Every Warlord of the Sea (Shichibukai) in One Piece, Ranked
After the Yonko ranking, the Marine Admirals, the bounty guide, and the Worst Generation, this post covers the third pillar of the One Piece world balance: the Shichibukai — the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
"Strongest Warlord," "all Shichibukai ranked," "Doflamingo power level," "why were the Warlords disbanded" — these are some of the highest-traffic One Piece search queries that aren't covered by the Yonko or Admiral posts. The Warlord system is also where the series' most interesting characters sat for its first three acts: Crocodile, Doflamingo, Hancock, Kuma, and Law all held Warlord status at peak relevance to the main story.
This post covers all 11 canonical Shichibukai across the entire timeline — original roster, successors, and the Cross Guild that emerged after the system's dissolution.
What the Shichibukai actually were
The Shichibukai no Umi (七武海, Seven Military Seas) was a World Government-sanctioned alliance with up to seven powerful pirates. The deal: Warlords surrendered a portion of their plunder to the Government, were allowed to retain their crew and operate freely, and in exchange had their bounties frozen and were protected from Marine pursuit. In return, the World Government could call on them as military assets — particularly to deter the Yonko.
The system's internal logic was Cold War deterrence. With three Yonko holding the New World in an uneasy balance, having seven elite pirates nominally on the Government's side gave the Marines a credible counter-threat to any individual Yonko without requiring a direct military engagement. The Marineford War was the system's most significant activation: five Warlords (Moriah, Doflamingo, Kuma, Hancock, and Mihawk) participated alongside the Marine top brass to execute Portgas D. Ace.
The fatal flaw of the system was that Warlords were always prioritising their own agendas:
- Crocodile used his Alabasta base to attempt a kingdom takeover.
- Blackbeard joined to hunt Ace and later used Impel Down access to recruit for his crew.
- Doflamingo ran an illegal underground trade empire while serving as a Warlord.
- Kuma secretly operated as a Revolutionary Army agent while appearing loyal to the Government.
The World Government dissolved the system in the Reverie arc when the assembled kings voted to abolish it — the Levely coalition argued the Warlords were a net liability and the Government was better off deploying Seraphim (the new biological weapons) as a replacement deterrent.
Tier 1: The World's Greatest
Dracule Mihawk — Hawkeye
Dracule Mihawk — Hawkeye
Pre-Warlord bounty: unknown — the World Government stopped tracking it once they recognised he was more useful as an ally than a target. The World's Greatest Swordsman in title and canonical performance. Mihawk was Shanks' rival during Shanks' two-handed era — this is the single most important data point for understanding his ceiling, because Shanks is the most complete fighter among the current active Yonko. Mihawk fights with the Yoru, the world's largest and heaviest black blade (one of twelve legendary blades in the series). His post-dissolution status is the most significant: the Levely stripped the Warlords of their protection and reinstated their bounties, and Mihawk's reinstated bounty was 3,590,000,000 berries — the highest of any former Warlord, placing him above Law (3 billion), Kid (3 billion), and Luffy's post-Wano 3 billion. He subsequently co-founded Cross Guild alongside Crocodile, with Buggy as the figurehead. He never showed his full power during the Marineford War — he left before it concluded and the series consistently frames him as having held back.
Tier 2: The Yonko-successors
Two former Warlords who left the system and were subsequently recognised as Yonko — placing them in a different conversation from the rest of the Warlord roster.
Marshall D. Teach — Blackbeard
Marshall D. Teach — Blackbeard
Pre-Warlord bounty: 0 berries (never issued — he was anonymous before his Warlord appointment). Blackbeard's path through the Warlord system is the clearest example of someone using the position as a tactical resource rather than a genuine allegiance. He joined after submitting Ace's bounty head to the Government, used the access it gave him to raid Impel Down Level 6, recruited Van Augur, Jesus Burgess, Shiryu, Sanjuan Wolf, Avalo Pizarro, and Vasco Shot, then killed Whitebeard at Marineford and stole the Gura Gura no Mi from his corpse. He voluntarily left the Warlord system once he no longer needed the protection — by that point he was already building his Yonko-tier fleet. His current bounty as Yonko is 3,996,000,000 berries. He is the only person in One Piece confirmed to wield two Devil Fruits simultaneously: the Yami Yami no Mi (Dark-Dark, Logia) and the Gura Gura no Mi (Tremor-Tremor, Paramecia).
