Most tragic One Piece deaths

Portgas D. Ace leads the One Piece death ranking with 1556 ELO points over 191 duels, ahead of Edward Newgate – Whitebeard and Donquixote Rosinante.

The most striking gap in the ranking separates Edward Newgate – Whitebeard from Donquixote Rosinante: 107 ELO points divide the second and third positions, the widest margin anywhere in the top ranks. Portgas D. Ace edges out Edward Newgate – Whitebeard by just 18 points at the summit, a razor-thin margin that reflects how deeply both deaths resonated with the community. The top of the ranking belongs entirely to figures whose deaths shaped the story: Gol D. Roger sits fourth with 1384 ELO points despite his execution occurring before the main narrative began, while Kozuki Oden rounds out the top five with 1324 points. At the other end, Higuma registers 931 ELO points and wins only 28% of his duels, suggesting that emotional weight counts far more than screen time when judging which deaths hit hardest.

This ranking draws from 30513 duels cast by 336 players across 29 contenders, updated on 12 October 2026. Which One Piece death struck you hardest? Cast your vote on VAINKEURZ and shape the ranking.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →