{"id":370873,"date":"2026-03-06T11:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/370873\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:36:18","slug":"one-piece-straw-hat-pirates-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/370873\/","title":{"rendered":"‘One Piece’ Straw Hat Pirates, Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"

If One Piece is a testament to anything, it\u2019s that you can\u2019t choose your family, but you can for damn sure choose your chosen family. Speaking anecdotally, after reading 100 chapters of the manga a week during the pandemic, I quickly came around to the fandom\u2019s refrain that detractors who are scared off by its length need to get over it, because Eiichiro Oda\u2019s long-running series is a masterpiece.<\/a>\u00a0But, more importantly, his colorful bunch of\u00a0freedom fighters<\/a> is Shonen Jump\u2019s definitive found family, with readers feeling just as much a part of the crew.<\/p>\n

But even chosen families have their favorites. And having loved the Straw Hat crew<\/a> across both its manga<\/a>, anime<\/a>, and Netflix live-action series<\/a>, the tierlist for which member of the crew is my favorite has become iron-clad, with little wiggle room for sliding up or down the ranks of my favorite members of the crew.<\/p>\n

So ahead of the release of the second season of Netflix\u2019s One Piece, which will be introducing some crew members who don\u2019t even know they\u2019re gonna be lifelong friends yet<\/a>, I\u2019m ranking my favorite members of Luffy\u2019s merry crew from my least to my most favorites. Honorable mentions to Vivi Neferatani<\/a>, the Thousand Sunny<\/a>, and Yamato<\/a>. Without further ado, judge me gently, fellow nakama.<\/p>\n

For live-action only fans who don\u2019t want to know who\u2019s joining the Straw Hats in the manga and anime, here\u2019s one of these:<\/p>\n

\"Io9<\/p>\n

Franky \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

As the closest thing to American representation<\/a> in the Straw Hat crew, \u201cIron Man\u201d Franky<\/a> lives up to the name. For starters, he\u2019s a manly man who turned his body into a cyborg. His favorite foods are hamburgers, fries, and cola, and well\u2026 that\u2019s kinda it. If it weren\u2019t for whatever he and Nico Robin have got going on<\/a> in the manga\u2019s color spreads, I\u2019d be pretty hard pressed to get excited about Franky gracing the pages of the manga or anime unless he was egging the men of the crew on with their unbridled love of robots.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t let his knack for exclusively wearing a speedo and a Hawaiian shirt fool you; he\u2019s a lovable oaf of a man who more than earns his keep both as the crew\u2019s shipwright and as a hype fighter in his fisticuffs with Senor Pink (trust me, it\u2019s peak). But beyond that, he\u2019s a character I mostly go, \u201cOh, yeah, he\u2019s here\u201d whenever he pops up.<\/p>\n

Brook \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

Now listen, I cried just as hard as anyone when \u201cSoul King\u201d Brook<\/a> was first introduced in Thriller Bark<\/a>. But buddy boy is a very short walk away from Master Roshi from being the type of perverted character that makes you roll your eyes all the way out of your skull. He\u2019s basically the worst impulses of Sanji dialed way up without drinking his respect women juice by asking flat out if he can see some panties.<\/p>\n

My mom always told me never fall in love with a musician, so I keep my affection for Brook at arm\u2019s length and have to routinely remind myself about his Thriller Bark introduction\u2014like Kanye West fans reminding themselves that on-again-off-again Nazi made \u201cGraduation\u201d\u2014whenever the Straw Hats\u2019 afro\u2019d skeleton starts to get a bit too cute for my liking. Though my feelings for the Straw Hat\u2019s bard are more akin to that time Tywin Lannister talked to Arya Stark: careful, girl. I enjoy you, but be careful.<\/p>\n

