Powers & Abilities Implications that Zoro has had conscious access to basic Conqueror's Haki, and the rooftop variant is the next power-up

#1
Obviously inspired by the most recent episode, where it looked like Zoro is capable of making conscious use of Conqueror's Haki.


Though few things to mention:

The directors definitely reached out to Oda regarding multiple details for the latest release. This is further emphasized by the fact that one of the running plot points got resolved within the anime itself:


It was Yamato all along, and not some random third party. Anime solidifying it simply allowed the author to not bring the moment up again for clarification.

Regardless, Oda, at the very least, approved the Zoro's CoC scene for the anime, if not outright helped design it.

But even with that out of the day, there have been several indications of Zoro being able to utilize basic Conqueror's in manga:

Awareness regarding Conqueror's Haki:

The very first thing to get out of the way: Zoro is not like pre-skip Luffy.


While Luffy had experienced the sensation before (and Rayleigh even implied he can even actively use it), he had no idea what in the world it was during Rayleigh's explanation.

Zoro already knows what Conqueror's Haki is- he has experienced it up-close and was able to pinpoint exactly what it was immediately.



That much is already established- and it means that Zoro, unlike pre-skip Luffy, is not clueless about what happens when he or anyone releases passive bursts of Conqueror's. In fact, in the panel above, there are heavy implications that he's already able to utilize it; the comment (even if he said it jokingly) makes very little sense otherwise.

If he used a passive burst of CoC against Kaido by unlocking it during that moment, it'd make absolutely no sense for Zoro, someone who is very much familiar with and can identify the release of said haki, to be confused about what just happened- he already knows what the sensations feel like. You can argue that he was a bit too jaded to notice, but that in itself is stretched excuse.

Brook's reaction and parallels:



There are several points regarding this scene which seem to imply that Zoro actively made light use of basic Conqueror's Haki (which happened to be at the same time as Kaido lifting Onigashima up) in this scene:

  • Brook is also someone who has witnessed CoC up-close multiple times, and he obviously knows what the haki is. He knows what its release feels like. There's absolutely no reason as to why he'd blindly assume that CoC is being released without feeling the heavy pressure of it, which Brook is evidently very familiar with. Specially when he doesn't associate earthquakes with Conqueror's or haki in general.

  • That also explains why he'd shockingly ask the question- feeling the CoC being released, only to be followed up what looked like an Earthquake. It dumbfounded him and he found it beastly because this was the first time he ever witnessed "Conqueror's" causing such effects, so he immediately brings it up. Additionally, Brook never showed surprise at or questioned whether Zoro has the said haki or not; he merely expressed wonders at the effects taking place.

  • As for Zoro's response, he obviously did not say anything regarding him releasing or having Conqueror's Haki. He simply answered that he was not the reason behind the ground literally tearing itself apart.

  • Lastly, that scene in itself is very comparable to most other scenes involving Conqueror's Haki. With similar motion lines drawn around Zoro's face, only to be followed by a pig panel of those lines centered around Zoro's body, again. I'm aware (or at least I think) that there has been a few other instances of similarly drawn moments, but given the context, comparison is important. For example, here's a clear-cut comparison with Luffy's Marineford release:



Rooftop moment:



  • First thing to immediately note is that not only Kaido possesses Conqueror's himself, but he has lived around its users for his entire life. From Rocks, Whitebeard and Bigmom, to fighting against Roger, to fighting Oden, to facing off against Shanks, to defeating both Kidd and Luffy during recent events. He knows the Haki in question like the back of his hand.

  • The fact he feels any presence of Conqueror's Haki from Zoro pretty much solidified its usage (specially from narrative perspective), no doubt about it. The enigma here is that Kaido is shocked at the usage. He almost seems unsure for a moment as he exclaims the question. This isn't like Luffy where he calmly realized the Conqueror's following the basic, passive usage of it. This is clearly different. Another thing to note is that Kaido states Zoro can use Conqueror's Haki rather than simply having it- and while the choice of words isn't that big of a deal, given the context, there is heavy implication that Zoro somehow utilized certain form of Conqueror during his attack- implementing the haki in his attack.

  • But similar to Kaido's reactions, another enigma is that we see absolutely no visible presence of CoC at all. There are no black lightnings, haki leaks, or anything that clearly signifies usage of said Haki barring Kaido's words.

