This article contains spoilers from One Piece’s Elbaf arc.
Summary
The Yonko are known to be the most powerful pirates in theOne Pieceworld and for good reason. These pirates have made a great name for themselves over the years, and at the same time, acquired such power and reputation that even the Navy doesn’t dare mess with them. Naturally, the Yonko possess incredible strength and most of them hold bounties that are way higher into the billions.
Generally speaking, the Yonko are considered to be the mightiest individuals in the series, with only a few capable of rivaling them. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Yonko are unbeatable. As fans know, there have been quite a few Yonko inOne Pieceover the years, with some being taken down and replaced by other powerful up-and-coming pirates, and others simply dying. Here are the longest-serving yonko inOne Piece.
7Luffy
Luffy is the latest addition to the ranks of the Yonkoin One Piece. As fans know, Luffy defeated Kaido, one of the former Four Emperors of the Sea, around the time of the Wano Country arc, which was just a few days ago in the One Piece World. After Kaido’s defeat, Luffy was declared the new Emperor, and his bounty was raised to 3 billion berries.
Clearly, Luffy deserves his title of Yonko, given that he’s one of the most powerful pirates in the series right now. There are only a handful of individuals who can rival him in terms of power and influence, and they naturally take the spot alongside him as other Yonko of the new era.
6Buggy
Just like Luffy, Buggy has been a Yonko for a few weeks as well, and it is believed that he has held this position for just as long as Luffy himself. Buggy was a Warlord of the Sea until recently, and this was after the events of the Paramount War, where he was given a special offer by the World Government, likely due to his major influence and connection to both the Red Hair Pirates and having been a member of the Roger Pirates.
But, after the abolition of the Warlord system, buggy was a criminal again. This is where Crocodile and Mihawk stepped in, and a major misunderstanding led to Buggy being considered as their leader. Naturally, anyone worthy of bringing Crocodile and Mihawk under their banner would be strong enough to be considered an Emperor, especially when they have a connection to Red Haired Shanks and even the former Pirates King, Roger. Buggy was given a bounty of 3.189 billion berries, and was made a Yonko alongside Luffy.
5Blackbeard
Blackbeard is one of the newer Emperors of the Sea, and he replaced Whitebeard as the Yonko. Following the events of the Paramount War, Blackbeard went to the New World, where he started taking Whitebeard’s territories one after another. Eventually, he fought against the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and destroyed them in combat. This was around 1 year ago.
Canonically speaking, it is said that it was after the Grudge War that he ended up becoming an Emperor. However, more recently, it was stated in the story that Blackbeard was declared as an Emperor only after the events of the Rocky Port Incident, which happened around the same time and saw Blackbeard destroy Whang Zhi the pirate, thanks to help from Trafalgar Law and Koby. At the very least, fans know thatBlackbeard has served as an Emperor for about a year now.
4Shanks
Shanks is rather new to the ranks of the Yonko as well, as was pointed out recently in the story. Fans know that Shanks is a very powerful individual, with a bounty of 4.0489 billion berries. Although Shanks is rather new to the ranks of the Yonko, he has still served for at least 6 years, which is certainly a significant period of time.
Fans knowShanks to hold tremendous strength, and although his full power has not been revealed, he is formidable enough to be considered one of the strongest in the world, if not the strongest.
3Kaido
Kaido Is one of the longest-serving Emperorsin One Piece. He was once a member of the Rocks Pirates, who got destroyed around 38 years ago. 4 years later, it is said that the Rocks Pirates, including Kaido, consolidated their strength in the New World, and it was between 20 to 24 years ago that he rose to the position of an Emperor.
At the very least, it was heavily implied that Kaido was already a Yonko when he fought against Oden 20 years ago.
2Big Mom
Big Mom is one of the strongest individualsinOne Piece, and just like Kaido, she served on Rocks’s crew. 34 years ago, Big Mom started making a big name for herself, and it is believed that she became one of the Yonko somewhere around 24 years ago, after Roger’s death, making her one of the longest-serving Emperors in the story.
1Whitebeard
Naturally, the longest-serving Emperor in One Piece wasNewgate, famously known as Whitebeard. He was a member of the Rocks Pirates which was destroyed 38 years ago, and about 34 years ago, he had already started his own crew and made a great name for himself on the seas.
When Whitebeard met and fought against Roger, he was not a Yonko yet, because the concept did not exist. That battle happened 26 years ago in the One Piece world. A year later, Roger became the Pirate King. It is likely that after Roger became the Pirate King and died, that the concept of the Four Emperors came into existence, and Whitebeard was made an Emperor, about 24 or so years ago.