Zoro \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, I just don\u2019t really like \u201cPirate Hunter\u201d Zoro<\/a>. I get it, he\u2019s the first mate;\u00a0 he fights with three swords; his getting lost without fail is a bit that never gets old; he\u2019s voiced by Christoper By God Sabat<\/a>. But I\u2019ve just never really vibed with him beyond his surface-level cool factor. My affinity for Zoro, or lack thereof, isn\u2019t helped by the feeling that the exploration of his character peaks pretty early in the series. We got close to something in Wano, but not close enough for my liking! He\u2019s still a cool guy with a neat goal of getting stronger. His being the tough-love dad to Tony Tony Chopper is cute. His rivalry with Sanji (where they might as well kiss and get it over with) serving as the always-on-point wings of Luffy\u2019s crew is endearing.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, outside of his generationally cool guy moments, dude is a bit too one-note for me. Of course, his live-action counterpart, Mackenyu, is doing a great job of reminding me of how much I liked Zoro in the early goings of the manga. With any luck, his ranking there will increase. But even with the OPLA crew, he\u2019s my least favorite. Granted, that\u2019s the same as liking ice cream and saying matcha is your least favorite flavor. But yeah, sorry about it, Zoro fans.<\/p>\n

Jinbe \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

It might\u2019ve taken a minute for him to officially join the crew, but Jinbe \u201cThe Sea King\u201d<\/a> has always been a solid, likeable dude. He was there when Luffy was at his lowest; he\u2019s basically the second-closest thing we\u2019ve got to Black representation on the crew (by Piccolo\u2019s rules)<\/a>; and his being one of the small handful of adults on the squad makes for great crew dynamics whenever they all split up Scooby-Doo style on whatever island they\u2019ll inevitably liberate from tyranny.<\/p>\n

I like Jinbe because he\u2019s got cool older-play cousin energy. He\u2019s mild-mannered but about his business, doesn\u2019t want to offend anyone, yet always has something funny to add, commenting on the crew crashing out. If you dislike the Straw Hat\u2019s helmsman, we\u2019re gonna have to throw hands.<\/p>\n

Sanji \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

When \u201cBlack Leg\u201d Sanji<\/a> was first introduced, he was right next to his bosom buddy Zoro as one of my least favorite members of the OG Straw Hat crew. Still, as the crew\u2019s chef, he earned a cool factor for me with his neat insistence on never fighting with his hands, but instead with his feet. But the thing that held him back, ironically enough, was how his chivalry for women came off a bit more grating and leering than endearing. Though, to his credit, I, too, have eyes and understand why he is acting crazy around Nami and Nico Robin. But more often than not, Sanji always had me saying, \u201cBuddy needs to chill out,\u201d when I first started my\u00a0One Piece journey.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, after his whole Disney Princess arc in Whole Cake Island<\/a>, I\u2019ve warmed up to him more after understanding why the boy is acting the way that he does. More miraculously, though, OPLA\u2018s portrayal of Sanji<\/a> by actor Taz Skylar is my favorite rendition of the character. He\u2019s leagues more affable and charming than either the manga or anime versions of the character. Good stuff, that.<\/p>\n

Chopper \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

Cuteness aggression be damned, Tony Tony Chopper<\/a> easily cracks the top five of my favorite members of the Straw Hat crew. While we\u2019re not gonna talk about the Pikachu-ification of him, morphing from an anthropomorphized reindeer to a little teddy-bear-looking guy who\u2019s three apples tall, Chopper\u2019s one of my favs because he\u2019s the best example of a quasi tsundere<\/a> character. Basically, he loves getting compliments but can\u2019t bear looking bashful, so he\u2019ll hurl an insult your way. I see through you, doctor.<\/p>\n

His backstory is up there in the rafters as one of the saddest and most endearing, with tons of follow-through. He\u2019s far from a static character.\u00a0Witnessing Chopper go from a meek doctor to a hypercompetent one on par with the whole lot from The Pitt<\/a> is one of the most rewarding experiences following the series.<\/p>\n

Luffy \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

It\u2019d be pretty sacrilegious to make a ranking list of Straw Hats and not have the series\u2019 main character slap the top of the leaderboard. Despite quite literally being a static character, Monkey D. Luffy<\/a>\u2018s placement is less out of obligation and more to his credit for being the driving force behind the series that makes everyone around him better. While fans often meme about Luffy being willing to help anyone so long as they feed him, he\u2019s actually got more going on with him than that. Essentially, he sees the world as a place where folks shouldn\u2019t walk around under duress, be it personal or due to oppressive outside forces. Likewise, he\u2019ll do everything within his power to help folks because that\u2019s what a pirate is to him. It\u2019s truly inspiring stuff, and no wonder his flag has become the symbol of real-life revolutions.<\/p>\n

