One Piece Power Level Discussion Thread

[goldb]

Ground Rules for the Power Level Discussion Thread
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As always, please follow the guidelines set by the Forum Rules that apply across the board.

It's important that discussions from a current chapter are spoiler tagged until 24h have passed from an english release.

• For the sake of constructive discussion, where and when possible please quote/ source any information you provide. Particularly when it comes to conversations carried over from other threads.
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• Only use anime examples that are canon and as means to provide clarity to pages in the manga. Any other anime material is otherwise non-canon and should only be referenced if it can be proved that the mangaka had approved it.
• We will strive to avoid repetitive discussions and any extensive battle topics will be guided to the Davy Back fight to existing threads or new ones can be made there.

As of now these topics are shelved due to repetitiveness or until the manga can present us with material to further discussions:

1. Shanks v Mihawk
2. Hand to hand fighters > Swordsmen
3. Zoro > Luffy
4. Zoro v Sanji
5. Is Smoker a top 30 character?
6. Mihawk's rank within the story
7. Law having CoC currently.
8. Katakuri > Kaido/Luffy/Etc.

If you wish to continue any of these discussion and remove it from the list, you will need to provide manga material as proof. If there's also anything you think we've covered numerous times, let me know and I'll update the list.

This is the only warning there'll be regarding these ground rules, anything no adhering will be removed. So please just check your posts before posting them.

 

[Imfamux]

Loki did more than a bit better than luffy. He actually landed hits and didn't get outright dismissed as weak by imu. That said i would still think imu won against loki with enough margin for comfort.

If you guys re read, everything in one go - its sad to say - but Loki only landed ONE hit in Imu, and it was almost the same way when he got hit by Luffy !
Loki indeed did better in staling him a little more when he was in his Nidhögg form, but that was his maximum - after that Loki couldn't hit any other hit, and everything else got stopped by imu attack/defense

Loki used Ragnir- Imu defended with Maki and right next after it impaled Loki easy with Nemesis
Loki used Thorheim- Imu defended
Loki used Ragnaichizu - Imu used Nova Eclipse


And that was all he could do it so in my opnion
Loki and Luffy are equals - If both fight, i still would bet on Luffy bc - his power are way more free than Loki , but i have my doubts if Luffy would have enought raw power to punch Loki hard enought

But the truth is - we can't say either of them really fought Imu -bc a f8ght mean damage on both sides - a Imu low diff both Loki and Luffy, the only thing Loki really did better was tanking damage ! It took 3 swords to make Loki get out of game while Luffy, got one hit even if it was a World Weapon, but.. 1 hit !

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 29, 2026, Original Post Date: Jul 29, 2026 ---

Let's wait and see before saying Luffy is defeated. He is still councious and still in Gear 5, I don;t think he is out of the fight just yet. Though maybe he is still awake just to see Gaban make some new super Haki move on Imu and then get killed by him.

Also there is no way the God Knights are Admiral level. Sure, they are strong and have powerfull devil fruits, but thier main draw is the fact you can't kill them without King's Haki, andeven with that Killingham lost. Now they are powered up by Imu and have legendary weapons, but I still don't think they are at that level. They may be stronger than a Yonko's top subordinates (but even then, Buggy has Mihawk and we don't know much about Beckman), but as strong as a Yonko or admiral, that seems too far. They seem to be pushing Zorro and Sanji around for the time, but they will most likely lose, they are there to level up Zorro and Sanji, probably like HereNThere said, so they can fight against Yonko/admiral level people and not die quickly.

Now this is for the God Knights we have seen fight, Shamrock maybe at the highest level, being the captain of the knights and Shanks's big brother. Garling, I don't know, he kind of got embarrassed at God Valley, though that was years ago and he is now one of the Elders and probably has the highest contract with Imu, so he is also likely much stronger now.

I agree - G.K alone won't be able to fight a Younkou by himself, but in a little group, with Omen + World Weapons..i have my doubts - if the fight on top of onigashima was between
Kaidou & Big Mom vs 5 God Knights (Shamrocks, Growlo, Sommers, Gunko and Killingham) all with Omem and wordl weapons...im sorry but , im sure both kaidou and Big Mok woild br in big problem

Killingham is enought to beat all members of a you nou crew besides commanders (his D.F is ridiculous!! For this !!) Shamrock i assume has a similar power to Shanks- but in the big screen that would be a hard fight to Younkous even them in my opnion ofc -

Bc yeah, G.K are using they own Conqueror Hakis but it seems that they are wielding the CoC of Imu or of the past kings when they use this World Weapons - Zoro using his most powerful CoC attack (besides Asura) got overpowered by Sommers, the same attack that destroyed King a super strong lunarian

 

[XXGenesis]

Let's wait and see before saying Luffy is defeated. He is still councious and still in Gear 5, I don;t think he is out of the fight just yet. Though maybe he is still awake just to see Gaban make some new super Haki move on Imu and then get killed by him.

