Strongest Elbaf Characters in ONE PIECE, Ranked

Sanji is sixth on stubbornness as much as output. Imu removed him from the board early — and he got back up while badly hurt and went after Killingham anyway to protect Elbaf's children. That is the sort of thing that reads as characterisation and functions as a durability feat.

The thing keeping him out of the top five is explicit rather than inferred: he does not have Conqueror's Haki. Gaban told him he has the potential and set him a condition — become the sort of king who can help Luffy become Pirate King. Killingham has since told him to his face that he cannot win without it. Two characters have now named the same missing piece, which is usually how this manga announces that the piece is about to arrive.

What could move him higher: Awakening Conqueror's Haki, which would immediately put him in the argument for fourth.

#6 — Roronoa Zoro

Tier: A+ · Confidence: Medium

Confirmed: A 1.111 billion-berry bounty, Enma, and an awakened Rob Lucci on his record from Egghead. Conqueror's Haki, confirmed on Elbaf in chapter 1152 — he had it without realising, which Gaban found unimpressive for someone serving an Emperor.

Best benchmark: Imu countered his King of Hell Three Sword Style instantly with a tail and blasted him with Omen; he had to be carried out of the fight at his own request. He is now back, fighting Sommers, who blocked his attack with Gram and blew him away.

Zoro is fifth because of the Haki, not the bounty. In an arc where the enemy's defining trait is a regeneration that ordinary attacks cannot beat, being one of the few people on the island who can interfere with it is worth more than any number of ordinary victories. It moves him from a fighter who can be outlasted to a fighter who can end things.

He is fifth and not higher because his Elbaf record against the top of the field is poor — dispatched almost immediately by Imu, currently in a fight he has not yet won. His deduction about Sommers' steel heart suggests he has worked out the shape of the answer. He has not yet delivered it.

What could move him higher: Beating Sommers in a way that demonstrates Conqueror-infused attacks defeat covenant immortality permanently.

#5 — Figarland Shamrock

Tier: S · Confidence: Low

Confirmed: Commander of the Knights of God, with authority second only to Supreme Commander Figarland Garling. One of the two deep covenants, carrying the package every Knight gets: strength beyond a human body, instantaneous Abyss transport, and immortality. His saber Cerberus has absorbed an awakened Mythical Zoan and becomes a three-headed dog with blades in its mouths — a weapon Loki, who fears very little, was visibly afraid of being stabbed by. His arrival on Elbaf came with a burst of Haki resembling black lightning that Gaban registered as very abnormal.

Best benchmark: Loki, twice, and neither time cleanly. Shamrock spent a long stretch of the arc trying to recruit Elbaf's prince into the God's Knights, had Gunko torture him toward that end, and finally lost patience and set Cerberus on him — inflicting severe wounds. Loki was chained in seastone and already beaten when that happened.

Fifth is where the two halves of Shamrock's case meet. The portrayal is genuinely top-tier: he leads the most dangerous combat unit in the World Government's service, he was sent to annex the strongest kingdom in the world with only two subordinates, and the story has spent real page count building him as Shanks' opposite number. Nothing about a tier below S fits that.

But this ranking is decided on confirmed feats, and Shamrock's are thin for a character positioned this high. He has not completed a fight against anyone who could fight back. Cerberus has been used once, on a restrained opponent. And no Conqueror's Haki has been confirmed for him — which matters more here than anywhere else, because Gaban, who has fought God's Knights repeatedly across a long career, had never met one who could use it until Harald. On an island where that ability is the deciding factor, its absence from his record is a gap rather than a formality.

One chain we will not run: Garling's remark 14 years ago that Shanks might reach Shamrock's level once granted a Depths Covenant is a ceiling estimate for Shanks, spoken by Shamrock's own father, before either brother's present form existed. It does not set a floor for Shamrock, and "Shanks is an Emperor, Shamrock was rated above Shanks, therefore Shamrock is above the Emperors" is exactly the kind of transitive scaling this list refuses. His one named technique is covered separately in what is Shanks' strongest attack? — and it belongs to the other twin.

He is also, as of chapter 1193, not physically on the island: he was recalled to Mary Geoise for a situation his superiors judged more urgent, and Garling has since indicated he resolved it. That does not remove him from an Elbaf-arc ranking — he led the invasion that the whole arc is about — but it is why nothing has been added to his record for a long stretch of chapters.

