Haki/Observation Haki

Color of Observation Haki, or simply Observation Haki, is a form of Haki that grants the user an extrasensory sixth sense that allows them to sense the presence, strength, and emotions of others, as well as gain limited precognitive abilities.
In Skypiea, Observation Haki is known as .
==Background==
Observation Haki was first used in the series by Blackbeard in the Jaya Arc. He noticed that Monkey D. Luffy's strength did not correspond to his known bounty of 30,000,000 at the time, further commenting on Luffy's own Haki after Bellamy's defeat. In the Impel Down Arc, Blackbeard confirmed to Luffy himself that he had measured the latter's Haki at the time.
In the Skypiea Arc, it was introduced under the name "Mantra" during Satori's Ordeal of Balls. It varied in strength between users, with Enel seeming to have the greatest range. With his Devil Fruit, the Goro Goro no Mi, Enel could pick up electroreceptor signals in the atmosphere by using his Devil Fruit to read the airwaves, allowing him to overhear conversations and everything around him; this extended the range of his Mantra to cover roughly all of Skypiea. By comparison, most of the other priests could only keep track of people nearby. Aisa is the only known Shandia who has this ability which she was also born with.
The first time it was seen being used and referred to as Haki was during Luffy's battle on Amazon Lily with the Gorgon Sisters. Later, Silvers Rayleigh explained Haki to Luffy and confirmed that Mantra and Haki are one and the same, and that "Mantra" is simply Skypiea's name for the ability.
==Observation Haki Users==
==Usage==
The usage of this type of Haki grants its user the ability to access a kind of extrasensory perception, granting the user several helpful abilities. These abilities are great assets in most occasions, especially in combat.
Observation Haki, unlike the other types of Haki, has hardly any visible indication when being used in the manga (like the blackening effect of hardening for Armament or the ripple effect for Supreme King), aside from their enhanced dodge rate. Starting with the anime special Heart of Gold, movie One Piece Film: Z, and the Whole Cake Island Arc, those who are able to use Observation Haki were shown with bright red pupils when sensing incoming attacks, hidden opponents or seeing slightly into the future.
According to Charlotte Katakuri, Observation Haki works best if the user is in a calm state. Observation Haki works independently from the physical senses. This was proven through Kin'emon, after his body was split apart by Law, when his legs and torso acted independently, relying solely on Haki for guidance.
===Basic Techniques===
====Presence Sensing====
The most common usage of this Haki allows the user to sense the presence of others. Rayleigh states that to fully master this ability would allow the user to see others, even if they are concealed from view or too far to see naturally.
This type of Haki allows the user to see another person through their aura, be it behind buildings, strategically hidden, or camouflaged. Given this, Observation Haki, depending on the level, can discover who is hidden, but still present. When viewed this way, the user cannot actually see the person or animal with any physical characteristics, but rather recognizes the target(s) by their "aura", which is a mental image of a colored silhouette of them on a dark background, as demonstrated when Usopp sniped Sugar, or how the blind Fujitora sees the world. Characters who use Observation Haki often describe presences as "voices" and can usually tell if specific people are still alive, dead or close to death depending on whether they can still "hear" them.
In the unique circumstance of being swallowed by a larger creature and still being alive, the Mantra user will only be able to sense the larger energy signature. Similarly, a Mantra user trapped inside a larger creature is unable to sense what is happening outside.
====Strength Sensing====
This application of Haki allows the user to measure the strength of the people whose presence they sense. This usage of Haki is useful in finding "powerful auras". Through this application, the user can easily locate powerful allies and avoid powerful enemies.
As displayed by Big Mom during the Raid on Onigashima, this application of Haki can be used to measure the strength and threat level of an opponent's weapon. However, it should be noted that the weapon in question was a Meito, and therefore it is currently unknown if Observation Haki can be used on any regular weapon. In the anime, when Luffy first found Nidai Kitetsu, he actually detected it with Observation Haki.
This ability can also be utilized to measure the Haki of others. Blackbeard confirmed this during his raid on Impel Down when he mentioned that Monkey D. Luffy's own Haki was greater than it was during their previous meeting in Jaya. Other characters that have been shown using this specific application are Bellamy, Koby, Basil Hawkins, Page One, and Ulti.
====Emotion Sensing====
This variation of Observation Haki allows the user to sense and empathize with the emotions and nature of others. For example, Otohime used this Haki to sense the sufferings and emotions in the heart of a Fish-Man thief, as well as hear the screams coming from Fisher Tiger's heart. Another example is that Aisa was able to sense Wyper's aggressive nature with this Haki. In addition, Fujitora sensed no trace of resentment from the citizens of Dressrosa, discovering that they were putting on a façade to help the Straw Hats escape.
