8 worst fathers in One Piece, ranked

Fathers play a pivotal role in the growth and development of their children, and One Piece emphasizes this by portraying paternal figures of all kinds. Eiichiro Oda’s story features many caring, tender fathers who raise their offspring through heartfelt love, supporting them in every possible way through every stage of life.

One Piece also depicts plenty of father figures who have adopted children and raised them as if they were their own, regardless of the lack of blood ties. Bartholomew Kuma, Zeff, Edward Newgate “Whitebeard” and many others have shown that one can love those they choose as their family as much as a biological father if not more.

Unfortunately, not all children benefit from the warmth and guidance of affectionate fathers in One Piece. Several characters in the series have proven to be despicable fathers, some of them for completely opposite reasons. For example, Yasopp left his child alone, while Kaido refused to let his child be free. Here are some One Piece fathers who completely failed in their role, either because of their absence, disregard, or harshness.

Disclaimer: the opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

The most terrible fathers in One Piece, ranked from best to worst

8) Monkey D. Dragon

Dragon as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Being present in his child’s life is a father's duty, but Monkey D. Dragon was so absent that his son didn’t even know he existed. Founder and leader of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon is the father of One Piece’s main character, Monkey D. Luffy. When Luffy was still an infant, Dragon left him in the custody of his father, the “Marine Hero” Monkey D. Garp.

Luffy spent childhood with his grandfather Garp, who used his unorthodox methods to make sure that he grew up healthy and strong. Luffy only learned about Dragon’s existence two years before the present One Piece narration. He also never saw Dragon’s face in person, only seeing a picture of him in the newspaper.

As a matter of fact, Dragon has never spent any time with his son, which is hardly a good thing. However, Dragon does in truth care about Luffy. Fully aware of his status as “The World’s Worst Criminal”, he just wanted to keep Luffy away from any potential harm from the World Government or his other enemies.

He thus hid his kinship with the child and left him to be raised by the eccentric but loving Garp. Still, even after their kinship was publicly revealed, which made any secrecy pointless, especially as Luffy was already a worldwide outlaw at that point, Dragon didn’t make any effort to meet his son.

Dragon is far from being the worst father in One Piece, but he is not the best either. At least, however, he supported his son’s choices, granting him absolute freedom and the right to live as he wished, Dragon even helped Luffy begin his pirate career as he protected him from Marine officer Smoker who was about to arrest him in Rogue Town.

7) Bingo

Bingo as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Bingo can be considered one of the worst fathers in One Piece, even though he is a very minor character in the series. Some time ago, he lived a wealthy life in Wano’s Flower Capital with his family. When the handsome courtesan Komurasaki told Bingo that she would spend her entire life with him if he paid the price for her liberation, he made his greatest mistake.

Totally captivated by Komurasaki’s gorgeousness, Bingo sold everything he had, including his own family, to accumulate enough money to buy the courtesan’s freedom. Unfortunately for him, it was a scam. Komurasaki had no intention of being freed from her condition and used all the money for herself. Not even remotely interested in Bingo, she merely exploited his foolishness.

Bingo sold his entire family into slavery just to get the money he needed to satisfy his basic instincts, proving himself to be an awful father, completely uninterested in his children. What happened to him was a fitting punishment.

6) Morgan

Morgan as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

The officer in charge of Shells Town’s Marine base, “Ax-Hand” Morgan was a tyrant feared by all the citizens he was supposed to protect, and even by his own Marines. He used brute strength to force everyone, including his son Helmeppo, into blind obedience.

Helmeppo regularly exploited the fear that the people of Shells Town had of his father to bully them. Even though Morgan allowed Helmeppo to do so, he had no love for his son. Their relationship was built on fear with Helmeppo being so afraid of his father that he wouldn’t even dare to talk to him.

Eventually, Morgan and Helmeppo’s father-and-son relationship fell apart. After his defeat at the hands of Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro, Morgan was stripped of his rank and court-martialed. However, he escaped after taking Helmeppo hostage.

At the time, Helmeppo was still genuinely caring for his father, but this umpteenth abuse definitely changed his mind about him. Let down by Morgan’s violent demeanor, Helmeppo couldn’t help but disown him.

5) Diez Barrels

Barrels as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Diez Barrels was the father of X Drake, who in the years to come would become a Marine officer and pretend to turn to piracy, rising to fame as one of the Eleven Supernovas of the Worst Generation. A Marine officer too, Barrels instead defected from the Navy to become the captain of the Barrels Pirates.

Drake admired his father and looked up to him as his role model. Unfortunately, after becoming a pirate, Barrels turned into a despicable person. He started to mistreat his son, and even physically abused him.

At one point, Barrels got his hands on the Ope-Ope Fruit and attempted to sell it. This led to his death at the hands of Donquixote Doflamingo. Drake, tired of his father’s ill-treatment, had already fled the scene.

4) Yasopp

Yasopp as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Yasopp genuinely loved his wife Banchina and his newborn son Usopp. However, he abandoned them to set sail with Shanks, Benn and the rest of the Red Hair Pirates. To be fair, it was Banchina who persuaded him to leave to follow his dreams. What is truly unacceptable is that Yasopp never bothered to check to see how his family was doing.

