One Piece fandom discovers decades old evidence of Zoro's Haki in the manga

Eiichiro Oda’s world-famous One Piece manga series is well-stocked with exciting elements that draw readers to it. Of them all, one of the most enjoyable aspects of reading Oda's masterpiece is his long-term thinking in terms of storytelling. The mangaka is masterfully able to foreshadow events years in advance as well as retroactively connect seemingly unrelated events with a few simple lines of dialogue.

Such a narrative approach provides a very engaging way to read both new and old material for the series. As many One Piece fans have discovered for themselves, rereading the early issues of the series with knowledge of contemporary developments in mind can reveal some interesting things.

Recently, a Reddit post to the unofficial One Piece subreddit pointed out an extremely interesting connection between pre- and post-time-skip events, thus arousing the excitement of fans. In fact, it’s actually decades-old evidence of both the existence of Haki in general and of Zoro’s natural affinity towards Haki given his origins.

---

One Piece fans realize Armament Haki was right in front of them all along

Early example of Zoro’s Haki? by u/Massive_Animator6662 in OnePiece

In One Piece’s Alabasta arc, fans saw Roronoa Zoro square off against Daz Bonez, then known as Mr. 1 of Sir Crocodile’s Baroque Works criminal organization. Zoro's major hurdle in the fight is figuring out how to cut through steel because Daz Bonez's Dice-Dice Fruit turns him into a Steel Man, and Zoro has no way of damaging Daz Bonez as a result.

In the final stages of the fight, just as it seems Zoro is done, he suddenly taps into an unknown ability, effortlessly dodging falling rocks and subsequently locating his sword. He says it’s like he can hear the rocks, his sword, and even the earth’s breathing. He then remembers his mentor Kyoshiro’s words that there are swordsmen in the world who are able to not cut anything.

Zoro then says he can hear the breathing of Daz Bonez’s steel and, in the same sword stroke, manages to leave a tree branch completely undamaged while slicing a rock in half. At the time, One Piece fans had no idea what this power of Zoro’s was. However, in hindsight, it becomes clear that Zoro is using a combination of both Armament and Observation Haki at this moment.

Comment by u/Weekly-District259 from discussion Early example of Zoro’s Haki? in OnePiece

Comment by u/Knirb_ from discussion Early example of Zoro’s Haki? in OnePiece

Zoro’s use of Observation Haki is demonstrated by his hearing the "breathing" of things, which the explanation of Observation Haki later clarifies is a being's or object’s aura or essence. Armament Haki is shown to be used when Zoro swings his sword, as is supported by Boss Hyogoro’s explanation of Ryou to Monkey D. Luffy in Wano when he says it can be used to cut steel but not paper. Ryou is simply an advanced form of Armament Haki.

While Haki wasn’t introduced to the series at that point in time, many One Piece fans online are asserting that this is at least Zoro using the foundational principles of Haki, if not Haki itself. One aspect of Zoro’s character that further supports his use of Haki here stems from Ryou being a Wano principle and Shimotsuki Village being founded by former Wano citizens.

With this in mind, it’s clear that Oda was foreshadowing both the general existence of Haki and Zoro’s mastery of Armament Haki decades in advance. As always, Oda continues to prove that his series is written with the long-term narrative in mind and will reward readers who go back and reread the series to pick up on these little hints and clues.

---

Be sure to keep up with all One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.