  • This can perfectly explain Zoro's reaction. If it was just a basic, passive burst of Haki, Kaido would not be surprised by it to this extent, and Zoro, who has experienced it many times before and is familiar with its pressure, would not be unsure of whether he used it or not.

  • This might also be able to perfectly explain the concept of Asura: is a sudden manifestation of limbs and heads that not only boost Zoro's prowess, but also act as physical parts of bodies... there's absolutely no explanation as to why Zoro, a human without any Devil Fruit, would be able to pull off something like this. And unlike, say, DJ, Oda has given no explanations at all, and had Zoro use it VERY minimally. Conqueror's Haki being behind it makes most sense.

In short, there are multiple reasons to assume the Conqueror's Haki showcased on rooftop was an advanced form- but not similar to the one Luffy or Kaido utilize, as evident by the lack of similar visuals and Kaido's own shocked reaction.

On top of that, there has never really been a single scene where Zoro implied he's not capable of using basic Conqueror's Haki, while a bunch of moments implying that he does, in fact, possess it. The fact that anime got the permission to blatantly showcase it (and yes, they did get the permission; the episode contained spoilers that even Manga readers are not aware of) feels like another surefire way of establishing his control over the elementary aspect- so Oda can primarily focus on mastering of the advanced forms as Zoro's next development or ceiling.

There's no hard evidence, but it really seems to be the route Oda is taking with it. If he merely wanted to build-up Zoro's basic Conqueror's Haki, he'd have established its usage in some way other than through an Asura attack with completely different visuals- he'd have done something similar to Kaido recognizing Luffy. As things stand, it really seems like he might just establish the basic usage of Conqueror's within Zoro's existing arsenal, and move onto the power-up he actively set up during 1010 as next phase of his development.
 
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#5
#8
I am not sure what implies he had basic Coc access‚ if his reply to Kaido was ' What ? I don't know what you are talking about '. Just cause he commented on Luffy's haki ( same as Sanji whom so far we know has no Coc )‚ doesn't mean he knew he has it himself.
The CoC displayed on rooftop was not basic haki most likely. Already elaborated in post.

The comment stuff is one of less relevant parts lol

:vistalaugh:
Are you being inspired by Anime filler a lot in manga discussions?

@Extravlad you will like this guy,

https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...wer-level-discussion.88/page-338#post-1091105

he also uses anime filler to back his arguments like you do.
I mean entirety of the argument is based off of and backed by manga panels. Anime filler just brought the thought in my head and made me track back on manga.

But you're someone who powerscales Zoro and Sanji based off of being called wings in an SBS. I don't really need to hear anything from you :kayneshrug:
 
#9
The CoC displayed on rooftop was not basic haki most likely. Already elaborated in post.

The comment stuff is one of less relevant parts lol


I mean entirety of the argument is based off of manga panels.

But you're someone who powerscales Zoro and Sanji based off of being called wings in an SBS. I don't really need to hear anything from you :kayneshrug:
The rooftop was not basic haki for sure‚ but Oda made it clear through Zoro's reply to Kaido that he has no idea that he had Coc‚ disproving be had conscious access to it
 
#10
The rooftop was not basic haki for sure‚ but Oda made it clear through Zoro's reply to Kaido that he has no idea that he had Coc‚ disproving be had conscious access to it
Zoro's reply to Kaido meant that he had no idea what Kaido was talking about. Because that's what he said.

Kaido talked about Zoro using CoC.

Zoro, who obviously did not use basic CoC because he had no reason to use the basic, relatively harmless version in combat, said he doesn't know what Kaido is talking about. Zoro has no clue if or how his Asura attack is related to CoC, and is clueless as to why Kaido brings it up. It seems to have very little to do with basic CoC tbh.
 
#11
Zoro's reply to Kaido meant that he had no idea what Kaido was talking about. Because that's what he said.

Kaido talked about Zoro using CoC.