Luffy’s lost already bro. This is why it’s such a big deal. Gaban just saved him from being Killed….Luffy’s is 0-1 against IMU & almost died. Worst defeat since Magellan honestly.

Gaban is equal to Rayleigh. Same Dynamic as Sanji & Zoro. Rayleigh knowingly can’t beat BB; If this wasn’t One Piece, I’ll tell you Gaban is wearing the biggest Death flag right now lol.

Loki did more than a bit better than luffy. He actually landed hits and didn't get outright dismissed as weak by imu. That said i would still think imu won against loki with enough margin for comfort.

Agreed! I’m going over the last 9 chapters or so.
Lol IMU is too strong! The Fricking appeared & Disrespected everyone! Chopped up 2 giants, Dismissed Zoro, Smoked Sanji, Manhandled Loki even though he fought back; & He’s put Luffy in the spin rinse cycle to Pin him to a tree & dry!

@HereNThere The fan tiers make this discussion interesting. Without the reference of them it’s makes the conversation stale. Come on, you know how much we like the rankings & placements. Lol, Personally I’ve never liked multipliers or buffs that aren’t gaugeable….Im just curious to Will we be shown or if anyone thinks? A God’s Knight with a Omen Buff & Weapon can they rival an Admiral..I think we may see them come close.

 

[HereNThere]

@HereNThere The fan tiers make this discussion interesting. Without the reference of them it’s makes the conversation stale. Come on, you know how much we like the rankings & placements. Lol, Personally I’ve never liked multipliers or buffs that aren’t gaugeable….Im just curious to Will we be shown or if anyone thinks? A God’s Knight with a Omen Buff & Weapon can they rival an Admiral..I think we may see them come close.

Oh no, I understand. I still enjoy powerscaling, but we've reached a point in the series where things have evolved beyond those terms and Oda has made things not as clear cut as those terms we created would imply. The series outgrew those levels, but instead of adjusting, fans as a whole are still trying to stuff characters into those rigid boxes.

More nuance is just needed, imo. Things need to be read as a case by case basis.

We can still rank as feats are feats, but we just can't tie those feats to a specific "class" so to speak. That's how we get shit like Pirate King+ which makes no sense.

 

[costicla]

Luffy’s lost already bro. This is why it’s such a big deal. Gaban just saved him from being Killed….Luffy’s is 0-1 against IMU & almost died. Worst defeat since Magellan honestly.

Gaban is equal to Rayleigh. Same Dynamic as Sanji & Zoro. Rayleigh knowingly can’t beat BB; If this wasn’t One Piece, I’ll tell you Gaban is wearing the biggest Death flag right now lol.

He lost, but is still awake, well barely, and still in gear 5, now I am not saying he will awaken further/get possesed by Joyboy or something of the sort, but Oda probably left him awake for a reason. Maybe it's to see some flaw in Imu' fighting style or a weakness or something haki related from Gaban, who I am sure is not getting out of this battle alive, he is old and already injured. How Imu will be actually driven off is probably by Sanji and Zorro winning their fights and maybe Gunko does something and weakens Imu further.

 

[Imfamux]

Luffy’s lost already bro. This is why it’s such a big deal. Gaban just saved him from being Killed….Luffy’s is 0-1 against IMU & almost died. Worst defeat since Magellan honestly.

Gaban is equal to Rayleigh. Same Dynamic as Sanji & Zoro. Rayleigh knowingly can’t beat BB; If this wasn’t One Piece, I’ll tell you Gaban is wearing the biggest Death flag right now lol.



Agreed! I’m going over the last 9 chapters or so.
Lol IMU is too strong! The Fricking appeared & Disrespected everyone! Chopped up 2 giants, Smoked Zoro, Smoked Sanji, Manhandled Loki even though he fought back; & He’s put Luffy in the spin rinse cycle to Pin him to a tree & dry!

