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One of the most fascinating groups within the One Piece series has always been the Yonko. Being slowly introduced, the hype and anticipation around them grew constantly throughout the first half of the series. This resulted in a massive payoff post-time-skip, which saw many of the Yonko lose their spots to members of the newest generation of rookie pirates.
An intriguing aspect of One Piece’s most dominant group of pirates is their age upon joining the Yonko. While these are known for some, others are given no context as to how long they’ve been a part of the group. This has resulted in many fans instead finding themselves curious about how old the Yonko are during their appearances in the contemporary series.
Here’s the age of every Yonko in One Piece, ranked from youngest to oldest by their current age in the series.
One Piece’s Yonko range in age from barely legal to grandparent material
1) Monkey D. Luffy
The newest member of One Piece’s Yonko ranks also serves as their youngest. Fans have seen Luffy when he was 7 years old upon his debut, 17 years old upon setting sail from Windmill Village, and 19 years old upon the series’ return from timeskip through current serializations. As a 19 year old, he became the youngest Yonko fans are aware of in the series’ history.
Luffy became Yonko following the end of the Wano Arc when he defeated Kaido in his home territory of Wano. While Kaido doesn’t hail from Wano, this is where his base was set up for several years prior to the start of the series. Although it’s currently unknown if he is alive or dead, his loss to Luffy was apparently crippling enough to his reputation that he lost his Yonko seat.
2) Shanks
In the Wano Arc, it was revealed that Shanks had been a Yonko for six years up to that point, meaning that he first joined the groups’ ranks as a 33 year old Captain since he’s now 39. This would have been six years after fans saw him leave Windmill village, which is the pivotal scene where Luffy was first given his trademark Straw Hat.
Despite not having any Devil Fruit powers, Shanks was regarded as being just as strong as, if not stronger than his Yonko contemporaries. Pirates, Marines, and the World Government alike fear and respect him, although whether this is just for his Yonko status and might as a pirate is currently unknown.
3) Buggy the Clown
Fan-favorite One Piece character Buggy the Clown is one of the earliest characters introduced in the series, having also joined the Yonko ranks alongside Luffy at age 39. While Luffy joined the Yonko by defeating one of their former members and taking his spot (in addition to past achievements), Buggy didn’t defeat any of the Yonko to earn his spot.
Buggy was instead appointed to Yonko's position by being dubbed the leader of the Cross Guild, a mercenary-style group which puts bounties on the heads of Marines for pirates to hunt. Due to the threat such a system poses to the Marines and the World Government, Buggy was made Yonko and given a 3 billion Beri bounty for his suspected position in the Cross Guild.
4) Blackbeard
Like Luffy, Blackbeard also ascended to the title of Yonko in One Piece by creating a vacancy and claiming it for himself. He did so with his murder of Whitebeard, preying on the legendary pirate in his absolute weakest moments rather than facing him at his best.
In any case, his plan worked, allowing him to ascend to the rank of Yonko right in the middle of the two-year timeskip, meaning he was also 39 years old when attaining the title, being 40 now. With his new powers, Blackbeard has since dominated the New World, stealing as many Devil Fruits as he can seemingly in order to achieve a yet-specified goal or dream.
5) Kaido
According to One Piece novel Ace's Story, which is centered on Ace’s rise from rookie pirate to Whitebeard divisional commander, Kaido and Shanks joined the Yonko around the same time. Assuming this to be true, Kaido would have been roughly 53 years old at the time of ascending to Yonko, with his being 59 years old as of the Wano Arc.
As the tyrant of Wano and Captain of the Zoan-user-filled Animal Kingdom Pirates, Kaido was regarded as one of the strongest creatures and pirates in the entire world. There are several examples which emphasize how strong Kaido is, but none more so than his apparent invulnerability to all conventional means of death.
6) Big Mom
While it’s unknown how old she was upon becoming one of the Yonko, Big Mom’s current age is 68 years old. She likely became a Yonko sometime during her late 40s or early 50s based on events in the series’ timeline, but this is purely speculative and not officially confirmed in any way, shape, or form.
Big Mom lost her Yonko spot following the end of One Piece’s Wano Arc, where she was defeated by Eustass Kid and Trafalgar D. Water Law in a 2-on-1 effort by the two Supernovas. Although her current status is unknown, if she is still alive, she will likely need to create a vacancy in the Yonko to reclaim her spot, most likely by targeting Luffy or Buggy the Clown.
7) Whitebeard
Finally, Whitebeard is the oldest Yonko ever seen in the series, being 72 years old upon his death at the end of One Piece’s Marineford War. Like Big Mom, all that’s known about his rise to Yonko fame is his being given the title sometime after Gol D. Roger’s death, 22 years prior to the start of the series.
This means that Whitebeard was, at youngest, 50 years old when he was first given the title of Yonko. He was also regarded as the strongest pirate on the seas, even in a weakened state due to his old age. He also has the highest bounty among any currently known Yonko, with it also being one of the highest overalls in the entire series.