While fans often talk up his big moments with Nami<\/a> and Nico Robin<\/a> as the ones that made them fall in love with the character, my big moment actually came on Whole Cake Island. There, he essentially made a path for his crew to escape while taking on Katakuri in one of the best fights in the series<\/a>. It\u2019s very easy for a shonen hero to become a flanderized version of themselves later on in a series (cough cough, Goku), but witnessing that sequence irrevocably had me love the Straw Hats pirate bad.<\/p>\n

Nami \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let crew roles fool you. While Luffy might be the captain of the Straw Hats, \u201cCat Burglar\u201d Nami<\/a> is the actual leader. She runs the Straw Hat crew like the navy, keeping its group of outcasts in line. Every time she all but face-palms at how she\u2019ll have to get them out of another jam involuntarily had me sighing in agreement with her. What\u2019s more, in contrast to how the girl in a shonen trio typically gets sidelined, Nami routinely holds her own on the battlefield, commanding respect from enemies turned allies as well as the rest of the crew as someone they don\u2019t have to worry about needing rescuing. She\u2019ll have already figured out a way to kite the rest of the Straw Hats together and give them shorthand commands for what needs doing next without getting any lip or second guessing remarks in return.<\/p>\n

Plus, even when she\u2019s on the back foot with anyone else considered among the \u201cleast powerful members of the crew,\u201d whoever the Straw Hats\u2019 navigator winds up paired up with on an island excursion gets a stimulus package of becoming the most enjoyable parts of their adventure because of their close proximity to her and her true neutral brand<\/a> of freedom fighting.<\/p>\n

Nico Robin \"Nico\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

Nico Robin has, without question, the coldest introduction in all of One Piece. Even if I think her post\u2013time skip redesign is a huge downgrade, the \u201cdevil child\u201d still sits near the top of my favorites. Her backstory genuinely moved me to tears<\/a>. The Straw Hats archaeologist\u2019s deadpan, vaguely irritated expression, hiding a soft, goofy love of cute things, feels almost uncomfortably relatable.<\/p>\n

Her being one of the few actual adults in the crew\u2014someone whose entire struggle is learning to be accepted, to be vulnerable, and to let this chaotic family hold her\u2014hits incredibly hard. She\u2019s simply one of the best Straw Hats around, and if there are no Nico Robin fans left, it means I\u2019m passed on, too.<\/p>\n

Usopp \"One\u00a9 Toei Animation <\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u201d Usopp is my favorite character in all of One Piece. What\u2019s not to like about him? He\u2019s funny, brave, and did I mention that he\u2019s funny? Of the entire Straw Hat crew, witnessing Usopp\u2019s journey from a coward who cried wolf to their reliable sniper is the gift that keeps on giving. That said, it does suck that our melanated king keeps getting lighter and lighter the more the series progresses. Regardless, Usopp is one of the most rewarding characters to watch in One Piece, whether he\u2019s cracking wise about how unwinnable the crew\u2019s odds are, shooting down the world government\u2019s flag, or weaponizing depression to eke out a victory<\/a>. He\u2019s the moment, and he\u2019ll forever be number one in my heart.<\/p>\n

Be sure to sound off in the comments with your own personal ranking of the Straw Hat crew (or go a step further and vote for them in the second world popularity poll<\/a>). And remember, there\u2019s no better time to get into One Piece than right now.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If One Piece is a testament to anything, it\u2019s that you can\u2019t choose your family, but you can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[15465,171460,18,117,19,17,117363,93548,70243,171461,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-370873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-anime","9":"tag-eiichiro-oda","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-manga","15":"tag-one-piece","16":"tag-ranker","17":"tag-toei-animation","18":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116182029892323463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}