PurpleRain:

Shane.Z:
And if there's ANYTHING you should have learned by know from video games is that you will NEVER beat a pirate at insulting or verbal abuse battles because NINJAS FIGHT LIKE COWS!

...and Pirates fight like grass!

And you've never played Monkey Island have you ya darn Ninja.

Me vote fi 'te Pirrrate, ye scurvy mongrels!

But truthfully, pirates got their asses whooped by the daimyo in the 16th century, so I guess the answer should be Samurai.

Ninjae (couldn't stop myself after that plural angst previously in the thread) however mostly killed Samurai, although under orders from daimyo; and in the end Imperials kicked all their asses.

I'd have to say pirate, I think. It's the whole element of surprise factor. Ninja were trained to kill quickly and efficiently, yes, but they were not trained for combat. If an assassination went awry, they were supposed to run like the clappers, because there was no way they cold handle a group of guards or some such. That's why they use stealth, lack of physical prowess. Pirates on the other hand, while they may be disorganised drunkards, they were pretty hard nutcases. Pirates had to be able to survive storms, boardings, ship to ship combat... A Ninja wouldn't ever see that kind of action. I imagine a Ninja could only win if he had known the fight was coming, and he had a battle plan, and was lying in concealment in wait for the Pirate. Straight one on one, out in the open melee combat, the Pirate displays strength, stamina, and hardiness that the Ninja cannot hope to have. I'd say this is the sort of battle we're looking at, there's no sort of circumstantial environment, like a wrestling ring.

For those who vote Ninja solely because of Naruto... Naruto characters are pretty much ninjas in name only. The likelyhood of a ninja in a bright orange jumpsuit existing in reality are between zero and none. And whoever said ninjas can walk on water, Mythbusters proved that's not possible with the devices they supposedly had. *nods*

Yeah, I know I sound like the most serious man alive. So I shall provide the ultimate solution to your Ninja/Pirate conundrum: The Zominjarateborg! Part Zombie, part Ninja, part Pirate, and part Cyborg, the Zominjarateborg is the ultimate force to be reckoned with!

I find it funny that the people who like pirates more seem to have this strange delusion that ninja are, in actuallity, suck-ass fighters and that pirates have some awesome skills.
A couple of points-
Ninja:
(1) Constant training does not equal suck-ass fighter. Constant training equals very skilled fighter who isn't as brute strong as a pirate, but they don't have to be because they have weapons and skill.
(2) When surrounded by a dozen (and/or more) warriors due to a botched assassination attempt nobody is (in reality) going to win there, so the only option is to run
Pirate
(1) Sure, they have to be proficient sailors, surviving storms and shit, and while that lends itself to a good bit of strength and stamina it contributes little to actual fighting ability
(2) The most organized a group of pirates get is enough to not attack each other purposefully when invading an enemy ship, and with that they have little chance of winning an organized battle without the element of surprise factor.

So, what am I saying here?
Pirates = strength + hardiness + stamina - organized - skill = 1
Ninja = skilled up the wazoo + stealth + stamina + other benifits of organized training + organized + speed and agility - ability to walk on water = 5
5 > 1
Ninja wins.

Shane.Z:
And if there's ANYTHING you should have learned by know from video games is that you will NEVER beat a pirate at insulting or verbal abuse battles because NINJAS FIGHT LIKE COWS!

How appropriate. You fight like a dairy farmer, 'ya stinkin' PIRATE!

Dude, have you ever TRIED to sail a boat? It takes teamwork and organization to make a ship of pirate caliber able to take over navy and militant vessels to get at the sweet sweet booty. Honor amongst thieves and all that. If a Ninja dies, it's one less ninja to worry about. If a pirate's lost, he dies a sailor's death.

"When surrounded by a dozen (and/or more) warriors" Now hold on right there partner, who said anything about a dozen? I said a "group" of guards. That could be three of 'em. Could be eighty. Anyways, you talk like Pirates don't have the slightest shred of skill. Just to hold out a lifeline for the poor old pirates you seem to gleefully rip into, I'd hardly say that's a fair assumption. Sure, there were no doubt some absolute pants pirates, but there walso pretty badass ones (See aforementioned Blackbeard and co). It's a sort of generalisation... "Oh, pirates are all lousy blaggarts who stagger about drenched in rum and swinging a cutlass like an arsenal banner and firing pistol shot into the air while going 'Hoooooooo!'" Of course, we have to keep in mind, no one actually knows if Pirates or Ninja ar as great as they sound, Pirates are famous and all but it could have been warped as it passed from ear to ear, and as for Ninja, well, there's not really anyone to tell about them, really. I'd agree with Shane though, sailing a boat would need some uber teamwork skills.

