10 most humiliating defeats in One Piece, ranked
One Piece masterfully blends epicness and humor in every aspect of its addictive story, including the combat scenes, most of which are interwoven with the narrative. In battle, One Piece characters can rely on Devil Fruits, Haki, weapons, martial arts, or a combo of these assets.
Devil Fruits can interact with each other in unexpected ways. They can also be evolved through Awakening, Likewise, the strongest Haki users have access to advanced forms and types of Haki. Given this unorthodox and varied power system, the result of a fight in One Piece can be unpredictable.
In most cases, One Piece characters have to use their best moves and give their all to win a fight. However, certain battles were simply one-sided. Whether due to their limits or their opponent's overwhelming strength, some characters end up suffering crushing defeats.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1134.
Ten important One Piece fights that were completely onesided
10) Burgess vs Sabo
During the Dressrosa Arc, Jesus Burgess watched the battle, between Luffy and Doflamingo, to kill Luffy and steal his Devil Fruit as soon as his Gear 4 ran out. As soon as Luffy used up all of his energy, Burgess made his move. However, Sabo stopped the latter and informed him of his identity as Luffy’s brother.
Realizing that Sabo was the person he had previously fought to win the Flame-Flame Fruit, Burgess decided to steal this Devil Fruit instead of Luffy’s. Unfortunately for Burgess, Sabo made easy work of him.
As Sabo was leaving, Burgess mocked Ace’s memory. He also told Sabo he was useless, as he couldn’t save his brother. Having heard enough, Sabo hit Burgess with the Flame-Flame Fruit’s signature technique, the Fire Fist, sending the Blackbeard Pirates officer flying and inflicting severe burns on him.
9) Luffy vs Crocodile
Before finally getting the better of Crocodile, Luffy suffered two crushing defeats against the former, the first of which was particularly humbling. With Crocodile standing in the way of the Straw Hat Pirates and Vivi, Luffy told the others to go ahead while he faced the Warlord alone.
Luffy fought fiercely, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t even hurt Crocodile. Using his Logia powers, Crocodile would turn his body into sand, letting Luffy’s attacks pass harmlessly through. Crocodile then impaled Luffy, mocking him for his foolishness as he left him for dead in the desert’s sand.
Luffy survived thanks to his willpower and the unexpected but decisive help of Miss All Sunday. Otherwise, he would have died. This debacle was the first real setback that Luffy suffered in One Piece from the beginning of his journey.
Luffy never stood a chance against Crocodile and lost within a few minutes without landing a single blow on the Warlord. This terrible failure served as a reality check for Luffy and increased his motivation given his rematch with Crocodile.
8) Sanji vs Doflamingo
When Donquixote Doflamingo attacked the Thousand Sunny, Sanji appeared out of nowhere and intercepted him. Sanji attempted to hit Doflamingo with his Diable Jambe kicks, but the Warlord easily dodged or blocked all of his attacks. He then used his String-String Fruit to wound Sanji.
As Doflamingo turned his attention back to the Thousand Sunny, Sanji attacked him with a special Diable Jambe technique in a desperate, last-ditch effort. Unconcerned, Doflamingo blocked Sanji’s strikes, literally parrying them with his trademark feather coat.
A moment later, Doflamingo used his Parasite technique to immobilize and take control of Sanji. With Doflamingo about to kill a completely helpless Sanji, Nami and the others freaked out. Thankfully, Trafalgar Law saved Sanji by moving him out of the path of Doflamingo’s attack.
Sanji’s effort was noble and brave, but he couldn't even defend himself, let alone land a single hit on Doflamingo. He came to help the others, and yet ended up being the one who needed help. To add insult to injury, Doflamingo mocked Sanji by calling him “strong” before going on to casually defeat him.
7) Lucci vs Zoro
When Lucci targeted Dr Vegapunk and brutally injured Stussy, Roronoa Zoro took action to stop him. Zoro pushed Lucci back, sending him crashing through the laboratory’s wall. Then, the two began to face off. Lucci went all-out immediately, using his Zoan Awakening, and claimed that he would kill Zoro.
