The following article contains spoilers for One Piece.
One Piece has been heading towards the Final Saga for several years now, and fans seem to be more excited than ever about the latest developments. With new episodes releasing in April, One Piece is now at the peak of its popularity. While the anime will likely follow a seasonal schedule moving forward, the manga is still going on, delivering great revelations.
As the series started to explore the concept of Haki and all the possibilities surrounding it, fans soon started to speculate how significant Haki could become in the future. In the Wano Arc, new information about it emerged, and it is clearer than ever that Haki will be key in the final saga of the story. However, while fans tend to focus on Conqueror’s Haki (or Supreme King Haki), Armament Haki should still matter in the next developments, and it could even be a great way to make enemies powerful without resorting to far-fetched power-scaling.
It’s Official: One Piece’s Three Strongest Haki Masters Have Been Confirmed
In the current era of One Piece, three characters have been confirmed to be the greatest Haki masters.
What Is Haki In One Piece?
Haki is a form of energy that reflects the user’s willpower. While technically anyone can use Haki, only a few people unlock it since it usually requires a lot of training. By using Haki, the user’s perception and physical powers are enhanced. There are three types of Haki:
- Armament Haki;
- Observation Haki;
- Supreme King Haki (the rarest one).
While it is possible to be proficient in both Armament and Observation Haki, like Luffy, most users only master one of them. Many key characters in One Piece have unleashed it, like Shanks, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Koby, and others. The most common way to awaken Haki is through intense training, though a handful of individuals may unlock it in battle or even be born with awakened Haki. One of the most interesting advantages of using this energy/technique is that it allows users to nullify the effects of Devil Fruits, making it possible to harm their enemies. However, it takes a heavy toll on the user’s body, so overusing it may lead to exhaustion.
Types of Haki in the Series
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At first, two types of Haki were explored: Armament Haki and Observation Haki. As their names suggest, Armament Haki is related to creating some sort of invisible armor, while Observation Haki is all about enhancing sensory abilities.
Observation Haki was first introduced during the Jaya Arc, when Blackbeard used it, but the mention of the word ‘Haki’ only came later, during the Amazon Lily Arc. The invisible armor created by using Armament Haki can also be used to enhance weapons. This type of Haki was introduced by Sentomaru in the Sabaody Archipelago Arc. He used it during a battle against Luffy. Later, the series further explored the concept, especially during the Summit War in the Marineford Arc.
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Balance the critic averages
Balance the critic averages
Easy (6)Medium (8)Hard (10)
The rarest one, the Supreme King Haki (also known as Conqueror’s Haki) was only officially mentioned during the Amazon Lily Arc, but the story actually introduced it right in Chapter 1 by Shanks. At the time, it just looked like something powerful. This Haki allows the user to intimidate and dominate their opponents.
However, it can only be mastered through intense training. Only those born with the ‘quality of a king’ actually unlock it, and that’s why it is rare; so rare that those who awaken it are considered ‘chosen ones’. It is also implied that bloodlines may play a role, so users may indeed be ‘chosen’ in some way.
One Piece Moving Towards Final Saga
As the story progressed, more information about Haki started to be revealed, becoming a key element in the series. Then, in the Wano Country Arc, Kaidou stated that Haki is the defining factor for someone to conquer the sea, which sparked many debates among fans and made it clear that Haki will be essential in the final moments of the manga. Kaidou claimed that harnessing it is even more important than having power from Devil Fruits, meaning that Fruits are no match for someone who truly awakened Haki.
Because only Haki can transcend all. In the end, a strong Devil Fruit power isn’t enough to conquer these seas!!
— Kaidou in One Piece Chapter
The series does seem to agree with him. For example, even though Edward Newgate was strong due to the power of Gura Gura no Mi, which allowed him to destroy the world, he could never defeat Gol D. Roger, who didn’t eat any Devil Fruit. Roger conquered the Grand Line just using Haki, and he defeated many Devil Fruits users before vanishing.
Armament Haki Should Be Explored
Since the manga strongly implies that Haki is the key to defeating even the strongest Devil Fruit users, it is likely that they will be massively important, and fans increasingly expect to see a strong development in Haki techniques, putting them to a whole new level in the series, especially when it comes to the members of the Straw Hat Crew and their potentially new abilities.
In fact, since Haki is quite adaptable to fit the needs of the story, the hype around it has grown to the point that some fans complain that Haki has become some sort of jack of all trades to explain how characters can become insanely powerful. At this point, Haki has evolved into a power system, but this could potentially raise the stakes too high for some fans.
Despite that, the manga is clearly going down the way of making Haki ever more important. And, in this sense, Armament Haki could be even further explored in the series. As mentioned, this type of Haki allows the user to create invisible armor around the user’s body, and it can also be used to enhance weapons. With a few tweaks, weapon enhancement could be taken to a new level, a way to escalate the foe’s power without constantly introducing overpowered abilities. This could be a simple solution to keep the stakes high in a somewhat realistic way that could keep even the more “skeptical” fans excited.
- Release Date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