Buggy the Clown
Buggy the Clown
Pre-Warlord bounty: 15,000,000 berries (East Blue era). Buggy's Warlord appointment is the Shichibukai system's most absurd moment — and the series is entirely deliberate about this. After Marineford, where Buggy accidentally became a rallying figure for escaping prisoners (purely through a sequence of misunderstandings and lucky positioning), the World Government's intelligence services assessed him as a strategic thinker capable of organising that many pirates. He wasn't. He was appointed Warlord on the basis of misread data. He subsequently used the position to found Buggy's Delivery (a mercenary company), which was successful enough that when the Warlord system dissolved and Mihawk and Crocodile needed a public face for Cross Guild, they chose Buggy as the figurehead — again based on his inexplicable ability to attract powerful people despite his own limited combat ability. The World Government then read Cross Guild as Buggy's organisation and made him a Yonko. His current bounty is 3,189,000,000 berries, which is higher than Luffy's post-Wano 3 billion. The series treats this as a joke that is also genuinely destabilising.
Tier 3: The elite active fighters
Three Warlords who were genuinely elite-tier combatants by canonical performance and whose post-Warlord trajectories are central to the main story.
Donquixote Doflamingo — Heavenly Demon
Donquixote Doflamingo — Heavenly Demon
Pre-Warlord bounty: 340,000,000 berries. Former World Noble who renounced his Celestial Dragon status and built one of the most extensive underground empires in the series — SMILE artificial Devil Fruits, weapons trade, and Dressrosa's ruling seat, all held simultaneously while operating as a Warlord. His Devil Fruit is the Ito Ito no Mi (String-String, Paramecia), which produces carbon-steel-strength threads capable of slicing buildings, controlling people as puppets, and generating his signature technique Birdcage — a giant string dome that slowly contracts and would have destroyed all of Dressrosa if Luffy hadn't stopped it. He also possesses Conqueror's Haki — one of the few Tier 3 or below Warlords confirmed to have it. His Awakening (one of the earliest shown in the series) turns everything around him into more string. Defeated by Luffy at Dressrosa in Gear 4, he was imprisoned in Impel Down Level 6. His bounty post-arrest was reinstated at 340,000,000 berries — notably modest given his operational reach, reflecting how carefully he had managed his public profile while active.
Boa Hancock — Pirate Empress
Boa Hancock — Pirate Empress
Pre-Warlord bounty: 80,000,000 berries (the amount when she first became Warlord at age 18; widely considered a severe undervalue). Hancock is the only female Warlord in the series' history and the strongest confirmed woman fighter in the pre-Final Saga era. Her Devil Fruit is the Mero Mero no Mi (Love-Love, Paramecia) — which petrifies anyone who feels attraction to her, regardless of gender. The technique has no direct counter except being immune to attraction or having Haki strong enough to resist. She also possesses all three types of Haki including Conqueror's Haki. In practical combat she combines the petrification with her Kuja Amazon combat style — extreme physical ability and snake-based attacks. Her post-dissolution fight at Amazon Lily against the Marine invasion force and the Seraphim S-Snake demonstrated that her Warlord-era power level significantly understates her actual ceiling. She has a non-canonical romantic attachment to Luffy that the series uses for comedy but her combat capability is entirely separate and respected in-universe. Reinstated bounty after dissolution: 1,659,000,000 berries.
Trafalgar D. Water Law — Surgeon of Death
Trafalgar D. Water Law — Surgeon of Death
Pre-Warlord bounty: 440,000,000 berries — the highest pre-appointment bounty of any Warlord in the series, reflecting that the Government was essentially buying off a threat rather than gaining a genuine ally. Law's Devil Fruit is the Ope Ope no Mi (Op-Op, Paramecia) — called the "Ultimate Devil Fruit" within the series because of its potential applications, including the immortality surgery technique (which can grant immortality to another person at the cost of the user's life). His ROOM technique creates a spherical space within which he has surgical control of everything: severing, rearranging, teleporting. His Awakening, shown in the war arc during his fight with Blackbeard, extends this control beyond his ROOM bubble. He joined the Warlord system explicitly to further his vendetta against Doflamingo (who had connections to his childhood tragedy) and resigned the moment Dressrosa was resolved. Defeated by Blackbeard in the Final Saga with his Road Poneglyph stolen. His reinstated bounty was 3,000,000,000 berries — matching his Worst Generation peers at the same stage.
Tier 4: The specialists
Three Warlords with distinct, high-ceiling abilities that defined major arcs of the story but who sit a tier below the elite fighters on peak canonical performance.
