It's a new year, which means a new round of cards for the One Piece Trading Care Game. In 2025, Bandai didn't add much to the card pool for the first few months of the year, but that is most certainly not the case for 2026.

Bandai is kicking things off by releasing One Piece Set 14 The Azure Sea's Seven which features some of the Seven Warlords of the Sea as new leader cards. This set has a grand total of, you guessed it, seven leaders with five of them being mono-colored and two being dual-colored leaders.

In addition to cards from Set 14, Bandai decided to include a mixture of Extra Booster 4 cards into the card pool. We will be receiving half of the Extra Booster 4 cardpool within Set 14 (Green, Black,and Blue cards) and then the other half of Extra Booster 4 within a later set. For the purposes of the Leader Review, I will be omitting any cards from the Extra Booster 4 pool.

So, let's go ahead and get things started.

Trafalgar Law

Trafalgar Law is a Mono-Red leader with the standard statistics for a Mono-color leader, five life and 5000 power. He has the leader ability, "[Activate:Main][Once per turn] Select 2 of your {Supernovas} or {Heart Pirates} type Characters. Swap the base power of the selected Characters with each other during this turn."

Law's ability heavily relies on your board having at least one power 5000 or greater character in order to achieve his full effect. You'll need at least a 5000-power character just to swing at the average base power leader of 5000, but it's also important for certain Character abilities.

There is a shift in color characteristics from when the game first started, but the majority of the support from this set for Trafalgar Law is an odd mixture of 5000-power characters, many of which cost two or less and bring beneficial abilities to the party. I'd like to shine the spotlight on two characters in particular with lower costs that benefit Law: Eustass "Captain" Kid and Shachi & Penguin

Eustass "Captain" Kid is a four-cost Blocker with the ability, "[On Play] If your Leader has the {Supernova} card type, play up to 1 red Character with 2000 power or less from your hand." This ability works really well with our Supernova Leader, but the On-Play ability only specifies a Red character with 2000 power or less, meaning we have the flexibility to play other non-Supernova characters.

There's are plenty of options to choose from, but for now, Shachi & Penguin will do. Shachi & Penguin is a two-cost, 2000-power character that serves as a +1000 counter and has the ability, "[When attacking] If this character has 5000 power or more, give up to 1 of your opponent's Characters -2000 power during this turn."

With Law's leader ability, you can drop Shachi & Penguin on your first turn if you go first, then drop Eustass "Captain" Kid and expand your board while also swapping power to make Shachi & Penguin a 5000 power character to block with on turn two and reducing an opposing character's power. That's pretty situational, but solid when it does come up.

Gecko Moria

Gecko Moria is a Yellow/Black Leader with the standard leader statistics for multicolored leaders of 5000 power and 4 life. His leader ability reads as follows, "[Activate:Main][Once Per Turn] You may K.O. 1 of your 'Thriller Bark Pirates' type Characters: Your Leader and all of your Characters gain +1000 power during this turn." as well as "[When Attacking] You may trash 3 cards from your hand: Add up to 1 card from the top of your deck to the top of your Life cards."

Gecko Moria represents two common themes you see in Yellow and Black currently in the One Piece Trading Card Game. That is recycling characters for some kind of benefit, and providing ways to fill your Life pile with more cards. There has only been one other Gecko Moria leader prior to this one, and it heavily revolved around utilizing your graveyard to recur other "Thriller Bark Pirates" type characters.

This leader presents an increase in power and continued future potential for the "Thriller Bark Pirates" for those who enjoy the archetype. There is already a substantial suite of cards in place to support this Gecko Moria Black, so I'd like to take a look at some of the Yellow Thriller Bark Pirates that are new in this set.

Starting off with the Character version of our Leader, Gecko Moria is an eight-cost, 10000-power Character with the ability, " [On Play] Select up to 1 'Thriller Bark Pirates' type Character with a cost of 4 or less from your trash and play it or add it to the top of your Life cards face-up," as well as a trigger of, "Play up to 1 Character card with a cost of 4 or less from your trash."

This character provides a large body that can swing big while also putting another character onto the field, albeit by On Play ability or by Trigger from your life. The versatility of this character is invaluable for our new Leader Gecko Moria.

We also have this new Perona, a four-cost, 5000-power character with Counter +1000 and the ability, "[On play]/[On K.O.] Up to one of your opponent's Characters with a cost of 6 or less cannot attack until the end of your opponent's next End Phase." Perona also has the trigger, "Play up to one 'Thriller Bark Pirates' type Character card with a cost of 4 or less from your trash rested."

