One Piece is a series about pirates and ships, and there ain’t no ships without shipwrights.
Shipwrights are often neglected in favor of other ranks like captains, swordsmen, and doctors. But with the legend of Pluton, one of the 3 Ancient Weapons and potentially the most powerful ship in the world, shipwrights are going to become much more prominent in future One Piece arcs.
Speaking of Pluton, the person/s that made it are possibly the best shipwright. But since we know hardly anything about Pluton itself, I’m going to limit this list to the known shipwrights of the franchise.
For the same reason, I won’t be including the speculated makers of ships like the Noah, Thriller Bark, Island Ship, etc.
Here are One Piece’s top 12 best shipwrights of all time! I will be ranking them on basis of their knowledge of the craft, their skill and experience, and their unique capabilities.
12Gina, Sonieh, and Donovan
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Gina, Sonieh, and Donovon are 3 of the best shipwrights for Foxy the Silver Fox and his Foxy Pirates. They were either won by Foxy in a Davy Back Fight or joined of their own accord at some point after the crew was established.
Sonieh is the leader of the mechanics team which has 50 members, of which Donovon is the most known. Gina is the carpenter of the crew.
All 3 were offered as a prize to Luffy after the Straw Hats battled the Foxy Pirates, but Luffy chose to take their Jolly Roger emblem instead.
The Sexy Foxy is a huge ship with accommodations for a minimum of 500 people, with a giant fox-head at its prow. It has a number of weapons, cheat devices, and traps, like the Foxy Head Mecha, trapdoors, crossbows, cannons, and the Gorilla Puncher 13, which a basically a robo-gorilla that can throw punches.
11Dojaku
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Dojaku is an anime-only character who is shown to join the Foxy Pirates as part of an undercover mission on behalf of the Marines.
He is extremely skilled as a shipwright, responsible for basically turning the Sexy Foxy into a battleship.
10Gairam
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Gairam is the master engineer who build the World Pirate’s ship, the Groseade. It is so powerful, that it could potentially destroy an entire island miles away – a feat capable by only the Ancient Weapons.
It is as big as an aircraft carrier, with numerous buildings, trees, and cannons on all sides. It was built originally during Byrnndi World’s imprisonment, and was meant to be able to submerge underwater in case of a battle against other pirates or the Government. But it was eventually destroyed by the Marines.
Had it not been sunk, it could even threaten Mary Geoise, when combined with their captain’s Moa Moa no Mi Devil Fruit ability.
9Stansen
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Stansen is a giant from Elbaf, part of the New Giant Warrior Pirates, led by Hajrudin. Stansen helped build their ship, the Naglfar, and is in charge of repairing it.
The Naglfar is literally a Viking ship, enormous, of course, since it houses giants. It has various wooden shields and has a Norse bovine skull as its figurehead.
Stansen, being the only shipwright on the crew, has skill enough to maintain the entirety of this huge ship. It played a role in Buggy’s Delivery as a trade ship, where the members, including Stansen, were considered as S-Class Mercenaries.
If the Straw Hats go to Elbaf post the Wano arc, there’s a good change we see more of Stansen and the Naglfar.
8Peepley Lulu and Tilestone
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Lulu and Tilestone are two of the five most exceptionally skilled shipwrights working at Galley-La, which hires only the world’s best shipwrights.
The Galley-La Company was established on Water 7, and makes ships for pirates, citizens, and the government alike.
Lulu specializes in pitch, block and tackle, and blacksmithing, and Tilestone excels at cabinetry, caulking, and flag making. Both serve as Dock One’s foremen and have authority over the other shipwrights in the company.
7Rob Lucci
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Lucci joined Galley-La as an undercover CP9 agent, mainly to get close to Iceburg and obtain the blueprints of Pluton. But during his time there, he became so accomplished that he came to be considered one of the best shipwrights in the company.
He worked as a sawyer, treenail, and bolt specialist in Dock One, and has an amazing grasp over carpentry. He was able to recognize the Pluton blueprints that Franky had to be the real deal.
I’m not going to go into his other abilities, but Lucci is a terrifying and deadly opponent and is as skilled a shipwright as he is an assassin.
6Kaku
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Lucci might rank higher than Kaku when it comes to Cipher Pol missions, but as a shipwright, Kaku has proven to be slightly more skilled that Lucci.
He joined Galley-La for the same reasons Lucci did, and was also able to recognize the Pluton blueprints even though Franky showed just a glimpse of them.
Kaku became a master shipwright in just 5 years, specializing in mechanics, diagnostics, and housecalls at Dock One.
