Who has the Highest Bounty in One Piece? Explained

One Piece features a cast of strange, hilarious, and often insanely powerful characters spanning the seas as the story progresses. While the series protagonist Monkey D. Luffy sets out to be the pirate king, he discovers just how incredibly difficult it can be to attain the wealth, fame, and power worthy of such a title. One particular feat that seems to go along with this aspiration appears to be having the highest bounty on your head, the greater reward, the better, as they pose a significant threat to the World Government. But who has the highest bounty in One Piece?

What Character Has Had the Highest Bounty in One Piece?

While it’s simple to answer that Gol D. Roger, former king of the pirates, had the highest bounty in One Piece pirate history with a whopping 5,564,800,000 berries, and for good reason. He was an enormously influential pirate in his time, possessing the legendary One Piece, with conquests spanning the globe via the Grand Line, and the World Government wanted to make an example of him. Executing him was meant to serve as a method to discourage piracy, yet it did anything but that.

What Living Character Has the Highest Bounty in One Piece?

While Big Mom and Kaido’s statuses are currently still ambiguous as to whether they’re still in the game after losing their emperor positions, they both held mighty bounties along with their titles. Big Mom most recently boasted a 4,388,000,000 berry bounty, while Kaido held a 4,611,100,000 price on his head, placing them below Gol D. Roger but still behind by over a billion berries.

The next highest bounty in One Piece otherwise belongs to a pirate very much still in play, Red-Haired Shanks, with a 4,048,900,000 berry bounty. Shanks is a fearsome presence whose battle prowess has still yet to be fully seen, but his position and influence, his mastery of Haki, and his insane ability to completely shut down powerful characters like Admiral Green Bull from a distance. This places him still a billion berries higher than Luffy’s 3.0bn berry bounty even after Luffy’s amazing achievements. Luffy still lags behind Dracule Mihawk, and even Buggy the Clown, it would seem.

While the status quo continues to change, it’s incredible how powerful these characters are along with their legacies, yet their abilities and achievements still fall considerably short of Gol D. Roger. Whether you’re watching the anime on Crunchyroll or flipping through the manga pages from Shonen Jump, it’ll be exciting to see how this all plays out.