Much like the above Gecko Moria, Perona has a trigger that allows you to - more or less- reanimate a character from your trash into play. It is also worth noting that Perona's ability triggers [On K.O.] as well, which synergies with Gecko Moria's first ability to buff your Leader and other Characters.

Dracule Mihawk

Dracule Mihawk is a Mono-Green leader that has the standard 5000 power and Five life, with a static ability as well as a leader ability. Dracule Mihawk's static ability reads,"If your opponent's Leader has the 'Slash' attribute, this Leader gains +1000 power." His leader ability reads, "[Activate:Main][Once Per Turn] You may rest 1 of your cards: If there is a Character with a cost of 5 or more, set up to 3 of your DON!! cards as active. Then, you cannot play Character cards during this turn."

Mihawk is clearly better when facing leaders like Roronoa Zoro (take your pick), Arlong, Kuro, and Nefeltari Vivi. There are plenty of "Slash" attribute leaders out there that Dracule Mihawk might see on the other side of the table. However, Dracule Mihawk requires you have a character with a cost of five or more if you want to make usre of his leader ability.

With that being the only restriction on his active ability, we have a pretty good pool of options to pick from. Let's talk about some characters coming out of this set that greatly benefit that ability.

The Character version of Dracule Mihawk is a nine-cost 10000 power character with two abilities, "[Your Turn] When this Character becomes rested, up to 1 of your opponent's Characters with a cost of 9 or less cannot be rested until the end of your opponent's next End Phase," and, "[On Your Opponent's Attack][Once Per Turn] You may trash 1 card from your hand: Up to 1 of your Leader or Character cards gain +2000 during this battle."

Sure, you will need to wait until you can afford to drop a nine-cost Character, but the payoff comes the turn after when you swing at your opponent's board with him. When you attack, you're able to ensure one of your opponent's high cost characters won't be able to attack you back, or even utilize abilities that require them to be rested. That's one less threat for you to worry about.

Additionally, Dracule Mihawk is also able provide protection on your opponent's turn after attacking by providing one of your characters or your leader +2000 when your opponent attacks. Your opponent will need to work around a larger blocker and having one less attacker just to ensure they might be able to get through your defenses.

There is one more Character from The Azure Sea's Seven I'd to talk to you about that suits Dracule Mihawk Leader. Shanks is seven-cost, 9000-power Character with, "[Your Turn] When this Character becomes rested, rest up to 1 of your opponent's Characters with 7000 base power or less," and, "[Opponent's Turn] If this Character is rested, give all of your opponent's Characters -1000 power."

We've seen Shanks do something like this before in his Mono-Red leader form where he weakens the opponent's board.

This version of the ability can only occur on your opponent's turn and as long as Shanks is rested. However, you could easily swing with this Character the turn before you drop Dracule Mihawk - Character and ensure one of your opponent's characters is rested. This creates an opportunity for you to swing 9000 power into a 7000-power character to get it off the board. Your opponent would need to grant that Character a minimum of +3000 power just to try and save it if you swing with base power Shanks into it.

There is certainly battle potential in Dracule Mihawk - Leader and plenty of tools to work with coming out of Set 14. But how about something different? Something we haven't really seen before?

Crocodile

Crocodile is a Mono-Black leader with 5000 power and five life and a static ability, "All of your opponent's Characters cannot be removed from the field by your effects," and a leader ability "[Activate:Main][Once Per Turn] You may K.O. 1 of your Characters with a type including 'Baroque Works': Give up to one of your opponent's Character's -10 cost during this turn. Then, you may trash 2 cards from the top of your deck."

These abilities go against the normal characteristics that we've seen in Black's slice of the color pie. In the past leaders like Sakazuki and Rob Lucci caused many Black decks to run heavy on removal. Nowadays, Black removal is the bottom of the barrel as Bandai continues to print anti-removal piece after anti-removal piece. Bandai has clearly been trying to create a new characteristic for Black to play with.

This Crocodile is our first look at the future of Mono-Black, with a unique control shell that appears to freeze characters or benefit off their cost reduction in ways besides removal. Reducing the cost of opposing characters can provide plenty of benefits, but for now let's take a look at some of the Characters we'd want to play with this new leader.