Kaku and Lucci were also two of the four foremen, but rank above Lulu and Tilestone for the simple fact that they did in 5 years what the former took their whole lives to accomplish.
Additionally, Kaku was able to diagnose the Going Merry in episode 231/chapter 326 and gave the verdict that the ship wouldn’t be able to go further since it was irreparable.
5Den
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Den is a shipwright-merman who is the younger brother of the world-famous Tom.
During the Fishman Island Arc, Den encounters Franky and compliments his work on the Straw Hats’ Thousand Sunny. He is able to tell that the ship is made of Treasure Wood Adam, and then upon Franky’s request, agrees to coat it.
This proves that he not just has a keen eye for his craft, but is also a greatly skilled mechanic, since the coating procedure for an entire ship takes weeks but he was able to do it in a day.
Den probably learned a lot from his brother, but he himself is also a Sea Forest researcher and has a lot of knowledge about the Ship Graveyard.
4Paulie
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Paulie ranks right below Iceburg in the Galley-La administration. He is the vice-president of the company, promoted from his Dock One foreman position.
Paulie is such a pro at rigging and knots that he uses the rope for his own fighting style called Rope Action. He came across super prudish in the series, but his personality made him quite the contender to be a Straw Hat pirate.
Before Frankie joined the crew, I thought Paulie would make quite the fit – cool, capable, and an awesome shipwright.
3Iceburg
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The president of Galley-La, mayor of Water 7 island, and one of the two former apprentices of Tom, Iceburg is quite the shipwright.
The man has a genuine love for ships, showing deep sympathy for the fact that the Going Merry was so well taken care of despite being “terminally ill.” He repaired the ship all by himself after hearing its “voice” to make it fit enough to travel one last journey.
He is also one of the five shipwrights to have helped construct the Straw Hats’ Thousand Sunny.
Iceburg has the capability of turning the entire island of Water 7 into a giant ship to contend with the Aqua Laguna issues. It’s his dream, and his naval knowledge is such that he can actually make it happen.
2Franky
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Franky has had a long and impressive journey which has resulted in him living up to his teacher’s name. Franky – or Cutty Flam, studied directly under Tom, and learned everything there is to learn about ships from him.
Since he’s a cyborg, fusing tech with ship comes naturally to him. He designed several battleships called Battle Frankies, each being capable of defeating Sea Kings.
He has great scientific knowledge is on par with the likes of Vegapunk, being able to read and create blueprints and other technology.
His construction, carpentry, and engineering expertise are unrivaled, although he’s yet to perfect his weapon engineering. Frankie’s dream is to cross the Grand Line in his own creation; people think Frankie is trying to recreate Pluton since he held and read the battleship’s only blueprints.
He’s the only person who knows what Pluton looks like – he burned the blueprints, handed down personally by Tom, to save them from coming into the grasp of the World Government.
He’s built several cool features like the Coup de Burst into the Thousand Sunny, which he crafted with Adam Wood, so maybe he’s putting in features of the Pluton into his ship
I rank Franky above Iceburg for the simple reason that while Iceburg is always on Water 7, Franky goes around the world learning new techniques. He went to Wano undercover as a carpenter and learns new styles of architecture and later fully restores broken ships to aid in the Onigashima Raid.
End-of-season Franky is definitely gonna be the best shipwright, and I’m sure he’ll surpass his limits by making “the ship of dreams.”
1Tom
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Tom the Fish Man was the best shipwright in One Piece. He built Roger Pirates’ Oro Jackson – the only ship to cross the Grand Line. He was Frankie and Iceburg’s mentor, originally held Pluton’s blueprints, founded Tom’s Workers, and made the Sea Train prototype.
There are only 3 Sea Trains that run across the sea-bed, and 2 were built by Tom (the other built by Galley-La).
He constructed the Oro Jackson for the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger out of the legendary Adam Wood on Water 7. Franky’s dream of creating a ship better than the Oro Jackson stemmed from Tom’s brilliant skills.
The dude is an actual legend. If Tom weren’t untimely executed, he would still be the greatest shipman alive, but in his absence, the title goes to his protégé, Frankie.
About One Piece
One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 22, 1997.
The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, is Gol D. Roger. The final words he said at the execution tower were “My treasures? If you want it, I’ll let you have it. Look for it; I left all of it at that place.” These words sent many to the seas, chasing their dreams, headed toward the Grand Line, in search of One Piece. Thus began a new age!
Seeking to be the greatest pirate in the world, young Monkey D. Luffy also heads toward the Grand Line in search of One Piece. His diverse crew is joining him along the way, consisting of a swordsman, marksman, navigator, cook, doctor, archaeologist, and cyborg-shipwright, this will be one memorable adventure.
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