, he will now play a bigger role in the story that is going to be incredibly exciting for the fans to witness. The readers have always been wanting Shanks to demonstrate his true power and he has recently given fans glimpses of what he can do. While his power is certainly amazing, there are those who can best him in combat. This list already goes over the vast majority of One Piece characters who can defeat Shanks, however, it has now been updated with a few other individuals as well.

This list is in no particular order.

11 Saint Garling Figarland

Leader Of The Holy Knights

Saint Garling Figarland is a character that fans were recently introduced to in One Piece. This particular character holds interesting ties to Shanks and could potentially even be his father. Garling Figarland is known to be a strong fighter, as he holds the title of the Champion of God Valley. At the same time, the fact that he is potentially Shanks’ very own father could serve as a proper indication of what his level of strength is.

Furthermore, Saint Garling is someone that even Dragon himself is wary of, and that gives fans an idea of what his level of strength is. A proper confrontation between him and Shanks could likely go either way, however, it is possible that he can potentially best Shanks, given the allure that his name carries.

10 Sengoku

Former Fleet Admiral Of The Marines

Sengoku serves the role of the Inspector General of the Marines at the moment, and before the timeskip, he was the Fleet Admiral of the organization. Even though he has retired, Sengoku possesses tremendous strength up his sleeve. In fact, at one point, Roger himself considered him to be a worthy opponent and he has a history of fighting Whitebeard as well.

Sengoku is a legendary figure who holds similar strength as the likes of Roger, Garp, Whitebeard, Shiki, among others. For him to defeat Shanks is a big possibility. Once again, a battle between these two individuals would be incredibly close and could go either way, however, Sengoku would have just as much a chance of defeating Shanks as he would have of getting defeated.

9 Sakazuki

The Current Fleet Admiral

Sakazuki is a former Admiral of the Navy and the man who currently occupies the position of Fleet Admiral. He is the strongest Marine at the moment and certainly someone powerful enough to compete with the strongest of pirates as well. As the Fleet Admiral, he has likely grown stronger than he was during the Paramount War. Even during that arc, he was strong enough to compete with Whitebeard, which says a lot about the level of strength that he possesses.

Furthermore, Sakazuki also has a very powerful Devil Fruit at his disposal. His fruit, the Magu Magu no Mi, is believed to have the offensive output of the highest order and that would be a big weapon for him if he were to ever fight Shanks. While Sakazuki is likely not stronger than Shanks, he should, at the very least, be able to tie a fight with him. On his day, he might even win.

8 Dracule Mihawk

The Strongest Swordsman

Dracule Mihawk is the World’s Strongest Swordsman and also the former rival of Shanks. These two have fought each other on countless occasions in the past and the fact that they continued to fight means that their clashes were quite even. It is also believed that a conclusion to their duels was never reached, given that Mihawk refuses to compete with a man with just one arm.

That said, Mihawk certainly is strong enough to still give Shanks a run for his money. While the red-haired Yonko is most certainly stronger than him, on his day, Mihawk might be able to pull off a victory against him, given that the difference in level of strength between these two characters is not going to be all that much. Mihawk possesses sword skills that surpass even those of Shanks and his Haki should be very impressive as well. In the future, fans will get a better idea of how he would fare in a fight against Shanks.

7 Monkey D. Dragon

The Revolutionary Army Leader

Dragon is among the strongest characters in the One Piece world and given that he leads one of the major power factions strong enough to oppose the entire World Government by himself, Dragon’s level of strength should be extremely high. He seems to possess a Devil Fruit power that fans do not know much about just yet. At the same time, it should be expected of him to have great control over all three types of Haki.

Dragon is the World’s Worst Criminal and that in itself gives fans an idea of how infamous he is. While he doesn’t have any reason to fight against Shanks, if, hypothetically, the two were to ever clash, Dragon would have a decent chance of emerging on top. While fans have not seen much of him in combat, he should absolutely not be underestimated at any cost.

6 Garp

The Hero of The Marines

Garb is a Navy hero and someone who holds legendary status in the world of One Piece. He is someone capable of fighting against Roger and Whitebeard back in the day. He even fought against Captain Rocks on God Valley. Garp may be old right now, however, he is still more than capable of taking on Shanks in battle.

