I’ve been thinking about Conqueror’s Haki in this series and how more individuals are showing that they can use it. While this is understandable, we are reaching the endgame and the people standing at this level are undoubtably Kings of their various spheres, I think Oda has told us something about Conqueror’s Haki recently that upends how we thought about who got to use it.

In summary, I think everyone has the chance to use Conqueror’s Haki but in order to unlock it, the user has to conquer their fear of death and that Blackbeard, being the ultimate coward he is, won’t be able to use it.

With the three colors of Haki, it always struck me as weird that everyone got access to Armament and Observation Haki, but only a few random people got access to Conqueror’s. It’s not like there is a Calvin-esque God in the One Piece world assigning destiny, we’ve been shown time and again that hard work and willpower (Haki) can overcome any deficit. So why limit Conqueror’s Haki as something only a few are born with?

It makes more sense that like other forms of Haki this needs to be unlocked. We saw that Haki can be unlocked with certain events, like Usopp in Dressrosa and Koby in Marineford. I think the way that someone in the One Piece world unlocks Conqueror’s Haki is conquering their fear of death. That usually happens when someone believes so deeply in their dream, which is why we’ve seen so many passionate pirates with it ie Kaido, Big Mom, Roger, Luffy, Shanks, Whitebeard – all who want to be Pirate King, Ace, Zoro – who want to help bring about the new Pirate King, Garp, Sengoku – who want to protect the innocent etc. I think for a few of these individuals we either were shown and didn’t realize, or are just left to assume that some of them believe in their dreams strongly enough that they don’t fear death and thats why they have been able to use Conqueror’s Haki for a long time.

For me this crystallized in the Zoro vs King fight. Up to Chapter 1035 we had no confirmation that our favorite lost swordsman can use Conqueror’s and then he busts out the advanced version to cut down the flying flaming angel. However at this point Zoro is exhausted, pushed near death after his previous fight on the rooftop, and this is the hardest fight he has been in since the timeskip. I think in this fight he overcame his fear of death and was able to fully commit to the dream of being the “world’s greatest swordsman”, and the random panel with the grim reaper showing up shows him overcoming – conquering – death.

So I wouldn’t be surprised if as we get closer to the end more characters who previously didnt have Conqueror’s Haki start showcasing it. I do think that Blackbeard won’t though. Blackbeard has shown himself constantly afraid of death, only participating in fights he knows he can win, ambushes, running away or shielding himself from stronger opponents etc. I don’t think he will ever believe in his dream enough to use Conqueror’s and that Luffy is going to beat his ass using Advanced Conqueror’s coating.