By the way, please elaborate on these "other benifits of organized training".

lol LordOmnit you really love ninjas huh? Ninjas kill for the same reasons that pirates do. They kill to get money, for revenge or hell just to up their status in the ninja realm. Pirates kill for the same reasons. To be the baddest one out in the world. i think we all know that ninjas have skill but come on look at ninja warrior on g4. only one man can complete it and none can do it again. (not even the guy who did it the first time) if they cant do it now what makes you think they could do it back then? im not saying being able to do the spider walk is the only part of being a ninja but its one big part of it. to scale walls and climb ropes in a very very small amount of time is a very important detail. ninjas are more fantasy than anything. really, what is a ninja but a coward? he is a silent killer. he dosent face an opponent face to face but to his back. there is no honor in killing in cold blood. a ninja is not a samurai his sword to sword kills are very questionable. a ninja rarely ever faces someone who auctally puts up a fight against them. so i stand by my pirates.

Argh!

hehe ^_^

Yes, you are absolutely right, the average level of skill in a pirate was brought up to comprable to a ninja MERELY because of some pretty badass INDIVIDUALS. Yes, I'm sorry for forgetting to mention that the average pirate was a poorly trained slop, BUT that his famous and awesome captain was SO GODLY AND AMAZING that he actually made up for THE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER SLOPS.
As for the one ninja dies and the others go on...
Yeah, pretty much. That was the point, in that the individual wasn't as important as the whole, much the same with keeping a ship in line for whatever a pirate would be doing. The ninja does everything he can for the mission and if he ends up dying then they HONOR him by finishing what he (and they) started. So very "honor among thieves," yes.
Whether or not pirates and ninjas fight/kill for the same reasons is irrelevant to me. In terms of X vs. Y I only the aesthetics of how and what the two groups do, and the aesthetics of pirates ain't pretty.
And, okay, sorry for BLOWING your example out of proportion but, if you can avoid it, you don't fight against more than one other person (of similar or higher skill/strength/stamina/etc.) at a time and if you do, then we have a six-letter world to descripe you beginning with "stupi" and ending with a "d."
As for the Ninja Warrior thing, you honestly can't be telling me that you think they would be facing rotating bridges, jump-off-trampoline-splits-hold-onto-walls, and some of the other insane stuff that they are doing in that? I mean, Ninja Warrior is a really cool show and all, but hardly based in reality. A ninja had gear to assist him in hiding and getting to places, and the places he would go to were places not designed to be Hell to get to, that's plain bad for structural integrity.
"Other benifits of organized training[...]" lemme see... ability to bring one's body back to a balancing position (this isn't the same for pirates on a rocky boat, since all they can do is find balance if at all possible, but the ship keeps changing position so there is no equilibrium to fix back to), understanding of the human body so as to be able to strike in a variety of ways which become available under differing circumstances so they don't require strength that always overwhelms their enemy, need I go on?
And, ho yes, we know ninja sword skills were quite questionable due to their prefered method of killing being one that didn't require significant confrontation (insert Art of Theft metaphors liberally). When that failed they didn't immediately try and run away, they would try and take out their target AND THEN run away.
And what more than a coward in the truest sense is a pirate? He runs away from SOCIETY ITSELF because he's a dissatisfied prick, and then decides to pick and nibble at the society, purposefully causing pain and suffering to the common folk he disliked being. It wouldn't be so hard to get a real sailing job for them if they were such great sailors and, while the pay wouldn't be the greatest, it had a hell of a lot more job security than CONSTANTLY running away.

---
All in good sport though.

Pirates Rule! Muahahaha! Cast yer shurikens all ye like, me 68-pounder'll blow ya te smithereens!

Also, the decline in pirates is, by statistical fact, the cause of global warming.

Ninjas win short-term, pirates win long-term.

A ninja, having entered a fight with a pirate, will have the advantage of elite swordsmanship an, above all, sobriety. Your pirate is gone in a matter of seconds. But what do the ninjas get when they win? Nothing, nada, zip - they go back home and practice. A pirate, while badly bruised, gets the comfort a big pile of gold hot, pirate whores will give you.

raankh:
Pirates Rule! Muahahaha! Cast yer shurikens all ye like, me 68-pounder'll blow ya te smithereens!
Also, the decline in pirates is, by statistical fact, the cause of global warming.

You mean the one shot that might kill one or two ninjas followed up by the rest of the clan immersing your ass in an ocean of assassinated?
And I'm pretty sure the decline in pirates is due to something called the noose.

