8 Swordsmen Better Than Roronoa Zoro

This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series.

Famed as the Pirate Hunter, Zoro is the beloved swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates, and he is also one of the crew’s very strongest fighters. Over the years, Zoro has grown tremendously in the One Piece series, but he has yet to reach his peak and his final goal of becoming the world’s greatest swordsman is still unfulfilled. Zoro is clearly strong, but he is still outclassed by many skilled sword users, like Shanks whom he might never even surpass.

Mihawk

The World’s Strongest Swordsman

Mihawk is known as the world’s strongest swordsman, and he is the ultimate goal for Zoro. Zoro has always wanted to defeat Mihawk and take his title, but at the moment, he is far from his level.

Mihawk’s skills and powers with Yoru still far surpass the Straw Hats’ swordsman, but he is getting closer to his goal with every new arc. Zoro vs Mihawk is a heavily anticipated battle in the Final Saga, and it edges closer as Zoro reaches new levels of strength.

Fujitora

A Marine Admiral

Among the Marines, one character that especially stands out when it comes to swordsmanship is the new Admiral, Fujitora. Elected through the World Military Draft, Fujitora is known to be a monster. He wields a powerful Saijo o Wazamono grade blade, called Yakuza Kasen, in addition to his gravity devil fruit. Zoro might be close to him in power, but he has yet to surpass him.

Ryuma

The God of the Blade

Mihawk is called the world’s strongest swordsman, but there’s a title even more impressive in One Piece, and that is Ryuma’s title of God of the Blade. If Mihawk is the current strongest swordsman, then Ryuma was the strongest swordsman of all time.

Zoro’s goal is Mihawk, but he might have to grow and surpass his own ancestor, Ryuma, eventually. Zoro could come to be known as the new god of the blade by the end of One Piece.

Rayleigh

The Right Arm of the Pirate King

Rayleigh was a part of the legendary crew of the Pirate King, the Roger Pirates. He is Zoro’s parallel in the Roger Pirates, as both are one of the Wings of the Pirate King.

Despite his old age, Rayleigh is still a far better swordsman than Zoro. At the moment, Zoro doesn’t have great Haki control, and he can’t injure immortals, while Rayleigh, even before his prime, was able to take them on.

Shanks

The Red Haired Yonko

Shanks is, at the moment, the strongest Yonko of One Piece. His skills are on a whole other level, and he has achieved all of this without a Devil Fruit.

Shanks is a swordsman, and in pure swordsmanship skills, he may be below the level of Mihawk. But, Shanks is overall a far more skilled fighter, especially as he wields the technique of Rocks D. Xebec. He is one character that Zoro will probably never surpass.

Rocks

The Legend of the One Piece World

Rocks is one of the biggest legends of the One Piece world. He was a huge mystery since he was first mentioned, but recently, he has been explored in more detail during the Elbaf flashback.

In this flashback, fans discovered that Rocks D. Xebec actually wielded a sword, and with that sword, Rocks showcased immense destructive capabilities, being able to strike his enemies with hammer-like attacks.

Roger

The Pirate King

Roger is the most legendary man in One Piece who became the Pirate King. He was, undoubtedly, one of the most powerful sword-wielding individuals in the story, even though his fighting style was a bit more peculiar than people like Mihawk.

Just like Rocks and Shanks, Roger uses his sword differently, and performs more crushing attacks than slashing. Roger is still on a whole different level from Zoro and would definitely destroy him at the moment.

Nusjuro

One of the Five Elders

One of Imu’s strongest, Nusjuro is one of the strongest swordsmen the World Government has to offer. He’s one of the Five Elders, and seems to be the most skilled with the sword.

He and Zoro clashed for a moment on Egghead, and it was clear that Zoro was outclassed, by far. Zoro has to first master his Conqueror’s Haki to even stand a chance against this overpowered monster.

One Piece Chapter 1162 will be out next week. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12 AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on October 12. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1162 is October 12, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

Release Date: October 20, 1999
Network: Fuji TV
Directors: Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou