ONE PIECE GOLD
I am going to give my thoughts on Haki usage and its limitations. Please bear with me, it’ll be a long read.
So let’s start with the basics, we need to know a few things before I can actually give this my thoughts accordingly to canon information. What is Haki, or more specifically, what is Busoshoku Haki? Secondly, what does it use to manifest itself? And lastly, how can one increase his Haki powers?
All these questions are based upon Luffy’s Gear 4th. Most of us want to know how Gear 4th could be improved in the future, as the latest chapter, chapter 786, showed us that Luffy needs his Busoshoku Haki to stay in this form. We have also seen it will take 10 minutes to recharge, thus comes the third question. To answer these questions, question 2 is the most important one to note in this case. If we know how it manifests itself, then we can predict how Luffy is able to improve his Haki in the future.
Let’s begin with the first question, shall we?
What is Busoshoku Haki?
Right of the bat, we need to know what this type of Haki actually is. We know we have 3 types of Haki, but as far as we know, Luffy only requires the use of Busoshoku Haki to maintain his Gear 4th.
Now then, what is Busoshoku Haki?
Also known as Armaments Haki, Busoshoku Haki grants the user to create a type of armour around them. The Haki allows the user to increase the power of his attack and even can create fire in Luffy’s case. The Haki can nullify Devil Fruit powers, may it be Logia, Paramecia or Zoan. The Haki can also be used on inanimate objects, like swords and guns (and even bamboo sticks). It can also coat bullets, which oddly stay embodied with the Haki even though the user doesn’t touch it. Quite impressive. Would be a nice topic to talk about in the future, wouldn’t it?
Fine, now we know what the Haki does, it would be nice to know what is uses to manifest itself. And no matter how much googling I did, it always came down to 2, not 1, things. The most obvious of these two is Willpower. But now it gets more… interesting.
The second power it needs to manifest itself is lifeforce. Now, as a dumb non-English speaker, I was wondering if there was a difference between the two. So once again, on the the deep web. To keep it short, it is not the same as willpower at all.
This lifeforce has many levels to it. Some of which were quite stupid to be included in One Piece, but there was 1 that caught my eye. May I present to you my best friend since 5 minutes ago, Qi!… Okay that was stupid. Anyway, back to my point. Qi is one of the many elements to lifeforce, one that actually focusses on one’s energy flows. The more a person understands this rhythm, the better this energy flows through one’s body. “Oh boy,” I thought to myself, “could this be one of the improvements Luffy has to make to maintain his Haki even more?”. The answer is… No clue at all.
You see, One Piece’s canon information only gives us that Busoshoku Haki manifests with Willpower and Lifeforce. Since we are not given what type of energy influences lifeforce, or let alone what Oda means by lifeforce, we can not determine it is in fact Qi that does the job. That is why this mystery is so hard to crack. However, since it is a theory, let’s just give it a quick thought.
Now let’s say Luffy’s main drive is indeed Willpower (and has yet to discover his potentional lifeforce), can he improve it by understanding his energy rhythms? No, he can’t, this Haki will stay like it is now, BUT! He can expand the long-term usage of it. You see, when it came to Gear 4th, he was given a timelimit to regain his Haki (very vague since we do not now if he only specifies that he needs to regain his Busoshoku Haki in those 10 minutes, but to be fair, all Haki are driven by the same force, so let’s just go with that). Now this timelimit rang a bell. What if his Haki isn’t like we thought it originally was after we saw how Luffy can not use his Haki for a set period of time?
Reader: “What are you even talking about?”
Let me get into it.
So I have mainly seen thoughts on Haki which all came to one point, storage. How can Luffy save his Haki for his Gear 4th? I want to scrap that and give a brand new thought. What if Haki was a force that can be used for only a set time period whenever activated and has to forcefully deactivate to retain its energy rhythms, which causes it to be unusable for a set amount of time?
The main idea behind this is that characters like Luffy, Doflamingo, Law, Sabo, etc., do not have this Haki storage, but rather a timelimit. To back up this thought, remember, why does Haki never run out? Because it never hits the time limit. The storage would assume it would run out after a couple of days and needs to restock, at least, that is what I think. That restock idea with the storage doesn’t make sense. How can you run out of lifeforce and willpower at the same time?
A timelimit based on willpower and their lifeforce would make sense to me. Haki uses energy from the lifeforce, like Qi, that would interrupt the energy rhythm. Willpower will also determine your amount of time you can use it. I have not found a solid translation on willpower, nor did I find a great definition of it, however, as far as I have seen in One Piece, it is determined on how much you want something, or how much you want something to happen. I want One Piece, I risk my life for it and I will until I have found it. I want to protect my friends, but before that happens, I need to train myself. Etc.
Now this causes a problem. Eventually, your willpower will diminish. For example, we have found One Piece so I do not have to risk my life for it again, etc. This will weaken your Haki, which is why this lifeforce is so important. If you have greatly managed your Qi in a way that the interruptions in its energy will diminsh very slowly, you will have more time to use it, even though your willpower is not as strong as it used to be. Now, this may sound like a load of crap, but it can honestly happen.
Now before we go on to an example I purpose to you to think about, let’s answer question 3, how can Luffy actually improve Gear 4th? I think he can with two things:
1. Luffy yet again gets a great impact on him (not a death but something that makes him realize that he is still not good enough). I was thinking of an utter defeat of his crew and a narrow escape (sounds like an arc we have seen before the timeskip…) or, if absolutely needed, the death of a dear friend (maybe Jimbei). As long as Luffy finds a motive to once again want something, then his Haki can be improved. Highly unlikely, but a possibility nonetheless.
2. Luffy needs to understand the rhythms of his energy. If he does so, he can gravely improve his Haki usage. I think it is a great backup on his willpower and fairly plausible as well.
Let’s look at arguments people will use against this… Actually, I could only think of one:
Law said in chapter 785 that he is using too much of his Haki. How can this relate to your theory?
Quite simple actually. The more Haki you use, the faster the energy rhythms will be interrupted and blocked for a set amount of time. People like Vergo who go Full Body Busoshoku Haki will run out of time faster than Luffy does with his Red Hawk. Law’s statement also backs up my theory. This is no limitation to Strawhat only, it is a limitation to all of the Haki users in One Piece. Law knows this, as well as Doflamingo, who not only tried to understand Gear 4th, but also did something very obvious during his fight with Luffy.
He waited.
The moment he was knocked into that wall, he knew it was best to wait a while until Luffy ran out of time to use his Haki. at that moment, Doflamingo could finally finish Luffy like he should have, that was his plan all along… until gladiators started to back up Luffy, whoops!
Long story short, I believe Haki is not a ‘storage-able power’, but rather a timelimit-type power. The user can only use his haki for a set amount of time. The more he uses it, the quicker the time runs out. This is based on the person’s amount of Willpower and the amount of control over one’s Energy Rhythms (Qi).
*Theory by CreeperFace
I think Haki is not just a power. Remember what Garp said during the Great War when Luffy activates his Haki ? “So You (Luffy) inherited it after all”. It means that Haki is like a talent that can be inherited… I think the reason behind the limit is stamina and energy… We know Luffy 😀 Meat is his fuel… Great time reading your theory…
There is Haki in every living being, but most people can only use the Kenbunshoku (Observation) Haki and the Bososhoku (Armament) Haki. What Garp was referring to was the Haoshoku (Conqueror’s) Haki, which only appears in one in a million people and is the power to dominate the wills of others, which can result in those faints we see when Luffy uses it. That specific type of Haki might be inherited n some way, but Haki in general is in everybody, it’s just that many people never unlock it.
Haki is more like chakra in naruto. Then what ever you say will make sense.
boyyyy…..do u had break up ?????
u need to sleep
i think haki has no limit you see ace’s mother he hold ace for months using haki to protect him…
Please answer my question and maybe you never thought about this.
You know that luffy always use his busoshoku haki to punch such as a logia devil fruit, and his hand turn to black skin. But why rayleigh or marco did not turn to black skin when they punch or kick kizaru?
Is it because he can fully control of his haki power?
@Tio
I have my own theory on that. I already asked the same questiion to myself: why does just luff’y skin turn black?
