 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. And today I'd just like to go into a bit of a discussion of the secondary power system behind the entire series being Harky. Now, despite I guess technically making its appearance in the very first chapter, Harky in the grand scheme of things is still relatively new to the world of One Piece, and despite its widespread use, we are very much still in the process of discovering its true potential and capabilities. Though with that said, it has radically reshaped how we consume One Piece, especially in the area of combat. And that leads us to the general premise of this video, which is the impact that Harky had on the series, whether it be for the better or the worse. I'll be making arguments both for and against because I do genuinely believe that Harky is a dangerous concept and a potential double-edged sword. But at the same time, I do think that it has been handled pretty well so far. Now, just briefly, if you're a new or more casual fan unaware or unsure of what Harky is, it can best be described as a manifestation of pure willpower that is found within all living beings, although only a small fraction are ever able to awaken it. It's somewhat similar to the ideas of other power systems like Ki, Ryutsu, Chakra, or Nan, in that it has a finite quantity and does seem to be directly connected to life force. But in the case of Harky, it can only be manifested in terms of three broad categories. The first of which is observation, which can be used to achieve a variety of abilities to do with being able to sense the world around you, providing the user with information that they can use to their advantage. Then there's armament Harky, which is a much more offensive ability, in which a user can invoke Harky to coat their body or various weapons or objects, whatever, to enhance defensive capabilities or even to make their attacks more potent. And finally, there is Conqueror's Harky, which is an expression of pure willpower over another individual. And if they don't have the will to withstand you, then they will more than likely fall unconscious. And this brand of Harky is also quite notable because it is said that only one in a million people are able to access it. And that's a very basic breakdown and yes, things do get more advanced and complicated within each of these three sectors, but that is the general gist of Harky. And now, I'd like us all to step back in time to the first half of the series, prior to the Paramount War saga, where Harky lay hidden in the background. But the primary power system we were focusing on were Devil Fruits. Now, to this day, I think the Devil Fruits are one of the most phenomenal ideas that anybody has ever come up with, because they allowed Oda to craft a world of unique individuals and in terms of combat for this battle manga, it allowed him to make every fight a visually and often mentally distinct affair, with different fruit abilities leading to an infinite reservoir of fresh ideas in a genre that can get very repetitive very quickly. Now, the reason why I bring up Devil Fruits is because I immediately want to draw contrast between them and Harky, because the most profound effect that Harky would come to have on the One Piece world is that it more or less replaced Devil Fruits as the primary underlying power system. Now, as for whether or not that was a good or bad move to make, well, let's find out. The first key difference is that Harky at face value is a far more limiting concept than that of Devil Fruits. I mean, yes, you could draw the similarity that there are three broad types of Devil Fruits, just as there are three broad types of Harky, but within each Devil Fruit class was a seemingly infinite wealth of options, with the various subclasses and even within those subclasses, almost every Devil Fruit is perfectly unique and provides a very interesting spin on a character. And yes, I say almost, not all, but almost. Harky, on the other hand, holds the danger of becoming a bit bland because two users of the same type of Harky will almost always use it in the exact same way. And the most basic example of this would be Armament Harky. If two Armament Harky users get into a fight, then they're just going to harden their bodies and slog it out. Whereas if, say, two Paramecia Devil Fruit users get into a fight, there's a lot of complexity going on between the interactions. Like, how does a rubber man overcome a poison generator or a wax user, or someone who can slow down time? Every single engagement is a brand new experience. So already, Harky does not present the sheer versatility of Devil Fruits. At best, Harky can be used incredibly creatively to enhance the Devil Fruit, such as Luffy's Gear 4 transformation. But that is not the overwhelming method in which Harky is presented in one piece. The thing is that Devil Fruits were the selling feature of the pre-timeskip era. I mean, yes, there were other bits and pieces here, like the Rokushiki techniques used by CP9, or Swordsman or Martial Arts in general, but the interest generated by new characters often had to do with their Devil Fruit powers. Now, in this new era, that has been replaced by Harky. When a prominent character is introduced, the big hype behind them can lead strongly towards what type of Harky they have access to and how advanced it is. And if those questions aren't answered, then it becomes a bit difficult to take them seriously as a force in this world. For example, let's take one of my favorite antagonists of all time, Charlotte Katakuri. When he was first introduced into the story during Holkake Island, the terrifying hype behind his power did not come from his Devil Fruit, which was already pretty incredible, but instead it came from his advanced form of observation Harky, which allowed him to see briefly into the future. His Devil Fruit was more of a side ability that he used incredibly effectively in conjunction with his ridiculous Harky, whereas I personally feel that it should have been the other way around. Harky should be an accessory to a Devil Fruit user rather than the basis of a combatant. And it's also quite tricky because it does feel like, due to the sheer power of Harky, that every major opponent now needs to have it as a prerequisite, rather than fighting in their own way, using their own unique Devil Fruit powers, martial arts, or exceptional intelligence. You know, a primary arc villain needs to have Conqueror's Harky to present a threat to Luffy these days. And if they don't, once again, you can't take them seriously, because it's just not an optional extra that you can get around. This stuff is necessary for high level combat, and it's not just Conqueror's Harky, but also observation and armament. And I will say while we're here that, yeah, you could make the same argument about Devil Fruits, after a certain point, primary antagonists did need to be a Fruit user to be taken seriously. In most cases anyway. However, once again, Devil Fruits held that aforementioned versatility, where even though we knew a character had one, and even knowing their type, we still can't necessarily predict how it will be used, and how the abilities of our protagonist