What Is Haki?

What was Haki?

What Ye Qiong knew was that Haki was a latent power possessed by people in the pirate world, similar to the internal energy and aura of the human body from his previous life.

Those who could use Haki and martial artists who did not understand Haki existed on two entirely different levels!

At sixteen, Luffy had not yet learned to use Haki and was utterly unable to deal with the elementalization of Logia Devil Fruit users. His strength was roughly at the level of a mid-ranking Marine Vice Admiral. But after the Summit War, he trained in Haki under Rayleigh, the former Pirate King's first mate. In just two years, his combat strength soared, and at his peak, he could even contend with high-ranking Shichibukai!

Haki was like a dividing line, as well as the threshold weaklings had to cross on their path to becoming strong!

How was Haki cultivated? Ye Qiong had not the slightest clue.

His body had been tempered through Ancient Martial Arts' Vajra Body to an advanced level that was close to perfection, making him impervious to blades and spears. He could rival CP9 members who had tapped into the human body's potential, and his physique far surpassed that of ordinary people. Yet he could not see even the slightest path toward cultivating Haki.

"Friend, are you wondering how to cultivate Haki?" The old man in the cage opposite him spoke up, startling Ye Qiong out of his thoughts.

"Cultivating Haki? You're already in Eternal Hell, yet you're still thinking about cultivation? Did you knock your head stupid?"

"Hehe, young people longing for strength is only natural. Hahaha." The prisoners in the other cages teased him.

Ignoring the other prisoners' mockery and banter, Ye Qiong looked toward the elderly prisoner in the cage opposite him and examined him closely for the first time.

The old man's limbs were likewise bound by iron chains embedded in his bones. Though his body was frail, he had undoubtedly once been a master of martial arts. His face was aged, and his hair and beard were completely white, hanging long enough to coil on the ground. No one knew how many years he had been imprisoned in Eternal Hell.

"Senior, do you have any advice for me?" Ye Qiong addressed him more respectfully and humbly sought guidance.

"Let me explain it to you." The old man nodded and stroked his beard. "First, Haki is divided into three types."

"The first is Observation Haki, which predicts an opponent's next move and location.

"The second is Armament Haki, which can form armor over the body to enhance defense and attack power.

"The last is Conqueror's Haki, possessed only by those with the one-in-ten-thousand qualifications of a king. It relies on one's own spirit to intimidate or frighten enemies unconscious!"

As he said this, the old man's eyes shone like stars. His decayed and powerless body suddenly stirred, and an indescribably surging aura was about to burst forth! Yet it quickly withdrew again, as though it had never existed.

Seeing this, Ye Qiong's heart stirred. If he had guessed correctly, this old man should also possess that one-in-ten-thousand Haki.

"Senior, could you explain how to cultivate Haki?" Ye Qiong pressed.

The old man seemed to have expected the question and merely shook his head gently.

Ye Qiong could not help feeling displeased. He thought the old man was probably keeping his knowledge to himself and unwilling to share the cultivation method.

Seeing his expression, the old man smiled. "Friend, Haki isn't some secret technique passed down through generations. Plenty of people know how to cultivate it. It isn't that I refuse to teach you; I simply don't want to harm you this way."

Ye Qiong asked in confusion, "Cultivating Haki can harm people?"

"Of course not. Cultivating Haki in conjunction with one's martial arts can allow one to break through limits and climb toward the pyramid of the strong."

"Then why..." Ye Qiong was even more confused.

"What I mean is that it would harm you specifically." The old man sighed.

"Me? Why?" Ye Qiong could not make sense of it. Could it be that the old man had seen through his identity as a transmigrator? Or was he unsuited to cultivating Haki?

"Let me put it this way. First, Conqueror's Haki is an innate power that awakens on its own. It is one's natural spirit and cannot be cultivated. The so-called cultivation of Haki merely refers to cultivating Observation Haki and Armament Haki."

"Observation Haki replaces the eyes and ears in sensing one's surroundings. It uses the power of the heart and serves to assist in battle or control the situation. Do you understand?"

At that, Ye Qiong nodded in agreement. From Luffy and Doflamingo in the original story, he knew that Conqueror's Haki indeed awakened naturally and could not be gained through cultivation. Observation Haki, meanwhile, was called Mantra by Enel on Skypiea—the power of sensing with the heart.

