Straw Hats vs Blackbeard: Zoro and Sanji’s Ideal Targets, Ranked

We all know where One Piece is heading: Straw Hats vs Blackbeard Pirates. Oda has been steering these crews toward a collision for years, and when it finally happens, it could flip the board and shove the story straight into endgame. Some matchups are no-brainers, others are trickier, and there is one very nerdy wrinkle: Blackbeard runs 11 deep while Luffy has 10. Here is how the battles line up, why they make sense, and where things could get weird.

The matchups I expect when Straw Hat Pirates clash with Blackbeard Pirates

1. 10) Jinbe vs Sanjuan Wolf
   Jinbe is built for tackling giants. He is one of the calmest heads on the Sunny and knows how to neutralize size without letting the ship get wrecked, which matters when your opponent is a walking natural disaster like Sanjuan Wolf. With Fish-Man Karate, Jinbe can manipulate water itself to hit hard from range, layer on Haki, and keep a safe buffer while still landing clean shots. Wolf leans on sheer mass and brute force; Jinbe specializes in dismantling exactly that.
2. 9) Brook vs Avalo Pizarro
   Pizarro can literally fuse with the island thanks to his Devil Fruit, which turns the terrain into a hostile, shifting battlefield. That sounds like a nightmare unless you are Brook: fast, light, and annoyingly hard to pin down. Brook’s Yomi Yomi no Mi lets him separate his soul from his body for surprise attacks, and his chilling 'soul' techniques plus precise sword play give him ways to sting a target that controls the environment more than their own body. His playful unpredictability is exactly what you want against Pizarro’s large-scale swings.
3. 8) Franky vs Vasco Shot
   Franky thrives in chaos. Vasco Shot fights like a bar brawl that spilled into a war zone, and his Devil Fruit is still a mystery, which makes him extra unpredictable. Good news: Franky is a cola-powered tank stuffed with lasers, rockets, and heavyweight punches, and he can escalate to the Franky Shogun for even more armor and firepower. He is one of the best Straw Hats at dealing with wide, messy offense, meeting brute force with louder brute force.
4. 7) Robin vs Catarina Devon
   This one is delicious for the lore alone: the world’s 'Demon Child' vs the most notorious female pirate on record, a former Impel Down nightmare. Robin’s Hana Hana no Mi lets her sprout limbs anywhere, locking opponents down, snapping joints, and disabling from a distance. Devon’s Mythical Zoan, the nine-tailed fox model, gives her high-level disguise and trickery. It is a duel of infamous reputations and mind games: restraint and precision vs deception and chaos.
5. 6) Chopper vs Doc Q
   Doctor vs doctor, but their oaths could not be more opposite. Doc Q’s Sick Sick Fruit creates illnesses to weaken and destabilize opponents. Chopper’s medical brain is the perfect counter, reading symptoms and adjusting on the fly. Thanks to the Hito Hito no Mi, he can swap forms for speed, defense, or raw power; Monster Point brings the muscle when it is time to end it, and Brain Point keeps him thinking clearly under pressure. If anyone can diagnose and dismantle a disease-based fighter mid-battle, it is Chopper.
6. 5) Nami vs Lafitte
   Navigator vs navigator, but from very different angles. Lafitte is fast, slippery, and can sprout wings to take the fight vertical. Nami, with the Clima-Tact and Zeus, can rewrite the weather: lightning on command, dense mirages, and sudden storms that mess with flight paths and stealth approaches. On paper Lafitte probably has the edge in raw power, which makes this a big test for Nami’s battlefield control and trickery.
7. 4) Usopp vs Van Augur
   Sniper showdown. Usopp brings creativity, Pop Greens, specialty ammo, traps, and Observation Haki to land shots from absurd distances. Van Augur is a calm, surgical marksman with terrifying accuracy, and his Wapu Wapu no Mi lets him teleport himself (and allies) to ideal positions. That sets up a clever cat-and-mouse: Augur’s instant repositioning vs Usopp’s predictive reads and long-range mind games.
8. 3) Sanji vs Kuzan or Jesus Burgess
   Here is that roster-size curveball: Blackbeard has 11, the Straw Hats have 10, so one Straw Hat may have to cover two potential matchups. Sanji fits both lanes. Against Kuzan, Sanji’s speed, aerial movement, and heat from Diable Jambe plus Sky Walk make him a credible foil to ice-based offense, constantly staying off the ground and outpacing freezes. Against Burgess, who stacks ridiculous strength with the Riki Riki no Mi, Sanji’s mobility and precision kicks let him snipe openings without getting dragged into a pure power slugfest.
9. 2) Zoro vs Shiryu
   Swordsman vs swordsman, but with wildly different codes. Shiryu uses the Suke Suke no Mi (taken from Absalom) to turn invisible and strike without warning, and he is lethal when you do not see him coming. Zoro counters with overwhelming cutting power, iron discipline, and Haki strong enough to sense danger and force an invisible opponent to reveal himself. Philosophically, they are opposites: Zoro wants a fair duel; Shiryu is happy to stab you from the shadows, as we have already seen him do to Garp. When these two collide, expect one of the series’ all-timers.
10. 1) Luffy vs Blackbeard
    The inevitable headliner. Their rivalry has been simmering since early on, and Blackbeard’s role in Ace’s fate locked him in as one of Luffy’s must-beat enemies on the road to Pirate King. Power-wise, they are both outliers: Blackbeard is the only character wielding two Devil Fruits, and Luffy’s Nika awakening puts him in myth territory. Their fight is the lever that decides both crews’ futures and likely kicks off the final sprint of the series.

That is my board. Which pairing do you think flips, and who shocks everyone?

One Piece is streaming on Crunchyroll.