This is evident from the fact that he recently set out to fight not just Blackbeard, but his entire crew on his own so as to rescue Koby from the grasp of the Yonko. If Garp is confident of beating Blackbeard, he should be able to take on Shanks as well.

5 Blackbeard

Scarred Shanks’s face

Blackbeard is one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, just like Shanks himself. He ascended to the throne at some point during the 2-year time skip, specifically after taking control of the Pirate Island by beating Ochoku following the Rocky Port Incident. He is a powerful Devil Fruit user and has access to two strongest Devil Fruits in their own class. He wields the Paramecia type Gura Gura no Mi, which allows him to produce and control quakes at will.

His other Devil Fruit is the mightiest Logia, the Yami Yami no Mi, that allows him to produce and manipulate darkness itself. All that, when combined with a powerful Haki, makes Blackbeard one of the mightiest fighters in the One Piece world and certainly someone capable of defeating Shanks.

4 Luffy

The Future Pirate King

Luffy is another mighty pirate who recently became a Yonko. He was primarily responsible for defeating Kaido, the man who previously held the title of Yonko. During Wano, Luffy ascended to the next level. Not only did he learn the advanced types of the Color of Arms and the Color of the Supreme King but he also went on to awaken his Devil Fruit.

As such, Luffy awakened the true abilities of the Nika fruit. With its powers, Luffy was able to topple even Kaido and if he could defeat the man who was the Strongest Creature Alive, he can certainly defeat Shanks as well.

3 Saint Saturn

Warrior God Of Defense Science

One of the Five Elders, Saint Saturn is a character that fans have started knowing more about only recently in One Piece. He is quite a powerful individual, and until recently, it was believed that Saturn wouldn’t have any great fighting capabilities. This idea was shattered by Oda in the Egghead Island arc, where he revealed his tremendous power.

Saturn transformed into his Devil Fruit state, which represents a Yokai, called the Ushi Oni. Saturn has the lower half of a spider and the upper half of an ox and this makes him a ferocious demon-like entity. Saturn holds the power to freeze people in their places. He can also hurt others without even making contact with them by just looking at them. He also possesses an incredible healing factor, which fans have seen quite a lot in the Egghead Island arc. All things considered, Saturn is a monster in combat that hardly anyone can defeat in the One Piece world. Shanks might have it in him to defeat Saturn, the possibility of him losing to Saturn is equally real.

2 Other Elders

Fighters On The Same Level As Saturn

All members of the Five Elders are incredibly overpowered, and given that they are Imu’s very own guardians, one can already imagine how strong they must be in combat. When it comes to Saturn, fans already saw what he was capable of doing and, recently, in One Piece, fans also got to see the silhouettes of all the Five Elders. It can be safely assumed that all of them have unique yokai-based transformations and that they possess insurmountable strength up their sleeves.

The Five Elders, other than Saturn, include Saint Warcury, Saint Mars, Saint Ju Peter, and Saint V. Nusjuro. These individuals are going to be incredibly skilled in combat, no less than Saturn, and all of them have a strong chance of defeating Shanks in combat. This is especially implied by the fact that they are completely unfazed by his presence and consider themselves to be on a level higher than anyone else in the world. In fact, one of them, Saint V. Nusjuro, also has one of the Supreme Grade Swords, Shodai Kitetsu, at his disposal. That, when combined with all the amazing powers that the Five Elders have, certainly makes them proper candidates for taking down Shanks in combat.

1 Imu

The Sovereign of the World

Imu Is the sovereign of the world of One Piece whose existence is kept hidden from the vast majority of the people. They belong to the Nerona Family and have been alive since the time of the Void Century. For 800 years, they have occupied the position of the ruler of the world. Under them are the powerful Five Elders and the fact that they rank above them means that they could very well be the strongest in the entire world.

Furthermore, fans must remember that they also possess a Devil Fruit ability that was recently unveiled in the series. They were easily able to eat one of Sabo’s strongest attacks and also kill Cobra without much trouble at all. Imu, although still a massive mystery, is a character that can potentially defeat every other in the One Piece series. They are being set up as the ultimate villain of the story and fans will definitely find out a lot more about the level of strength that they possess as the Final Saga progresses.