My opinion to that is this: ruffy has never used busoshoku haki before!! i came to that solution when i read something about vulcanizing rubber. So maybe this is the reason why his skin turns black and not haki
Because that black thing that appears on luffy’s hand is just a representation of armament haki.
before timeskip, it was not yet decided to make the armament haki user’s hand turn black. Haki was introduced slowly before timeskip, but after the timeskip, the One Piece team decided to make the haki user’s body turn black to make it cooler 🙂
also, I dont believe that luffy can control his haki better than Rayleigh, he’s the one who trained luffy after all. lol 🙂
The Busoshouku Haki is mostly invisible, only appearing black in its most powerful form, meaning that Luffy actually hasn’t mastered it yet, while Rayleigh can use the apropriate amount of Bososhouku Haki according to the situation, Luffy just goes all out because he has no control over its intensity.
the black thing is called Armament Haki: Hardening
Tio i think that the reason for that is just that Oda didn’t think of haki when he made that chapter, he invented it later maybe? And guys after all it’s up to Oda what’s gonna happen
Common misconception, Armament Haki soes not nulify Devil Fruit powers, it just ignores them. The only know nulifier of DF powers is the Sea Stone. Also, I think you might be onto something with the improvement of Gear 4th, the second option, because the next Arc is probably the Wano(spelling?) Kingdom, also known as the Samurai Kingdom, and what lovable samurai have we seen with a special ability? Fox Fire Kinemon, the Samurai capable of cutting fire. I believe that the Wano Kingdom Arc is gonna expand the world of Haki, something like Elemental Haki, not sure, but it would be a great oppurtunity for Luffy to improve Gear 4th while assisted by those Samurai, as well as a great oppurtunity for the rest of the crew, specially Zora and Sanji.
i got a theory mostly based on yours but on the different way around. its just short.
Willpower = more of like concentration, focus or mental strength.
Lifeforce = more like base on Vitality or stamina or like Energy.
Explanation:
just like Nen power in HxH. You need a lot of focus to control your energy or life force or aura something like chakra if you would like. most of them are based on one concept. Flow of Energy and controlling it.
Armament Haki: like nen, if you focus your aura in a certain place in your body or in an object. it will be much stronger. but with a price, that would be your energy, its like stamina that if it drains, you lose focus, if you lose focus, you’re out. takes some time to regain composure.
Mantra: Like EN in Nen. with willpower, you can expand your life force in a certain radius, the more mental strength and stamina, it can expand to a bigger radius.
Haoshoku Haki: well this is just a thought, what if you need a certain level of mental strength or willpower that only very few gifted people can have to use their lifeforce to burst or explode if you wanted to with certain intimadation level. With training and deep concentration you can select who to intimidate.
so still for me its like a storage based. if you speak about time, it would be the time when stamina runs out and you need a certain time to regain stamina and composure/focus.
still i love your theory because mine is mostly based on yours that came up while im reading it. 🙂
And dont forget the Awakening!
A really interesting theory, actually the first one that recieved this many comments of what I’ve seen. Many of the forums I’ve come to read about One Piece usually discuss that who’s more of a Badass, mostly lacking facts and background search. You’ve did a pretty fine job, and I can almost agree with it, but let’s not forget that OP is a Shounen manga designed for a large scale of audiences, but still clinging to the childish ideals of “unbreakable will of the hero”, and things like that. The problem is that there are not many situations when the SH group is outclassed by far. I mean yeah, the learning curve is WAY TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Freaking stretched, (Don’t tell me that momental happenings have to be chapters long… Okay at least things happen, not like in dragon ball…) but they usually meet enemies who are just a bit stronger than them, and they can finish them if they want to with ease. Each time Luffy faces an Arc Boss, we’re put in the fear that he’ll be defeated, and then the miracle happens again. Magical feeling, I agree but it’s getting boring. What I really miss from One Piece is a stable power leveling system, so that event’s like “Holy shit he looked so tough, and fell so easily” (Zoro vs. Pica one hit for example) won’t happen. Of course luck can be on their side but let’s not overdo that Cliché.
Again fantastic work, and sorry for all the bitching… ^^’
Im pretty sure the reason that he needs 10 minutes to recover after using gear 4th is due to the strain it puts on his body because if you see after luffy uses gear 4th he said that he would not only not be able to use haki for 10 minutes but that he would be completely exhausted for 10 minutes. Now if you can remember when luffy first learned gear 2nd and gear 3rd they both had major draw backs such as the strain gear 2nd put on his body or when gear 3rd would turn him into a child. Now i dont think that luffy can only use haki for a set amount of time i think it is just a matter of training and using his new gear more so that he will not be puttingas mucb strain on his body when he is using it.