10 Best Pirate Ships in One Piece, Ranked

We don’t even need to think hard about considering a ranked list for the pirate ships in One Piece – it’s an absolutely no-brainer not to. With the main theme of the series majorly showcasing the characters over water, pirate ships have become an iconic part of the series, often reflecting the character and prowess of the crew on board.

Without any more delay, let’s get right down to it. From saving the crew before sacrificing itself to literally travelling the whole world, here are the best pirate ships from the series, ranked by overall presence and impact.

TITLE	One Piece
CREATOR	Eiichiro Oda
RELEASE DATE	October 20, 1999
IMDb RATING (As of June 8, 2026)	9/10
MAL RATINGS (As of June 8, 2026)	8.73/10
WHERE TO WATCH	Crunchyroll

10 Victoria Punk – The Kid Pirates

Unlike the other ships on this list, the Victoria Punk wasn’t really that iconic in the series as an entity, but it still deserves a spot because of the crew it carried – the Kid Pirates led by one of the Worst Generation’s finest, Eustass Kid. Kid’s vessel is an iron-clad testament to brute force – jagged metal spikes erupt from its hull like the claws of a sea beast, and its silhouette alone communicates danger.

It definitely wasn’t the prettiest ship out there, but it served its purpose as a menace of the seas. The ragged, monstrous look highlighted by the bright yellow skull of a sea monster up front definitely screamed pirate.

9 Big Top Blaster – The Buggy Pirates/Cross Guild

For years, the original Big Top was a subtle ship carrying the Buggy Pirates led by one of the funniest One Piece characters and a current Yonko, Buggy. However, this got absolutely ridiculous with the ship after the formation of the Cross Guild – Buggy, Dracule Mihawk, and Sir Crocodile. His overeager underlings and shipwrights built one of the most ridiculous renderings of the ship, the Big Top Blaster.

The ship was brightly filled with a tacky colour palette and a large face of Buggy at the front. From the way it was presented in the anime series, it looked less like an actual pirate ship and more like a floating circus with tents and a clown as the captain.

8 Polar Tang – The Heart Pirates

Trafalgar D. Law‘s pirate ship, the Polar Tang, was less like a ship and more like a submarine. The Heart Pirates would barely surface and travel underwater for most of their journey. To add to the stealth, the Polar Tang surfaces, disappears beneath the waves, and can be repositioned via Law’s Ope Ope no Mi – making it uniquely untrackable in battle.

The Polar Tang is the perfect ship for Trafalgar D. Law – for a surgeon who treats combat like an operating theatre, a ship that can vanish at will is the perfect instrument – making it one of the stealthiest and most versatile vehicles on this list.

7 Queen Mama Chanter – The Big Mom Pirates

Big Mom’s flagship is a vessel of terrifying scale and stranger still design – its hull adorned with the faces of Homies, animated by fragments of the former Yonko’s very soul. What makes it interesting is that it doesn’t necessarily carry the entire Big Mom Pirates crew, as everyone else has their own ships; the Queen Mama Chanter is solely designed to carry only Big Mom.

The Queen Mama Chanter doesn’t just carry Charlotte Linlin; it seems to fear her, as everything in Totto Land does – few ships in the series feel as inseparable from their captain’s monstrous personality. Furthermore, the ship survived the chaos of Whole Cake Island Arc and served as the looming backdrop of Big Mom’s pursuit of the Straw Hats to the land of Wano.

6 Thriller Bark – The Thriller Bark Pirates

When Luffy and the other Straw Hats landed on the creepy and haunted island, they didn’t realise that they had stepped foot on the largest pirate ship in the series, home to the Thriller Bark pirates and captained by the Warlord, Gecko Moria.

While technically it’s the world’s largest pirate ship, in practice it’s an island – a mobile gothic fortress complete with graveyards, a haunted mansion, and a zombie army. The Thriller Bark ship is the literal definition of a colossal haunted ship, put on paper by Eiichiro Oda and animated by Toei Animation.