Pirates, again. In space, a ninja can't run. Just blast the guy with your broadside lazorz.

Wait, the ninja can leap from hull to hull I suppose. Aw crap.

Ninjas all the way. They can walk on water, they don't even need boats. BTW how polls never show results? Its getting annoying now, this is like the third poll I've been to and none of them have showed any results!

This seems strange results wont show anymore...well its a tie than:D

Pirates can't dodge. QED

I've often wondered why The Princess Bride had such universal appeal.

I now have the reason: Wesley is a ninja-pirate.

The implications of this find cannot be, at the present, fully understood.

Well, how else could he defeat: an expert swordsman, a giant, a poison that hardly exists even in the fantasy world, a death machine, and (while he couldn't move) an entire castle?
Although (as in Naruto and One Piece and a lot of other things that claim to be about pirates and ninja but aren't) he isn't really either or a combination of either one, just kinda-sorta like them.

rofl come on you being a ninja lover you must watch ninja warrior. dont lie now. hehe ^_^

Honestly I can see me appearing that way after all that I've said, but I actually don't watch much TV anymore since I don't have one most of the time, but I have seen it a few times before.

Kaisharga:
Pirates can't dodge. QED

Well I doudt a Ninja can dodge bullets for that matter.

That's debatable.
Although so is the "pirates can't dodge" malarkey.
Malarkey is such a fun word.

Cowboy wins.

keithburgun:
the plural of ninja is not ninjas you idiots

Is it Ninji (Nin-j-I) then? Eh, eh?

I went ninja. Although I really wanted to go pirate. Arrrgh.

God...

Your mum...

or...

Ninja...

Must.. Not.. Click... "Your mum"

Meh *clicks ninja*

If I only knew that option would be so hard to ignore:D

propertyofcobra:
POPULAR CULTURE
Pirates: Almost always have peg legs, hooks for hands, eyepatches or any combination thereof. Ergo they are good enough to survive some fights, but not good enough to get away unharmed. Lack of discipline. Superstitious, loud drunkards. However, they've got guns, and they seem to enjoy coming back from the dead as ghosts or zombies, or in one case, skeletons.
Ninjas: Extremely efficient. Masters of theatrics, like to turn invisible, throw shurikens and exploding bombs. Have a knack for finding cursed swords and fighting (and killing) ancient demons.
Both: Sucky taste of clothing. Red and white striped shirts and big hats, or black jammies. come ON guys!
Overall: Ninjas win, hands down ladies and gentlemen.

REALITY
Pirates: Very varied styles, morals and equipment, generally was only active during an extremely short time period, historically.
Ninjas: ....yeah, N/A sounds about right here. There has never been a successful assassination where people can PROVE it was a Ninja, but a few failed ones. So either ninjas were scary good, or...pretty bad. However, very varied combat, theatrics and stealth teachings were used.
Clothing: For pirates, mostly average. For ninjas, nobody knows. Black jammies were introduced for the ninja clothing by japanese theatre, because that is how the background workers dressed. (but all of you know this, right?)
Overall: ...can't say, to be honest. Probably pirates, they have more of a history of being successful.

Just because there's less history of success with Ninjas doesn't make pirates better. Actually, the number of successful assassinations that were carried out during their time period in which no one can find the assassin prooves that ninjas were more effective.

Triggerhappy938:
Cowboy wins.

Nah ah. Robots win.

You mean the one shot that might kill one or two ninjas followed up by the rest of the clan immersing your ass in an ocean of assassinated?

If the 68-pounder was a carronade, it could make that figure of "one or two ninjas" increase by a factor of one hundred - loaded with canister shot (a bit like a shotgun), a carronade would be a pulverising weapon. In fact, any cannon loaded with canister shot would be a very effective anti-personnel weapon, and they were used in land wars (of the 1800's, particularly) to great effect.

Ninjas would be able to kill pirates AND your mom in one fell swoop of Awesome.

Ninjas would be able to kill pirates AND your mom in one fell swoop of Awesome.

It's bald, unproven statements like this which annoy me. I like, as you might have told, to argue pedantically about these sorts of things.

I still stand by my statement about the gun being far more deadly than the sword. Even though well-calibrated, sharpshooter-style guns did not exist at that time, a gun still has the range advantage over any of the ranged weapons that a ninja may deploy. I think that people attribute too much power to swords, especially in fiction - look at certain science-fiction, where people fight with beam-swords; very unlikely to happen.

You see, pirates are generally too drunk from ye olde rum to notice the silent death that awaits them in the breeze. Thus, Ninjas win, and then root your mum....like the wind.

One word. Pirates.

Two words. Pirates rule.