Antagonists

Antagonists are individuals or groups in the story of One Piece who oppose the Straw Hat Pirates or any parties allied to them. Each story arc in the series typically features a main antagonist, as well as multiple supporting antagonists of varying significance, be it their subordinates, allies, or third parties.

Overview
Most antagonists in One Piece fall under two categories: enemy pirates or World Government forces, particularly the Marines. Because the protagonists are pirates themselves, they typically conflict with other pirates, usually malevolent, while the Marines and other World Government forces are naturally antagonistic towards them due to their criminal status. To date, the only canon antagonistic group which does not fall under either category is Enel's forces.

Antagonists are often defeated by the protagonists in battle, but very rarely killed, or at least confirmed deceased. As such, some former antagonists can return in later arcs as allies of the Straw Pirates. By contrast, it is rare for a character to feature as a major antagonist again if they were already defeated in the past. Sometimes antagonists may feature over the course of an entire saga, with subordinate forces acting as main antagonists of lesser arcs.

In order of descending importance, antagonists can be labelled as main, secondary, tertiary, major and minor. A main antagonist is the considered most significant enemy of the Straw Hat Pirates in a given arc. They are usually the leader of an antagonist group and the almost always the most powerful member of the group. Typically, the main antagonist is fought by the main protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, with few exceptions.

Story Arc Antagonists
This section focuses on antagonists from the main storyline of One Piece, consisting of both canon story arcs and anime-only arcs.

Antagonists by Saga
The following is a list of all antagonistic parties appearing in One Piece, sorted by arc and in order of significance.

East Blue Saga
The Romance Dawn Arc consists of three subplots, each containing one antagonistic group:


 * Foosha Village: Higuma and the Higuma Bandits. (flashback)
 * At sea: Alvida and the Alvida Pirates.
 * Shells Town: Morgan and the 153rd Marine Branch.

The other five arcs in the East Blue Saga each have at least one antagonistic group, each completely independent from each other.

This saga also contains one non-canon arc:
 * Orange Town Arc: Buggy and the Buggy Pirates.
 * Syrup Village Arc: Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates.
 * Baratie Arc: Krieg and the Krieg Pirates; Dracule Mihawk.
 * Arlong Park Arc: Arlong and the Arlong Pirates; Nezumi and the 16th Marine Branch.
 * Loguetown Arc: Smoker and his subordinate Marines; the Buggy and Alvida Alliance.


 * Warship Island Arc: Eric; Nelson Royale and the 8th Marine Branch.

Arabasta Saga
This saga contains one overarching antagonist group, Baroque Works, and one minor antagonist group.

This saga also contains one non-canon arc:
 * Reverse Mountain Arc: Baroque Works agents Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday.
 * Whisky Peak Arc: Mr. 5 and Baroque Works agents.
 * Little Garden Arc: Mr. 3 and Baroque Works agents.
 * Drum Island Arc: Wapol and the Bliking Pirates.
 * Arabasta Arc: Crocodile and remaining Baroque Works agents.


 * Post-Arabasta Arc (non-canon): Dick and the Dick Bandits (episode 135 only).

Sky Island Saga
This saga consists of two canon arcs, each with their own independent antagonistic group.

This saga also contains three non-canon arcs:
 * Jaya Arc: Bellamy and the Bellamy Pirates; Marshall D. Teach and the Blackbeard Pirates.
 * Skypiea Arc: Enel and God's Army.


 * Goat Island Arc: Minchey; Captain Moore and his subordinate Marines.
 * Ruluka Island Arc: Wetton and the Ruluka Government.
 * G-8 Arc: Jonathan and his subordinate Marines; Shepherd.

Water 7 Saga
This saga, canonically, contains one overarching antagonist group, CP9, and one minor antagonist group.

This saga also contain two non-canon arcs:
 * Long Ring Long Land Arc: Foxy and the Foxy Pirates; Aokiji (manga only).
 * Water 7 Arc: Rob Lucci and CP9; Franky and the Franky Family (formerly); various World Government agents on the Sea Train.
 * Enies Lobby Arc: Spandam, Rob Lucci and CP9.
 * Post-Enies Lobby Arc: Monkey D. Garp and his subordinate Marines.


