One of the great mysteries, that we all hope to learn more about in Wano is the creation
of the Poneglyphs. And with the clear focus on Armament Haki in this arc, I can´t help
but wonder if these, at first glance very different concepts, might not be connected
in some way after all. Haki has become a central part of the power
system in One Piece. While we got occasional clues in the first half of the series about
its existence, it was not until the 2-year time skip, that we learned of this other superhuman
phenomenon in the One piece world, beside the devil fruits. But what exactly IS Haki?
While the Japanese word “Haki” carries many meanings, the one that probably catches
its nature best is “willpower”. At its core it is an extension of the will into the
physical world. Haki exists in every living thing in the One
Piece world. However, most fail to awaken it and usually are not even aware of its existence.
Since it is a physical manifestation of will, there is a certain limit to how strong it
is and for how long it can be used. As a consequence, Haki can also be trained and improved.
In general, there are two types of Haki, that anyone can awaken under the right circumstances
and with the right training: The first of these two is Observation or Kenbunshoku
Haki. It functions as an extension of other natural senses by interacting with the willful
presence of other living things. Dependent on the level of training, Observation Haki
allows its user to detect the location and movement as well as the emotions or intentions
of a person. And in its very advanced form, it can even predict an action slightly into
the future by reading a person´s will before it is even translated into a movement.
The second form of Haki is Armament or Busoshoku Haki. It gives the users will a physical shape.
So far, we have only seen this in the form of hardening, but there seems to be more to
it, as we will hopefully find out in this arc. Still, in principle, depending on the
level of the user, this hardening can still be overcome by pure physical strength or by
another user with stronger willpower. Now, while Observation and armament Haki exist
in EVERY living thing, there is a third kind of Haki that only a very exclusive group of
people have access to: Conqueror’s or Haoshoku Haki can only be
awakened by those who have the will of a conqueror. It uses the strong will of the user to directly
influence the weaker wills of others. We have so far seen this submission of will in the
form of taming and intimidation as well as knocking others unconscious. It is still mysterious
though what the true power of Conqueror’s Haki is and what makes it so unique.
Now, as a consequence, the introduction of these three types of willpower into the fighting
system has changed the power distribution in the One Piece world significantly from
our perspective. Before Haki, if you ate and acquired the power of a devil fruit, it gave
the person a clear advantage over normal people. After the time skip though, we learned that
Haki can be used to actively counter Devil Fruit users. This allowed people WITHOUT a
power to compete at the top as well. In a way Haki has led to a shift from supernatural
power to individual skill and training when it comes to fights on a high level. You could
even argue that especially in the new world, having strong Haki might be way more important
than owning a devil fruit power. Still there is a lot we do not know about
the concept of Haki. While we now know a lot about Observation Haki, Conqueror’s Haki
remains mostly a mystery. But we recently learned a little more about the functioning
of Armament Haki from Gyukimaru. He explained to us that Zoro´s sword Shusui turned black
over a certain period of time in the hands of Ryuma, the hero of Wano. And it seems to
be very likely that this is connected to the use of Haki.
But how exactly does this infusion of objects with Haki work in the first place? And how
could it be connected to the creation of the Poneglyphs?
Infusing an object with Armament Haki basically refers to transferring and manifesting one´s
willpower onto its surface. So far, we have seen three different ways
of Haki infusion in the story: The first, and most common use of Armament
is to coat parts of the user’s own body or anything in contact with it.
This seems to be the most basic form of Haki infusion, that has to be achieved by anyone
who wants to call themselves a true Armament user. The coating of willpower hardens the
skin and gives it increased attack and defense in terms of physical combat. Additionally,
it also serves as a weapon against devil fruit users, since the use of Haki is able to nullify
a devil fruit´s power. Now, this effect can also be extended to any object that is in
contact with the body, since it allows a direct flow of willpower. We most commonly see this
happening with swords or clothing. But what does that actually do? So, for instance, when
Zoro coats his swords in Haki, it increases their level of hardness significantly, making
it stronger and less likely to break. Once he loses hold of his weapon though, the flow
of Haki stops and the blade goes back to normal. And, this brings us to the second type of
use: Infusing Armament into Objects for a short amount of time WITHOUT actually keeping
direct contact. As we just saw with the example of Zoro, usually
the flow of Haki STOPS when an object loses contact with the user’s body. Yet, we have
seen an example, where this what not actually the case. When Luffy was sent to Amazon Lilly
by Kuma, the Kuja tribe of the island actually had the ability to infuse their arrows with
Haki, which made them ridiculously strong and effective. While this is the ONLY case,
where we have seen this ability officially in the story so far, it proves that Haki can
be stored inside an object for a certain amount of time, even without keeping contact. To
achieve this, I believe special training would be required. And I would not be surprised
to be introduced to variations of this, like Haki infused bullets in the story in the near
future. Why else for instance would Kizaru be threatened by Ben Beckman pointing a gun
at him? But that is another question. Now, the REAL question here is, whether objects
can also be infused with Haki over a LONGER amount of time. Which brings us to the third
type of armament use: Permanent Haki infusion. And this brings us back to our good friend
Gyukimaru, who suggested to us that Shusui turned into a black blade over time by frequent
use through a mighty swordsman. If this actually ties back to the repeated infusion of a blade
with Haki, that would mean that it is possible to permanently store your willpower in an
object. Or in other words, making it permanently coated in Armament.
