Haki vs Devil Fruits. This has been a topic of debate ever since the time skip in One Piece. While some fans prefer the Devil Fruits due to their creativity and unpredictability, others think that the Haki system adds a much-needed level of balance to the world of One Piece.
But which of the two is the defining attribute of the King of the Pirates? Which ability is more helpful in obtaining the One Piece? Let’s find out.
The Significance of Devil Fruits
The world of One Piece is a colossal vortex of bizarre phenomena. Devil Fruits are the very first of those that fans got to see. The concept of Devil Fruits was treated as an urban legend outside the Grand Line, mostly through tales from failed and former pirates.
However, they play a very significant role in the first half of the Grand Line. In Paradise, Haki isn’t all that prominent. Only those pirates with exceptional physical abilities like Zoro and Sanji or those with a good Devil Fruit and plenty of experience in using it like Luffy can survive out there.
Types
- Logia: Gives the user the ability to turn into and manipulate a specific element. User is intangible to those without Haki
- Zoan: Gives the user the ability to turn into a specific animal depending on the fruit.
- Paramecia: Gives the user a wild array of bizarre powers that don’t fit in the above two categories, usually through manipulation of their own body.
The Authority of Haki
The term “Haki” translates to ‘Ambition’. It is a mysterious ability that allows one to channel a user’s spiritual energy of sorts for various purposes. To understand Haki however, one must be aware of its three types or ‘Colors’:
- Color of Arms: Armament Haki is used to Clad one’s body or parts of it with Haki that protects like armor and also hardens the user’s body for offensive purposes.
- Color of Observation:Â Observation Haki provides a special sixth sense to its user to help detect the presence, strength, and emotions of other entities that surround them.
- Color of the Supreme King:Â Also called Conqueror’s Haki, this form of Haki is only available to a select few people, unlike the rest above. This Haki allows the users to literally ‘Conquer’ or reign supreme over those inferior to the user by knocking them out just with their will.
Each type of Haki also has advanced effects that build upon the existing ones.
- Advanced Armament: Haki Emission, Internal Destruction
- Advanced Observation: Precognition
- Advanced Conqueror’s: Conqueror’s Coating, Negate Observation.
Haki Vs Devil Fruits
Devil Fruits are truly capable of turning the tides of any situation due to the sheer amount of variety available. Even in the New World and beyond Devil Fruits still play a crucial role, where many prominent figures use it in tandem with their Haki.
On the other hand, Haki provides even non-devil fruit users to triumph over those with powerful Devil Fruits. There are several prominent figures in the world of One Piece who rely purely on Haki without a Devil Fruit.
The converse, however, has hardly any successful examples. The only known person to survive the One Piece world in the big leagues without Haki is Buggy. All Devil Fruits users are almost always forced to learn Haki at some point in their lives.
Conclusion
In the world of One Piece, especially in the recent chapters and arcs, its been proven time and time again that Haki is far more important than Devil Fruits. It also doesn’t come with any significant drawbacks that couldn’t be mitigated with training and experience.
Many legendary Pirates, like Gol D. Roger, Red-Hair Shanks, and Dracule Mihawk rely only on their Haki and weapons but are still feared and respected around the world, even by users of powerful Devil Fruits. The answer to the question ‘Which ability is more helpful in obtaining the One Piece?’ seems to be Haki.