In Chapter 1047 the fight between Luffy and Kaido continues. Kaido states to Luffy that a strong Devil Fruit power isn’t enough to conquer the seas, revealing that Gol D. Roger himself had no Devil Fruit power yet he was still able to become the Pirate King.
Still according to Kaido, to conquer the seas, the one thing that truly matters is Haki.
”Because only Haki can transcend all”
- Haki allows you to sense your surroundings even without the 5 natural senses;
- Haki allows you to see the future;
- Haki allows you to protect yourself & weapons;
- Haki allows you to increase attack power and also bypass durability;
- Haki allows you to impose your will on living beings;
- Haki allows you to coat yourself & weapons in conquerors (will) & to affect your surroundings.
Haki represents willpower in One Piece and willpower is characterized in this story as a POTENTIALLY limitless force. We see this best from our Main Character. What Kaido is really saying is that no matter what hax abilities an opponent has with enough will (Haki) it is POSSIBLE to overcome any hurdle.
Both Advanced Conqueror’s Haki and Devil Fruit Awakening are hella impressive, but there seems to be a constant portrayal of Advanced Conqueror’s being at least slightly greater than Devil Fruit Awakening.
After all, the latter is something that can be used by Doflamingo, someone who is far, far weaker than top tiers; and there are hints that characters like Crocodile and Perospero can do this as well. Katakuri uses this and while strong, is still far from being a top tier. While the weakest character that can use Advanced Conqueror’s is Yamato, someone who is still at least as strong as Katakuri, if not, most likely, a tier above.
Also, you could say that Doflamingo and even Katakuri, in spite of having both a Devil Fruit and Conqueror’s Haki, managed to unlock Devil Fruit Awakening but not Advanced Conqueror’s Haki; that might suggest something, but it’s still worth note.
Even some statements seem to suggest that Advanced Conqueror’s is more impressive. Luffy as Conqueror receives more hype than Devil Fruit user Law.
Kaido basically states that the ones who can use Advanced Conqueror’s are top tiers, calling that a power that “only a handful of the strongest can”.
You could say that Devil Fruit Awakening is used by characters of very different levels of strength; while about Advanced Conqueror’s, anyone who uses it is a Low Top Tier at least, like current Luffy, current Zoro and Yamato.
Basically, not all the top tiers use Advanced Conqueror’s Haki (some use Devil Fruit Awakening); but the ones who use Advanced Conqueror’s Haki are top tiers. This seems an irrefutable staple.