However, Lucci soon understood that he would never be able to win against the swordsman. He thus decided to draw out the fight, not realizing that Zoro was the one controlling the duration of the battle. In fact, Zoro instantly defeated Lucci as soon as he really wanted.
Lucci tried to hit Zoro with a special Rokushiki technique, but Zoro nonchalantly dodged the attack. He struck Lucci with a Haki-imbued move, inflicting three large, deep cuts on his body. This caused Lucci to bleed profusely, tremble, and cough blood. Funnily enough, Zoro named his attack “Leopard Hunt” to mock Lucci’s Leopard-Leopard Fruit.
The very moment that Zoro stopped playing around, he outclassed Lucci with disconcerting ease. Lucci talked big, but Zoro incapacitated him with just one single blow. To do that, Zoro didn't even need to go all-out. Had he used Asura or the King of Hell Style, Lucci might have died on Egghead.
6) Tashigi vs Law
When some Straw Hats inadvertently exposed Trafalgar Law's schemes in Punk Hazard, the latter was forced to fight against Vice Admiral Smoker. Despite Smoker’s orders to the contrary, his subordinate Tashigi tried to attack Law, which turned out to be one of the worst decisions ever made in One Piece.
Without blinking an eye, Law used his sword Kikoku to cut Tashigi in half. She didn’t die, as Law had used Amputate, a peculiar technique that allows him to bisect any target within the Ope-Ope Fruit’s range, but without actually harming them. After incapacitating Tashigi, Law didn’t finish her off.
Instead, he gave Tashigi a bitter lecture, telling her that weaklings can’t even choose how they die. Law’s words hurt the young Marine even more than the former’s blade, as she bit her lip in shame, and burst into tears. Luckily, Smoker stepped in to fight Law, allowing the other marines to reattach Tashigi’s two halves together.
5) Monet vs Zoro
Not interested in fighting Monet, Zoro allowed Tashigi to deal with her. However, when Monet gained the upper hand against Tashigi, Zoro decided to intervene. He threw an Armament Haki-imbued flying slash at Monet, cutting her cheek. With a menacing glare, Zoro asked Monet if she had ever met a wild animal that she was certain would not bite.
Frozen in fear, Monet remained outright paralyzed as Zoro struck her again, cutting her in half. This time, Zoro didn’t put Haki in his attack. This allowed Monet to survive thanks to her Logia body. However, she was too frightened to reunite her two halves. When Monet finally managed to move one-half of her body, Tashigi exploited the opportunity to settle the score, delivering a decisive blow to her.
A real threat to Tashigi and Nico Robin, Monet was nothing compared to Zoro. The difference in power was so great that Monet froze in fear when she realized how easily Zoro could have killed her if he wanted to. Unconsciously exerting his Conqueror’s Haki aura, Zoro caused a mental breakdown in Monet, to the point where she lost control of her Devil Fruit powers.
4) Zoro vs Mihawk
Dracule Mihawk is set to be Zoro’s final and greatest opponent in One Piece, but the two swordsmen have already fought once during the East Blue Saga. Having established himself as a powerful bounty hunter, Zoro was quite confident in his ability to defeat Mihawk when he met him at Baratie.
This was a massive miscalculation on Zoro’s part, as the difference in power between him and Mihawk was as great as the distance between heaven and earth. A testament to this, Mihawk effortlessly blocked all of Zoro’s fierce attacks with a tiny pocket knife.
Despite the humiliation, Zoro didn’t give up. His willpower impressed Mihawk, who decided to honor him by using the Black Blade Yoru to finish him off. After destroying two of Zoro’s three swords, Mihawk inflicted a terrible wound on the green-haired pirate, leaving him half-dead.
Having noticed Zoro’s uncommon potential, Mihawk forced him to overcome this hardship to grow stronger and become a worthy challenger. While Zoro managed to earn Mihawk’s respect, that doesn't lessen the severity of his debacle. On this occasion, Zoro suffered a stinging defeat that he would never forget.
