Why the Straw Hats Will Beat the Yonko and Become the Pirate King’s Crew

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Summary

  • Straw Hats’ unique crew structure favors strength, equality, and freedom among members.
  • Yonko crews that have substantial power gaps between captains and subordinates lack the Straw Hats‘ cohesion.
  • The Roger Pirates share Straw Hats’ structure, suggesting it as ideal for the Pirate King’s crew.

The Straw Hats are the central pirate crew of the One Piece series. Although the crew, and each member of it, started off as ordinary folk living their own lives, they eventually joined forces to make an incredibly important force that has gone on to become one of the world’s most influential in a very short amount of time. Although they aren’t the only ones who are this important, they are certainly the most famous.

It is known that Luffy is spurred on by his dream of becoming the Pirate King and has been like this since from an early age. As central as this dream is to his character arc, he is just one of a million people from the One Piece world who have desired this, so let’s take a look at why Luffy is so different from others and why the Straw Hats will succeed over the other Yonko crews in becoming the crew of the Pirate King.

The Perfect Crew Structure Of The Straw Hats

Why This Structure Is Better Than The Others

Captain Monkey D. Luffy
Other Notable Members Roronoa Zoro, Vinsmoke Sanji, Jimbei

When it comes to the pirates of the One Piece world, none are greater in terms of power and influence than the crews of the Emperors of the Sea. These characters are under the captaincy of the most legendary pirates in history who are powerful enough to take on entire armies on their own, which in turn also makes hundreds of others aspire to work for them. This shows that the influence of the Yonko is the greatest in the world.

However, each Yonko is unique in terms of how they structure their crews. There are some constants, such as the captain typically being the most powerful member and having some subordinates who aren’t as powerful but serve as commanders of divisions under their captain. This is especially true for the notable crews of Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom. These pirates are legends of the previous age who lived on to conquer the New Age in the modern era, though, as strong as they are, they have a glaring problem in their crews.

While members such as Marco, King, and Katakuri are very powerful, they don’t even come close to the level of strength of their captains. This is where the first flaw in the crew structure of the Yonko is apparent, since the discrepancy in power between the captain and their strongest subordinates is way too high, as in the case with the aforementioned pirates. One of the most notable aspects of the Straw Hats is the fact that Zoro, Sanji, and Jimbei don’t have too much of a gap in their strength compared to Luffy.

Secondly, there is a level of freedom involved within the crew that matters greatly to its overall success. The command structure of the Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Beast Pirates is incredibly rigid, with the strongest member, their captain, having absolute authority and influence over every action of every member of the crew. Their word is absolute, and the others simply can’t have any say that supersedes the captain’s commands.

Even though I usually take a laid-back approach, given the current situation, it’s crucial that we all step up and follow our designated roles. As a fellow member, I respect your position as the leader, but if you fail to lead effectively now, I may find it necessary to reconsider my continued participation in this group.

This is a massive difference between them and the Straw Hats, since Zoro and the others have often gone against Luffy’s commands or have talked back to him for reasons that would be beneficial to the overall crew. This is important because it shows that the more freedom a crew has, the more successful it will be when it comes to the pursuit of being the Pirate King’s crew. The most important comparison that can be made here is with the Roger Pirates, whose structure is almost identical to the Straw Hats in the sense that the strongest members of the crew beneath the captain weren’t very far off in terms of strength, as well as the fact that they had a lot of freedom too.

Freedom has always been one of the core pillars of the One Piece story, which is why Oda has very carefully made the Roger Pirate’s structure the one that’s closest to the Straw Hats than any other, showing that Luffy’s crew is destined to be the Pirate King’s crew. However, even too much freedom can be detrimental, as could be seen with the Rocks Pirates, who are considered the strongest crew in history. Although they were incredibly powerful and left to do whatever they wanted, they followed no structure, making them disjointed.

Other Close Examples Of This Trend

Other Yonko Crews Also Fit Here

Aside from the Straw Hats, the Red Hair Pirates seem to follow a very similar structure of Shanks’ subordinates being almost as strong as him as well as having the freedom to do what they want for the most part. However, Shanks is undoubtedly the big boss of the crew, and his word is final no matter the circumstance, so they don’t fit the mold that the Roger Pirates set as much as the Straw Hats do.

Cross Guild is the farthest example of this trope, since Crocodile and Mihawk are considered Buggy’s subordinates but are far stronger than he is and straight-up control the crew, making Buggy simply a figurehead for them. All in all, this just goes to show that the way that the Straw Hats are structured is the most conducive way for the crew of the Pirate King, since the only others who were like them were the Roger Pirates.

One Piece can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

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2025-03-17 04:09