He never returned to visit Banchina and Usopp, leaving them to their fate. Banchina fell ill and died despite Usopp’s attempt to take care of her. Since then, Usopp has lived alone until his meeting with the Straw Hat Pirates. As of the present One Piece narration, he and Yasopp have yet to meet.

One Piece portrays Yasopp as a rather neglectful father. He has been absent for his son’s entire life and didn’t care about his wife either. Compared to fathers who physically abused their children, Yasopp may seem not that bad, but his total disinterest in the fate of his own family is disarming, especially as he doesn’t seem to feel any remorse for his actions, or lack thereof.

Due to the time spent in Foosha Village, Yasopp knows Luffy more than he does with Usopp, which is objectively absurd. When the possibility of an encounter between the Red Hair Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates arose, Yasopp wasn’t happy at the thought of reuniting with Usopp. Instead, he felt very nervous and stated that he wasn’t mentally ready to see his son.

Usopp would have every reason for rejecting his father, but he doesn’t seem to hate him. On the contrary, he is proud of Yasopp. Still, considering that Usopp lies as a defense mechanism to give himself hope through imagination, perhaps the biggest lie he told was to himself about respecting and admiring his absent dad. At least, Yasopp is honest enough to admit that he is an incompetent father.

3) Kaido

Kaido as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

The captain of the Beasts Pirates and one of the Four Emperors, Kaido kept Wano under his tyrannical rule for years, until his defeat at the hands of Luffy. Known and feared as “The World’s Strongest Creature”, Kaido was also a father. Granted, he was everything but a tender parent.

Kaido had a terrible relationship with his daugher, self-proclaimed son, Yamato. Enraged by his child’s admiration for the samurai Kozuki Oden, Kaido locked Yamato in a cave without food. In the following years, Kaido subjected Yamato to further violence and brutality.

In addition to repeatedly beating Yamato, Kaido handcuffed the latter with a pair of explosive shackles that would detonate at any attempt to get away from Wano. This prevented Yamato from escaping the country. Despite his ruthless behavior, Kaido somehow tried to be a father.

Yamato idolized Oden to the point of passing as a man simply because the samurai was a man. Even though he utterly disapproved of such behavior, Kaido acknowledged it, openly referring to Yamato as his “son”. He also showed respect for Yamato’s strength. Kaido wanted Yamato to replace Orochi as the new shogun of Wano, becoming the country’s warden under his rule.

2) Outlook III

Outlook as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

The sworn brother of Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace, Sabo is worldwide known as Monkey D. Dragon’s number two within the Revolutionary Army. Despite his ties to prominent outlaws, however, Sabo is the biological son of Outlook III, a noble native of the Kingdom of Goa.

An arrogant person who looks down on those of lesser social standing, Outlook doesn’t care about Sabo’s happiness at all. He wanted Sabo to become a royal to increase the family's prestige, with no concern for the child’s thoughts and dreams.

Outlook was so obsessed with the good name of his family that he decided to adopt a stepson, Sterry, to ensure that he would have a “worthy” heir if Sabo failed to live up to his ambitions. Upset at Sabo’s friendship with Luffy and Ace, whom he considered unsuitable acquaintances for a high-born boy, Outlook even threatened his son to have his friends killed.

Embodying the sad but ruthless banality of evil, Outlook was wicked enough to make his son wish he had never been born. It’s only natural that Sabo, rather than remain a prisoner of his nefarious father, decided to run away and see the world.

1) Vinsmoke Judge

Judge as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

A scientist specialized in genetic engineering, Judge is a former colleague of Dr Vegapunk within the illegal research team MADS. He is also the ruler of the infamous Germa Kingdom and the patriarch of the Vinsmoke Family. As clever as he is, Judge is cold-hearted like few others.

A testament to this, he genetically modified his own children to become living weapons stripped of any humanity. To ensure that they would make the best of their genetic powers, he deliberatey raised them to be emotionless soldiers. In terms of results, Judge’s experiment was completely successful, except for one of his kids.

Disgusted by Judge’s intentions, his wife Sora ruined her health by taking a drug that would prevent her babies from losing their emotions. As such, Sanji was born a normal human. Sanji didn’t develop any genetic enhancement, which led his siblings to bully him repeatedly. Instead of stopping the beatings, the Judge punished Sanji for his weakness.

He put an iron mask on Sanji and locked him in a dungeon while staging a fake funeral. Eventually, the Judge allowed Sanji to escape on the condition that he would never tell anyone about being a Vinsmoke. Several years later, Judge almost ruined Sanji’s life once again. To form an alliance with Big Mom, he blackmailed his son to force him to marry one of her daughters.

Fortunately, Luffy and the others helped Sanji to stop the arranged marriage. When it was revealed that Big Mom had planned to betray the Vinsmokes, Judge and his other sons allied with Sanji and the Straw Hats to escape from Whole Cake Island. In a twist of fate, some time later Sanji awakened his genetic enhancements as a Vinsmoke, but Judge will never know about this, as they have agreed to never speak again.

Sanji refuses to acknowledge Judge as his father, instead seeing his mentor Zeff as a paternal figure, while Judge doesn’t see Sanji as his son. The problem is that Judge doesn’t even love those whom he considers worthy of being his sons. Seeing his children as expendable objects rather than human beings, Judge is clearly the worst father in One Piece.