Within his own order he ranks second, behind only the late Harald — see the God's Knights ranked.

What could move him higher: A completed fight against a Luffy, Loki or Gaban-tier opponent. A full demonstration of what Cerberus does against someone able to resist it. Confirmation of Conqueror's Haki. Any one of those and fourth place is immediately arguable; all three and he is in the conversation for second.

#4 — Scopper Gaban

Tier: S · Confidence: Medium

Confirmed: The Left Hand of the Pirate King, and "Mountain-Eater" — a name earned by defeating hundreds of pirates alone with two axes while a mountain range was stripped bare behind him. All three types of Haki, with genuine mastery of Conqueror's Haki infusion, which only a handful of people in the world can do. On Elbaf: he forced Luffy into Gear 5, destroyed a giant-scale castle tower with one technique, bisected Shepherd Sommers and his weapon with a single Conqueror-infused swing, and established the rule the entire arc now runs on — that Conqueror's Haki is what interferes with covenant immortality.

Best benchmark: Imu. Gaban's Yachitakeru put him on the defensive and destroyed a mountain-sized branch of the Treasure Tree Adam. His Kamudo, a blast of Conqueror-infused black lightning, forced Imu to block with both the Axe of Xingtian and Honebami Toshiro at once — the strongest defensive reaction any single fighter has pulled out of Imu on Elbaf. Imu's own reaction afterwards was that he was impressed Gaban only lost an arm.

Fourth is not a demotion, it is an accounting of condition. Gaban is under 80, describes himself as rusty, complains that his joints hurt when he jumps, was defeated earlier in the arc by Gunko holding his son hostage, and as of chapter 1190 has lost his left arm to a dual-axe fighter's body.

Against that: nothing on Elbaf has produced a better single moment than Kamudo, and Imu explicitly said in chapter 1191 that if he had known at God Valley how strong the Roger Pirates would become, he would have destroyed them alongside Rocks. That is the villain of the series naming Gaban's crew as a mistake he should have corrected.

Note what we are not doing: ranking him by "Roger's number two, therefore above everyone Roger beat". He himself disputes whether he was second or third in that crew. It is a title, and titles are not feats.

What could move him higher: Fighting effectively with one arm. If Kamudo still works, third place is immediately arguable.

#3 — Loki

Tier: S · Confidence: Medium

Confirmed: A special bounty of 2.6 billion berries, the reason for which the World Government has never explained. Ancient Giant heritage at roughly the size of Oars. The Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Nidhöggr — a Mythical Zoan that turns him into the largest dragon in the world, with flight and lightning breath, and whose full potential Jarul says only an Ancient Giant can draw out. Ragnir, a warhammer that has itself eaten a Mythical Zoan, the Risu Risu no Mi, Model: Ratatoskr, letting Loki call down lightning or encase targets in ice. Conqueror's Haki with infusion, plus Observation Haki. Immunity to Imu's Domi Reversi corruption, which he shares with exactly one other person on this island.

Best benchmark: Two of them, and they are the best two available.

First, Harald. Loki killed his father with a Conqueror-infused Ragnir strike while Harald was carrying a Depths Covenant. As of chapter 1193, that is still the only time an outside party has fully overridden covenant immortality rather than merely slowing it down. Gaban's swing on Sommers stopped an arm from regrowing. Loki's ended a life. In an arc where immortality is the enemy's core mechanic, that is the single most valuable confirmed feat any character on this list holds.

Second, Imu. Loki knocked him into the Adam Tree with Ragnir, transformed into Nidhöggr and traded a large-scale lightning exchange with him, absorbed two direct Omen strikes and stayed standing. Imu put him down only by driving a third attack into an existing wound — and Loki stayed conscious through it. He was back in the fight within hours, after treatment and a meal.

How strong is Loki in ONE PIECE right now?

Strong enough that the honest answer has three parts.

Where the manga has placed him: in the Emperor conversation, not in it by acclamation. The 2.6 billion bounty is comparable to Emperor-tier figures, the God's Knights tried to recruit him personally, and Elbaf's own giants believe he could destroy the world if freed. He also considers himself the strongest warrior in Elbaf, which is characterisation rather than measurement — he is not a reliable narrator about himself.

