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One Piece author Eiichiro Oda blessed fans of the series with hundreds of characters. However, with such a large cast, not everyone is given the screen time needed to prove their might.
Several characters, despite having a good reputation for strength, unexpectedly performed in a poor manner. This thread will list ten One Piece characters whose fighting capabilities have completely failed the expectations of readers.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1076 and reflects the writer's personal views.
From Smoker to Who's Who, 10 characters who left One Piece fans disappointed
1) Smoker
Smoker is a seasoned Marine officer who follows his personal code of justice. Owing to the powers of a Logia-class Fruit, the Smoke-Smoke, he can create and freely control smoke. He skillfully wields a Seastone-tipped weapon, which he uses to weaken Devil Fruit users.
Back then, Smoker was a fearsome foe who brutally beat Luffy several times. Given the bond of mutual respect between Luffy and Smoker, fans compared their connection to the one between Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp.
Unfortunately, in the Punk Hazard Arc, Smoker lost many major battles one after another within a short time span. While there are extenuating circumstances for these beatings, it's clear that Smoker has stopped being a credible threat to Luffy.
2) Koby
Koby is an old acquaintance of Luffy and Zoro. Inspired by them to follow his dreams, he joined the Marines. Together with his friend Helmeppo, Koby trained under the supervision of the legendary Monkey D. Garp, which helped him improve noticeably.
Since Garp's training, Koby has gained great speed and physical strength, to the point where can move very fast even when underwater. Impressively enough, Koby obtained excellent mastery of the Rokushiki and proficient skill with Observation Haki.
Considering his potential, as well as his membership with the secret Marine unit SWORD, fans expected great things from Koby. However, during the siege of Amazon Lily, Koby was rather underwhelming. To make things worse, he ended up abducted by the Blackbeard Pirates.
3) Smoothie
Along with Katakuri and Cracker, Smoothie is one of the three Sweet Commanders of Big Mom Pirates. Using the Wring-Wring Fruit, she can drain liquid from people and objects. She can also use her Devil Fruit ability to enhance her swordsmanship.
Given her rank, fans expected Smoothie to be a powerful individual. However, her actual showings were pretty poor and unsatisfying, making her one of the least impressive Commander-level fighters.
Unlike Katakuri, Perospero, and Cracker, she wasn't featured in a 1v1 fight, which is a shame, considering the interesting possibilities that her Devil Fruit ability potentially offered. Even in Wano, Smoothie's contribution was meaningless.
4) Jack
Known as "The Drought" for his ruthlessness, Jack is one of the All-Starts of the Beasts Pirates. His best traits as a fighter are his strength and endurance, notably boosted by the power of the Elephant-Elephant Fruit Model: Mammoth, an Ancient Zoan.
Initially, Jack made a good impression. He was the first character whose bounty reached the remarkable digits of one billion berries. However, Jack failed to meet the expectations that fans held for his strength.
Jack was mostly used as a hype tool to highlight other characters. The great majority of his fights were carried out off-screen, hindering him from showcasing his capabilities. Incredibly enough, despite being a Commander-level fighter, he didn't show a single named technique.
5) X Drake
Despite being included among the Eleven Supernovas, the "super rookies" of the Worst Generation, X Drake is not a pirate but a marine who is working undercover. He is part of SWORD, the secret unit of the Marine.
Drake pretended to join Kaido's side to infiltrate the Beast Pirates, but at one point, he got exposed. This forced him to form a temporary alliance with Luffy and the others.
Despite possessing the powers of an Ancient Zoan, as well as wielding a sword and a four-bladed ax, Drake was no match for CP0 agents. He didn't seem much stronger than fellow Supernova Scratchman Apoo. Admittedly, fans expected more from Drake.
6) Edward Weevil
Weevil is a pirate who claims to be the biological son of Edward Newgate "Whitebeard", a former Yonko who also held the World's Strongest Man title. Weevil blindly obeys his mother, Miss Bakkin, i.e. Buckingham Stussy, a former member of the infamous Rocks Pirates.
