General & Others List your top 10 left hand/second mates

#1
Second mate/Left hand men: A leader's second best subordinate. In One Piece it's normally a combination of many traits such as position in the hierarchy, their strength, their story portrayal, their loyalty to the captain, how much their captain trusts them, general competence, the respect they command, ability to lead subordinates, etc. It's not a clearly defined role so there's going to be room for debate in many of these, but as long as you attempt to justify your choice then it's fine.

List your favorite 10 regardless if they're pirates, marines, CP agents, revolutionaries.

  1. Sanji. It's not even close. Sanji defined what it means to be a second mate in this series by stepping into that role for the Strawhats.

  2. Jozu. I have great respect for Jozu. When Whitebeard is in trouble with a Mihawk slash coming his way or Aokiji in his face about to launch a point blank attack, Jozu steps in to protect his captain. He remains calm and composed when Shanks steps onto their ship, telling his subordinates anyone who faces Shanks half-halfheartedly will pass out before him. Nice diamond ability, his design a bit lacking. A very loyal man and a reliable standby.

  3. Denjiro. Followed Oden from the start along with Kin'emon and seen as the second leader of the Scabbards. Candidate for the most loyal and dedicated subordinate on this list. So furious at his leader's death that it warped his face. But so dedicated to the cause he that worked directly under the traitor and executioner Orochi for nearly 20 years. The fact that he was too weak to help Oden while he was alive is his only minus. Awesome design and has trained to become a formidable samurai.

  4. Pica. While I personally think Vergo or possible Trebol has a stronger claim as Doffy's right hand, Pica is a very solid lock for his left hand. Pica hangs out inside Doffy's stone castle and is normally one of the first to respond to intruders like when he intercepted Zoro or after Kyros cut off clone Doffy's head. Pica is quite strong covering his entire body with haki like Vergo and on top of that posses an extremely useful environmental ability. Pica takes advantage of Dressrosa's stone infrastructure for his giant golems, terramorphs the island to raise the castle in the sky with several levels allowing the bird cage and Doffy's soldiers to catch up on intruders. Extremely loyal, shows competence and usefulness, never goes out of his way to cause Doffy trouble.

  5. Gaban. Most likely the strongest left hand in the entire list, but lacking too much panel time and will sit here for now. Right now Scopper Gaban lives in the shadow of characters like Rayleigh, Oden, even a movie guy like Bullet. He led the faction of the crew opposing Whitebeard's man joining the Roger Pirates, showing he cares for the loyalty of new recruits and the safety his captain and the crew. He doesn't blindly trust Roger, which is fine because captains are not perfect and they need to be challenged by the high authority of his right and left hand men from time to time. Love the double axes but we haven't seen anything.

  6. Ivankov. Commander of the Grand Line, surely Dragon's most important man after Chief of Staff Sabo and Kuma who got fixed. Seems to highly regard Dragon's judgement down to the blood inside him that he followed Luffy to Marineford. Seems to have a very sacrificial nature and will throw himself in the face of deadly threads like Magellan and Akainu. Got himself caught and was chilling in Impel Down 5.5, a big minus as he was unable to help his leader for quite some time. The most interesting ability on this list, Ivankov has very creative offensive and support powers.

  7. Queen. Posses great power in a strength-based hierarchy, technological capabilities that helped Kaido build his weapon manufacturing empire, and is respected showman and entertainer that leads and motivates the riffraff during events like the Fire Festival. Queen posses various faults such as the way he mismanaged the situation in Udon and his dislike of joining the battle himself, but his traits like endurance and quick thinking allowed him to get the hit that put Big Mom to sleep. He redeemed himself in Kaido's eyes by bringing him the biggest prize any subordinate could: the chained up body of an enemy Yonko. Great design and personality, somewhat good ability so far, a loyal man who will protect his turf even from a Yonko and one of Kaido's oldest being by his side against Moria and Oden.

  8. Mr. 2. You can make a case Miss Sunday was Crocodile's left hand, I'll stick with Mr. 2. Not only does have a useful ability like Mr. 3, he has the power to back it up with his kenpo. The Clone Clone was essential for Crocodile's operation to turn Alabasta Kingdom on itself, and Mr. 2 used it grab and make posters of all Strawhat he touched so Crocodile could put a face on his enemy. He picked a fight with Mr. 1 and allowed the Strawhats to escape from Hina, his good nature means he wasn't the most loyal subordinate and behaved as more a mercenary. Great character for many reasons not related to his antagonist role.

  9. Lucky Roux. There is some debate whether Lucky Roux is the left hand or it's actually Yasopp. Lucky Roux was there to shoot the mook who got in Shanks's face, but other than that he has not prominently featured. When Shanks held back Akainu, Beckman threatened Kizaru, the second mate should have held Aokiji in check but instead he freezes the sea and Lucky Roux is seen panicking while eating a piece of meat. The Marines seem to view him along with Shanks's top 3 as exceptional crew members. His design and fighting style are the weakest on this list, but props for being a gun guy at this level.

  10. Smoothie. Everyone knows her personal strengths and flaws. In a crew with an age-based hierarchy where Perospero and Oven command a lot respect and authority, and then Smoothie gets ordered around by Tamago and Mont D'Or, she is certainly the least reliable left hand on this list. But she still posses a lot of power and loyalty to Big Mom, one of the best Commander designs and a creative ability to boot.
Honorable mentions: Burgess or Shiryu, didn't want to get into this debate. Jabra, picks fights with Lucci and messes with Kaku but still a powerful subordinate you can count on. Abaslom or Perona, playing the games the entire arc but command zombie armies and posses OP abilities useful to Moria. Marigold and Sandersonia, no denying how close they are to Hancock. Gotti, stands up for Bege and took on Marines to save Lola. Big Mom under Rocks, don't really know enough about this.
 
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#6
Sanji and Vergo.

Sanji goes without saying but Vergo gave more of his life to the cause of his captain than anyone. (Its arguable he's actually the right hand but considering he's almost never with the crew makes it bizarre to call him the right hand)

Honorable mention Denjiro

Don't really know enough about the other guys to really rank them. I do like Gabban, Shura, and Queen
 
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#8
1st mates. Gin, king, katakuri, rayleigh, mr2 in impel, magellan as vice warden, killer, bepo, pedro to nekomamushi, marco, kaku
2nd mates
Cracker, Jozu, mr 2 in alabasta, jinbe in impel down and marineford to luffy, denjiro, aokiji in marineford, hatchan, queen, jabra, gedatsu
 
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N

NeutralWatcher

#14
If right hand man I would Definitely say
1. Katakuri
2. Benn Beckman
3. Jinbei
4. Marco

If it's left hand man then
1. Ace
2. Lucky Roux
 
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