What he has actually done: endured six years chained in seastone in the freezing Underworld without breaking, been beaten badly by Gunko and severely wounded by Shamrock's Cerberus while restrained, killed a covenant-holding Ancient Giant king outright, and gone toe-to-toe with Imu longer than anyone except Gaban.

What we still do not know: whether Nidhöggr has a form beyond what chapter 1191 has shown, whether his Conqueror-infused lightning works on Imu the way it worked on Harald, and what the "special" in his special bounty refers to. That is a lot of unopened box for a character this central.

We rank him third, one place below Luffy, and it is close enough that we would not argue hard with anyone who reverses them. Loki's Harald feat is a cleaner demonstration of the exact currency this arc trades in. Luffy's body of work is larger, though 1193 put a stated ceiling on the form he does it in. Both were beaten by Imu in comparable fashion, and both got back up.

Loki also fires one third of Sanjō Hakoku — the technique whose lineage runs back through Dorry and Brogy's Hakoku, and which we looked at in detail in what made Sanjō Hakoku possible.

Chapters 1192 and 1193 added work, not a new ceiling. He is the one who breaks Imu's guard in 1192, by swinging Luffy through the shield rather than by hitting it himself. In 1193 he lands a combined strike on Treasure Tree Adam with Luffy, tells Luffy to rest once his stamina runs out and says he will finish the fight alone, and he is also the source of the condition Zoro is working from against Sommers — that the steel heart has to be pierced by a Conqueror-coated blade. Two of those are his own work and one is instruction he handed to someone else, but none of them is a new ceiling: breaking a guard by throwing an ally is a solution, not a power level, and the Adam strike is shared. Nothing here separates him from Luffy in either direction. He stays third.

What could move him higher: A full Nidhöggr form, or landing a Conqueror-infused strike on Imu that behaves like the one that killed Harald.

#2 — Monkey D. Luffy

Tier: S · Confidence: Medium

Confirmed: An Emperor of the Sea. The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, awakened, with all three Haki including Conqueror's infusion. Kaido, Kizaru and a Five Elder on his record before he arrived. Immune to Imu's Domi Reversi. On Elbaf he has added Gear 4 techniques applied to individual body parts without a full transformation, and a new Gear 5 form, Gomu Gomu no Majin.

Best benchmark: Imu, over three chapters. Luffy landed clean hits early — Imu had to acknowledge being hit easily at first — before Imu adapted, blocked a Gear 5 barrage with a staff, teleported behind him, and eventually stabbed him with Bohu and pinned him to a tree, then ran him through with Fragarach. Gaban had to intervene to stop the finish.

Luffy is second on the breadth of what he can still do: he keeps inventing techniques mid-fight, and his recovery rate in chapter 1191 — up and fighting within a scene, on the strength of a large meal — is functionally an ability at this point.

Chapter 1193 put a ceiling on that, and we have updated the reasoning rather than the placement. Gear 5's limit is no longer unestablished. The chapter shows it running out against his will: his heartbeat returns to normal, he registers that his injuries are due back with it, and Loki tells him plainly that he has hit his stamina limit and should rest while Loki finishes the fight. That is a stated ceiling on the form, not a new one above it — we took it apart in what chapter 1193 actually suggests about Gear 6. It does not move him: the placement was always built on what he has beaten and what beat him, not on an unbounded ceiling.

He is second and not first for the reason everyone reading has already worked out: he lost. Convincingly. And the manga was unusually explicit about why. In chapter 1188 Imu told him directly that Joy Boy was far stronger than Luffy is now, and in chapter 1190 Gaban told him he is not yet worthy of the title he is chasing. Those are two separate authorial statements that the gap is real.

There is a lot of temptation to rank Luffy first on the grounds that he is the protagonist and this is his arc. That is narrative portrayal doing work that feats should be doing, and it is exactly the move this list is built to avoid.

What could move him higher: Landing a decisive blow on Imu. Chapter 1192 got him part of the way — Loki swung him through Imu's new shield as a projectile, the guard broke, and Imu took the hit — but a broken guard is not a decisive blow, and 1193 — in a separate fight, against Treasure Tree Adam — has Loki telling him he has hit his stamina limit and should rest. The chapter does not say how long that lasts.

