Pirates vs. Ninjas

[Coobreedan]

Bah, ninjas are overated.

Take that back....

[Nightfire]

Did I actually post that previous statement of mine?? I can't remember.


NINJAS!!!

[Coobreedan]

There are no animes about pirates. THERE ARE BILLIONS OF ANIMES ABOUT NINJAS!

[Matthias720]

Actually, there are. >.>

[Coobreedan]

And Naruto is the best! Believe it!

[eualaia]

naruto eats pie therefore he is epic and a ninja

[Tiria Wildlough]

Let me show you why ninjas will triumph:


And they use shurikens, like Nightfire said!!

Don't tell me that isn't cool. Seriously.

[Coobreedan]

Actually, there are. >.>

Oh yeah, One Piece.

[eualaia]

ninjas
win

[Bragoon]

Buzzkill Bragoon is a buzzkill. 
The question I always ask is whether you mean the common conception about ninjas, or the real ninjas?

Ninja's were assassins and backstabbers, not enigmatic masters of myriad martial arts and weapons.  Nobody trusted them because they weren't to be trusted.  They'd just as soon stab you in the back as another person.  They might have known certain styles of martial arts and used unique weapons, but when people talk about ninjas running up walls and dashing across rooftops, they're wrong. 
Any samurai or solid fighter in a Japanese army would know just as much, if not more, about martial arts as a ninja (on average, surely there were some specialized people in each party), and they almost certainly would know more about fighting with traditional weapons as a ninja.  Ninjas weren't trusted because they resorted to subterfuge and deceit to kill, not their masterful fighting skills.

Pirates, on the other hand, were dreaded by many seafarers for thousands of years.  They fought, killed, and stole for a living, and if you weren't good enough at any of those things, you weren't going to be a pirate for very long, and I don't mean due to a career change.  They learned tricks to lure other ships into a sense of false security so that they could get close enough to do what they did best.  Granted, most pirates wouldn't challenge a ship carrying soldiers and cannon, but some would for sure. 
No ninja would challenge a samurai to a straight fight.  Pirates did it for a living.  I'm going with pirates, thanks. 

[eualaia]

hmph i have a collection of ninja weapons including 5 katanas and 4 kunais

[Bragoon]

Lovely, but remember that katanas were swords used by Japanese fighters in general, not only ninjas, and kunai were more commonly used as farming tools than weapons.

[eualaia]

kunai are throwing knives of a type

katanas are awesome i have one from a movie

[Bragoon]

Perhaps, but only adapted ones.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunai

I fully agree, Katanas are awesome.  So are Gladius (the sword, not the Latin word), Kukri, and nearly any other type of sword.   

[eualaia]

this kunai