"What would harm you is mainly Armament Haki! Armament Haki is derived and condensed from the body's strength, then attached to the exterior as armor or wrapped around weapons as a boost in power. Since it works in conjunction with the power of the body's muscles, it places certain demands on one's physique..."

"Does my physique not meet those demands?" Ye Qiong interrupted, questioning him.

"How could it not?" The old man gave a bitter smile and looked at him somewhat helplessly. "I already knew from when you killed that Vice Admiral that your physique is absolutely exceptional, even beyond imagination. But you are too young..."

"Huh? Too young?" Ye Qiong stared in astonishment.

"That's right." The old man continued to smile bitterly. "You are too young, and your body is still in a rapid stage of development. Cultivating Armament Haki would seriously affect your body's growth, leaving flaws in your physique or lasting aftereffects in the future!"

Ye Qiong was speechless. He truly had not expected that to be the reason.

But after thinking it over, he accepted the explanation. After all, when Luffy and Ace had still been little brats, the Marine hero Garp had already been teaching them. If they could have learned Haki, they would have been taught it long ago.

"The suitable age to begin cultivating Haki is after sixteen. Friend, you can wait a little longer," the old man concluded.

Hearing that, Ye Qiong smiled bitterly as well. It seemed he should first find a way to escape Eternal Hell. Learning Haki after getting out would not be too late.

"Friend, would you be willing to take me as your master?"

The old man's sudden question stirred Ye Qiong's heart. Raising his head, he met those cloudy eyes.

Take a master? Ye Qiong had never considered that question. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "I want to become someone whom even the heavens cannot blind. Can you teach me?"

"Kid, you're dreaming. Eternal Hell alone is enough to keep you locked up for life!"

"Can you two stop joking around? I—"

Before the other prisoners could finish speaking, a firm and powerful response rang out.

"Of course I can!"

The old man's cloudy eyes suddenly brightened like stars. A terrifyingly powerful aura swept outward like layer upon layer of crashing waves, spreading in all directions. That spirit of ruling over all crushed down upon the entirety of Eternal Hell!

The air throughout Eternal Hell seemed to freeze!

"Conqueror's Haki?!"

The prisoners in the other cages were shocked and uncertain. They had never expected the old man, who had been imprisoned in Eternal Hell for so long without a name, to possess Conqueror's Haki.

As he felt that spirit that nearly crushed all of Eternal Hell, the invisible force pressed against his chest like a heavy stone, threatening to make his body submit. Yet Ye Qiong smiled faintly, and an equally terrifying aura surged from within him. Though his aura was still only in its infancy, its indomitable spirit was incomparably mighty as it resisted the old man's spirit!

Boom!!!

In the minds of the other prisoners, two overwhelming forces seemed to collide! The invisible powers clashed like thunder erupting from level ground, exploding throughout Eternal Hell!

"That kid actually has Conqueror's Haki!" The other prisoners were utterly stunned.

The old man was equally astonished. As he withdrew his Conqueror's Haki, the Conqueror's Haki within Ye Qiong that had been provoked also receded. The two forces lay dormant and vanished.

A smile curled across Ye Qiong's lips. He had confirmed that the aura he had unconsciously released during his final battle with Sakazuki had indeed been the so-called Conqueror's Haki.

He dropped to his knees and bowed toward the old man in the opposite cage. "This disciple, Ye Qiong, respectfully takes you as my master!"

Possessing Conqueror's Haki barely qualified him to be Ye Qiong's master.

The old man froze, then recovered and burst into laughter, greatly pleased. "I never thought that I, the Night Emperor, would receive such a fitting disciple even in Eternal Hell!"

"You're the Night Emperor?!" A prisoner who clearly knew his name exclaimed in shock.

"Black Blade Night Emperor? The world's strongest swordsman from decades ago!"

"There were rumors decades ago that you had died. Who would have thought you were here?"

The other prisoners were also immensely astonished.

The Night Emperor, the first owner of the world's strongest black blade, had wielded the black Night Sword Style across the seas. Decades ago, he had been recognized as the world's greatest swordsman!

He was a legend of an era!

No one had expected that a figure like Golden Lion would still remain in Eternal Hell, unknown to anyone for decades.

"The world's strongest swordsman? Just an empty title. That person is the one who truly deserves it..." The Night Emperor sighed but did not explain why he had entered Eternal Hell.

"From this day onward, you are my disciple!" The Night Emperor said with a smile.

Ye Qiong nodded.

Aside from his Space-Space Fruit ability, he truly lacked offensive methods.