I'm so glad they made the Chopperphage Nebulizer pink. I would have been so mad if it wasn't, considering the shape was an obvious reference to Hiriluk's cherry blossoms. And the animation for the "I'm not a Tanuki!" slap was actually pretty cool, gave Monster Point a level of agility that it hadn't had before.
This was Chopper's true big moment on Onigashima, I'm glad they did it justice. They could have done better, but they could have done a lot worse.
It was telegraphed from pretty far away, but World Seeker gets full Alabasta in its second half. Complete with Luffy getting tough with Jeanne about the reality of the situation (Doesn't go quite as far as with Vivi though... oh, and he doesn't punch her in the face) and tells her to stop trying to solve everything on her own and let him and his crew help her. I'm mixed on it... Its so similar to Vivi that its kind of awkward. But, its not as though its bad characterization, and it is mixed up some with the main antagonist being her brother. But hey, if you've ever wanted to see Rob Lucci be treated like a total chump, then this segment's got something for you... (In fairness, the game has to act as though Lucci doesn't know Haki, which I believe its been confirmed that he does but not shown in story yet, right?)
Unlocked Gear Fourth for use as well, but unless there's more abilities with it to be unlocked later, its not really worth it. When it runs out it locks you out of gaining meter for special moves for awhile, but in most cases you're better off just using Conqueror's Haki or Elephant Gun anyway. Also, it doesn't make the right sound when Luffy bounces.
Edited by diddyknux on Jul 2nd 2022 at 11:02:04 AM
No, its not plot relevant. I mean that like in the movies, characters have to exist basically as they did at the point the story was at when the game came out. As far as I could tell, Lucci wasn't using Haki in any of his attacks during the fight with him, so I figured he must not have shown it off in story by this point yet. ("This point" being while Whole Cake Island was going on... Which actually makes me realize it wouldn't matter if he used Haki in Stampede)
Edited by diddyknux on Jul 2nd 2022 at 11:55:18 AM
With them being the elite assassins of the government I'm pretty sure we are supposed to take it as canon that CP 9 had Haki all along. The canon explonation is probably that all the times Lucci used a shigan on Luffy without effect where when he was still toying with him before he started taking their fight fully seriously and a shigan with claws is just a more deadly attack with or without Haki.
The Doylist explonation is probably that Oda just had not fully defined Haki and what it is able to do yet. Funny that One Piece has gone on for so long that you can have a case of Early-Installment Weirdness hundreds of chapters in.
Wano also taught us that Zoro's Iai moves, Lion's Song and Castle Gate, are mostly likely using rudimentary Armament Haki, since they're the moves he unlocked fighting Mr 1 (where he remembered his sensei's words which Hyogoro later spoke word-for-word when teaching Luffy about Haki) and they're the only moves he has pre-timeskip that can cut through steel (I guess the extra time Zoro has to focus before he draws the blade is to enhance them with Armament).
I wouldn't be surprised if Sanji also had rudimentary Observation Haki pre-timeskip, explaining all of his big-brain plans and schemes and how he knew they would work (like seeing Nami super high in the sky on the Ark Maxim, or knowing where the controls for closing the Gates Of Justice were at Enies Lobby).
And we know Luffy was tapping into rudimentary Conqueror's Haki pre-timeskip because he tamed Motoboro and knocked out a bunch of people at Amazon Lily and Marineford.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 3rd 2022 at 4:53:46 AM
At least not below a certain level. Garp could, with the comical head bumps, but I can't recall offhand how much the Amazons/Gorgon Sisters, haki users Luffy could overpower without having it himself, could.
Real reason probably is that Armament Haki just wasn't a Thing for Oda yet. Otherwise it falls into that weird open secret thing I've described in the past where the only people who know about Haki are the ones who already have it.
I'm trying to think of places Luffy my have tapped into Haki (or rather, that you can retroactively say he did), and I came up with at least two instances of Observation; Little Garden, where he's surrounded by fake Mr. 3s but hits the right one anyway (though you could chalk that up to him not shutting the hell up), and while fighting Crocodile the third time, he goes to punch him, but stops the punch short as Crocodile gets his hand up, and kicks him instead.
Hell, if you wanted to, you could chalk up Luffy shooting a blast of water that later lands on him as tapping into Advanced Observation in a desperate moment.
I personally don't think that much about it, haki wise. Though I do like the Mr 3 one since Luffy himself calls it instinct.
To me, until the fight with Kaido, Haki hasn't been relevant enough in fights other than Katakuri (who did something specific with it) and Logias (that it specifically counters) to be worth worrying much about. Other than those fights and the recent bit during Kaido of infusing Conqueror's Haki into attacks, Haki's effect on fights has struck me as largely cosmetic.
As in if you removed Haki from the equation many would go exactly the same with minimal, if any, changes needed.
Edited by sgamer82 on Jul 3rd 2022 at 6:28:32 AM
They do highlight Luffy's Haki in Round 1 against Hody. He uses Armament to dent some steel shields that were being used to protect Hody, he used Armament to block Hody's kick without moving a muscle, and he used Observation to dodge Hody's flurry of water bullets.
The thing with Armament Haki is that it's not usually treated like some magic force, it's usually treated very realistically, like your skin literally turned into iron. The advantage of using Armament Haki is that your skin is normally soft and only as durable as skin would normally be, but Armament turns your skin into a metal weapon that can block swords, damage armor, and easily shatter rock. It makes sense within its own context.
It just kinda contradicts what we'd seen earlier in the series with Luffy breaking Kreig's steel armor with multiple repeated attacks and breaking Arlong's saw-sword just by grabbing it and crushing it. He could damage steel with his bare hands back in East Blue, now he needs Armament Haki to deal with it? You could argue that these are early instances of Armament Haki, but that's just speculation.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 3rd 2022 at 8:41:00 AM
Krieg's a terrible example of almost anything, though. Went around bragging he's "the strongest man alive" when he's probably not even in the top 100.
You can say Luffy breaking the sawblade was Haki if you want. He was supremely pissed at that point.
Although, the quality if steel is probably more important. Arlong's sawblade probably isn't as durable as, say, Zoro's Wado Ichimonji. (Ichimoji? I can't remember if there's an N or not)
Edited by diddyknux on Jul 3rd 2022 at 9:52:25 AM
Also we see Luffy shatter rocks with his bare hands in East Blue, I dont thing being able to slowly wear down an armor through repeated attacks is that much more outlandish.
He also broke the iron armor of a Franky Family member with Gum Gum Cannon, So I think the difference haki makes is that luffy is now able to do the same with much simpler singular attacks like Gum Gum Bell.
Edited by uncertanSearcher on Jul 3rd 2022 at 4:59:21 PM

Says a lot that Queen is still my favorite Wano villain despite how much I dislike the virus portions of Wano.