Luffy is the protagonist of One Piece and the Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. Setting off on his adventure at the age of 17, Luffy has, since then, faced lots of enemies and become an incredible pirate.
Currently, he's earned himself a bounty of 1.5 billion berries and is known as the Fifth Emperor of the Sea, and all that is thanks to his enemies pushing him beyond his limits. Here are the 10 strongest villains that Luffy has battled over the course of his time.
10 Crocodile
Crocodile was a Shichibukai who made his introduction in the Alabasta arc of One Piece. He is a powerful pirate who, apart from being strong, is extremely smart as well.
Luffy faced his first-ever defeat against him, as well as his second. Unfortunately for Crocodile, Luffy's sheer determination, along with battle wits proved to be enough to surpass him in their third clash.
9 Magellan
Magellan is the former Warden of Impel Down and among the strongest World Government soldiers. Hd is the user of the Paramecia type Doku Doku no Mi which allows him to control venom.
Luffy and Magellan clashed in Impel Down, and although Luffy stood up against him, he wasn't able to beat him in a fight. The fight left Luffy in a near-death state, and he only survived because of Bon Clay.
8 Lucci
Lucci stood in Luffy's path as one of the members of the CP-9 during the Water Seven Saga of the One Piece series. The two eventually clashed at Enies Lobby and it remains to be one of the best fights that the story has given us.
Thanks to some new techniques, such as Gear Second and Gear Third, Luffy managed to draw level to Lucci's level. Eventually, he ended up using every drop of strength in his body to beat him.
7 Donquixote Doflamingo
Doflamingo is a former Shichibukai and the captain of Donquixote Pirates. He was also the King of Dressrosa, which he stole from the Riku Family.
Doflamingo was a powerful pirate who had already beaten the likes of Law and Smoker. I'm his fight against Luffy, he did quite well right until the latter unleashed Gear Fourth. From that point onwards, the fight was completely in Luffy's favor and the power difference between the two was staggering.
6 Charlotte Cracker
Charlotte Cracker is the third-strongest Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates. He was the first real threat that Luffy faced off against during the Whole Cake Island arc. Cracker is a master swordsman and a high-level Armament Haki user.
This fight was quite a challenge for the Strawhat captain, mostly due to Cracker's superior Haki and Devil Fruit control. Luffy defeated Cracker thanks to helping from Nami. Alone, he would've most likely lost the fight.
5 Three Admirals
In order to save Ace, Luffy went up against the entire Navy by himself and eventually clashed with the three Admirals as well. Although he was nowhere near their level, Luffy was commended on his bravery by the Marine Admirals.
Unfortunately, due to being much weaker than them, Luffy was defeated by the Navy Admirals and needed to be saved by those around him. As his allies intercepted the Admirals, Luffy managed to free Ace.
4 Charlotte Katakuri
Katakuri is the second son of Big Mom and the strongest Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates. He has a bounty of 1.057 billion berries on his head, which makes him a very powerful character.
Luffy fought Katakuri during the Whole Cake Island arc of One Piece and the Sweet Commander managed to push Luffy behind all his limits. Although Luffy never defeated Katakuri in a battle of might, he was head and shoulders above him in terms willpower, which is what made Katakuri admit defeat.
3 Blackbeard
A former member of the Whitebeard Pirates, Blackbeard made his own crew, called the Blackbeard Pirates, after defecting from Whitebeard's ship. In time, he went on to become one of the biggest contenders for the title of Pirate King which meant him crossing paths with Luffy was inevitable.
Luffy met Teach on a couple of occasions and in Impel Down, the two finally clashed for the first time. Although the fight was short, Blackbeard had enough power to beat Luffy without much trouble at the time.
2 Kaido
Kaido is the captain of the Beasts Pirates and one of the Yonko of the Sea. He has a reputation for being the strongest creature in the entire world.
Being one of Luffy's targets, the two eventually clashed during the very first act of the Wano arc. Luffy, despite using everything he had up his sleeve, failed to defeat Kaido in the fight and was taken out by just a single hit from the Yonko.
1 Big Mom
Like Kaido, Big Mom is one of the Yonko of the Sea. She leads the Big Mom Pirates and rules over Totland as its Queen. Being a Yonko, she's an extremely strong character, often likened to an unstoppable force of nature.
Luffy and Big Mom clashed briefly during the Whole Cake Island arc of the series where Big Mom defeated him by just blocking one of his attacks. Without a doubt, Big Mom is among the strongest foes he has ever fought, if not the strongest.
