Close call for the top spot between Akainu and Crocodile. Akainu is my favorite villain thanks to his performance at Marineford, top notch DF, and no nonsense attitude, but I feel like Crocodile was the better schemer and planner.
Rob Lucci - his fight with Luffy alone cements him as one of the best villains.
Magellan - really grown to appreciate this badass over the years. Was singlehandedly more threatening, competent, and entertaining than all of the Post TS villains combined. And his interactions with Hannyabal were comic gold.
Blackbeard - the dark counterpart to Luffy. He has had some luck on his side in regards to his plans, but he scored a lot of points for playing the WG and WB Pirates against each other, and walking away from the War with WB’s DF and the strongest prisoners from Impel Down, and solidifying his position as a Yonko with the WB Pirates OVERWHELMING DEFEAT. And his speech about dreams remains one of the most iconic moments of the series. Not exactly sure why he’s not higher on my list, but for some reason I want to see more from him.
Kuma - stomped the SHs twice and separated them for two years. Enough said.
Enel - has one of the best DFs, one of the funniest panels, and gave Luffy a tough fight even despite Luffy’s DF countering his.
Spandam - while he’s nowhere near as badass or charismatic as some of the other villains here, Spandam was a great example of a villain you loved to hate. Because he was such a malicious power hungry asshole, he made the rest of CP9 seem that much more impressive, and you genuinely wanted to see him go down. Plus his gag is hilarious, I can still remember some of the best moments from years ago, whereas with Spandam 2.0/Orochi I can barely remember what he’s said or done during the entire arc.
Moria - was pretty decent, gave us some good fights, has an interesting DF (which Big Meme’s is more or less a copy of) and sympathetic backstory, and I look forward to seeing the flashback of him and Kaido.
Kaido - need to see more from him before I place him higher, especially after how Oda handled Doflamingo and the Meme Team. That said, he ranks higher than the last few villains solely thanks to him putting Luffy in his place.
Doflamingo - the most disappointing villain on the list so far. Don’t get me wrong, he’s infinitely better than Big Meme, but he’s more disappointing for me because I was actually looking forward to his arc, while I was never really looking forward to Meme’s even before she became Big Meme. Doflamingo still has some great moments like his justice speech at Marineford and his excellent flashback, but because of his shift from a villain who gave no fucks about dreams or ideals into a Crocodile 2.0 who claims to have the blood of the gods, how he underestimated Luffy despite him saying he wouldn’t, and how disappointing his fight was, I can’t place him much higher than this. He really did deserve so much better than what he got in Dressrosa.
Katakuri - best member of the Meme Team, which isn’t saying much. He was alright, but a few things about him really bug me, like how he became a Luffy disciple, and his fight wasn’t that great imo.
Last and least is Big Meme. Oda managed to destroy her for me with one single chapter. I fucking died when the SHs saved Brook from her in a comedy scene and tricked her with a fake seaweed haired skeleton; any and all hopes and expectations I may have had for her instantly evaporated. I knew that if Oda could do something like that to Big Meme, then he could and would go lower, but man I did not think he would humiliate the disgrace of the Yonko like he’s done for the past 2 years and counting. How I wish Akainu, one of the other Admirals, Blackbeard, or literally anyone else would have offpaneled her after WCI, but with the way things are going, I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if Oda has her dying to save Chopper during the finale. Fuck Big Meme.