A powerful and violent individual, Weevil was part of the Seven Warlords before the group's dissolution. Admiral Kizaru directly compared Weevil's abilities with those of Whitebeard in his youth, which is a noteworthy hype.
Fans didn't expect Weevil to soundly lose to Admiral Ryokugyu, whose reputation for strength pretty much dropped after he was intimidated and humiliated by Shanks. However, One Piece 1073 revealed that Ryokugyu brutally crushed Weevil and captured him.
7) Snack
Snack is an officer of the Big Mom Pirates. He serves as Totto Land's Minister of Fries, with authority over Potato Island. Previously, Snack was one of the Sweet Commanders of the crew, together with Katakuri, Cracker, and Smoothie.
After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Urouge, Snack was stripped of his status. While Urouge is a Worst Generation Supernova nonetheless, he is one of the least prominent members of the group.
This event not only lowered Snack's rank within the Big Mom Pirates but his credibility among fans as well. Since then, Snack's reputation for strength has never climbed back. He was unable to overcome Judge Vinsmoke, and even in Wano his role was totally insignificant.
8) Queen
Queen was the third strongest member of the Beasts Pirates, and one of the All-Stars of the crew. He is a scientist hailed as "The Plague" for his deadly viruses and sadistic attitude.
Using his scientific knowledge, Queen modified his body with several high-tech mechanisms, such as laser beams and extendable limbs. He also ate an Ancient Zoan Fruit, which granted him durability and physical strength.
Queen is powerful but very clumsy. At times, he hit himself with his own attacks. He acts more like a mad scientist than a seasoned fighter. Losing his composure even during heated fights, Queen makes trivial mistakes and is unable to fully exploit his own abilities.
9) Basil Hawkins
One of the Eleven Supernovas of the Worst Generation, Basil Hawkins is a dangerous individual known as "The Magician" due to his tarot reading skills. He defected the alliance with Kid and Killer and joined the Beasts Pirates.
The more risk Hawkins bears with his cards, the greater chance he has of drawing a good one to enhance his powers. Owing to the Straw-Straw Fruit, he can create straw monsters and a straw sword, as well as voodoo dolls that allow him to transfer his injuries to other people.
Fans expected a lot from Hawkins, but he only collected defeats. At the beginning of the Wano Arc, he tried to stop Zoro, but was outclassed. He later lost to Trafalgar Law. Finally, Hawkins suffered a crushing defeat against Killer, which left him on the brink of death.
10) Who's Who
Before becoming a pirate and joining the Beasts Pirates as a member of the Tobi Roppo, Who's Who was a CP9 agent. The World Government fired and imprisoned him after his failure on a mission to guard the Gom-Gom Fruit.
Who's Who claimed that his potential is no less than that of the genius Rob Lucci, but this seems like a big exaggeration. Who's Who wasn't able to achieve the Awakened state of his Zoan Fruit, a feat which Lucci and Kaku accomplished.
Despite his overconfident claims about challenging an All-Star of the Beasts Pirates to take their place in the hierarchy, Who's Who was all talk. He never stood a chance against Jinbe, who brutally beat him.
Final thoughts
Not all One Piece characters are able to impress readers with their performances, which is understandable. Given the immense depth of Eiichiro Oda's cast, it's difficult to properly handle the main protagonists and antagonists, let alone characters with more supporting roles.
However, some characters were implied to have a certain potential. As such, the fact that their fighting capabilities were hardly emphasized in the series is even more disappointing.
Smoker is perhaps the greatest example. One Piece fans expected him to be "the new Garp," but while the Marine Hero was able to fight on equal grounds with Roger, Smoker appears to have been left behind by every powerful pirate in the series.
While in the first half of One Piece, he was fully portrayed as Luffy's personal nemesis in the Marine, after the start of the post-time skip narration, Smoker became sort of a walking punching bag. Hopefully, One Piece author Eiichiro Oda will redeem his credibility soon.
Conversely, there's very little hope for characters such as Smoothie and Jack. They will likely never bolster their reputation for strength again. They received such poor portrayals that most One Piece fans started regarding them as bums.