@HereNThere The fan tiers make this discussion interesting. Without the reference of them it’s makes the conversation stale. Come on, you know how much we like the rankings & placements. Lol, Personally I’ve never liked multipliers or buffs that aren’t gaugeable….Im just curious to Will we be shown or if anyone thinks? A God’s Knight with a Omen Buff & Weapon can they rival an Admiral..I think we may see them come close.

My biggest fear right now is
- Imu can give power bost (Omem)
- Imu can give World Weapons

What if...he can to give armours ? Or worse, give a buff bigger than Omen for those who has the 3 pact ? Like we saw those Youkai forms of Gorousei, and if we have something more devilsh- like the true form of Imu (as we saw in the Throne Room)

Literally right now the biggest power of Imu is his capabilities to make his allies overgeared!

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 29, 2026, Original Post Date: Jul 29, 2026 ---

He lost, but is still awake, well barely, and still in gear 5, now I am not saying he will awaken further/get possesed by Joyboy or something of the sort, but Oda probably left him awake for a reason. Maybe it's to see some flaw in Imu' fighting style or a weakness or something haki related from Gaban, who I am sure is not getting out of this battle alive, he is old and already injured. How Imu will be actually driven off is probably by Sanji and Zorro winning their fights and maybe Gunko does something and weakens Imu further.

Yeah.. my only hope for gaban being kept alive is ..faith, bc otherwise..he is already dead !

For me Luffy isn't unconscious yet bc if Gaban really die, it will give him a shock like of some sort like when was with Ace dead - even to Gaban don't have that sort of emotional connection with Luffy yet

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 29, 2026 ---

He lost, but is still awake, well barely, and still in gear 5, now I am not saying he will awaken further/get possesed by Joyboy or something of the sort, but Oda probably left him awake for a reason. Maybe it's to see some flaw in Imu' fighting style or a weakness or something haki related from Gaban, who I am sure is not getting out of this battle alive, he is old and already injured. How Imu will be actually driven off is probably by Sanji and Zorro winning their fights and maybe Gunko does something and weakens Imu further.

Yeah.. my only hope for gaban being kept alive is ..faith, bc otherwise..he is already dead !

For me Luffy isn't unconscious yet bc if Gaban really die, it will give him a shock like of some sort like when was with Ace dead - even to Gaban don't have that sort of emotional connection with Luffy yet

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 29, 2026 ---

Oh no, I understand. I still enjoy powerscaling, but we've reached a point in the series where things have evolved beyond those terms and Oda has made things not as clear cut as those terms we created would imply. The series outgrew those levels, but instead of adjusting, fans as a whole are still trying to stuff characters into those rigid boxes.

More nuance is just needed, imo. Things need to be read as a case by case basis.

We can still rank as feats are feats, but we just can't tie those feats to a specific "class" so to speak. That's how we get shit like Pirate King+ which makes no sense.

A good example would be Luffy x Loki
- Loki for sure is a heavy tanker , but I doubt he would be able to lie a clear hit on Luffy - Luffy in G5 is fucking fast
- But this don't mean Loki would lose, and don't mean to Luffy would win , both are clearly in equal heights- Luffy has his own set of abilities that makes him stronger compared to Kaidou for example (Both big guys, with dragon fruits - the stronger here would be Loki only because of Lineage and his fruit being 100% sync with him )

We cant put Imu in any P.S - bc he has its own -
King of World - and it implies being

> The fastest
> The Strongest
> The richest
> With the most powerful Allies
> With the best weapons
> The most powerful CoC on the verse right now

And because that only the King of Pirates could challenge the King of the World - bc that implies to be everything that I said, but in the illegal side of the power (""""illegal """""""" bc a pirate only exist bc a government labeled him so !)

> The fastest pirate
> The strongest pirate
Etc -
and is the road that luffy is trying to achieve !

 

[kkck]

Armor is rarely a feature in OP combat. Even if it'd make sense for high quality armor to be incredibly useful, just imagine high quality steel armor hardened by armor haki and clad in conqueror haki plus extra points for tekkai underneath, oda has conveniently not made a big aspect of combat in the story. I think this is a writing issue. Armor haki and cladding already provide multiple layers of protection to users which have to be overcome by multiple even stronger layers of offensive haki. Adding another just makes things annoying.

