Monkey D. Luffy is one of the strongest characters in all of One Piece, and it goes without saying that in the final saga, he has already established himself as a monster. Luffy stands alongside the likes of Shanks as one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, and with each passing chapter, he is getting increasingly close to his end goal of claiming the One Piece. While Luffy is clearly very powerful, he needs to be special even among the Yonko to claim the One Piece, and that would require him to take his Devil Fruit powers as well as his Haki to the next level.
Currently, Luffy is a user of his Devil Fruit awakening already and his Haki is quite refined, but when it comes to the latter power, Luffy can still do a lot more. There are many Haki users in One Piece that are still better than Monkey D. Luffy, and as such, his Haki needs to be upgraded even further. As it happens, Oda has already lined up his next Haki upgrade after the Elbaf arc.
Luffy Has Already Learned Three Advanced Haki Types In One Piece
Luffy has Advanced Color of Observation, Arms, and Supreme King Haki
When it comes to the power of Haki, Luffy has already mastered the advanced forms of all three. As is quite clearly established in the series already, Haki is a spiritual form of energy that usually blossoms in the midst of battle. Be it Luffy's observation Haki, which takes his senses to the next level, his Armament Haki, which allows him to utilize his spirit as armor for offense and defense, or his Conqueror's Haki, which allows him to intimidate others, Luffy has channeled all three to a very high level and refined them greatly.
In the battle against Charlotte Katakuri on Whole Cake Island, Luffy managed to advance his Observation Haki to a level where he could see the future. In Wano, Luffy learned to refine his Armament Haki and could deal internal damage without even making contact with his enemies. Finally, in the battle against Kaido, Luffy learned to coat his body in the Conqueror's Haki, allowing him to increase his overall offensive and defensive output greatly.
While Luffy has clearly taken Haki to the next level, this power can continue to grow even further and Shanks is living proof of that. Shanks possesses Haki techniques that Luffy still doesn't have, such as the power to paralyze others with it from miles away and, more importantly, the ability to kill Observation Haki.
Luffy's Next Haki Upgrade Will Be Observation Killing
The Power To Prevent Future Readings
It goes without saying that Luffy is an absolute monster when it comes to Haki, but he is not on the level of Shanks yet. That said, Shanks is the model that Oda has for Luffy, and just as Shanks is continuously progressing in terms of Haki development, so must Luffy. Currently, Shanks has quite a few Haki abilities that Luffy does not have, and one of the most important ones of them all is Observation Killing.
Going after the new buds that just changed the world? Are you that afraid of the new era? — Shanks
Observation Killing is a very rare form of Conqueror's Haki that only Shanks has access to at this point in time. This Haki allows Shanks to control his aura in a way that his enemies simply cannot read him any longer. This means using Observation Haki against him becomes simply useless. Neither his movements can be read, nor the future can be seen at all when against Shanks. As such, Observation Haki is completely useless against him. Currently, Luffy does not have access to Observation Killing, and as such, he must gain access to this power before he fights against Shanks. Against high-level enemies, this power is going to be incredibly useful for him.
Luffy's Haki Must Surpass Shanks's Haki
Luffy is the Joy Boy of the current generation of One Piece. As such, he must be at the top of the era, but as things stand, Shanks is still stronger than Luffy, which means that he needs to work even more on his abilities. In order to reach the level of Joy Boy, Luffy's Haki must surpass that of Shanks. Over the Elbaf arc and whatever comes next, Luffy will have to work his Haki even further and learn advanced abilities like Observation Killing, among many others, in order to truly surpass Shanks' Haki, and then, be ready to deal with Imu.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- 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
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