#1 — Imu

Tier: S+ · Confidence: High

Confirmed: The King of the World, occupant of the Empty Throne, one of the First Twenty, and the authority above the Five Elders and the God's Knights. Immortality and apparent agelessness across more than 800 years. The Akuma no Mi, which transforms him into a devil with wings and a bladed tail. Omen: black flames used as homing projectiles, as a physical enhancement he can grant to subordinates, and as a life-draining force that withers trees at a distance. The Abyss, a network of magic circles that let him teleport. The ability to summon the First Twenty's weapons — Bohu, Fragarach, Stigma, Gram, Nemesis, the Axe of Xingtian, Honebami Toshiro — each with its own property. Covenants that grant immortality and the Abyss in exchange for total subservience, including the ability to possess a holder's body outright. Domi Reversi, which converts people into mindless immortal demons. Conqueror's Haki and Observation Haki. And, separately from all of that, apparent control of an Ancient Weapon powered by the Mother Flame, which erased the Lulusia Kingdom in seconds.

Best benchmark: Everyone. On Elbaf in person he has dispatched Zoro and Sanji almost immediately, beaten Loki, Luffy and Gaban within minutes each, and taken only superficial damage in return. Gaban — who was present at God Valley — has said that the Haki he felt from Imu exceeded anything he had ever experienced, including that day. Asked directly by Luffy who Imu is, Gaban's answer was that he would have to call him a god.

Imu is first with high confidence, and there is no serious counter-case as of chapter 1193. This is the one placement where the Japanese and English fandoms agree completely.

What is worth being precise about is the shape of that ranking, because "strongest" is doing more work here than it usually does. Some of Imu's dominance is personal combat power. Some of it is a stack of mechanics — immortality that does not run out, weapons that can be summoned indefinitely, covenants that turn opponents into assets — which no other character on Elbaf can interact with at all. Those are different things, and a fighter with the first but not the second would rank lower.

There are also two visible caps on him, both established by the manga rather than inferred.

The first is his body. Imu is stated to suffer from an ailment when he leaves Mary Geoise; he coughed up blood on arrival at Elbaf, and Sommers has said outright that Imu's body is not meant to withstand the outside world. It has not slowed him down in a short campaign. Nobody has said what happens over a long one.

The second is chapter 1191's final page. Luffy, Loki and Hajrudin hit him with 三将轟国 — Sanjō Hakoku, and the attack sent him flying through a block. One person cannot beat Imu on the evidence available. Three of them, apparently, can move him.

Chapter 1192 gave us the result. (PRIMARY — MANGA VERIFIED.) What the chapter shows, and nothing beyond it:

• Imu is shown in the aftermath winded and coughing, his weapons scattered.
• He forms two blades amid the blackness around his arms — 混沌剣 Chaos Sword and 虚無剣 Void Sword — and merges them into a guard, 空虚の盾.
• Luffy strikes that guard and comes away with his own hands hurt.
• Loki launches Luffy as a projectile and the guard breaks.
• Imu takes the impact and coughs. Hajrudin is not part of that exchange.

We broke the weapons down in Luffy and Loki break Imu's new shield.

The chapter does not show Imu beaten, and it does not say the shield is destroyed permanently rather than broken in that exchange. We have not moved him for it.

One more separation, because it matters: Imu ranks first here on demonstrated supernatural control, demonstrated combat results and endgame portrayal. The separate Japanese-origin theory that Imu may himself be bound by a covenant — which we scored at 4/10 in who is Imu contracted to? — plays no part in this placement, and should not. It is an unresolved reading of one panel, not a feat.

Who is the strongest character in Elbaf right now?

Imu. Based on the feats published through chapter 1193, nobody in the Elbaf arc has beaten him, and he has personally beaten five of the twelve other entries on this list — Zoro, Sanji, Loki, Luffy and Gaban — while taking only superficial damage.

The strongest character in the arc who is not Imu is Luffy, narrowly over Loki, and that gap is small enough to be genuinely arguable.

Powerful Elbaf-era characters outside the main ranking

Four figures come up constantly in this discussion who are not eligible under the scope above — not because they are weak, but because they are historical or contextual rather than combatants in the arc's present. Each is here with its reason stated, so nobody has to wonder whether we forgot them.