We'll start off with the Crocodile - Character from Set 14. Crocodile - Character is an eight-cost, 10000-power Black character with the abilities, "[On Play] Up to 1 of your opponent's Characters with a cost of 9 or less cannot attack until the end of your opponent's next End Phase. Then, if your opponent has a Character with a cost of 0 or with a cost of 8 or more, draw 1 card," and, "[On K.O.] You may trash 1 card from your hand: Play this Character card from your trash."

Crocodile - Character does a lot of things for one card. He can stop a big attack from one of your opponent's Characters, provide conditional card draw, and even recur himself. It's also worth noting that you do not have to pay the card cost of eight DON!! to replay Crocodile - Character from his [On K.O.] ability, you just need to trash a card from your hand. On top of all that, Crocodile-Character is also not leader-locked, so you can play him in any deck featuring Black.

Then we have Mr.1 (Daz Bonez). He's a five-cost Character with 6000 power and +1000 counter. Mr.1 (Daz Bones) has a static ability, "If there is a Character with a cost of 0 or with a cost of 8 or more, this Character can attack Characters on the turn in which it is played," and an additional ability, "[On Play] Rest up to 1 of your opponent's Characters with a cost of 0."

Mr.1 (Daz Bonez) relies on effects that decrease card cost to get the most out of him, but he brings the potential to throw a 6000 power attack into an opposing character on the same turn he is dropped. There is only a handful of cards with Rush in Black's card pool, so Mr.1 (Daz Bonez) finds himself in a unique position.

Boa Hancock

Boa Hancock is a Yellow/Blue leader with 5000 power and four life. Her abilities are, "[Opponent's Turn] Whenever you play a Character, draw 1 card," and, "[DON!!X1][Once Per Turn] When one of your 'Amazon Lily' or 'Kuja Pirates' type Characters with 5000 base power or more is K.O.'d, add up to 1 card from the top of your opponent's Life cards to the owner's hand."

These two abilities lean heavily into what Yellow does by interacting with life piles. It might seem odd to newer players that Boa's first ability would trigger on your opponent's turn, since you cannot play characters on your opponent's turn. However, there are plenty of Kuja Pirate and Amazon Lily Characters that have a trigger ability that allows you to play Characters of the same type to the field outside of your turn.

Of course, Boa Hancock's second ability helps deter your opponent from removing your characters from the board by forcing them to decrease the amount of cards in their Life pile. What makes this ability extra juicy is that it says, "add up to 1 card from the top of your opponent's Life pile," which means they do not get any triggers from that card since they were not dealt damage.

Boa Hancock has a lot of potential power, so let's get into the nitty-gritty of some of the Characters that work well with her.

With the past few leaders we've gone over, we've only looked at Characters that fit into their playstyle, but Characters aren't the only thing card type worth looking at. You'll Frighten Me... is a cheap yellow Event that costs one DON!! and reads, "[Counter] If you have 2 or less Life cards, up to 1 of your opponent's active Characters cannot attack during this turn," and a trigger, "Play up to 1 Character card with 6000 power or less and a 'trigger' from your hand."

While this ability is very dependent on how many Life cards are left in your life pile, it does not specify cost, subtype, or even color for the cards you can play with it. This could stop any big attack from hitting you as long as the targeted character is active. The trigger from this event fuels Boa Hancock's first ability, potentially putting a Character onto your board during your opponent's turn. However, when it comes to Gorgon Sisters, they fulfill a completely different purpose.

Gorgon Sisters is a six-cost, 5000-power Character with counter +2000 and following ability, "[Activate:Main][Once Per Turn] You may reveal 3 'Amazon Lily' or 'Kuja Pirate' type cards from your hand: Give your Leader and all of your Characters up to 1 rested DON!! card each." Much like Crocodile - Character, there is a lot going on here.

Gorgon Sisters serves to buff your Characters and Leader on the board by putting to use already spent DON!! on your field at the cost of revealing cards from your hand. On top of this, if you decide to not play Gorgon Sisters, you can easily use this card to block an incoming attack from your opponent's board with their +2000 counter. Gorgon Sisters also has a trigger of, "If your Leader has the 'Kuja Pirates' type, play this card." As of right now, this trigger only works if you are playing Boa Hancock from Set 14 since there aren't any other Kuja Pirate leaders in Yellow at this time.