 

[HereNThere]

In regards to Sommers and Killingham, one thing to also note is that we have only seen Omen increase their physical capabiities. We have no idea if it can increase their DF strength as well. Sommers may also have an awakening in his back pocket and Killingham, while already awakened, may have another version of his hybrid form. And that's on top of their swords potentially having unknown abilities.

These dudes are stacked to the brim. Zoro and Sanji may be getting more than single upgrades ala black blades and SKH awakening to contend. I wouldn't be surprised if Future Sight was on the table for both of them.

 

[kkck]

Hmm, tentatively admirals are users of cladding and there's at least some evidence of their usage of foresight through the story. To me it's a bit of a reach that even with cladding sanji and zoro would catch up to folk like that if the rest of their haki isn't up to par. Armor haki emission (and possibly internal damage) apparently provides an extra layer of defense while foresight provides defensive and tactical advantages. While the importance of conqueror haki has taken the stage in the manga currently the wings of the pirate king also need armor haki up to internal damage and foresight to tango with admirals and yonko competitors.

 

[costicla]

In regards to Sommers and Killingham, one thing to also note is that we have only seen Omen increase their physical capabiities. We have no idea if it can increase their DF strength as well. Sommers may also have an awakening in his back pocket and Killingham, while already awakened, may have another version of his hybrid form. And that's on top of their swords potentially having unknown abilities.

These dudes are stacked to the brim. Zoro and Sanji may be getting more than single upgrades ala black blades and SKH awakening to contend. I wouldn't be surprised if Future Sight was on the table for both of them.

Hmm, didn't Killingham manage to summon the rain god MMA because of the Omen boost? Though he said he can't control it very well.

 

[kkck]

To me it's not entirely clear what advantages the nightmares summoned by Killingham provide in combat. They don't seem powerful enough to matter against sanji. Zaza is arguably the most powerful nightmare conjured by killingham and it doesn't seem like a threat. Killinham seems like a weird mythical zoan where the primary advantage of his fruit is centered around the physical boost rather than particularly powerful paramecia like abilities.

 

[HereNThere]

Hmm, didn't Killingham manage to summon the rain god MMA because of the Omen boost? Though he said he can't control it very well.

It wasn't said. I personally ssumed Zaza was different because it was a fully formed fear created by an adult while the children MMA were just variations of "strong monster" because kids don't think about details.

Thinking about it, Killingham is kind of a weird Zoan in that he has both of Oda's styles of half-zoan forms; the weird humanoid body with the animal head mix and the "centaur-esque" style that didn't pop up until Wano. I wonder if that'll be common going forward for the animal based fruit users.

 

[Tonix]

I don’t see Gods Knights as admiral tier. They are definitely at least lower YC level, but they rely heavily on their regeneration. Killingham got his head kicked off by Sanji, Sommers got completely dismembered by Zoro, and even Usopp managed to pull off what would have been two wins against Gunko if it wasn’t for her regeneration powers.

If they were admiral tier, 3 of them would have been enough for this battle. Kizaru alone managed to press Luffy to his limits on Egghead while not really having his heart in the fight. 3 admiral tier people actually down with their mission would obliterate the Strawhats and the defenders of Elbaf without Imu having to come down in person to bail them out.

Worst defeat since Magellan honestly.

I think Akainu was worse. Kaido literally just tanking everything Luffy had and then just casually one shotting him and throwing Luffy into training arc jail is also up there

 

[kkck]

It wasn't said. I personally ssumed Zaza was different because it was a fully formed fear created by an adult while the children MMA were just variations of "strong monster" because kids don't think about details.

Thinking about it, Killingham is kind of a weird Zoan in that he has both of Oda's styles of half-zoan forms; the weird humanoid body with the animal head mix and the "centaur-esque" style that didn't pop up until Wano. I wonder if that'll be common going forward for the animal based fruit users.

There's multiple zoans with weird hybrid forms. In wano we had BM (whom oda said in an SBS used some medicine to change her form) and king's hybrid form seems at least unconventional (iirc pell had wings and arms). Jack, similar to black maria, transforms into a centaur like creature even though he is an elephant. Marco doesn't have a bird form like pell so far and instead seems to independently transform his arms and legs. Outside of drugs used by folk like chopper or black maria it would appear training is enough to give people access to more forms. With Killingham odds are there's an extra layer to this because he appears to be an awakened mythical zoan (he has the scarf around him).