Harald — a past figure. Elbaf's late king, and the most under-discussed power in this arc in English. An Ancient Giant who held a Depths Covenant, and the only confirmed Conqueror's Haki user ever to serve as a Knight of God. It took Loki with a Conqueror-infused Ragnir to end him, while Shanks and Gaban together could only stall him. He has been dead for 14 years and appears only in flashback, which is the entire reason he is not ranked: this is a list of combatants, not of the arc's greatest fighters across all time. Several Japanese lists place him in the series' top ten regardless, and on portrayal they have a case.

Shanks — deeply tied to Elbaf, but not a combatant in this arc. His absence is doing real work in the story. Six years ago he captured Loki when, by Gaban's account, nobody else had been able to stop him. He was originally chosen to receive a Depths Covenant and went missing instead, which is why the offer passed to Harald. He has not fought in the arc's present, which is why he is not ranked; if he entered it he would be an immediate top-four argument, and the manga has been pointed about keeping him out. We have looked at his one named technique separately, in what is Shanks' strongest attack?

Figarland Garling — historical and contextual. Supreme Commander of the God's Knights, above Shamrock, and at Mary Geoise throughout. He ordered the Elbaf operation; he has not fought in it. Worth one caution: his God Valley "champion" title came from finishing Rocks after Rocks had already been defeated and incapacitated, and Garling himself lost to Rocks earlier in that conflict. The title is a title.

Rocks D. Xebec — historical. Dead 38 years, and the benchmark half of this arc is quietly measured against. Imu subdued him personally at God Valley and turned him against his own side. In chapter 1191 Imu says that had he known what the Roger Pirates would become, he would have destroyed them alongside Rocks that day.

None of these four change the ranking above. They change how you should read it: the list is of fighters the Elbaf arc has actually put into play, not of everyone the arc has established as dangerous.

Biggest ranking uncertainties

Five placements we would flag as genuinely contested rather than settled. These are scored on the same scale we use for theories — evidence, independent signals, assumption load and contradictions.

What the Japanese rankings we read weigh differently

Two differences showed up across the Japanese-language rankings and chapter reviews we checked for this piece. This is a small sample — a handful of ranking sites and review blogs — so treat it as an observation about those sources, not a claim about either fandom as a whole.

In the Japanese rankings we reviewed, peak portrayal was weighted more heavily; several English-language rankings leaned harder on current-arc feats. One widely-updated Japanese top-50 places Imu second in the entire series behind Joy Boy, and puts Harald seventh — above Shanks — on the strength of what an Ancient Giant king with a Depths Covenant represents, even though he has only appeared in flashback and is dead. None of the English lists we checked mention Harald at all. Neither approach is wrong; they are answering different questions, and it is worth knowing which one you are reading.

Two of the Japanese rankings we read treat Haki, not Devil Fruits, as the ceiling. One states it as an explicit criterion — the top tier is defined by Haki transcending ability. In those two lists Loki and Shamrock both sit above Luffy, and Gaban is read as the arc's peak of Haki rather than as a nostalgia cameo. The English lists we checked weighted awakening and Devil Fruit versatility more heavily, which is how Killingham ends up above Gaban in two of them. We land closer to the first position, and we have said why: on Elbaf, Conqueror's Haki is the ability the enemy's immortality is vulnerable to. That is a reading of the chapters, not a preference for one fandom's method.

There is also one point of full agreement, which is worth stating because it is rare: nobody on either side is arguing about who is first.

What could change this ranking

Six specific things, each of which we would treat as sufficient to move someone.

• The outcome of Sanjō Hakoku. Answered in chapter 1192, and it did not move anyone. Imu is shown winded and coughing with his weapons scattered, then produces a named shield that Luffy cannot punch through alone; Loki breaks the guard by swinging Luffy through it. Winded, and then immediately able to produce two blades and a shield, is not meaningfully hurt — so positions 2, 3 and 7 stay where they are.
• Sanji awakening Conqueror's Haki. Two separate characters have now named it as his missing piece. It would put him in the argument for fourth immediately.
• Zoro beating Sommers via the steel heart. Attempted in chapter 1193 and not completed — the strike went through Sommers' torso, his heart was not shown destroyed, and he was still conscious and talking at the end of it. The chapter does not say whether the coating failed or the heart was not reached. It would still confirm that Conqueror-infused attacks defeat covenant immortality permanently rather than temporarily, which changes how we weigh everyone who has it.
• Gunko waking up. Her eyes have been flagged in-story as carrying an ability Imu wants and that her biological father never awakened. This is the largest unknown ceiling on the list.
• Gaban fighting effectively with one arm. If Kamudo still works, he is arguably third.
• Shamrock finishing a fight. He is ranked fifth on position rather than performance. One completed result against a top-tier opponent, or a full showing from Cerberus, and fourth or higher becomes arguable immediately.