And while we have only seen this technique being used with weapons so far, I do not see
any reason why that should not be possible with any other object as well. So, let´s
think. Are there any objects in the One Piece world that seem to display these distinct
traits of Haki infusion? And the answer to this unnecessarily dramatical rhetoric question
is YES. Poneglyphs actually seem to fit perfectly into this category. So, let´s take a look
at what Poneglyphs actually are and why they might be Haki-made.
800 years ago, in Wano, a clan of master stonemasons known as the Kozuki Family, created indestructible
stone blocks that recorded important historical events from the void century. These stone
blocks would become known as the Poneglyphs. Physically, Poneglyphs are massive cube-shaped
rocks made of an apparently indestructible type of stone, that carry ancient text on
their surface. Their creators, the Kozuki Family, passed down the knowledge of how to
read and write these ancient letters within their family up until Kozuki Oden. Due to
his execution though, he couldn't pass on his knowledge, making Robin, the survivor
of Ohara, the LAST person in the world, capable of deciphering these ancient symbols.
In total, there are three types of Poneglyphs scattered across the world; Historical Poneglyphs,
Instructional Poneglyphs and Road Poneglyphs: "Historical Poneglyphs" contain pieces of
ancient history during the void century. "Instructional Poneglyphs" contain information
about the locations of the Historical Poneglyphs. And finally, the 4 "Road Poneglyphs" together
detail the location of Raftel, the final Island on the grand line that contains the legendary
One Piece. Now, I think, that it is fair to say that
the Poneglyphs are of incredible importance. They carried the secrets of the ancient kingdom
and the void century through the ages without the world government being able to destroy
them. What then made these blocks of stone survive for over 900 years unscratched? Was
it the material they were made out of? Then how in the world, were the Kozuki able to
write on them? A much likelier answer is that the Poneglyphs are actually Haki infused Objects.
Let´s look at the arguments for this: The first, and most obvious clue we have is
the indestructability and agelessness of the Poneglyphs. Just like the black blades, we
talked about earlier, they appear to be unbreakable. Also, similar like a black blade would never
rust, the rock that they are made out of never shows any sign of erosion or cracking. They
are simply prefect Cubes, preserved in time. Having them permanently coated in Haki would
defiantly explain this phenomenon. The second argument is the existence of Devil
Fruits. Now, I would argue that it is 100% certain that more than one person in some
point in time tried to destroy a Poneglyph with his devil fruit power. And we have seen
the destructive power some of these fruits have. If you imagine someone wielding a power
like Whitebeards gura-gura no mi, it seems highly unlikely that any type of rock, no
matter how special, could withstand such forces. With the Poneglyphs covered in Haki though,
the whole situation would look completely different. The nullifying powers of Haki would
explain why no Devil Fruit power, no matter how strong, would ever be able to put even
as much as a scratch on the stone´s surface, since it would be nullified on contact.
The third clue is the mystery around the voices of all things. Gol D. Roger was able to sense
the content of the Poneglyphs without actually being able to read them. Now, while this could
indeed be a completely new and unrelated power, would it not make so much more sense, if Roger
was able to interpret the will that was poured into the creation of the stone. The importance
and urgency that was used to create this record of ancient history would have been imprinted
in the stone itself. The ability to hear the voices of all things might in the end simply
be an even more unique form of Haki that allows their user to interpret a being´s will on
a completely different level. Having an object that is filled to the brim with willpower,
carrying a message of grave emotional and historic importance would definitely radiate
what was engraved in it. Lastly, we can take a look at the coloring
of Poneglyphs. Now, I am well aware that this argument can be seen as a little controversial
but bear with me here. Regular Poneglyphs have a dark-blueish to black coloring that
gives them their mysterious appearance. This dark coating definitely resembles the coloring
we can see in other instances of Armament Haki being used. The Road Poneglyphs on the
other hand are red. This special type of coloring in armament can be seen when strong enough
Haki is being used. Luffy´s gear 4th has a similar red glow to it, Virgo and Pica were
purple and Katakuri had a blue glow surrounding him. Additionally, we know that stronger Haki
takes on distinct shapes, like the flame pattern that we see with Luffy or Big Mom. The red
color scheme of the Road Poneglyphs might also be related to the red we see displayed
when two users of conqueror’s Haki clash. Now, while it might be easy to say that the
Poneglyph’s color scheme is related to that of Armament Haki, I am well aware of the fact
that the color aspect of Haki is still controversial. It is not clear in many cases if it is a design
choice or intentional. Yet the term “color” is explicitly used in the full description
for Haki and is being used in the manga as well. In my opinion, since Armament can also
be translated as the “color of Arms” it might very well serve as a legitimate fourth
argument here. All in all, I think that the theory that the
Poneglyphs are made using Haki infusion has some very solid arguments, that would explain
a lot of the mystery surrounding them. It would also bring more importance to the role
of armament Haki in this arc. Now as a conclusion, I would like to give
you guys a few questions to ponder upon after watching this video:
Do you think you could break a Poneglyph with strong enough Haki?
How many people might have worked on creating a Poneglyph in the first place and how good
were they with Haki? What other Objects might be infused with Haki?
And finally, do you have any additional arguments for or against this theory?
Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.
If you liked this video, don´t forget to like share and subscribe to be notified for
any future content of mine. Or dislike, don´t share and unsubscribe, it´s a free world
people. I hope to see you around next time and until
then, have a great week.