 

[Imfamux]

I don’t see Gods Knights as admiral tier. They are definitely at least lower YC level, but they rely heavily on their regeneration. Killingham got his head kicked off by Sanji, Sommers got completely dismembered by Zoro, and even Usopp managed to pull off what would have been two wins against Gunko if it wasn’t for her regeneration powers.

If they were admiral tier, 3 of them would have been enough for this battle. Kizaru alone managed to press Luffy to his limits on Egghead while not really having his heart in the fight. 3 admiral tier people actually down with their mission would obliterate the Strawhats and the defenders of Elbaf without Imu having to come down in person to bail them out.




I think Akainu was worse. Kaido literally just tanking everything Luffy had and then just casually one shotting him and throwing Luffy into training arc jail is also up there

Well... if you look closely that was exactly what happened..3 persons, got down and annihilated the S.H BEFORE Imu got down to business - Gunko himself just low diff fast a Y.K crew and all this before Omen and World Weapons ! So I definitely can see G K - not as "Admiral Power Level" but rather I see they as " Admiral Danger Level" - even if they still lose on 1x1 to any Admiral, bc of all those shenanigans they have for sure the same danger Level!!

PS -When I say annihilated its not exclusive to fight power, but everything else - even if S.H are the weakest Younkou crew - we don't have other type of enemies that could handle strategic a Younkou crew like they did!

 

[kkck]

I wonder if zoro using his conqueror haki intentionally, since that seems to be an angle of the plot purpose of his fight with sommers, will also sort of solve his previous issue of his king of hell techniques overusing his haki. As in his issue was not that he lacked haki but rather he was overusing it while being grossly inefficient.

Another thing I've been wondering... Just how durable will sanji be once he gets cladding? We've seen yonko with it and they enjoy a certain level of invulnerability. However kaido and big mom, while uniquely powerful and talented, are still ultimately merely human (and oni). Sanji is different, he is a freaking mutant with an honest to good exoskeleton. Sanji could end up with durability above big mom's. Setting that aside it's very likely we have not even seen the full extent of sanji's mutation. Going back to egghead, his feat of kicking light seemed like outright nonsense to kizaru. I am not sure if it's a foresight feat or if it's related in some capacity to his mutations but if it's his mutation oda might have something big in store for him. I am thinking that perhaps his germa suit could evidence this being related to a mutation. As we have seen sanji's siblings can use their mutations even without suits and their suits simply apparently enhance them. Sanji's suit was meant to make him invicible of all things. Invisibility of course has a connection to light.

 

[DeadlyBeast]

It wasn't said. I personally ssumed Zaza was different because it was a fully formed fear created by an adult while the children MMA were just variations of "strong monster" because kids don't think about details.

Thinking about it, Killingham is kind of a weird Zoan in that he has both of Oda's styles of half-zoan forms; the weird humanoid body with the animal head mix and the "centaur-esque" style that didn't pop up until Wano. I wonder if that'll be common going forward for the animal based fruit users.

Zaza is also unique compared to the other MMA since he's conjuring his own nightmare which probably makes it stronger than the nightmares of others. Will be interesting to see if Jinbei or someone else fights her.

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 31, 2026, Original Post Date: Jul 31, 2026 ---

Sommers and Killingham are clearly much stronger post Imu boosting them but they definitely don't see like they are Admiral level strength. Sure they are giving Zoro and Sanji a tough fight but neither of them could take on an Admiral either. Remember how a real Admiral took out all of the Scabbards like nothing. A real Admiral can fight a Yonko in a 1v1 fight and push them to their limits. If Sommers and Killingham were anywhere near that there is no hope for Sanji and Zoro. The purpose of this fight is to get them both to use CoC in a controlled manner and be in a similar level of strength to Yamato.

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 31, 2026 ---

I do think Loki performed better than Luffy since he forced Imu to actually have to defend. Luffy was just dodged like nothing in all of his offense attempts. And his defense was no better than Loki. And in physical endurance Loki clearly seems to be much better. Not to mention that Loki was beaten to a pulp and stabbed through the body with three holes in him just hours ago at best all while being in seastone chains draining his energy. All of this after being immobile for 4 years!

 

[kkck]

Sommers and Killingham are probably not at outright the admiral tier but I think they could be in the ballpark. Matching zoro's king of hell attacks is by no means a small feat (though I suppose the attack that injured kaido was also an azura attack rather than merely a king of hell attack). Still, even considering zoro and sanji are above king and queen is enough to put current sommers and killingham very high up the pecking order.