The manga One Piece is filled with some incredible villains, ranging from the merciless Navy members to the evilest of pirates. Throughout Luffy's journey, several powerful characters have stood in his path and two of the most impressive of those villains are certainly Crocodile and Doflamingo.
Both powerful Shichibukai once, they are often considered to be some of the best villains in the world of One Piece, for different reasons. While both of them are great in their own way, they're very different when it comes to the type of villains they are. Here are 5 reasons why Crocodile is One Piece's best villain so far and 5 it is Donquixote Doflamingo.
10 Crocodile: Mastermind
Crocodile is one of the smartest characters in the world of One Piece and his plan to take over Alabasta and ultimately, get his hand on the Ancient Weapon known as Pluton was flawless.
While Doflamingo also did something similar to Dressrosa, the level at which Crocodile had planned ahead was truly incredible. He is a character who had backup plans for his backup plans and ultimately, only failed because of one miscalculation, and that is, to let Sanji walk free.
9 Doflamingo: Charisma
When it comes to charisma as a villain, Doflamingo was certainly above Crocodile. Doflamingo's childhood shaped the kind of person that he became later on and while he was a despicable character, he had a different kind of aura about him.
Throughout the Dressrosa arc, Doflamingo showed how great a villain he truly was by starting little games of his own and later on, using the birdcage just so he could have some fun.
8 Crocodile: Lone Wolf
In the past, it is hinted that Crocodile was a pirate who was full of dreams. However, at some point, Crocodile had a massive change in personality and started to distrust everyone around him.
Even his own crime syndicate, known as Baroque Works, knew that they were simply pawns to him. Crocodile was ready to sacrifice them for his goals, and even his own partner, Miss All Sunday, was ultimately left to die because Crocodile never trusted her. This quality of his made him an incredible villain and became one of the reasons why the Alabasta arc worked as well as it did.
7 Doflamingo: Purely Nihilistic
As a pirate, Doflamingo doesn't really care about what becomes of the world. This was evident during the Paramount War where Doflamingo gave a speech that implied whichever side won, be it the Navy or the Pirates, would inevitably become justice.
All Doflamingo cared about was his own safety and the fact that his goals were met. Later on, his nihilistic view as a villain came to surface again towards the end of the Dressrosa arc where he used the Birdcage to wreck his own country just for the sake of a game that he started.
6 Crocodile: Pushed Luffy To His Limits
Crocodile is one of the very few pirates who have managed to push Luffy to his absolute limits. He fought Luffy thrice and managed to beat him twice, and it is only because of pure luck that the Straw Hat pirate was able to survive. In the end, Crocodile lost to Luffy but still remains to be one of the very few who have defeated him.
While Luffy's fight against Doflamingo was quite similar, the fact that Luffy had a stratagem like Gear Fourth up his sleeve meant that he was already stronger than him and thus Doflamingo wasn't as big a threat as Crocodile.
5 Doflamingo: Stronger
When it comes to pure strength, Doflamingo certainly trumps Crocodile that the fans saw before the time-skip. This is largely due to the fact that Doflamingo has access to all the three types of Haki while Crocodile didn't.
While it is possible and likely that Crocodile has access to Haki now, it hasn't been revealed in the story so far, which makes him weaker then Doflamingo to quite an extent.
4 Crocodile: Marineford MVP
Crocodile was one of the most important characters in One Piece's Marineford arc. Although he initially aimed to take Whitebeard's head, as the arc progressed, he became quite a likable character, forcing the likes of Whitebeard to show why he was the strongest, and even saving Ace and Luffy on several occasions.
It goes without saying that Crocodile was incredible throughout the Marineford arc and although he was an antagonist, he became someone who the fans loved even more.
3 Doflamingo: More Influence
Crocodile did great to take over Alabasta and almost succeeded in doing so, but Doflamingo didn't need to go to those extremes simply because he had more power. Since he was a Celestial Dragon once, Doflamingo had information which he could use against the World Government.
Consequently, he had them dancing on the tips of his fingers. Thanks to his bloodline, Doflamingo had power and influence that Crocodile could never achieve and that certainly added a layer of fear and intimidation to his character.
2 Crocodile: Still Relevant
Crocodile was freed from Impel Down by Monkey D. Luffy and after the Paramount War ended, he left for the New World. Right now, it is unknown what exactly it is that he's doing, however, he is still a key player.
Doflamingo is currently in Impel Down's Infinite Hell and it appears that he'll be there for quite a while. In terms of importance to the story, it definitely looks like Crocodile will have a bigger role to play in the future.
1 Doflamingo: Build-up
Doflamingo was first introduced after the events of the Alabasta arc, right when the discussion about Crocodile's replacement was taking place at Mariejois. Later on, he was teased throughout the first half of the story, and in doing so, Oda made sure that fans waited for his appearance as the main villain with anticipation.
Doflamingo finally got his chance to shine during the Dressrosa arc of the story and did remarkably well as a villain. Undeniably, he's one of the most incredible villains in the entirety of One Piece.
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