Strongest God's Knights in ONE PIECE, Ranked

Garling is first in every competing ranking we checked. The stated reasons are consistently: he was Supreme Commander, he is now one of the Five Elders, he is a "champion" of God Valley, and both his sons are formidable. Take those one at a time. Supreme Commander is a rank, not a feat. His Five Elder power is a different question — that promotion came with a new title, command of the Seraphim and a Vegapunk assigned to him, and none of it is evidence about the Knight he was. The "champion" title came from a World Noble hunting competition, not a battle. And his sons' strength is his sons'.

Strip those out and what remains is a single shown combat result, which is a loss, plus an execution of a man two other people had already beaten.

We rank him fifth rather than last for one specific reason: his loss is a much better loss than Sommers'. Being overpowered by Rocks D. Xebec — the pirate who fought Imu personally and who Roger and Garp needed to bring down together — tells you far less about a fighter's ceiling than being bisected by a retired man with one set of axes. Garling's record is thin. Sommers' record is bad.

Two things this ranking is not saying. It is not saying Garling is weak; his ceiling is almost certainly far above fifth, and the story has been careful to keep it unmeasured. And it is not saying the Five Elder version of him would rank here — that version has never been ranked at all, because he has not fought in it.

What could move him higher: Any completed fight, in either role. He is the character on this list with the largest gap between reputation and record, and one page could close it.

#4 — Rimoshifu Killingham

Tier: A · Confidence: High

Confirmed: An awakened Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Kirin. Mass sleep induction at range — he put whole groups of giant children under and walked them where he wanted. The ability to pull sleeping people's dreams into the waking world, including the nightmare constructs called MMA, which are larger than giants. Covenant immortality: he has survived as a severed, talking head. An Omen buff from Imu and the Rimoshifu family blade Longinus.

Best benchmark: He beat the veteran giant Kiba with little effort — and lost to three Straw Hats, none of whom used Conqueror's Haki.

Killingham is the strongest argument in the series for ranking results over abilities. Strategically he has done more damage to Elbaf than any other individual, because collapsing an island through its children's nightmares does not require winning a fight. His power set is the most frightening in the order and the hardest to counter. As a combatant, the manga has been blunt.

He is fourth rather than third because Gunko has beaten better opponents, and fourth rather than fifth because his abilities have actually decided outcomes on the battlefield, which Garling's never have.

He is currently fighting Sanji, and has told him he cannot be beaten without Conqueror's Haki. Two characters have now named the same missing piece in Sanji, which is usually how this manga announces that the piece is arriving.

Chapter 1193 adds one line about him and no feats: he is referred to as taking too long on what is described as a simple mission to fetch a child. That tells us the mission exists and is running behind. It does not name the child, state the purpose, or change his placement — we flagged the same line, and the inflation risk around it, in what the Elbaf monsters actually are.

What could move him higher: Beating Sanji — which would also be the first completed win by any God's Knight over a top-tier fighter in the arc's present.

#3 — Manmayer Gunko

Tier: A+ · Confidence: Medium

Confirmed: The Aro Aro no Mi, creating controllable arrow-tipped strips used as projectiles, restraints, midair platforms and movement redirection — including redirecting other people's attacks. Swordsmanship trained by Brook himself, including his Gavotte Bond en Avant. Covenant immortality of an unusual grade: she regenerated after her entire upper body was blown off, without reacting, and unlike the other Knights she does not appear to age. She is also Imu's preferred vessel — he has fought through her body directly.

Best benchmark: She engaged two giants, mutilated Loki's beasts, and overwhelmed four Straw Hats including Jinbe in quick succession. She also defeated Scopper Gaban — by threatening to kill his son.

That last result is the whole argument for third and the whole reason it is not second. It is a genuine victory over a fighter we rank in the top four on Elbaf, and we are not going to pretend it did not happen. But it was won by hostage, not by force: Gaban surrendered, he was not beaten. A ranking that scores it as a straight combat win would be misrepresenting the page.

Everything else about her is above the other active Knights. Four Straw Hats at once is the best on-page combat result any God's Knight has produced in the arc. And her ceiling is the largest unknown in the order: her heterochromic "Bipolar Irises" were flagged in-story by her biological father as potentially carrying an ability he never awakened — and as the reason Imu wants her.