3) Luffy vs Kaido
After the Whole Cake Island Arc, Luffy became the “Fifth Emperor”. However, at that time, he was far from being at the level of the actual Emperors of the Sea, as demonstrated by his terrible defeat in the first battle with Kaido.
Upon learning that Kaido brutally beat up Speed and Tama, Luffy attacked him in a fit of rage. Luffy struck Kaido with a powerful Gear 3 technique, the Gum-Gum Elephant Gatling, dropping him to the ground. Luffy then activated his Gear 4 transformation and hit Kaido with Kong Organ Gun.
Unfortunately for Luffy, his aggressive barrage of attacks was ineffective, as Kaido got back on his feet as if nothing had happened. A moment later, Kaido counterattacked by striking Luffy with his Thunder Bagua technique, knocking him unconscious with a single blow.
Overconfident and reckless, Luffy challenged Kaido head-on, suffering perhaps his worst defeat ever. He tried his best and yet failed to even scratch Kaido, who instead blitzed and one-shotted him. Luffy learned the hard way the difference in strength between a Commander-level fighter and a Yonko-level fighter.
2) Kid vs Shanks
During the Wano Arc, Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law joined forces to defeat Big Mom. This achievement made Kid more arrogant than ever before, to the point where he believed he could take on the likes of Shanks. An absurd decision that Kid surely regretted.
Wanting revenge on the Red Hair Pirates, who had inflicted a crushing defeat on him in the past, Kid targeted the crew’s much weaker allies, the members of the Red Hair Fleet. Kid began to charge his attack, but Shanks used Future Sight to foresee his malicious intentions. Shanks thus decided to take action to protect the otherwise helpless Red Hair Fleet.
Shanks swiftly leaped onto Kid’s ship and used his sword Gryphon to perform Divine Departure, a Conqueror’s Haki-coated slash that cut through Kid’s Damned Punk Railgun and knocked both him and Killer unconscious. Dorry and Brogy then finished the job, destroying Kid’s ship and sinking the crew.
Shanks dismantled Kid with one swing of his sword. Kid was unable to do anything to stop him, and was defeated in a matter of seconds along with Killer, who was not even the target of Shanks’ attack. The Kid Pirates were utterly annihilated, and the fault lies solely in Kid’s foolish cockiness.
1) Bellamy vs Luffy
After Bellamy beat up Mont Blanc Cricket and robbed him of his gold, Luffy angrily told him to return what he had stolen. However, Bellamy scornfully refused. Bouncing off the environment to gather energy while simultaneously insulting Luffy and Cricket, Bellamy then charged an all-out attack with the Spring-Spring Fruit.
As the villain lunged at Luffy, the young pirate struck him with a tremendous punch. Filled with anger, Luffy hit Bellamy with enough force to knock him unconscious, smashing him to the ground. Luffy’s punch even left the imprint of his knuckles on Bellamy’s face, making the beatdown epochal.
After harassing people and bragging about his strength, Bellamy suffered an embarrassing loss, as he was defeated with one single blow in front of everyone. His ego was shattered, and his reputation destroyed.
Not long before, Bellamy had insulted Luffy and Zoro for what he called their foolish dreams. As they didn’t fight back, Bellamy mistook their fortitude for softness and labeled them as weaklings. Even when he learned about Luffy and Zoro’s fearsome reputation, Bellamy belittled them.
This presumptuous underestimation proved to be a fatal mistake on Bellamy’s part, as Luffy humbled him with a single strike, proving their abysmal disparity in strength.
Related Links
- One Piece chapter 1134: Release date and time, where to read, and more
- 20 best One Piece color spreads, ranked
- One Piece: 3 Straw Hats who could use Haki before the timeskip (& 3 who can't use it even now)
- 40 iconic One Piece characters as Pokémon
- The 5 longest One Piece arcs (& the 5 shortest)