However, this ability is not flawless. People with high control over their emotions and acting abilities can somewhat counter this technique. An example of this is Squard, Pudding or Kanjuro, who were able to fool very proficient users of Observation Haki like Whitebeard, Sanji or the Nine Red Scabbards.
When someone awakens this ability unconsciously, they become vulnerable to passively empathizing with the negative emotions of others without having the proper mental fortitude. This can be a traumatic experience for the user; especially in the context of several people dying, as the user will passively empathize with strong emotions of fear, pain, and hate.
====Intent Sensing====
Another variant of Observation Haki allows its user to sense another person's intent to act in the immediate future (especially through bloodlust/killing intent within combat), allowing them to predict what someone is going to do, usually seconds prior, in what resembles a pseudo-form of precognition.
Naturally, this predictive application of Haki is highly helpful in battle, as the user, depending on their level of proficiency, may have a vastly easier time predicting the path of enemy attacks to either dodge or counter them. The more killing intent exuded by a given enemy, the more predictable their attacks.
Of course, since conscious intent has to be present for one to sense it with Haki, any actions that are done unconsciously or with complete indiscrimination cannot be predicted. Luffy, during his fight against Enel, was able to counter the latter's Observation Haki by delivering attacks in random, uncontrolled directions. Another example was when Luffy literally emptied his mind to the point of not thinking about anything at all, Nami noted that because of this, Luffy was "like grass", simply moving in the same direction as the wind was blowing, this made it impossible for Enel to predict his movements, although it also made Luffy unable to attack. Yet another way to counter predictive Observation Haki is by simply being so fast that, even if an enemy can predict one's attack, they cannot dodge in time. This was shown when Luffy used his Gear Second against Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold, where even though Boa Sandersonia is reading his movements with his Kenbushoku, Luffy's speed in Gear Second was too high for her to keep up with, which made her prediction ineffective.
===Advanced Techniques===
====Future Vision====
A highly advanced level of Observation Haki allows the user to see a short period into the future; instead of just sensing what will happen by intuition, the user of this advanced level of Observation Haki can literally see a precise mental image of what will happen in the next few seconds. This is known as . The vision also allows the user to hear any words that will be spoken. According to Rayleigh, this ability is very difficult for someone to obtain via training, it has to be learned by advancing their Haki in the heat of battle against strong opponents. So far, only Charlotte Katakuri, Monkey D. Luffy, Kaidou, and Shanks, have been able to use it.
This advanced Haki ability has been proven to be an effective countermeasure against Armament Haki for Devil Fruit users whose powers grant shapeshifting abilities, such as Logia's or Special Paramecia's. With Observation Haki, they can foresee their opponents' attacks and quickly change the shape of their bodies to avoid contact. Katakuri is a great user of this tactic, as he forms holes in his Mochi body so the attacks pass through empty air without actually touching him, giving the impression that not even Armament Haki works on him, while in reality, the attack simply does not make any contact at all. Only another user of Observation Haki of equal proficiency or a distraction can counter this ability.
This application does have its limitations. As with basic Observation Haki, the user needs to properly focus and remain calm in order to use this ability. If the user is not concentrating enough or they are in an agitated state of mind, they may be unable to see the future. In addition, the user can only interpret the future through their own senses. Katakuri foresaw his sister Pudding crying and collapsing to her knees on the altar, but because he was too far away from her, he could not hear what was about to be said, and thus he had no way knowing what was about to cause this. Furthermore, the future that the user sees can be changed, which could result in an outcome that the user failed to foresee. Charlotte Katakuri was able to see Sanji dodging another person's gunshot and tried to intervene by attacking Sanji himself. However, he was unable to see the outcome of his own intervention of this event in time, resulting in Sanji surprising him when he dodged his attack as well. Moreover, it is possible for an enemy to exploit a negative reaction from the user, as it can be treated as assurance that a desirable outcome will happen. Future Vision can also be negated by the advanced Supreme King Haki technique called Observation Killing.
