The One Piece saga features tragic deaths, from lovable characters to countless innocents along the way. Some of the most powerful villains are usually responsible for these deaths, but many anime fans are still curious to know who has the highest body count in One Piece.

Besides the World Government, Donquixote Doflamingo is considered the deadliest character in One Piece, with the highest overall kill count. This is followed by characters like Dracule Mihawk, Blackbeard, Akainu, and others, although there is no way to determine exactly how many people each of these characters has killed.

While the World Government technically has the highest kill count in One Piece, many other contenders have extremely high kill counts, either due to single-handedly killing others or through more indirect means. Below are the top 10 characters with the highest kill counts in One Piece, ranked by their threat level and their assumed body count.

10. Zoro

Zoro is one of One Piece's most beloved main characters, with a heroic personality and many combat skills. While Zoro doesn't quickly kill someone like the others on this list, he does take the lives of his opponents when necessary—especially villains or those who stand in his way.

He has hunted countless pirates and killed numerous marines and bounty hunters. In more recent chapters, Zoro has also killed numerous ninjas—now amassing a bounty of 1,111,000,000 Beri.

9. Crocodiles

Crocodile is Luffy's supposed mother and the former president of the mysterious crime syndicate Baroque Works. Also known as "King of the Desert" Sir Crocodile or "Mr. 0," Crocodile is willing to kill anyone and doesn't hesitate to take the lives of others—especially those who insult him, even threatening to kill Robin for fun.

Crocodile is known to have killed several people, with a bounty of 1,965,000,000 Beri, and to have ordered the destruction of the entire city of Nanohana. He unleashed storms during his capture of Alabasta, which reportedly killed a large number of civilians, in addition to many others who died of dehydration.

8. Rob Lucci

Rob Lucci was originally introduced as part of CP9 as the most powerful member of the assassination unit in history. Being a skilled and powerful assassin, it's unknown what his total kill count might be—but it's assumed to be quite high.

He's better known for killing specific people than for massacring on a whim (in addition to killing 500 soldiers and an entire pirate crew in his past). But he's killed many people since he was a teenager and has been assassinating targets ever since.

7. Grandma

Big Mom is an extremely dangerous villain in One Piece with a ruthless personality and vicious mindset, topped off with the terrifying power of Linlin's Devil Fruit. In addition to cannibalizing her friends as a child, she is known to quickly kill just about anyone, whether by her own hand or using her many Big Mom Pirates members.

To date, Charlotte Linlin has amassed a shocking bounty of 4,388,000,000 Beri for all her crimes. It's unknown how many people she has killed, but she has gone on numerous mindless rampages that likely killed thousands of innocent people in the process.

6. Silence

Shiryu is one of the ten captains of the Blackbeard Pirates' Titanic, serving as the captain of the second ship. He was well known for the mass slaughter of prisoners that occurred several years before Shiryu was imprisoned on Level 6.

He was originally introduced as the former head jailer of Impel Down, but was placed on death row after being persecuted for his excessively violent and murderous actions against prisoners and other jailers. Impel Down has thousands of human guards at all levels, so it can be assumed that the number of prisoners is much higher.

That being said, there is still much mystery surrounding the exact number of prisoners killed—many believe it to be in the hundreds, if not thousands. He was eventually temporarily released to help quell the prison riot instigated by Luffy and others, after which he decided to join the Blackbeard Pirates.

5. Énel

Enel is the tyrannical former "God" of Skypiea, who destroyed his homeland using his Devil Fruit powers – after which he decided to retake Skypiea with his followers.

He has no regard for taking lives, having killed thousands at once and intending to kill everyone in Skypeia, even after taking power. He has an extreme god complex and often kills his own followers as well—there's really no telling how much blood there is on Enel's hands.

4. Akainu

Commonly known as "Akainu," Sakazuki is willing to kill any Marine who disagrees with him—much less anyone who gets in his way. He orders Issho to kill Law and Luffy, the lovable Ace, and all the civilians of Ohara.

Many One Piece fans believe that Sakazuki killed many people due to his "absolute justice" approach. Since Sakazuki also destroyed islands with his Buster Call, it's difficult to determine his specific number of victims—it could be in the thousands.

3. Blackbeard

More commonly known as "Blackbeard," Marshall D. Teach is one of the Four Emperors and the only known person to have successfully wielded two Devil Fruits simultaneously. He is extremely vicious and deceptive, mercilessly killing a crewmate after spending approximately two decades on the ship.

It's unclear exactly how many people Marshall D. Teach actually killed. However, based on his reputation and incredibly high bounty of 3,996,000,000 Beri, most One Piece fans assumed his body count must be immeasurable.

2. Dracule Mihawk

Dracule "Hawl Eyes" Mihawk is extremely powerful, being the world's most powerful swordsman and a former warlord of the sea. He was known as the "Marine Hunter" in the past, but fans still don't know much about each of his victims.

He is known to have killed at least thousands of people, having killed an entire fleet of 5,000 pirates at one point. Dracule Mihawk also has an extremely high bounty of 3,590,000,000 Beri, implying that he has definitely killed many more lives than fans might imagine.

1. Don Quixote Doflamingo

Topping this list is none other than Donquixote Doflamingo, infamous for the mass genocide plot that destroyed islands and slaughtered countless people in the process. Oddly enough, he goes by the name "Joker," with a frozen bounty of just 340,000,000 Beri.

He is perhaps the most dangerous villain in One Piece, even killing his own family, but he is especially deadly because of the power he wields over the entire One Piece universe. Donquixote Doflamingo has been using others to inflict pain and suffering for many years, having his family kill people for trivial reasons since he was a child.

As a result, there's no way to know how many people died because of Donquixote Doflamingo's actions—he wiped out several cities just to kill the person who proposed to Baby 5. Regardless, most One Piece fans are certain that he has the power to cause the most casualties outside of the World Government itself.

These are the 10 characters with the highest kill count in One Piece, ranked with images thanks to the One Piece Wiki. Of course, since there isn't an exact number for each of these characters, the ranking is always up for debate—either way, these One Piece characters are certainly forces to be reckoned with.