 * Ocean's Dream Arc (non-canon): Noko and Drim.
 * Foxy's Return Arc (non-canon): Kibagaeru, Foxy and the Foxy Pirates; Aokiji.

Thriller Bark Saga
This saga consists of only one canon arc, with one main antagonistic group:This saga contains one canon arc, with one main antagonist group:
 * Thriller Bark Arc: Gecko Moria and the Thriller Bark Pirates; Bartholomew Kuma.

This saga also contains two non-canon arcs:
 * Ice Hunter Arc: Accino and the Accino Family.
 * Spa Island Arc: Doran; Foxy and the Foxy Pirates.

Summit War Saga
This saga contains five canon arcs, with the World Government serving as an overarching antagonistic group.


 * Sabaody Archipelago Arc: Charlos and the Celestial Dragons; Kizaru and his subordinate Marines; Sentomaru and the Pacifista.
 * Amazon Lily Arc: Boa Hancock and the Kuja Pirates (formerly).
 * Impel Down Arc: Magellan and the Impel Down staff; Marshall D. Teach and the Blackbeard Pirates.
 * Marineford Arc: Sengoku, Akainu and the Marines; the Seven Warlords of the Sea; Marshall D. Teach and the Blackbeard Pirates.
 * Post-Marineford Arc: Bluejam and the Bluejam Pirates (flashback only).

This saga also contains one non-canon arc.
 * Little East Blue Arc: Largo and the Amigo Pirates.

Fish-Man Island Saga
The Fish-Man Island Saga has two canon arcs, each with their own independent antagonistic forces.


 * Return to Sabaody Arc: Demaro Black and the Fake Straw Hat Crew; Sentomaru and the Pacifista.
 * Fish-Man Island Arc: Hody Jones and the New Fish-Man Pirates; Vander Decken IX and the Flying Pirates; Caribou.

Dressrosa Saga
This saga consists of two canon arcs, with the Donquixote Family serving as the overarching antagonistic group.


 * Punk Hazard Arc: Caesar Clown and the Punk Hazard staff; Baby 5 and Buffalo.
 * Dressrosa Arc: Donquixote Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family; Fujitora and his subordinate Marines (formerly).

This saga also contains two non-canon arcs.
 * Z's Ambition Arc: Shuzo and the Neo Marines.
 * Caesar Retrieval Arc: Breed.

Whole Cake Island Saga
This saga consists of three canon arcs, with the Big Mom Pirates serving as the primary antagonist group.


 * Zou Arc: Jack and his subordinate Beasts Pirates.
 * Whole Cake Island Arc: Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin and the Big Mom Pirates.
 * Levely Arc: Peachbeard and the Peachbeard Pirates; Charlos and the Celestial Dragons.

This saga also contains two non-canon arcs.
 * Silver Mine Arc: Bill and the Silver Pirate Alliance.
 * Marine Rookie Arc: All-Hunt Grount and allied Marines.

Wano Country Saga
This saga contains one arc, with the Beasts Pirates serving as the overarching antagonist.


 * Wano Country Arc: Kaidou and the Beasts Pirates; Big Mom and the Big Mom Pirates; Kurozumi Orochi and the Kurozumi shogunate; Guernica and CP0; Ryokugyu.

This saga also contains one non-canon arc.
 * Cidre Guild Arc: Cidre and the Cidre Guild.

Final Saga
This saga, still yet to be completely published, currently has only one arc, with World Government forces serving as its main antagonistic group.


 * Egghead Arc: Jaygarcia Saturn and the World Government; Kizaru and his subordinate Marines.

Other Antagonists
This section goes over antagonists in other material, such as movies, TV specials, video games and one-shots.

Trivia

 * In an SBS answer, Eiichiro Oda presented a reasoning as to why Luffy does not kill his enemies, stating that having one's dreams shattered is as painful as death and that victory and defeat matter more to pirates than their lives.