This article contains spoilers from One Piece’s Elbaf arc.
Haki has played a tremendous role in One Piece up until this point. Although it was properly introduced in the story around the timeskip, it has since then developed greatly to the point where even a single major battle without this power seems impossible to envision. Haki is most certainly going to grow even further in importance as the Final Saga of One Piece continues. This means the biggest secrets of Haki will be revealed to the fans soon, and Oda will most likely touch upon its very essence.
One Piece Finally Reveals The Next Level Of Haki
Advanced Haki isn’t the final step. Oda reveals a level of mastery beyond that in One Piece.
While a lot of things about Haki remain unknown, the fact is that Oda has actually illustrated some deep secrets of this power very well in the story, although not everyone would have picked up on them. Just as Oda has highlighted the biggest strengths of Haki, he has also revealed the biggest weakness of this ability and that is doubt and hesitation. With doubt, Haki grows weaker and it can easily be overpowered, and this is something that Oda is constantly highlighting in the Final Saga.
Haki’s Biggest Weakness Is Hesitation And Doubt
To understand the biggest weakness of Haki, one needs to understand what Haki truly is. Haki is not a special power like Devil Fruits. It is simply something that everyone in the One Piece world is blessed with. Even those who don’t use Haki actually have Haki, and it can be very strong. Haki is within everyone since it is simply one’s own spirit and willpower.
To never doubt, that is true strength. — Silvers Rayleigh to Luffy
When one thinks of Haki as just a manifestation of willpower and spirit, its understanding becomes quite clear. Haki allows one to sense emotions and even do things like see the future. With immense training, the spirit is refined to the point where, under immense focus, it can do things like predict attacks or even sense true emotions.
Similarly, Haki can nullify Devil Fruit abilities on contact, and even this can be explained using the same logic. When one masters control over their spirit, they can then attack the spirit of the other person, which essentially bypasses the elemental protection offered by Devil Fruits. This is also precisely why Haki gets weaker with doubt and hesitation.
Haki Weakens With Doubt
Many years ago, in the Whole Cake Island Arc, fans started wondering why Big Mom, who constantly coated herself in Conqueror’s Haki, was injured when Mother Carmel’s picture was broken. The answer to this question is quite simple. When Mother Carmel’s picture broke, her mental state deteriorated and her Haki dropped to the point where she could actually be killed.
Listen, Kuzan! Hesitation makes you weak! — Garp to Kuzan
Similarly, when Katakuri fought Luffy and the latter found out his secret, his state of panic and hesitation made it so that his Haki would not work properly, and that is why Luffy was able to land blows on him.
After 15 Years, One Piece Finally Introduces A New Haki Power
Haki is king, and Oda just revealed a brand new Haki ability in One Piece.
Similarly, when Garp fought Kuzan, he was able to overpower him easily. The only thing Garp said to him was “Hesitation is weakness.” This also explains why, despite having powerful Haki, Rocks was easily Domi Reversed in God Valley. The truth is that Rocks hesitated because of his wife and his son, and this allowed Imu to overwhelm his Haki and Domi Reverse him.
When Rocks tried to resist, Imu brought up Harald, another weakness of Rocks, into it, and successfully Domi Reversed him. Only those who do not hesitate can have the strongest Haki and those who have the strongest Haki cannot be beaten.
Unwavering Belief Grants The Strongest Haki
When one looks at Haki at a basic level and understands that it is truly just spirit and willpower, it becomes quite easy to see why those with unwavering beliefs, such as Luffy and Roger, eventually reach the top. They do not hesitate and there is absolutely no doubt in their mind about what they want to accomplish.
Luffy, in particular, never hesitates and this is why he will go on to conquer the seas and become the Pirate King.
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece will be featured in this week’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1168 is December 7, 2025. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday, which is 11:00 AM EST, or 8:00 AM PT. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus and the Shonen Jump apps.
- Release Date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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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
- Writers
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
