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Pretext
Sanji is faced with a huge dilemma, he's bound by explosive bracelets that will detonate if tampered with. As can be seen, he stares at these hands which have been cared for, tutored by, and fathered by Zeff; he's been taught to cherish and protect these hands as he does his life; these hands are not just implements primarily for cooking, but they represents the memories of the family that loved him unconditionally, his ideals, the dreams he clings to, his commitments & his aspirations.
Should he sacrifice his hands and escape to meet with his beloved comrades, or remain subjugated and be subject to his enemies? I aim to show the implications of his decision should he decide to fight back, and what it entails.
I'm writing this with the premise that he won't be saved, but he'll save himself. What does the act sacrificing these hands symbolize? Resolve. My overall aim is to elaborate on how characterization has been progressed through resolve, and subsequently leading to tangible empowerment..
In regards to Sanji and his current predicated, based on the pattern noticed, it suggests we're on the brink of character progression. Oda is setting up Sanji to strengthen his resolve via willingness to sacrifice for his nakama, only to unlock the Black Haki (Hardening) mitigating the force of the explosion and relinquishing his fate back into his own hands.
Sai's Resolve
Sai up to this point has been sort of a lackey, takes orders from Chinjao and does as he's told without objections. Chinjao has little respect for him, and even has his future set in stone - Chinjao has arranged a marriage, and Sai has no say in the issue despite repressed reluctance.
- Chinjao demands Sai to be ruthless towards Baby-5.
- Sai for the first-time has the audacity to oppose Chinjao from bossing him around, he's resolved to making his own decision for the first time - (The set up to character development).
- As a result of Sai's resolve, his invisible Armament Haki progressed to Hardened armament.
- Even more evident that this is an expression of Sai's resolve, Chinjao gives Sai control of the Happou Navy and freedom to marry whomever he wants; Sai has gained his respect.
- Here, Chinjao acknowledges Sai's resolve and explicitly says his powers have awakened; it's because of Hardened/Black haki that he's able to break the Ice Continent now.
Bellamy's Resolve
When challenged by Dellinger who brutally struck him down, or in the Colosseum where he fought to gain Joker's recognition, he never used it even if it'd have been necessary.
- However, once he stops fighting for others (Joker), and fights for himself and his own pride, his Hardened Armament Haki awakens.
Sanji's Resolve
Going back to Sanji, we know what he's going to pick, he's going to pick the SHs; this won't be the first time he's attempted to put his life on the line for the crew (Thriller Bark - Against Bartholomeo Kuma). He's conflicted about damaging his hands as can be seen through his flashback to Zeff's chastisement, but once push comes to shove, he'll push; he has to make a choice. This resolution will be illustrated as him fearlessly readying to fight irregardless of the consequences, he won't be forced to capitulate to strong-arming.
Subsequently, this resolve will be complemented by the progressin to Hardened Armament Haki which will dampen the force of explosion, and therefore keep his hands (ideals, goals and commmitments) intact. It's about time this year start looking like the year of Sanji, he shouldn't need to be saved, he should save himself; this isn't written with wishful intentions, but with reference to similar situations.
Introduction to Colours of Armament
This is a seemingly complex topic because it's not widely understood despite the strong hints. I intend to articulate this as simply as possible, so others can also understand this aspect of One Piece. People often say Oda has failed to explain Armament Haki, but the thing one needs to understand is the joy in reading One Piece is not just the story-lines, but understanding the different elements. Haki is one of the most exciting aspects of One Piece, Oda has explained Haki very well, not just with words & text, but with scenarios and pictorial illustrations and I will show exactly how Oda has done this.
What is Armament Haki
Firstly, Armament Haki is the sole method of effectively combatting the abilities of a Logia, how? by forcing the body of a Logia into solidity.
Any ability that doesn't provide the user with a Logia body doesn't needs to be forced into solidity, this aspect of forcing into solidity is strictly applicable to just Logias. Success of forcing to solidity is based on Armament Haki strength.
This is why Zoro was able to defeat Mr. 1 (a Paramecia with a steel body) without Haki, just pure brute strength & technique.
Secondly, the other aspect of Armament Haki is that it makes things harder. As one can see in the spoiler below, arrows that were made of bamboo became hard as steel as a result of being clade in Armament Haki.
As we confirm from the Cracker fight with Luffy, we unequivocally learn that Armament Haki is indeed a power that makes things Harder.
To conclude with this section, a punch that would otherwise not hurt would become more powerful with Armament; a block that would otherwise be ineffective, will offer greater resistance to provide a good defence with Armament.
Armament Haki is Mr 3's Wax on Luffy that's Invisible, but gives an invisible boost to physical blows & physical durability (with special ability to force Logia into solidity)
Subclass of Armament Haki
Armament Haki has 2 forms; One is invisible while the other is Black; the difference is that one is stronger than the other. The Invisible form is the weakest while the Black form knowing as "Hardening" is the strongest:
- The Invisible form as displayed by Luffy.