She has been frozen out of the fight since Ragnir iced her. The ice has melted; she has not woken up.

What could move her higher: Waking up with that ability awakened. If it is real, second place is immediately arguable and first is not absurd.

#2 — Figarland Shamrock

Tier: S · Confidence: Low

Confirmed: Commander of the Knights of God, second only to the Supreme Commander. One of the two deep covenants, with immortality and Abyss transport. 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. His arrival on Elbaf came with a burst of Haki resembling black lightning that Gaban registered as very abnormal. He was sent to annex the strongest kingdom in the world with two subordinates.

Best benchmark: Loki, and not cleanly. Shamrock spent a long stretch of the arc trying to recruit Elbaf's prince, had Gunko torture him toward that end, then lost patience and set Cerberus on him — inflicting severe wounds on a giant who was chained in seastone and already beaten.

Shamrock is the strongest active God's Knight, and we would defend that. He is also the placement on this list we are least certain of, and those two statements are compatible.

The case for him is portrayal plus equipment, and both are strong. He commands the most dangerous combat unit in the World Government's service. He carries the same covenant as everyone else plus an awakened Mythical Zoan weapon that nobody else in the order has. He is written as Shanks' opposite number, and the story has spent real page count on it.

The case against is that he has not completed a fight against anyone able to 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, because Gaban, who has fought God's Knights repeatedly across a long career, had never met one who could use it until Harald.

One chain we will not run: Garling's remark fourteen 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. "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 — and it is the single most common argument made for him.

He is also, as of chapter 1193, off the battlefield: recalled to Mary Geoise for a situation his superiors judged more urgent, which Garling has since indicated he resolved. He holds the same #5 placement in our Elbaf ranking, for the same reasons.

What could move him higher: One completed fight. A full demonstration of Cerberus against someone able to resist it, or confirmation of the Haki his position implies, and first place stops being arguable and starts being obvious.

#1 — Harald

Tier: S · Confidence: Medium

Confirmed: King of Elbaf and an Ancient Giant — the same heritage that makes Loki the size of Oars. A Devoted Blade of God for ten years before Imu granted him the Depths Covenant personally at the Empty Throne, making him a full Knight as the second choice after Shanks vanished. Covenant immortality, demonstrated the hard way: his own guards impaled him and he regenerated. And Conqueror's Haki — he is the only God's Knight ever confirmed to have it.

Best benchmark: Shanks and Scopper Gaban, together, at Aurust Castle. They could not finish him. Gaban's read was that their hits landed but healed slowly, and that Loki was their only hope. It took Loki, with a Conqueror-infused Ragnir strike, to end it — still the only time an outside party has fully overridden covenant immortality rather than merely slowing it.

First place goes to a man who has been dead for fourteen years, and the reason is simple: no other Knight's record is close.

Consider what that fight actually contains. A future Emperor of the Sea and the Left Hand of the Pirate King, fighting together, could not put him down. The fighter who did needed the rarest offensive tool in the series to do it, and needed to be an Ancient Giant holding a legendary Devil Fruit and a Mythical Zoan hammer. Set that against the active Knights' best results — four Straw Hats overwhelmed, a hostage-forced surrender, a chained prisoner wounded — and it is not a close comparison.

The Haki is the load-bearing part. Gaban's whole strategic insight in the Elbaf arc is that Conqueror's Haki is what the covenant is vulnerable to, and he arrived at it partly because Harald was the first Knight he had ever fought who could use it himself. A Knight with covenant immortality and the thing that counters covenant immortality is a different category of problem from a Knight with only the first.

Two honest caveats, which is why this is Medium rather than High. Harald fought that battle corrupted — the covenant had taken his will, and he was not directing himself. And he lost. But he lost to a Conqueror-infused strike from a fighter carrying a special 2.6 billion-berry bounty, after two legends failed. That is not a weak loss; it is the strongest loss on this page.

What could move him lower: Any active Knight completing a comparable feat. As of chapter 1193, none has.

Head to head

The comparisons readers actually search for, answered short.

