Summary
- Pirate crews, even powerful ones like the Nox Pirates and Arlong Pirates, often disband due to factors like defeat.
- The Whitebeard Pirates and Roger Pirates faced true disbandment after significant events changed their crew structure.
- Infamous crews like the Rocks Pirates had immense power, but disbanded after their defeat, leading members to form their own crews.
As a profession, pirates have a relatively low barrier to entry. All you need is a ship and a few willing crewmates, and you're ready to set sail as the newest pirate on the seas. To thrive, or even survive, as a pirate, however, is an entirely different matter. Captured by Marines, destroyed by stronger pirates, swallowed by the thunderous sea, there are so many ways a pirate can meet their demise. That’s why many pirate crews disband before they can make a name for themselves.
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But that is not the case at all for the following pirate crews. At their peak, they were some of the most infamous pirates who were known for their remarkable strength. Some were more notorious than others, but they were still powerful nonetheless. Unfortunately, even great pirates have to disband someday. So with that in mind, here are the strongest disbanded crews, ranked based on their strength.
7 Nox Pirates
The Short-Lived Minks Pirates
- Captain: Pedro
- First Appearance: Episode 571
The Nox Pirates were a pirate crew consisting of nothing but the members of the Mink Tribe. Despite their gentle appearance, every single mink boasts a remarkable strength, especially when they transform under the moonlight. That’s why a pirate crew full of Minks would undoubtedly possess tremendous combat prowess.
The Nox Pirates began their life as the Nox Expedition Party that set out to sea with the sole purpose of exploring the outside world. It didn’t take a long time for the World Government to single-handedly declare them as pirates. A title that was gladly embraced by its captain, a jaguar mink named Pedro. Unfortunately, right when they started to make a name for themselves, they stumbled upon the Big Mom Pirates' Grand Fleet. On that fateful day, the Nox Pirates were destroyed, and Big Mom stole fifty years' worth of Pedro’s life.
6 Arlong Pirates
The Notorious Fish-Men Pirates
- Captain: Arlong
- First Appearance: Episode 31
When Fisher Tiger passed away and Jinbe became the new captain of the Sun Pirates, Arlong and his henchmen decided to get out of the Sun Pirates and formed the Arlong Pirates. They might not be as powerful as the much bigger Sun Pirates, but considering the crew consisted solely of fish-men, they were still more powerful than the average human pirates.
The Arlong Pirates operated mainly in the East Blue area. They put their base of operation on the Conomi Island and ruled its people with an iron fist. As it happened, Conomi Island is Nami’s hometown. When Luffy found out what happened in his navigator’s birthplace, he attacked Arlong head-on, with the help of Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp. It was a difficult battle, but Luffy and his Straw Hat crew eventually won. As a result, the Marines apprehended Arlong and his crew. That’s when the Arlong Pirates officially disbanded.
5 Donquixote Pirates
The Heartless Tyrant Of Dressrosa
- Captain: Donquixote Doflamingo
- First Appearance: Episode 151
Donquixote Pirates were similar to Arlong Pirates in the fact that they took over an entire region and ruled its people with an iron fist. The difference was the scale. Arlong Pirates took over an island, while Donquixote Pirates took over the entire Kingdom of Dressrosa. Another similarity between Arlong Pirates and the Donquixote Pirates was the fact that they both met their demise at the hands of the Straw Hat Pirates.
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A Captain being defeated doesn’t automatically mean the disbandment of the crew, such as in the case of the Whitebeard Pirates. But Doflamingo was unlucky because Fujitora, a Marine Admiral, happened to be in Dressrosa at the time of his defeat. As a result, Doflamingo, along with his top executives, was apprehended and subsequently imprisoned in Impel Down. At that point, the Doflamingo Pirates were effectively disbanded.
4 Whitebeard Pirates
The Crew Of The Man Closest To Becoming The Pirate King
- Captain: Edward Newgate
- First Appearance: Episode 91
Most people thought that the Whitebeard Pirates perished at the Marineford War when their captain, Edward Newgate, lost his life. This was not true. For a while after Marineford, the Whitebeard Pirates continued under the leadership of Marco the Phoenix, former 1st Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, though they were not as big and as powerful as they used to be.
The true disbandment happened a year later. In an event known as the Payback War, the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates hunted and attacked the Blackbeard Pirates. The new and improved Blackbeard PIrates defeated the crippled Whitebeard Pirates. After that, every Division Commander went their separate ways, thus marking the true disbandment of the Whitebeard Pirates.
3 Roger Pirates
The Legendary Crew Of The Pirate King
- Captain: Gol D. Roger
- First Appearance: Episode 8
In terms of raw firepower, the Roger Pirates were not the most powerful in history, which is why they are number three on this list. But they were the ones that had the best combination of brain and brawl. After all, Roger basically retraced his steps when Oden joined the crew to find every clue to the last island, and they were still the first and the only ones who found the mythical One Piece.
Another thing that made the Roger Pirates better than the top two in this list was the fact that Roger managed to quit on his own terms, while he was still the undisputed Pirate King. The Marines didn’t capture the Roger Pirates, nor were they destroyed by other Pirates. Roger knew he didn’t have long to live, so he decided to disband his legendary crew and gave himself up to the Marines through his friend Garp. All so that he could proudly tell the world that One Piece is real, thus ushering in the golden age of pirates.
2 Giant Warrior Pirates
The Fabled Crew Of The Giant Warriors
- Captain: Dorry and Brogy
- First Appearance: Episode 78
Before the Roger Pirates, the Rocks Pirates, or the Whitebeard Pirates made a name for themselves, there was already a fabled pirate crew that was known throughout the world due to their fearsome strength. They were called the Giant Warrior Pirates.
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When it comes to pure physical strength, not many races can compete with the giant. After all, an average adult giant can easily destroy a cliff. Imagine how destructive a whole pirate crew consisting of nothing but fearless giant warriors could be. Unfortunately for the crew, their captains—Dorry and Brogy—disagreed and decided to fight it out until one of them won. They’ve been duking it out for a hundred years, and the fight still ended in a draw. The crew had no choice but to disband.
1 Rocks Pirates
The Most Fearsome Pirate Crew In History
- Captain: Rocks D. Xebec
- First Appearance: Episode 958
While the Giant Warrior Pirates may have the biggest muscles among pirates in history, the most powerful ones have to be the infamous Rocks Pirates. The reason was simply due to the amount of talent that gathered under the banner of the Rocks Pirates.
This pirate crew had Edward “Whitebeard” Newgate, Charlotte “Big Mom” Linlin, and the “Thousand Beast” Kaidou, all fighting under the leadership of the ruthless Rocks D. Xebec. Individually, each of these big names can single-handedly destroy an entire kingdom. As a group, they were a living, breathing catastrophe that left blood and destruction in their wake.
To take down Rocks D. Xebec, Garp and Roger had to work together and ambush him at the God Valley. Even then, one of the main reasons why Xebec was defeated by those two was due to the absence of Big Mom and Kaidou from the God Valley. Once Xebec was defeated, each of those monstrous individuals had no reason to work together, so they went their separate ways and formed their own pirate crews. This marked the official disbandment of the fearsome Rocks Pirates.
- 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
- Writers
- Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Number of Episodes
- 1122