- The Hardened form as displayed by Luffy.
Benefits of Stronger Armament Haki (Part 1)
The stronger it is, the harder it becomes.
Can Haki be negated?
This is a widely perpetuated idea that many assume without validating if it's really true.
Negation implies cancelling out, but this is untrue. Armament Haki doesn't get negated any more than a Punch gets negated. If a punch is ineffective, what does that mean? It was weak - If Haki is ineffective, what does that mean? Just like the punch, it's weak.
The one thing that needs to be remembered is Armament Haki simply hardens things (with the special ability to force Logias into solidity). If anything, Armament Haki should be conceptualized or thought of as an:
- Invisible boost to physical blows & physical durability (with added bonus of forcing Logia into solidity).
By overpower, I mean the stronger force will overcome the weaker force because Armament Haki is just an invisible boost to physical blows & physical durability.
If the durability of "Person A" has his durability (naturally at 3) raised to a hypothetical value of 5 when using Armament Haki, "Person B" just needs to have a a physical based attack (a punch) at 5.1 or higher 6 (without Armament Haki) to overpower the character whose durability is raised to 5 due to Armament Haki.
Initially, when Luffy threw punches at Marigold who defended with Armament Haki (Invisible boost to physical blows & physical durability), and bare in mind, in base form, Luffy is at his weakest; his punches were deflected by the natural durability of Marigold and her Armament Haki (Invisible boost to physical blows & physical durability) combined.
So, even without possessing Armament Haki (Invisible boost to physical blows & physical durability), a DF user or non-DF user (like in the case of Hody) can still overpower or rendered weaker Armament Haki users powerless because Armament Haki is more or less, an invisible physical force added unto the base physical strength of the user.
Armament Haki's Doesn't Change Nature of Things
Armament Haki may be described as armour, but that's only because it offers protection and boosts offensive strength. When activated over anything, it blends in with whatever it's imbued on (always fuses or becomes one with it), but also retains the properties:
- Armament Haki imbued on Rubber doesn't stop Rubber being Rubber, it just makes it harder, but with Rubbery properties such as stretching.
- Armament Haki imbued on Diamond doesn't stop Diamond being Diamond, it just makes the Diamond harder, but with Diamond properties.
- Armament Haki imbued on Bamboo doesn't stop Bamboo being Bamboo, it just makes the Bamboo harder, but with Bamboo properties.
Benefits of Stronger Armament Haki & Devil fruit resistance to Haki (Part 2)
Not only does stronger Armament Haki mean that it gets harder to augment physical attacks and defences, it also offers defence against Devil fruit powers. Devil fruits have different levels of resistance to Armament Haki.
However, all DFs are not of equal resistance to Armament Haki, some have greater resistance meaning greater Armament Haki is required to fend them off or overpower them, whilst some don't have as much resistance.
Bare in mind resistance is not dependent on the user strength, because they're not reflective of a character's strength. Luffy is Rubber and Enel is Electricity. Electricity would never be harmful against a Rubber user irregardless of how weak the user was. This is just a rule that down to the nature of the ability.
All Armament Haki are also not of equal strength. We learn from Smoker that Tashigi's Haki was not strong enough, so she couldn't withstand Law's Ope Ope no Mi's ability to cut. If her Haki was stronger, she'd have been able to fight against Law.
The same Haki that couldn't stand up to Law's Ope Ope no Mi DF stood up to Monet's Yuki Yuki no Mi - we see the Yuki Yuki no Mi has low resistance to Armament Haki as opposed to the Ope Ope no Mi.
Joker also initially has confidence in Vergo's Haki to protect him from Law's Ope Ope no Mi, but we soon find out it was inadequate, and still got cut through irregardless.
Marco & Vista for example failed to cut Akainu by forcing his body to solidity,the fore, their Armament Haki is not strong enough to hack through Akainu's DF because it has a greater level of resistance to Armament Haki.
Whitebeard on the other hand had no issues hurt Akainu, why? because Whitebeard's Haki is at the very highest level, the Magu Magu no Mi's level of resistance is exceeded by Whitebeard's Armament's strength.
There are varying levels of Haki strength - and DFs have varying levels of resistance to Haki - or else, simply having Haki will mean automatic resistance against an ability or strength over any DF ability, and we see that's clearly not the case. To conclude with this topic:
- Armament Haki is like an invisible boost to to physical blows and physical durability.
- It forces Logia to solidity.
- It protects from physically based damaging DF abilities.
- Weak Armament Haki means weak boost to physical blows and physical durability meaning less power to attack or durability to defend.
- Weak Armament Haki means lesser chance to force a Logia into solidity.
- Weak Armament Haki means lesser chance of protection from overpowered abilities abilities (e.g. Ope Ope no Mi).
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