Shamrock vs Gunko. Shamrock, on rank and equipment — but Gunko has the better confirmed record, and if Cerberus underdelivers this flips. The gap is smaller than the ranking makes it look.

Shamrock vs Killingham. Shamrock, with more confidence than the Gunko comparison. Killingham's ceiling is high but his loss to three Straw Hats without Conqueror's Haki is a hard cap that Shamrock has never come close to.

Shamrock vs Sommers. Shamrock, comfortably. Sommers has been beaten by four different fighters.

Gunko vs Killingham. Gunko. She overwhelmed four Straw Hats including Jinbe; three Straw Hats beat Killingham. Same crew, opposite results.

Killingham vs Sommers. Killingham, on strategic impact and on the fact that his Devil Fruit has actually decided outcomes. Sommers' has not, and his regeneration is already compromised.

Garling vs the current members. As a Knight, his record is thinner than any of theirs — one loss and one execution. As a Five Elder he is almost certainly above all of them, but that is a different question and a different body of evidence.

Who is the strongest God's Knight in ONE PIECE?

Among the active Knights: Figarland Shamrock, on command rank, a deep covenant and an awakened Mythical Zoan sword — with the caveat that he has never completed a fight, which is why we rate that placement low confidence.

Across everyone who has ever held the rank: Harald, on confirmed feats. Shanks and Gaban together could not finish him, and he is the only Knight ever confirmed to use Conqueror's Haki.

It is not Garling, on the evidence published so far, however often you see him ranked first.

Ratings

Frequently asked

Who is the strongest God's Knight in One Piece? Shamrock among the active members; Harald across everyone who has held the rank. Harald is the only God's Knight ever confirmed to have Conqueror's Haki, and it took Loki to kill him after Shanks and Gaban together failed.

Is Shamrock stronger than Gunko? We rank him above her, on command rank and an awakened Mythical Zoan blade. But Gunko has the better confirmed record — four Straw Hats overwhelmed at once — and Shamrock has never finished a fight. It is the closest call in the order.

Is Shamrock as strong as Shanks? Unknown, and not answerable from anything published. The usual argument runs through Garling's line that Shanks might reach Shamrock's level with a Depths Covenant, which is an estimate about Shanks made by Shamrock's father years ago. It does not measure Shamrock, and the brothers have never fought.

How strong is Gunko? Strong enough to overwhelm four Straw Hats including Jinbe, and to defeat Scopper Gaban — though that win came by threatening his son rather than by force. She is immortal, does not appear to age, and her eyes have been flagged in-story as possibly carrying an unawakened ability that Imu specifically wants.

Who is stronger, Killingham or Sommers? Killingham. His awakened Kirin Zoan has actually changed the course of the invasion; Sommers has been beaten by Gaban, Loki and Luffy, and his regeneration has already been compromised.

Was Garling the strongest God's Knight? He was the highest-ranking one, which is not the same thing. His only shown combat as a Knight is being overpowered by Rocks D. Xebec at God Valley; he killed Rocks afterwards, once Roger and Garp had already incapacitated him. His current power as a Five Elder is a separate question that the manga has not answered either.

How many God's Knights are there? No more than eight full Knights at any time, derived from the Five Elders' statement that only thirteen people hold the Depths and Abyssal Covenants at once. Six have been named through chapter 1193.

