The Strongest Swordsman

[SSJ2]

A conjectural list of swordsmen both past and present. I'm leaving out Roger and Shanks due to the ambiguity of his power.

1. Prime Rayleigh
2. Oden
3. Big Mom
4. Mihawk
5. Fujitora
6. Vista
7. Shiryu
8. Ashura Doji/Inuarashi/Jack
9. Zoro


I've also left out Denjiro and Kawamatsu since there is no way to scale them yet. Thoughts?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I wouldn't say Roger's placement should be ambiguous enough to be left out when considering it's made apparent time and again he's the top dog of the OP universe. I'd also argue that Kizaru could count as, even though he relies on his DF for a sword, doing so would suggest he's pretty skilled in swordsmanship to use it as a primary form for his light attacks and being able to clash evenly with a veteran like Rayleigh. Same for Aokiji with his ice sword. Big Mom could also count if the requirement is only fighting with a sword, considering she's shown to use her giant cutlass more than Jack uses his sword. Shiki was also seen wielding swords prior to losing his legs, so he ought to count too.

Other than that, I have no complaints with those listed for the requirements set. I'd probably say Shiryu ought to be below Ashura Doji/Jack if we're going by his pre-timeskip self (and if making assumptions about his power based on his post-timeskip position, he'd probably be above Vista).

 

[SSJ2]

That was a grammatical error, I meant Shanks power is ambiguous as a swordsman.

I will add Big Mom. I didn't factor in Aokiji and Kizaru because they aren't pure swordsmen.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

About Shanks' ambiguity, I'd say there's less ambiguity where he stands than for Rayleigh. We know for sure that Oden > Shanks in power, yet we aren't really given anything solid on whether Oden or Rayleigh has greater strength than the other. Rayleigh seemed confident in taking Oden on, but he also had Gaban to tag out with if things got tough. Roger also said they may get hurt against Oden and, though Rayleigh pointed out Roger just wanted to fight Oden, that doesn't necessarily contradict the former.