Hawkeye, Haki, and the Common Ground of Qi

"A distinguished guest of the Donquixote Family, is it..."

Vice Admiral Tsuru watched Zhu Mang, her gaze flickering.

At this moment, Zhu Mang, the person in question, remained completely indifferent to the tension in the air.

He flashed over to stand before Hawkeye, acting as if they were old acquaintances: "Mind if I take a look at that blade on your back?"

Hawkeye fell silent for a moment before reaching back to draw Yoru and handing it to Zhu Mang.

"It truly is a fine blade," Zhu Mang said, giving it a few swings before handing it back to Hawkeye, asking curiously, "I heard that black blades are formed after being imbued with Armament Haki for a long time. Is that true? Or is it naturally black?"

Hawkeye took Yoru back, feeling a slight sense of relief in his heart.

He had realized that this man wasn't trying to steal his sword, but was merely curious, which was why he had handed it over so readily.

"Half and half," Hawkeye said. "Armament Haki can indeed influence a blade to a certain extent. When certain special types of Haki are infused into a blade, leaving behind the consciousness of the original owner, it can form a cursed blade. However, Armament Haki itself has no color, so it doesn't change the color of the blade."

"Eh? Isn't Armament Haki black?" Zhu Mang asked, puzzled. He remembered that when he watched the anime, this stuff was definitely black, and Conqueror's Haki was black and red.

Could it be that his brain had gone haywire after transmigrating twice?

Hawkeye gave him a strange look, wondering how someone who could use such powerful techniques earlier could be so ignorant of Armament Haki.

Still, he decided to demonstrate.

Swish!

Armament Haki extended from his hand, rapidly coating Yoru.

However, if one didn't look closely, there was absolutely no difference from its state without Haki.

"Armament Haki is an invisible suit of armor," Hawkeye stated.

"Oh~" Zhu Mang had a sudden realization.

It seemed he had been misled by the anime.

He remembered now.

The manga did indeed state that setting, describing Armament Haki as an invisible suit of armor.

If it was invisible, then why did it appear black in the anime?

That was likely just an artistic choice added by the animation studio to make the imbuing of Armament Haki more visually intuitive.

In reality, this true Armament Haki was largely invisible to the naked eye.

Only upon careful observation could one see a faint film on the surface of Yoru that caused the air to ripple slightly, as if the blade had been coated in a layer of transparent varnish.

Zhu Mang placed his finger on the sharp edge, which was now reinforced with Armament Haki.

Hawkeye was about to speak up and stop him; his Armament Haki had reached the pinnacle, and he considered it second to none, even among the Four Emperors.

Combined with the sharpness of Yoru, in this state, if an ordinary person dared to bring their finger close, he wouldn't even need to swing the blade—the finger would be severed!

But before he could speak, he was stunned by the scene before him.

Zhu Mang's finger was resting on the blade without a care in the world, and he even gave it a few light pinches, as if he were squeezing jelly.

"How is this possible..." Hawkeye felt his worldview shattering.

There existed someone in this world who could ignore his Armament-imbued Yoru with nothing but their physical body, without relying on any Armament Haki of their own!

Meanwhile, Zhu Mang had made an exciting discovery.

This Armament Haki actually shares a certain commonality with "ki"!

Thinking about it carefully, the world of One Piece actually had certain similarities to the Dragon Ball world in some respects.

Of course, that was the Dragon Ball world excluding the alien arcs.

That is, the classic first part of Dragon Ball, from when Son Goku met Bulma to when Son Goku married Chi-Chi.

Considering the teacher-student-like relationship between the two authors, it seemed to make sense.

And the world of One Piece was, in fact, much like the Earth in Dragon Ball.

In Dragon Ball, when one's physique was trained to a certain level, one could guide "Ki" out from within the body.

Attacks reinforced with Ki were far more formidable than those relying on raw physical strength alone.

The same held true for the world of One Piece.

When one's physique was trained to a certain level, one could generate Armament Haki, thereby strengthening one's attacks or defenses.

It was just that, compared to the Dragon Ball world, the application of Ki in the One Piece world was clearly much cruder.

And it was also much lower in quantity.

In the Dragon Ball world, people like Krillin, Tien Shinhan, and Yamcha, despite not having a massive total amount of Ki, could use their intelligence to perform all sorts of tricks with it.

Like the Destructo Disc, which could cut through anything.

Or the Tri-Beam, which could hold off a second-form Cell for a day with a bag of Senzu beans and a smoke.

Especially Master Roshi, who possessed the Son family's signature Kamehameha, the Thunder Shock Surprise that could turn Ki into electricity, and the Evil Containment Wave that could seal opponents regardless of their power level, among others.

There are also techniques like the Solar Flare, which turns ki into a blinding flash of light, and Telepathy, which uses ki to achieve mental communication—all of which are skills from Earth.

In the world of One Piece, while Haki includes Observation Haki and Conqueror's Haki alongside Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki is said to be innate.

Observation Haki, on the other hand, feels more like a passive reaction of the body combined with ki.

However, there are some talented individuals in this world who can derive their own unique applications from the standard foundation of Armament Haki.

For instance, the Armament Haki armor used within the Navy—Black Arm Zephyr, Fist Garp, and Kong—the high-level combatants of the past didn't rely on Devil Fruits, yet they were still able to suppress their era. Perhaps this is the reason why.

Then there is Wano Country's "Ryou," a flowing form of Armament Haki; one wonders if this is the prototype of "ki" as Zhu Mang understands it.

After all, ki in Dragon Ball is essentially guiding the energy within one's body outward to launch attacks.

The branches of Observation Haki seem even more numerous.

There are those with ultra-long range, those that can foresee the future...

Yet, compared to the diverse blooming of techniques in Dragon Ball, the world here appears much weaker.

Even those who are considered top-tier on the seas do not necessarily possess a deep mastery of Haki.

This is because, aside from Haki and physical prowess, there exists the so-called "Treasure of the Sea."

That is, the Devil Fruit.

A powerful Devil Fruit can turn a weakling into a mid-to-high-level powerhouse on the seas.

And if one studies it painstakingly, it is not impossible to reach the very top relying solely on a Devil Fruit.

With such cheat-like items available, it is natural that a group of people would stop pursuing the tempering of their bodies and Haki, turning instead to the development of their fruits.

Of course, these are not Zhu Mang's goals.

After discovering that Haki and ki share certain commonalities, he wondered if perhaps he could use the Armament Haki of this world to achieve the mastery of ki that he hadn't had time to learn on Earth in Dragon Ball.

Although he might already possess a quantity of ki far exceeding theirs, when it came to micro-control... well, one only needed to think of the fish he had roasted to a crisp to know the answer.

Those fish would have preferred to rot on the ocean floor!