1. 38 years agoGod Valley — the only Knight-era combat we have seenGarling, then Supreme Commander, faces the Rocks Pirates with his Knights. Rocks overpowers him quickly and wounds him badly. Garling later kills Rocks — after Roger and Garp have already defeated and incapacitated him.
2. ~24 years agoShanks is chosen, then vanishesShanks joins as a Devoted Blade of God and is on track for knighthood inside a year. He disappears instead. The Depths Covenant that was meant for him is offered elsewhere.
3. ~24 years agoHarald is knighted as the second choiceThe Elbaf king had served ten years as a Devoted Blade. Imu grants him the Depths Covenant personally at the Empty Throne — and with it the ability to override his will.
4. 14 years agoThe strongest Knight is killed by his own sonThe covenant takes Harald over. Shanks and Scopper Gaban together cannot finish him; their hits land and heal slowly. Loki ends it with a Conqueror-infused Ragnir strike — still the only full override of covenant immortality by an outside party.
5. Chapters 1134–1146Three Knights are sent to annex ElbafShamrock, Gunko, then Sommers and Killingham. Three members are considered sufficient for the strongest kingdom in the world, which is the clearest statement of the order's standing we have.
6. Chapters 1146–1152Gaban finds the weaknessHe bisects Sommers with a Conqueror-infused swing and the arm does not grow back. The rule that governs every fight after this — Conqueror's Haki interferes with the covenant — is established here.
7. Chapter 1152 onwardThe Knights start losingKillingham is beaten by three Straw Hats without Conqueror's Haki. Sommers is smashed by Loki and beaten by Luffy. Gunko is frozen by Ragnir and is still unconscious. Shamrock is recalled to Mary Geoise.
8. Chapter 1193The kill condition is stated, and the attempt falls shortWorking from Loki's condition that the steel heart has to be pierced by a Conqueror-coated blade, Zoro breaks out of Sommers' thorn cage and lands a strike through his torso. Sommers ends the chapter wounded, conscious and still speaking, his heart not shown destroyed. The chapter does not establish whether the coating failed or the heart was not reached. Zoro calls himself still practicing.
9. Chapter 1193Where it standsNo God's Knight has completed a victory over a top-tier opponent in the arc's present, and none has been permanently put down either. The order's reputation is intact; its record is not.

What could change this ranking

• Shamrock completing a fight. He is second on position rather than performance. One real result and first place is his.
• Gunko waking up with her eye ability awakened. The largest unknown ceiling in the order.
• Killingham beating Sanji. It would be the first completed win by a God's Knight over a top-tier fighter in the arc's present, and would move him above Gunko.
• Zoro destroying Sommers' 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 talking at the end of it. The question the attempt was going to answer, whether covenant immortality has a permanent off-switch, is still open, and it still changes how we weigh the whole order.
• Garling fighting anyone. In either role. He has the biggest gap between reputation and record on this page.
• A seventh and eighth Knight being named. Up to eight can exist; six are known. Two more are unaccounted for.

Our call

The God's Knights are written as the World Government's most dangerous asset, and Monkey D. Dragon's wariness of them is probably the best single line of characterisation the order has. But reputation and record are different things, and the Elbaf arc has been quietly hard on the record.

Since chapter 1134, three Knights were sent to take the strongest kingdom in the world and none of them has completed a victory over a top-tier opponent. One was cut in half by a retired pirate. One lost to three Straw Hats. One is unconscious. The commander was recalled. Meanwhile the single most impressive thing any Knight has been shown doing was done fourteen years ago by a giant who did not want the job, while he was being puppeted by the contract that made him one.

That is the ranking, and it is also the story the arc is telling: the covenant makes you very hard to kill, and being very hard to kill is not the same as being strong.

For the council Garling now sits on — and why we rank him last of the five on published evidence — see the strongest Five Elders, ranked. For the wider field these Knights are losing to, see the strongest Elbaf characters ranked. The contract system itself — and the Japanese theory that Imu may be inside it too — is in who is Imu contracted to?. And the twin the commander is written against is covered in Shanks having a twin sounded crazy and what is Shanks' strongest attack?.

Change log

• 2 September 2026 — First published, current through chapter 1191.
• 2 September 2026 (revised) — Split the opening into a two-part Quick Answer — strongest ever versus strongest active — so the first-placed Knight being deceased is clear before the table.
• 20 September 2026 — Brought current through chapter 1193. No placement changed. Sommers: the steel-heart weakness is now a stated kill condition rather than a deduction — Loki's instruction that it must be pierced by a Conqueror-coated blade — and Zoro's attempt in 1193 left Sommers wounded and not finished, with the chapter declining to say whether the coating failed or the heart was not reached, so he stays at #6 on an unfinished fight. Killingham: one line, no feats, the overdue child-fetching mission. Watchlist item on Zoro destroying the steel heart marked attempted and not completed rather than removed. Timeline extended to 1193. Cover artwork re-cut to drop the baked-in chapter number, so the image no longer has to be remade every time the ranking is brought current.