Power Systems: One Piece, Part 2 Haki

 As said here, when discussing power systems in battle shonen, One Piece and devil fruits tend to pop up. The same cannot be said for haki, the secondary power system introduced very late into the series. 

So today I would like to discuss why haki is viewed as very much the lesser of the two power systems. 

Spoilers For One Piece 

What Is Haki?

To break it down there are three types of haki, armament, observation, and conquerers. 

Armament allows the user to coat their body in a pseudo suit of armor that can be used for defense and offense.

Observation haki allows the user to sense the presence of others around them, which allows them to dodge their opponent's attacks or sense how many are in a given area. 

. 

Lastly the more exclusive out of the three, conquerors haki, which allows the user to impose their will on others. This is usually used to take out a large number of weak-willed enemies. Unlike the other two, conquerers cannot be learned and the user has to be born with it. 

The Main Issue

I think what the problem boils down to is that it is introduced very late into the series and is nowhere near as creative as devil fruits in terms of use in battle. 

Where you have fights like Lufff vs Crocodile, where Luffy has to find out a way to hit Crocodile because he is a Logia type devil fruit user, and goes through different methods of hitting him until he founds out he has to hit him with liquid to damage him. 

Where in Wano, the current arc, with Luffy vs Kaido you don't even have to guess how Luffy is going to penetrate Kaido's defenses because the answer is haki. Which is what Luffy trains for the majority of the arc. 

Devil Fruits are simple in the aspect of abilities being easy to understand, but complex in the ways the characters use them. Whereas there is no depth to how the characters use it. I.E. character A has stronger armament and conquerers so he beats character B. The same cannot be said for Devil Fruits and if a user is crafty enough, can go toe to toe with any character (for the most part, there are some really garbage fruits and overpowered fruits). 

So to many, haki just feels like arbitrary powers that give characters a boost in their battle powers that don't have the same depth as Devil Fruits. 

How Does Oda Try And Fix The Issue?

In the recent story arcs, like Whole Cake Island, there has been a focus on haki/haki training that has tried adding more depth to each of the forms of haki. 

Luffy Vs Katakuri

Although his introduction is very abrupt in the arc, Katakuri is introduced as having an advanced form of observation haki known as future sight, which as the name implies allows him to see into the future. 

The important thing to note for not only his character but the fight is how integral his haki is to his Devil Fruit. He uses his future sight to essentially fool both the audience and Luffy into thinking he is a logia when in actuality he is a paramecia. 

Rather than the two powers being separate ways of fighting that the characters switch between, Oda makes Katakuri's style of fighting a blend of both haki and Devil Fruits. 

What also makes this a brilliant use of haki is that throughout the fight Luffy is trying to come up with a way to get past Katakuri's future sight. He comes to the conclusion he has to use attacks that are way faster than what he can see in the future. This gives the fight the depth that previous fights like Luffy vs Crocodile had, just incorporating haki. 

Take-Away

• When coming up with power systems there is a fine line between simple and basic
• If your power system is basic, find some ways to flesh out the concepts to add that much-needed depth.

That's all I have, for now, have a great day!!