5 Moby Dick – The Whitebeard Pirates

As you might have guessed already, the ship is named after the legendary mythic white whale, Moby Dick. What makes it so iconic is that the ship belonged to the strongest man in the world in the anime and manga series, the former Yonko, Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard. The ship housed some of the strongest pirates that ever lived in the series.

The ship embodied Whitebeard’s philosophy: fearless, massive, and impossible to ignore – its destruction during the Marineford War marked one of the most viscerally felt losses in the series – a titan’s vessel sinking alongside an era of pirates.

4 Thousand Sunny – The Straw Hat Pirates

The current ship of the Straw Hat Pirates, the Thousand Sunny, was Franky’s magnum opus when he joined the crew back in the Water 7 Arc. Constructed with the near-mythical Adam Wood, it is the finest ship built by human hands in the modern era. If that’s not enough, the ship is basically an engineering masterpiece.

The Soldier Dock System, Coup de Burst, Mini Merry II, Gaon Cannon – it is an engineering marvel wrapped in a lion figurehead and crewed by the world’s most chaotic family. It’s not just a ship for the Straw Hat Pirates; it’s a home for them, built to last.

3 Oro Jackson – The Roger Pirates

The only ship in the entire anime and manga series that has travelled the entire world, the Oro Jackson was the vessel of the Roger Pirates, captained by the King of Pirates himself, Gold D. Roger. Every legend in the series and lore traces back to one vessel – from the full breadth of the Grand Line to Laugh Tale.

Oro Jackson doesn’t appear often, but its shadow falls over everything – every pirate who chased the One Piece owes their dream to what this ship made possible. The never-ending era of the Pirates began the day when Oro Jackson raised its anchors.

2 Going Merry – The Straw Hat Pirates

The Going Merry wasn’t just another pirate ship from the One Piece anime series; she was the very soul of the series – the ship that began the journey of Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. The ship wasn’t just made out of wood and metal; she had a soul of her own. She carried the Straw Hats from the East Blue to the shores of Enies Lobby, developing a spirit, becoming a Klabautermann.

She rescued the Straw Hats during the Enies Lobby Arc and delivered them to safety, while also completing her last journey. No one really thought that they could break into tears watching a ship burn until they witnessed Going Merry’s funeral.

1 Red Force – The Red Hair Pirates

No other ship in the series strikes fear into the opponents’ hearts as the Red Force does. It’s not an extravagant or massive ship – what makes it so feared are its captain and the crew, the Red Hair Pirates. Led by the Yonko, Red-Haired Shanks, the Red Force is a moving vessel that houses some of the strongest characters in the anime and manga series, like Ben Beckman and Yasopp.

Shanks has never needed a flashy entrance; the sight of his crimson galleon on the horizon is enough to end wars, halt Admirals, and make Emperors hesitate – the moment it appeared on Marineford, the battlefield went completely silent.

RANKING	THE SHIP	THE CAPTAIN	THE CREW
1	Red Force	Red-Haired Shanks	Red Hair Pirates
2	Going Merry	Monkey D. Luffy	Straw Hat Pirates
3	Oro Jackson	Gol D. Roger	Roger Pirates
4	Thousand Sunny	Monkey D. Luffy	Straw Hat Pirates
5	Moby Dick	Whitebeard	Whitebeard Pirates
6	Thriller Bark	Gecko Moria	Thriller Bark Pirates
7	Queen Mama Chanter	Big Mom	Big Mom Pirates
8	Polar Tang	Trafalgar D. Law	Heart Pirates
9	Big Top Blaster	Buggy	Buggy Pirates/Cross Guild
10	Victoria Punk	Eustass Kid	Kid Pirates

What are your thoughts on our ranking of all the iconic and best pirate ships from the series? Which one is your favourite? We’d love to hear your picks and opinions in the comments below.

The One Piece anime series is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.