will interact with it. However, you can almost immediately predict how two Harky users will interact, because there just aren't enough options for its usage. Now in defense of Harky, it's not quite as basic as I've made it out to be thus far. In all three areas, there are assumedly more advanced users, which we have seen in the areas of observation and armament. And these are incredibly necessary to keep the current state of the series moving forward in an interesting way as it relates to combat. And I think that for the most part, Oda has done a pretty good job of keeping Harky-focused battles captivating, through creative usage and choreography. Furthermore, I do think Harky or something like it was a necessary development in the series, because as much as I have praised the versatility of Devil Fruits, they did also present some narrative issues, particularly with the low-gear class, which prior to Harky were all but invincible. So Harky does go on to serve, at the very least, an important purpose of balance, but I guess you could also say that this sort of spiritual awareness was a missing factor from One Piece from the get-go. One Piece has always been about will, whether it be inherited will or sheer willpower overcoming obstacles, that is the core function of the series. So to quantify that into an identifiable power system is probably one of the better outcomes that we could have hoped for. Like, I really cannot imagine a world where Luffy goes off to train with Ray Lee, and he gets taught about some hidden aura or energy that he needs to make use of because that's just not One Piece, whereas an expression of willpower at least fits within the world. Furthermore, just because, as I said before, it does seem to be a requirement of all major antagonists to have Harky, it doesn't necessarily need to become a selling feature, as I believe it did with Kartakuri. And the best counter example I have to him is Dol Flamingo, who also possessed all three types of Harky, but he very much stood on his own two feet. The key feature with him was definitely still the Ito Ito no Mi, and how he was able to put it to use in quite frankly ridiculous and highly overpowered ways. So to me, Dol Flamingo was probably one of the finest uses of Harky by an antagonist that I can think of, because it was there to act as an accessory and not a basis. But that didn't change the fact that Harky became such an integral aspect of this battle series, because it didn't just affect Devil Fruit users, but all forms of combatants. Like Zoro and Sanji both now have to wield observation and armament Harky in order to progress in power and be taken seriously. And I mean even Usopp needed to develop observation Harky to progress, instead of being just a naturally incredible sniper. So on the one hand, it is a natural development that I think the series really needed, but on the other hand, it's a power system that has taken an incredibly vast world with a wide array of abilities and forced them all to travel along one very narrow path. Sort of like an all roads lead to Harky kind of deal, and it does hold some narrative danger, because as soon as the story becomes about who has more of the thing than another, it flattens the world and things can get boring quickly. The advent of a new power system halfway through an already extraordinary and narrowly long series does also bring up some continuity questions as well. Like a lot of the time we're left struggling to find an in-world explanation as to why previous enemies may not have wielded any form of Harky against Luffy and the straw hats. Characters like Gecko, Moria and Crocodile come to mind, because no, I guess they're not strictly speaking top tier combatants, but they would have had a solid enough understanding of the world to at least know of the existence of Harky and I would argue that its use would have been integral in their rise to prominence. Especially in Crocodile's case where at Marineford, he was shown to be capable of engaging in combat with Dolph Lamingo and Mihawk, who are both highly advanced Harky users. And you know the explanation for this is fairly simple, and it's because Harky wasn't necessarily planned to be used like this or at all in the early era of One Piece, but as time went on and Oda wasn't finishing the story as quickly as he thought he might be able to, a natural escalation was needed and oh look, there were a bunch of moments in the series where this otherworldly power is displayed like mantra. So even though Harky is technically demonstrated in the very first chapter, I highly doubt that's what it was intended to be at the time, but it did provide quite a satisfying explanation to these various seemingly supernatural events in the One Piece world, so well done Harky for that. Whatever the case, we're at a point where Harky cannot be ignored or replaced. It is now a fundamental building block throughout the entirety of the One Piece world, and I guess we'll just have to trust Oda enough not to fall into the numerous traps that a narrow power system can present. And once again so far, I think he's done pretty damn well, although I still wish that Harky was not the be all and end all of high level combat in this world. I missed the days where there was a more creative and unknown aspect to the battles of One Piece. However, all things must grow and evolve and so here we stand today with a series that has been revolutionized by the concept of Harky. And that pretty much does it for how Harky changed One Piece. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produced in general, then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. And if you'd like to see more videos like this but applied to other anime and manga series, then please do check out my second channel New World Review for all of your wider needs. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time, then please do head over to my Discord server, where a wide array of shenanigan retakes place on a daily basis. And finally, please do comment with your thoughts on how Harky changed One Piece. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time. Do you think Kartakuri would ever join Luffy? Yes or no? Why? I guess that depends on what you mean by join. For example, if you're asking if you'll join the Straw Hats, then no because well, no. But I could certainly see him becoming an ally and things could get quite fun if he inherits the Big Mom Pirates after her inevitable fall. Because Kartakuri quite clearly respects Luffy, and I highly doubt that he would want to start another conflict with him. Favourite game? PC, board, card game, etc. Any kind of game. I have to say that's a tough one and changes quite a bit. I guess when it comes to board games I'm usually a big fan of social deduction games. So one of my favourite games over the last few years has been Secret Hitler. But I've also played a lot of Resistance Avalon, One Night Werewolf, Lots of Mafia variants and so on and so forth. In terms of card games, I actually really enjoy the Pokemon TCG. It is a surprisingly deep game and so much fun to play. And I also used to play a lot of Magic the Gathering as well. Do you like Mustard? Nope.