Warning: SPOILERS for One Piece chapter 1055
As One Piece’s final saga begins at last, the world’s biggest players have all begun to make their moves for power and control, with one pirate in particular finally giving readers a glimpse of his true strength. “Red Hair” Shanks has appeared infrequently throughout the story of One Piece, seldom showing hints of his real abilities, but the most recent chapter demonstrates exactly why Conqueror’s Haki is the strongest ability to have.
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Chapter 1055 of One Piece picks up with Ryokugyu flexing his power against all of Wano’s most powerful warriors, holding every single one of them at bay. Even when Momonosuke goes through an intense emotional upheaval and awakens the power of his Boro Breath, Ryokugyu is unstoppable. After being burnt to cinders, Ryokugyu regenerates from a single seed, proving his Logia powers are just as formidable even without their iconic invulnerability to normal attacks. It looks as if nothing can stop Ryokugyu. At least not until Shanks gives readers one of the most incredible displays of power with a long range Conqueror’s Haki attack.
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In One Piece, Conqueror’s Haki is usually denoted with the appearance of black lightning emanating from an attack. This has happened several times throughout the series, most recently with the clashes between Luffy and Kaido atop Onigashima. Despite their frequent occurrences, this is the first time the black lightning of Conqueror’s Haki has been seen covering such an incredible distance. The Red Hair Pirates hadn’t even entered the land of Wano and Shanks was still able to detect and pinpoint Ryokugyu with an attack so terrifyingly powerful it made the admiral instantly surrender. Kaido already stated during his battle with Luffy that even a powerful Devil Fruit is nothing compared to what one can do with powerful Haki and this display of force all but proves it.
Shanks’ ability to fire Conqueror’s Haki imbued attacks from long range makes him a much more powerful threat than anyone had ever considered before. Readers were already left questioning just how powerful he’d gotten to be after he single handedly stopped the war at Marineford without a single attack. Shanks even displayed Conqueror’s Haki all the way back in One Piece’s chapter 1 when he stopped the Sea King from attacking Luffy and himself. Shanks has had years and years to hone his abilities, and was more than likely able to pick up a few tricks from his former captain Gol D. Roger, another famed Conqueror’s Haki user. This ability also raises some interesting questions, such as how strong has Blackbeard gotten that he was able to scar Shanks’ face if Shanks possessed such terrifying levels of power back then.
It’s clear that even without an arm or a Devil Fruit, Shanks completely deserves the title of Yonko and remains one of the fiercest pirates in the world of One Piece. It remains to be seen what Shanks’ goals are at this point concerning Luffy and the One Piece itself but thanks to his Conqueror’s Haki he has definitively cemented himself as one of the most powerful characters in the series at this point in time.
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