Zoro, who obviously did not use basic CoC because he had no reason to use basic CoC, said he doesn't know what Kaido is talking about. Zoro has no clue if or how his Asura attack is related to CoC, and is clueless as to why Kaido brings it up. It seems to have very little to do with basic CoC tbh.
Kaido question to him in the image you posted wasn't ' oh kid you can use advanced Coc ?'.the question was ' Oh kid do you also use Coc ?. The most basic answer would have been ' yes ' if Zoro was aware of it. All I am debating here is the word ' conscious access to it from before the rooftop moment '. I would even believe he may have used it against Monet‚ but until Oda specifically tells us so‚ then it wasn't conscious access
 
#12
Kaido question to him in the image you posted wasn't ' oh kid you can use advanced Coc ?'.the question was ' Oh kid do you also use Coc ?. The most basic answer would have been ' yes ' if Zoro was aware of it. All I am debating here is the word ' conscious access to it from before the rooftop moment '. I would even believe he may have used it against Monet‚ but until Oda specifically tells us so‚ then it wasn't conscious access
If Zoro, from his perspective, doesn't use any CoC and simply attacks with his Asura, and Kaido exclaims in shock regarding CoC, I reckon he'd be more confused rather than simply answer.

With that said, the thread has "implication" in its title. It's a speculation ofc, I'm not factifying it, just basing it off of hints from manga.
 
#16
Until Oda actually confirms that rooftop ashura is advanced conqueror's haki feat, Every speculation is bull. Ngl for me This addition will ruin the emotional impact of Zoro subconsciously using coc while protecting Luffy, him getting acknowledged by Kaido.
And why would Zoro mention that he has no idea what Kaido's talking about if he knew he had coc. Especially since Kaido doesn't mention advanced Coc. Kaido specifically mentions it when he spars with Luffy and says that only a few strong can do it. He pays no mind to Zoro feat.

Whatever be the reason. Hope Oda clears it up later to avoid this confusion.
 
#17
Until Oda actually confirms that rooftop ashura is advanced conqueror's haki feat, Every speculation is bull. Ngl for me This addition will ruin the emotional impact of Zoro subconsciously using coc while protecting Luffy, him getting acknowledged by Kaido.
And why would Zoro mention that he has no idea what Kaido's talking about if he knew he had coc. Especially since Kaido doesn't mention advanced Coc. Kaido specifically mentions it when he spars with Luffy and says that only a few strong can do it. He pays no mind to Zoro feat.

Whatever be the reason. Hope Oda clears it up later to avoid this confusion.
kaido was not reffering to basic coc man he was talking about coc coating something zoro didn t knew shit
luffy a coc specialist didn t knew shit until kaido it him in the balls
zoro s ''what you talking about'' is about the coc coating why would he use the basic fodder coc on kaido
no wonder he had no idea what kaido was talking about
 

HA001

World's Strongest Swordsman
#18
Until Oda actually confirms that rooftop ashura is advanced conqueror's haki feat, Every speculation is bull. Ngl for me This addition will ruin the emotional impact of Zoro subconsciously using coc while protecting Luffy, him getting acknowledged by Kaido.
And why would Zoro mention that he has no idea what Kaido's talking about if he knew he had coc. Especially since Kaido doesn't mention advanced Coc. Kaido specifically mentions it when he spars with Luffy and says that only a few strong can do it. He pays no mind to Zoro feat.

Whatever be the reason. Hope Oda clears it up later to avoid this confusion.
Are you dumb ?
There was no normal coc blast
Law has seen luffy use coc and would have said the same for zoro if it was normal coc
Kaido only says coc when he's hit by the attack
 
#19
kaido was not reffering to basic coc man he was talking about coc coating something zoro didn t knew shit
luffy a coc specialist didn t knew shit until kaido it him in the balls
zoro s ''what you talking about'' is about the coc coating why would he use the basic fodder coc on kaido
no wonder he had no idea what kaido was talking about
Doesn't convince me tbh.
Kaido was also surprised when Luffy used coc in their first match. I guess he had the similar reaction to Zoro.
To me Kaido's reaction seem too casual to Zoro using ashura with adv coc especially there are very few people (fewer than the people who use adv coa) who can use adv coc. Kaido just brushes off the attack and only mentions coc. He talks about adv coc when Luffy brings it up.
I am fine either way if Zoro gets adv coc. I just don't like the way Toei added this filler. Idc about powerscaling but the rooftop would be so anticlimactic.
 
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