Donquixote Doflamingo

Donquixote Doflamingo is a Purple Leader with 5000 power and five life with the ability, "[On Your Opponent's Attack][Once Per Turn] DON!! -1: Select your Leader or 1 of your 'Donquixote Pirates' type Characters. Change the attack target to the selected card." Ah yes, a Purple leader that brings starvation to your opponent. You thought outlasting your opponent was only something Yellow did by pilling cards onto your life pile? Not anymore.

Donquixote Doflamingo, while he can only do this once per turn, can ensure the attack you intended for him doesn't go to him. Even if you intended to kill off one of the Characters on Donquixote Doflamingo's board, he could just redirect the attack to himself (The Leader). Doflamingo, like just about all of the leaders in this set, brings something new to the table for Purple. Of course, every new Leader comes with good cards to support it. So, why don't we go over two Characters that really help Doflamingo out.

Lets start off with Vergo, a 5-cost, 7000-power Purple character with the following abilities, "[Once Per Turn] If your 'Donquixote Pirates' type Character would be removed from the field by your opponent's effect, you may return one DON!! card from your field to your DON!! deck instead," and, "[When Attacking] DON!!-1: Give up to 1 of your opponent's Characters -2000 power during this turn."

Vergo is, yet another, anti-removal piece ensuring that you keep your characters on your field while ALSO providing potential to ensure you can fight another character for a more easily achieved victory. A Vergo swinging into any standard 5000-power Character can just minus a DON!! back to the DON!! deck to shrink that character down to 3000, ensuring you will remove it. This even works for Vergo's 7000 power going into an opponent's 7000 power Character. Your opponent would need to pitch at least a +3000 in counters just to save their base 7000-power character from Vergo's attack.

Besides Vergo, there's Donquixote Doflamingo - Character. Donquixote Doflamingo is a 10-cost, 10000-power Purple Character with the following ability.

"[On Play] DON!! -3: Choose one:"

• If your Leader has the [Donquixote Pirates] type, K.O. up to 1 of your opponent's Characters with a cost of 8 or less.
• Up to 3 of your opponent's Characters with a cost of 7 or less cannot be rested until the end of your opponent's next End Phase.

This Doflamingo - Character gives you a choice as soon as he hits the board. Normally, due to how much anti-removal is out there, you'll end up choosing the second ability. But when that first ability hits, and resolves? Man, what a good feeling. Doflamingo - Character doesn't have Rush, doesn't have Blocker, or any keyword for that matter. He just has his triggered ability with a big body, and that's perfectly fine when you can redirect attacks to him thanks to your leader's ability.

Jinbe

Jinbe is a Mono-Blue leader with 5000 power and five life with the ability, "[Activate:Main]You may trash 1 card from your hand: Give up to 2 rested DON!! Cards to 1 of your 'Fish-man' or 'Merfolk' type Leader or Character cards." He kind of works as a Mono-Blue Aggro leader, like Donquixote Doflamingo - Leader from Set 1, Romance Dawn. His strategy is pretty straight forward in buffing characters of a specific type, much like how Doflamingo assisted you in getting out lower cost Seven Warlord type characters as soon as possible. It's nice to see Bandai is giving certain archetypes new options for when rotation happens in April.

Another thing to take note of with Jinbe is thanks to the conditions of his leader ability, he controls your hand size so you don't get caught out by characters like Charlotte Pudding or Issho.

Now, lets highlight some aggressive options coming out of in Set 14 for Jinbe.

Fisher-Tiger is a six-cost, 7000-power Character with +1000 counter and the abilities, "[On Play] if your leader has the 'Fish-man' type, draw 3 cards," and, "[End of turn] Trash cards from your hand until you have 5 cards in your hand." So, if Jinbe wasn't ensuring your hand size stays at a set size, Fisher-Tiger can do that too, while synergizing with Jinbe's ability to buff him from a 7000-power character to a 9000-power character when swinging.

Kuroobi is a three-cost, 3000-power Character with +1000 counter and the ability, "When a card is trashed from your hand from an effect, this Character gains [Rush]." Kuroobi also has the ability, "[On K.O.] Draw 2 cards." So, with Jinbe's ability, you discard a card from hand, throw 2 DON!! onto Kuroobi on turn two, give him Rush, and swing in for 5000. If they have a blocker that's bigger to block him, you don't lose much and you'll end up drawing 2 cards from it.

Wrapping Up

That's every new leader coming out in The Azure Sea's Seven. But what do you think? Are there cards you think would work with these new leaders that I didn't highlight from Set 14?

Until the seas due us part next time, fellow sea-farers!