Jinbei — Knight of the Sea
Jinbei — Knight of the Sea
Pre-Warlord bounty: 250,000,000 berries. Former captain of the Sun Pirates (Fish-Man crew) and the most principled of the Warlords — he refused to fight in the Marineford War against Whitebeard's alliance (citing Whitebeard's historical protection of Fish-Man Island), accepted imprisonment in Impel Down for the refusal, and resigned his Warlord status when freed. No Devil Fruit — his power is entirely Fish-Man Karate, which manipulates water and fluid in any form including the water content of a human body. In water he is among the most powerful fighters in the series — his underwater combat ability was demonstrated throughout the Marineford arc. He subsequently joined Luffy's crew as the Straw Hats' helmsman and tenth member, fought in Wano, and his post-Wano bounty is 1,100,000,000 berries. Of all former Warlords, Jinbei has the most consistent upward trajectory — his ceiling as a Straw Hat is not yet fully shown.
Bartholomew Kuma — Tyrant
Bartholomew Kuma — Tyrant
Pre-Warlord bounty: 296,000,000 berries. The most layered character in the Warlord roster: simultaneously a Warlord, a Revolutionary Army officer (Dragon's right hand), and a Pacifista prototype who gradually submitted to full cybernetic conversion at the Government's direction. His Devil Fruit is the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi (Paw-Paw, Paramecia) — paw pads on his hands that repel everything they touch at the speed of light. Applications include deflecting physical attacks and attacks made of air or light, extracting pain and fatigue from a person's body as a bubble (which then becomes a physical object that will destroy whoever touches it), and launching people to any location on the globe he designates. The most narratively significant use of this was Sabaody Archipelago — Kuma dispersed all nine Straw Hat crew members across the world in a split second, saving them from Kizaru. He later spent the timeskip as a guardian of the Thousand Sunny. His full-cybernetic Kuma form (PX-0) sacrificed his personality and autonomy; the Revolutionary Army's war arc objective was partly to recover him. His bounty before becoming Warlord was 296,000,000 berries; post-dissolution it was reinstated at a significantly higher figure.
Crocodile — Desert King
Crocodile — Desert King
Pre-Warlord bounty: 81,000,000 berries (this figure is widely considered to undervalue him significantly — he was powerful enough to defeat Luffy twice before the third fight). The primary antagonist of the Alabasta arc and the first Warlord to be formally stripped of his status (by the World Government after Luffy exposed his operation). His Devil Fruit is the Suna Suna no Mi (Sand-Sand, Logia) — complete sand manipulation, including desiccation of anything he touches with his right hand and a Sand Spear technique for his left hand. Water is his confirmed weakness — his logia properties fail when he is wet, which is how Luffy defeated him on the third attempt. His post-Alabasta status: imprisoned in Impel Down Level 6, escaped during Blackbeard's Impel Down raid alongside Luffy's group, fought at Marineford under no allegiance, disappeared after the war. Reappears in the Final Saga as Cross Guild's co-founder — along with Mihawk, he provides Cross Guild's actual combat credibility while Buggy serves as the public face. His reinstated bounty post-dissolution is 1,965,000,000 berries.
Tier 5: The lower tier
Two Warlords whose canonical ceiling sits below the rest of the roster — one through demonstrated limitations, one through insufficient information.
Gecko Moria — Warlord of Shadows
Gecko Moria — Warlord of Shadows
Pre-Warlord bounty: 320,000,000 berries. Captain of the Thriller Bark, the largest ship in the world (in pirate service). His Devil Fruit is the Kage Kage no Mi (Shadow-Shadow, Paramecia) — complete shadow manipulation. He can steal shadows from living beings (leaving the victim unable to survive sunlight), implant them into corpses to reanimate them, and combine multiple shadows into his own body for a giant strengthened form (Oars reanimated with Luffy's shadow being the arc's climax). His arc antagonist status required the entire Straw Hat crew working together to defeat him — his power is scale-based rather than single-combat based. He was removed from the Warlord roster after Marineford when the World Government judged him too weak to remain useful following his loss at Thriller Bark. He subsequently survived a Doflamingo assassination attempt and disappeared. His bounty was reinstated post-dissolution at 320,000,000 berries, unchanged from his pre-Warlord figure — the series' implicit statement that nothing significant changed about his threat level.
Edward Weevil — Self-proclaimed Son of Whitebeard
Edward Weevil
Pre-Warlord bounty: 480,000,000 berries — the highest pre-appointment bounty of any lower-tier Warlord and notably higher than Law's 440,000,000 at appointment, though Weevil's ceiling in practice remains ambiguous. Weevil is the series' most underdeveloped Warlord in terms of screen time — he appeared in the post-Dressrosa arc claiming to be Whitebeard's biological son (a claim disputed within the narrative), operating under the direction of his mother Bakkin. His physical strength was described by Marco as "reminiscent of Whitebeard in his prime" — which would make him extraordinarily powerful — but this characterisation was never validated in actual combat at the same scale as other Warlord peers. He reportedly hunted and defeated multiple Whitebeard Commanders searching for Luffy during the time skip. He was captured by the Marines during the Levely dissolution response, so his current status is imprisoned. His reinstated bounty was 480,000,000 berries.