Frequently asked

Who are the strongest Elbaf characters? Through chapter 1193: Imu, then Luffy, Loki, Gaban and Shamrock, then Zoro, Sanji, Hajrudin and the demonised Dorry and Brogy (joint ninth), then Gunko, Killingham, Sommers and Jinbe. Thirteen positions, fourteen names.

Is Loki stronger than Luffy? On current evidence they are close enough that either order is defensible. Both were beaten by Imu in comparable fashion and both returned to the fight. Loki holds the more relevant single feat — the only full override of covenant immortality by an outside party. Luffy's overall record is larger, though chapter 1193 establishes a stamina ceiling on Gear 5 that his placement no longer leans on. We have Luffy narrowly ahead; we would not call the reverse wrong.

How strong is Scopper Gaban? Strong enough at his current age to force Imu to block with two weapons simultaneously, and to bisect a Knight of God in one swing. He is also the character who established that Conqueror's Haki interferes with covenant immortality — the rule the rest of the arc is being fought under. He has lost his left arm, which is why he is fourth rather than second.

Is Imu the strongest character in Elbaf? Yes, based on published feats through chapter 1193. He has personally beaten five of the other eleven fighters on this list. Note that "strongest on Elbaf" is not the same as "confirmed strongest in the world" — Imu himself said in chapter 1188 that Joy Boy was far stronger than Luffy is now, and the manga has not settled where Imu sits relative to Joy Boy.

Who is the strongest God's Knight in Elbaf? (Full ranking of the order: strongest God's Knights.) Shamrock, at fifth overall — he commands the unit, carries a deep covenant and wields an awakened Mythical Zoan blade, though his confirmed feats are thin enough that we rate the placement low confidence. Of the Knights who stayed on the island and fought, Gunko is the strongest, on the strength of overwhelming four Straw Hats and defeating Gaban — even though that win came by hostage rather than by force.

Is Loki stronger than Shamrock? We rank Loki third and Shamrock fifth, and we would not defend that gap hard. Their only meeting had Loki chained, tortured and unable to fight back, which tells us nothing about either of them. Loki's placement rests on completed feats — killing a covenant-holder outright, trading with Imu. Shamrock's rests mostly on position. If Shamrock finishes a real fight, this order can flip.

1. Chapters 1140–1146The ceiling is set by Gaban, not by a KnightGaban forces Luffy into Gear 5, destroys a giant-scale castle tower with one technique, and later bisects Shepherd Sommers in a single Conqueror-infused swing. He also establishes the arc's central rule: Conqueror's Haki is what interferes with covenant immortality.
2. Chapter 1150Imu turns Dorry and Brogy into demonsActing through Gunko's body, Imu converts the Giant Warrior Pirates' captains. Two 1.8 billion-berry giants who had fought off two of the Five Elders become immortal, enlarged and mindless.
3. Chapter 1152Zoro finds out he has Conqueror's HakiHe had it and had not noticed. Gaban is unimpressed. It matters because it moves Zoro from the group who cannot meaningfully hurt a Knight of God to the group who can.
4. Chapter 1170Loki kills a covenant-holder outrightIn flashback, Loki ends Harald with a Conqueror-infused Ragnir strike. As of chapter 1193 this is still the only time an outside party has fully overridden that immortality rather than slowing it.
5. Chapter 1179Imu arrives in personHe coughs blood on arrival — his body is stated not to be built for leaving Mary Geoise — then removes Gerd's fingers and Stansen's leg before anyone reacts, and puts Zoro and Sanji out of the fight almost immediately.
6. Chapters 1182–1189Loki, then Luffy, then GabanLoki knocks Imu into the Adam Tree and trades lightning with him before being pierced through the chest. Luffy lands clean Gear 5 hits, then is stabbed and pinned to a tree. Gaban's axes block the finishing blow.
7. Chapter 1190Gaban forces a two-weapon block — and loses his armKamudo, a Conqueror-infused blast of black lightning, makes Imu defend with both the Axe of Xingtian and Honebami Toshiro. Gaban ends the chapter on the ground with his left arm severed.
8. Chapter 1191Three fighters do what none of them could do aloneImu escalates again — four horns, blackened arms. Hajrudin knocks him back with Gungnir. Loki returns. Luffy recovers. Sanjō Hakoku sends Imu flying through a block, and the chapter ends before we see the result.
9. Chapter 1192The result: it landed, and the guard brokeImu is shown winded and coughing, his weapons scattered. Luffy goes straight back in and his Gear 5 Gatling connects repeatedly. Imu answers with two blades drawn amid the blackness around his arms — Chaos Sword and Void Sword — and merges them into a guard. Luffy's punches only hurt his own hands against it, until Loki swings him through it as a projectile and the guard breaks.
10. Chapter 1193Gear 5 runs outLuffy and Loki land a combined strike on Treasure Tree Adam. Luffy's heartbeat returns to normal, his injuries are due back, and Loki tells him he has hit his stamina limit and will finish the job himself.