==Drawbacks==
This type of Haki is known to falter if the user loses their concentration. Satori lost control of his Mantra when Luffy unexpectedly brought the string of exploding balls right to him, enabling Luffy to grab him from behind when the smoke cleared, Gedatsu lost to Chopper because he lost his concentration and his Mantra faltered, and Otohime was killed by a gunshot in the confusion when her petition pages were being burned, as she was caught off guard due to her happiness over everyone signing her petitions, she lost her concentration. There's also a problem with the opposite, being hyper-focused during battle, as it causes tunnel-vision on a particular opponent and prevents the user from sensing other threats. Luffy, a user of advanced Observation Haki demonstrated this twice, once during his battle against Katakuri, when Charlotte Flampe managed to land a blow on him during the fight, and once against Kaidou, when a CP0 agent intervened in their duel.
While Observation Haki can be very effective against the living and objects affected by the conscious thought of the living, such as a weapon wielded by an enemy, its effect is limited against the unconscious, such as purely random events or someone acting through reflex alone. It is also limited in sensing things that have no intent at all, such as the environment. This is best demonstrated by Kin'emon whilst his body was separated; his torso and legs were able to move and accurately attack independently thanks to Haki, but still ended up stumbling occasionally and one eventually sunk into a lake it could not possibly detect without visual aid from the head. Another good example is the blind Issho, who still requires a cane to navigate his surroundings, despite being able to use Haki to accurately pinpoint the location of other people and differentiate between them.
Regarding the sensing of other nearby presences, Observation Haki has an inherent weakness of individual auras being possibly camouflaged by others. A case of this happened during the Skypiea Arc; Enel, otherwise a skilled user of Mantra, was unable to detect Luffy or anyone that had been eaten by the giant snake Nola as the latter's own aura seemingly engulfed the ones belonging to who it had swallowed beforehand. Marcus Mars (of the Five Elders) also showed a similar problem trying to find a specific Den Den Mushi within a certain area during the Egghead Arc, noting that since said animals were abundant in said location, he could not accurately discern the one he was looking for. This same fact also caused Mars to be fooled by a decoy Den Den Mushi, since its aura would logically not be any different from the real deal.
Additionally, even if an individual is able to predict an attack, they still need to be able to dodge the attack to avoid damage. If the user has been physically restrained, or the attack is too fast for the user to react to, it will land regardless of how proficient they are with Observation Haki. In addition, while Observation Haki can predict attacks, it cannot tell one how to dodge an attack. As a result, abilities that have special activation requirements cannot be dodged if the user does not understand the mechanics of the ability. Luffy, despite having Future Sight, was unable to dodge the attacks from Apoo's Oto Oto no Mi because he did not know they were activated by sound and was expecting a projectile-based attack based on his own perceptions.
It is revealed that like Armament Haki, Observation Haki can be depleted if used too much.
==Training==
===Rayleigh's Training===
Training to learn Observation Haki involves dodging various types of attacks while blindfolded, as well as counterattacking while blindfolded. The most important thing to remember is that every attack carries an intent, and a hint. 
One first trains by fighting against animals, and later against humans. Observation Haki is easier to use against animals because they always show their emotions and act on instinct, unlike humans who are capable of deception. While training Luffy, Rayleigh set a goal for him: to dodge his attacks 100 times in a row.
===Awakening Methods===
In some cases, an individual does not need to train in order to attain and use Observation Haki. Some people acquire it unconsciously within tense situations, while others are born with the ability to use it. Though, these cases are extremely rare.
==Translation and Dub Issues==
In the 4Kids dub of the game One Piece: Pirates Carnival and edited Funimation TV episodes, Mantra is known as Mantora. In the uncut versions of the Funimation episodes, it is called Mantra.
==Trivia==
*The concept of Observation Haki, known to Skypieans as Mantra, is loosely based on the style of thinking in Hinduism, which goes by .
* Mantra was initially planned to be called .
*In World Seeker, Luffy can use Observation Haki to see enemies from behind walls, to slow downtime, and to improve his sneaking prowess with stealth attacks.
*In One Piece Odyssey, Luffy can use Observation Haki (The Color of Observation Haki in the English localization) to highlight strong enemies that grant more EXP or to reveal hidden Record Cubes for the Memorial Log (usually in locations associated with said character or where they are encountered during the game's story).
*In the anime, when Luffy first found Nidai Kitetsu, he actually detected it with Observation Haki. Even before this, Zoro claimed he could detect his Sandai Kitetsu thanks to its aura, which may imply that cursed items may have an intent detectable by Observation Haki users.
*In One Piece Film: Red, Observation Haki users were shown to sync with blood relatives and share their vision. This ability was shown to function even if only one relative was a Observation Haki user, though only they would see the other's vision. It is unclear which, if any, of the Observation Haki techniques this falls under.
==Notes==
==References==
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