The Cross Guild — the Warlord system's successor
The Levely's dissolution of the Shichibukai created a structural problem: the three most dangerous former Warlords (Mihawk, Crocodile, Buggy) were now targets with reinstated bounties. Mihawk and Crocodile's solution was to establish Cross Guild — an organisation that reversed the World Government's bounty system by placing bounties on Marines. The mechanism: Pirates pay Cross Guild for intelligence, and Cross Guild issues bounties on Marine officers using the collected funds.
The practical effect was immediate: Marine recruitment dropped because being a Marine now meant having a bounty on your head. Cross Guild accomplished in one move what centuries of piracy couldn't — it made the World Government's recruitment pipeline adversarial.
Cross Guild's public structure places Buggy as the leader (the World Government's intelligence mistake), with Mihawk and Crocodile operating as the actual decision-makers. This is the same dynamic as Buggy's Warlord appointment and his Yonko recognition — the World Government consistently misreads the organisation's power structure.
From a collector standpoint, Cross Guild is the current-era successor to Warlord-tier merchandise, with Mihawk and Crocodile now operating in the same faction, making joint sets viable.
Shichibukai figures and collector items
The Warlord roster produced some of the most visually distinctive One Piece character designs in the series' history — which translates directly to figure and poster demand in the UK collector market.
Doflamingo is the highest-demand Warlord figure by a significant margin. His feathered coat, sunglasses, and spider-thread aesthetic make him one of the most visually recognisable characters in the series. The Dressrosa-era figures consistently command premiums on the aftermarket.
Boa Hancock figures from the Marineford and post-timeskip eras are the highest-demand female character items in One Piece collector markets. Her Amazon Lily-era designs have a distinctive visual identity separate from the standard Straw Hat merch.
Mihawk is unusual as a collector item — his wanted poster is among the most requested alongside Roger and Shanks, but figure releases have historically been limited relative to his narrative importance. A Mihawk figure in Cross Guild livery would be genuinely new territory.
Crocodile and Jinbei are the underrated picks. Crocodile's Alabasta-era hook-hand design is one of the cleaner villain aesthetics in the series; Jinbei's Fish-Man design makes his figures visually distinct from every human character in the range.
Law's wanted poster — his 3-billion reinstated bounty and Surgeon of Death aesthetic make it one of the best-looking modern posters in the Warlord set. The Heart Pirates Jolly Roger (spotted heart) is also one of the more collectible crew flags.
Check the AnimeVault listings for current availability on Warlord-tier figures and wanted posters. Doflamingo and Hancock items in particular move quickly when they come in stock.
TL;DR: Shichibukai power ranking
| Tier | Name | Pre-Warlord bounty | Devil Fruit | Current status | |------|------|--------------------|-------------|----------------| | 1 | Dracule Mihawk | Unknown | None (swordsmanship) | Cross Guild co-founder; bounty 3,590,000,000 | | 2 | Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard) | 0 | Yami Yami + Gura Gura | Yonko; bounty 3,996,000,000 | | 2 | Buggy | 15,000,000 | Bara Bara no Mi | Yonko (figurehead); Cross Guild; bounty 3,189,000,000 | | 3 | Donquixote Doflamingo | 340,000,000 | Ito Ito no Mi | Imprisoned (Impel Down Level 6) | | 3 | Boa Hancock | 80,000,000 | Mero Mero no Mi | Free; defending Amazon Lily; bounty 1,659,000,000 | | 3 | Trafalgar Law | 440,000,000 | Ope Ope no Mi | At large (post-Blackbeard defeat); bounty 3,000,000,000 | | 4 | Jinbei | 250,000,000 | None (Fish-Man Karate) | Straw Hat crew; bounty 1,100,000,000 | | 4 | Bartholomew Kuma | 296,000,000 | Nikyu Nikyu no Mi | Revolutionary Army; recovering | | 4 | Crocodile | 81,000,000 | Suna Suna no Mi | Cross Guild co-founder; bounty 1,965,000,000 | | 5 | Gecko Moria | 320,000,000 | Kage Kage no Mi | Whereabouts unknown (post-Marineford) | | 5 | Edward Weevil | 480,000,000 | Unknown | Captured by Marines (Levely arc) |
The debate that drives the most forum traffic: "Was Mihawk really Warlord-tier, or was he operating as an Admiral-tier threat the whole time?" His reinstated 3.59-billion bounty and his rivalry with Shanks both point to the latter — but the series never confirmed it while he held the status.
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