Our call

The ranking that would be easiest to write is the one that puts Luffy first because it is his arc, Shamrock high because he leads the Knights, and Gaban low because he is old. Every one of those is a judgement about status rather than a reading of the page.

What Elbaf has actually given us is rarer and more useful: a single opponent who has fought nearly the entire field, in public, one after another. That turns a power ranking from an argument into something closer to a record. Imu is first because nobody has beaten him. Luffy and Loki are second and third because they lasted longest and got back up. Gaban is fourth because his best moment is the best single moment anyone has produced, and because he is now fighting with one arm.

Disagreement with any of that is fine — expected, even. What we would ask is that the disagreement point at a chapter. That is the whole reason each entry above tells you what it is built on, and what would change it.

Chapters 1192 and 1193 have since landed and are folded in above. Chapter 1194 is next, and this page will be updated against it rather than around it.

For more on chapter 1191, see who is Imu contracted to? and what made Sanjō Hakoku possible. The council standing behind Imu is ranked separately in the strongest Five Elders. The rule this ranking turns on — Conqueror's Haki against covenant immortality — is one Shanks was demonstrating decades before Elbaf, which we cover in what is Shanks' strongest attack?, with the same question asked of Garp in what is Garp's strongest attack?. The wider board of live theories is on our Japanese ONE PIECE Theory Radar, and Shamrock's own story is in Shanks having a twin sounded crazy — then ONE PIECE confirmed it.

Change log

• 1 September 2026 — Initial ranking, current through chapter 1191.
• 1 September 2026 (revised) — Linked the companion piece on Shanks' strongest attack. Narrowed the Japanese/English comparison to the specific sources we reviewed. Marked Dorry and Brogy explicitly as a joint placement.
• 2 September 2026 — Linked the God's Knights ranking.
• 1 September 2026 (second revision) — Widened the scope from "currently on Elbaf" to "combatants in the Elbaf arc" and moved Shamrock into the ranking proper at #5 (S, low confidence), replacing the provisional placement. Everything below him shifts down one; Dorry and Brogy are now joint ninth. Harald, Shanks, Garling and Rocks remain outside the ranking as historical or contextual figures.
• 20 September 2026 — Brought current through chapter 1193. No placement changed. Imu: the Sanjō Hakoku cliffhanger is resolved — 1192 shows him winded with his weapons scattered, then has him draw Chaos Sword and Void Sword from the blackness around his arms and merge them into a shield, and has Loki swing Luffy through that shield to break the guard. Luffy: the claim that Gear 5's limit had never been established is withdrawn — 1193 establishes one, and the reasoning behind his #2 placement has been rewritten around what he has beaten rather than an unbounded ceiling. Loki: work across 1192–1193 — breaking Imu's guard by throwing Luffy through it, a shared strike on Adam, and the condition he hands Zoro — none of it a new ceiling. Timeline extended to 1193 and the "chapter 1192 not published" placeholder removed. Title and cover artwork no longer carry a chapter number, so neither has to be re-cut every time the ranking is brought current.