Willpower can be a difficult thing to discuss in-depth due to its vagueness and flexibility. As a guideline, this discussion will be following the qualifiers set by the The American Psychological Association and the Superpower Wiki. The APA's most recurring definition for "willpower" is the following;
The ability to delay gratification, resisting short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals.
According to the Superpower Wiki, "Indomitable Will" can be an actual superpower if it is inhuman enough, and Batman seems to agree. One Piece and Dragon Ball are both franchises with a prevalent focus on the sheer willpower to accomplish difficult or impossible goals, and the potential effects of this tremendous will power can get downright ridiculous. Of the Superpower Wiki's 13 listed applications of the ability, One Piece has displayed 11, lacking only Possession Immunity and Psychic Shield, but that is likely only because such abilities have not appeared in the story at this time. Although even then, the ability to resist Conqueror's Haki can be interpreted as a variation of both. Dragon Ball meanwhile has displayed 12, failing only in Psychic Shield, as Chiaotzu was able to use mental paralysis on both Krillin and Goku, and Guldo/Gurd was able to use mental paralysis on both Krillin and Gohan. Although once again, keep in mind the context. Within the story of Dragon Ball, both of these psychic abilities were hax-like and not presented as something that could be resisted through sheer willpower. All-in-all, the willpower of the major characters in both Dragon Ball and One Piece and the things they can accomplish through it seems to be almost unlimited.
The most impressive showing of willpower seen in One Piece is probably Whitebeard's, AKA Edward Newgate, the strongest man in the world, last stand during the Battle of Marineford. One Piece is known for frequent and unbelievable feats of endurance and damage soak from its fighters, with the main cast regularly fighting through lethal injuries. So it's only fitting that the strongest man in the One Piece world display the greatest willpower of all.
At this point in the story, Whitebeard was already an old man far out of his prime, and not only that, but he had already grown severely ill as well. His condition was unspecified, but severe enough that his crew actually kept him on life support most of the time. Multiple characters including Whitebeard's first mate, Marco, comment on how greatly the sickness has reduced the old man's health, although when the time came for battle, he simply ripped all of the equipment out and yelled that he doesn't want the enemy feeling sorry for him.
Newgate stood ready to take on the entire World Government without batting an eye, despite his failing health, although before he even had the chance to begin the battle, he was betrayed by one of his crewmates and suddenly stabbed through the stomach, undoubtedly piercing his vital organs, with a giant sword.
Whitebeard was taken off guard by this, but ultimately, although he would frequently sputter out blood from his mouth as the battle continued, the injury did nearly nothing to stop him. The wound which came next would make this stab pale in comparison, as Admiral Akainu used his magma-powered fist to punch a hole straight into Newgate's chest, burning all of his internal organs in the process. Then, while the giant was in recoil, a whole squad of Marines all leaped at him with their swords, impaling him all over his body. However, when his men attempted to help him, Whitebeard ordered them to stay back and wondered if they thought this was enough to defeat him before wiping out all of the Marines before him with a single blow while proclaiming that he was Whitebeard.
The Battle of Marineford raged on with Whitebeard showing no signs of slowing down. Every time he faltered to cough out blood, he would just remind everyone that he was Whitebeard and then keep fighting. He defeated hundreds of marine soldiers and multiple vice admirals, all while taking every single bullet, stab, and cannon ball aimed towards him. Admiral Kizaru would shoot him with multiple piercing light beams leaving even more holes in his body, and Admiral Akainu literally took off half of Newgate's face with another magma-powered punch.
Yet even all of that was not enough to make Whitebeard quit. He was still up and fighting, and capable of utterly brutalizing Akainu in their fight, and immediately after, a Warlord-level opponent in Marshal D. Teach, who thought he would have the advantage over Newgate if he entered the battle completely fresh after Whitebeard became exhausted and grievously injured, only for Newgate to withstand his attacks and have him on the ground begging for mercy.
So between his illness and stab wound, despite entering the battle already near-death, Newgate was still capable of continuing to fight even after all of these fatal injuries, through just his sheer will power. Ultimately, during the Battle of Marineford, he received a total of 267 sword wounds, 152 gunshot wounds, 46 wounds from cannonballs, a stab through the stomach, a couple of piercing light beams, a fist-sized hole through the chest, all of his insides charred, and got half of his head blasted off. Even after all that, he ultimately refused to yield and died standing up, revealing his back which possessed not a single scar from ever running away.
Now to be completely blunt, I don't see any character in Dragon Ball even coming close to this level of willpower. I frankly don't see any other character in fiction coming close, although obviously there are plenty of characters I'm not familiar with.
Characters in Dragon Ball like Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Freeza, and Gohan (both present and future) have been able to fight and function relatively well, fresh after losing entire limbs. That's easily on par with any of Whitebeard's wounds, but not on par with all of them at once.
Prince Vegeta has endured through astronomical beatings and refused to quit. His first battle with the Earthlings and then final battle with Pure Boo both come to mind first, but unlike with Whitebeard getting gaping holes punched into him, none of Vegeta's beatings are really quantifiable. Like, it's impressive how he takes a Kaioken beating followed by the Kamehameha, but what does that really mean? What does that feel like? What does it feel like to take a Spirit Bomb head-on? Is it really more damaging than getting half your face blown off? Just seeing a character take a beating from a character many times stronger than them, where they are punched repeatedly and thrown around, is impressive, but it's not quantifiable.
Arguably the most impressive showing of quantifiable damage soak in Dragon Ball is when Son Goku had all four of his limbs destroyed after a brutal and taxing battle with Ma Junior (the Demon Jr), and also had a giant hole blown straight through his shoulder which was then sadistically stomped on, and he still had the willpower to figure out how to fly on the spot and put all of his energy into dodging Ma Junior's blast, then finish him off with a devastating headbutt.
But where Whitebeard takes the advantage, is that a gaping hole through his body was not enough to keep him from fighting. Goku hadn't yet given up at that point, but he was also incapable of raising his fists and actually throwing hands. The broken limbs happened later, even when it was just the hole, he was unable to continue fighting.
All-in-all, Goku and Co's willpower seems more on par with Luffy and Co's willpower. Oda likely patterned the abilities of his main character after Goku, although unlike Goku, Luffy isn't the strongest guy in his series, so when the astronomically greater pirates like Whitebeard are shown, they have to be that much tougher. Luffy is impressive, but he's only a rookie in his universe. That means the endurance of Dragon Ball is only rookie level in One Piece. Which saddens me.
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