One Piece

It would be great if we could ever get these questions as to when why and how Oda came up with the concept of Haki. If I had to guess, it is probably a combination of many factors such as wanting to expand on the powers and such in the One Piece world as well as a way to tie a few earlier plot elements together.

Conqueror's Haki is actually used in the first chapter, IMO - it's probably what Shanks used to scare away that sea king.

While that might have just been "Shanks is so badass that he can scare away a sea serpent just by glaring at it", it's also possible that Oda planned for Haki that early, but there's a better scene that really illustrates how early Haki, at least Conqueror's, must have been planned.

There's a scene (about halfway through the first half of the Grand Line) where Shanks confronts Whitebeard and his aura of Conquerer's Haki is strong enough that it's knocking out some of Whitebeard's men and also destroying sections of Whitebeard's ship. By that point, Oda for sure knew that Haki was going to be a thing in the series.

On some level, yeah. And the same for the sky splitting when Shanks and Whitebeard clashed - that has been used for subsequent Conqueror Haki clashes.

That's a good point actually, has there been any confirmed Marine or WG Conqueror Haki users? Wikis say Sengoku, but I don't know where that's confirmed.

In retrospect, it's probably fair to say that Shanks 100% used Haoshoku Haki yn chapter one.

Edited by GoldenKaos on Oct 16th 2019 at 9:45:30 AM

The Sengoku thing is from the Vivre Cards.

I mean, Oda ought to have planned some kind of skill-set for Shanks from the start, and it never seemed to be DF-based.

Edited by WashTheLaundryHero on Oct 16th 2019 at 1:55:18 AM

It was probably about as vague as "very strong".

But given Mihawk's rivalry with him, I wouldn't be surprised if it will turn out to be some kind of haki-infused swordsmanship.

Edited by GoldenKaos on Oct 16th 2019 at 10:35:28 AM

So does anyone else think that the theory that Blackbeard is Rocks D. Xebec's son has merit to it?

Possible. I wouldn't be a massive fan of it, given that makes the Duel at Banaro Island an next generation rematch of sorts, which has its place, but I'd just prefer One Piece didn't do it. But, One Piece fan theories can go crazy at times.

I remember there was about a week on the OneManga forums, right after Luffy had glimpsed Boa Hancock's back, where people were utterly convinced she was Luffy's mother. I was so frustrated with them I got legit mad and caps locked at them, which was dumb and rude of me, but the logical leap that entails...

This one is more sane than that, but still...

Edited by GoldenKaos on Oct 16th 2019 at 10:55:11 AM

Some of the other bits that support the theory are that Blackbeard set up his base on the same island that Rocks used as a base and the fact that he named his ship the Saber of Xebec. The latter is especially significant since Rocks' full name wasn't common knowledge.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2019 at 6:01:14 PM

Now that's more concrete. They're certainly intended to be Rocks' spiritual successor as Luffy is meant to be Roger's. Actual blood relation is another matter. The question is whether Smoker will continue to be the echo of Garp, chasing the future Pirate King, and teaming up with Luffy to beat the Blackbeard Pirates.

For all we know, maybe Rocks was the previous wielder of the Darkness Fruit's power, which may have been why Blackbeard spent so long trying to get it.

They don't seem to have too much of a physical resemblance if they are indeed father and son...though Rocks' maniacal laugh does kind of look like Blackbeard's.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2019 at 6:20:57 PM

Rocks has never appeared in a medium with sound, how do you know how his laugh sounds?

I said looks, not sounds. Compare the expression of his shadowed face when Sengoku talks about him in chapter 957 with pics of Blackbeard laughing.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2019 at 6:26:40 PM

Oh... I see. You are right.

My favorite theory of all those is that Teach has Rock's soul living inside of him somehow and that's why he can have two devil fruits.

If Rocks was Blackbeard's father, maybe he also had the same ability to wield more than one Devil Fruit power, which would explain why he was powerful enough to command a crew with the likes of three of the future Emperors.

And if Rocks was a Fruit user, maybe that's how he was defeated. Garps and Roger may have somehow managed to drown him.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2019 at 7:48:57 PM

It is curious how Blackbeard came to know about the Yami Yami no Mi.

I thought he said it was in that Devil Fruit encyclopedia. That's how I'd always assumed he knew of it. Though it may explain why he sought it out specifically. Blackbeard was the first character I can think of shown to hunt down a specific Devil Fruit.

Also, to contribute to the haki discussion. Regardless of when things were finalized to what we have now, the very first overt reference to haki was right after Water Seven, when Shanks knocks out a bunch of Whitebeard's crew.

*Luffy punches Eneru through a wall*

Title card: "Luffy Falls!"

Toei has issues.

Edited by LordVatek on Oct 17th 2019 at 9:37:36 AM

So I think I might be psychic. According to the spoilers, Kaido's henchmen blow up the Sunny in this week's chapter.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN... lol.

We don't actually see the ship go down, apparently, but Kaido's goons dynamite the cave where the Straw Hats stashed it. That the Sunny's already had a fakeout death in recent memory makes me wonder if this will actually stick.

The castlist for the new One Piece movie leaked online and Johnny Yong Bosch is the new voice of Sabo.

What’s a good image or video representing tears of joy?

Cause I am literally crying tears of fucking joy reading that.

Edited by slimcoder on Oct 17th 2019 at 9:29:08 AM

Who was the old voice for Sabo?