 Warning, this video will contain spoilers up to chapter 1026. You've been warned! Hello Manakamatachi, this is Joygirl, with our next discussion, What Makes a Yonko? That is the question that we're going to be answering today, along with the question of whether this means that Monkey D. Luffy now legitimately fits within that category. Because in chapter 1026, Luffy has done something huge and reached a new level. A sky-splitting level, in fact. A feat that we have only seen to be the result of two very powerful individuals clashing. The first time we witnessed this was back in chapter 434, when Shanks paid Whitebeard a visit, which ended with the two clashing swords splitting the sky in the process. Again, this event was seen when Kaido and Bigbump collided towards the end of the second act of the Wano arc, so we know sky-splitting is no joke and we've only ever seen it being achieved by just a handful of overwhelmingly powerful combatants, all of whom hold the status of being one of the emperors of the sea. So it's natural to raise the question of whether our resident Rubber Boy has now reached this level. Without wading into the territory of power scaling too much, which does seem impossible given the context of this video, we're now going to assess whether Luffy is now a legitimate member of this group of Yonko. In which case, this name does need serious changing because Yon means four. But I will be using this term Yonko and Emperor interchangeably, although I do realize that this whole word refers to the four emperors of the sea. And seeing as there are already four individuals with this title, Luffy would actually just be the fifth one. Five as in go. Okay, but let's not get ahead of ourselves because we do first need to answer whether Luffy has actually earned himself this title and to answer that, we have to ask what makes a Yonko? While splitting the skies is no doubt an impressive feat, this in and of itself isn't the sole criteria which requires to be met for an individual to hold this title. In fact, this question of whether Luffy should be considered an Emperor of the Sea was first spurred after the events of the Whole Cake Island arc where Luffy challenged one of the currently existing Yonko, dealt quite a bit of damage to her territory, defeated two of her top commanders, and then survived to tell the tale. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that the tale was told on his behalf because that's exactly how this discussion spawned. By Big News Morgan, sensationalizing Luffy's feats against Big Mom and his break into the Club of Pirates with bounties over one billion berries, exceeding the amount of any commanders that we know, referring to Luffy as being comparable to being considered one of the Emperors of the Sea. And this raised a lot of discussion about Luffy's status because unlike the status of the Shichibukai, the Yonko title isn't quite clear cut. For the Shichibukai or the Warlords of the Sea, this is a status which was granted by the world government to strong and influential pirates who, in alliance with the Marines, could rival the power of the Yonko to maintain the world's balance. Each of the Shichibukai were directly appointed as a Warlord, but with the Yonko, this is a label that an individual acquires through recognition by the rest of the world. When Garp introduces us to this concept of the Yonko in Chapter 432, he says that people call them the Four Emperors. And again, when Jinbei updates the Straw Hats about Blackbeard's rise to power during the timeskip, Jinbei says the rest of the world labels him one of the Four Emperors. And based on what we've seen throughout the series, what defines an individual to be considered an Emperor is ultimately their power. But power is multi-layered. First and foremost, it does certainly relate to the individual's physical strength because in this world of feasts and pirates, you must be strong to survive, and even more so if you want others to follow you. When we look at all of the characters who have held this Yonko title, each are, as individuals, extremely strong pirates. Whitebeard was known as the world's strongest man, Kaido is the world's strongest creature, and Big Mom is most likely to be the strongest woman we have seen in the series. Shanks is an individual who was able to match Whitebeard in their clash, and Blackbeard was an individual who killed Whitebeard, albeit after Whitebeard essentially took on the entire Marines, but also left a permanent scar on Shanks, which he has stated to still ache to this day. Each of these characters to the exclusion of Blackbeard formed the rare handful of individuals in the world who can wield all three forms of Haki. And whilst possessing Conqueror's Haki isn't a necessary requirement of being a Yonko level, it is an indication of an individual's innate power that they can exert over others. And when used in combat to infuse attacks with Conqueror's Haki, it immediately bolsters the force and strength of the attack. Quite literally, Conqueror's Haki is Haki of the Supreme King, with the title of King being quite synonymous to Emperor. And in Blackbeard's case, what he likes in Conqueror's Haki, he makes up with his unique ability to possess multiple Devil fruits. And the fruits which Blackbeard possesses happens to be two extremely powerful Devil fruits, which can have a very similar threatening and imposing effect on others. And if we're going to discuss Devil fruits, then it's also true that all the other emperors have extremely formidable Devil fruits too. But physical strength alone doesn't equate to being an Emperor, because we could then look at Mihawk, who was once considered a rival to Shanks, and ask why he wasn't considered as one of the Yonko, despite being a capable combatant who stands at the top with the title of the world's strongest swordsman. And the answer often provided here is that Mihawk is a single man, and this fact does definitely lend into the discussion of who should be considered a Yonko. Because another layer of power that we have to consider is the power of influence. Each of the Yonko demands a level of influence in the world, which can also take some various forms. Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom and Blackbeard all command an entire fleet of pirate ships. They also rule over expansive territories with specific islands coming under their protection in Whitebeard's case or arguably terror in the case of others. The only Emperor who hasn't had this confirmed is Shanks, who we only know to captain the red-haired pirates and isn't known to rule over any specific territory, but this isn't to say that this means he definitely doesn't command a fleet, and it is highly likely that Shanks does in fact rule some land, which is based on Garp's introduction of the Yonko who reside in the New World and rule the lands with an iron grip. Which is why many have taken to speculating Shanks actually rules over Elbath, but even with speculations aside, if we said that Shanks was captain to just one single ship with no territory to his name, we still know him to possess an insane level of influence in the world. One great enough to be able to call an end to the Marineford War and to gain an audience with the Gorossae. Despite being a character we've only seen a handful of times in the series, in the few instances that we did, Shanks has shared scenes with very important figures or been told to have achieved legendary feats such as stopping fellow Yonko Kaido from going to Marineford. And it is in fact the culmination of these factors which defines the Yonko. They're individuals whose power is overwhelming and imposes inescapable threat, threat to the world government, which explains each of their ginormous bounties, but also to each other. Because the nature of the power system wasn't merely the Yonko versus the Marines in alliance with the Shichi Bukai, it was a delicate balance where the Yonko posed threats to each other in addition to the combined forces of the world government and the warlords. And all of this combined makes them an undeniable presence in the world to garner the attention from others, including the Gorossae, regular citizens, and fellow Yonko alike as being recognized as one of the emperors of the sea. But how does this all relate to Luffy and his latest development? When Big News Morgans announced Luffy's rise to Yonko status, it's fair to say that this may have been premature and still debatable at the time. True, Luffy had accomplished many impressive feat from moving on from the strongest figures of the East Blue to tackling the Shichi Bukai, challenging the world government on a number of occasions, and then eventually facing some of the Yonko, whilst in the process also claiming territories under his protection, becoming the reluctant leader of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet and amassing a whopping 1.5 billion berries. All of these achievements does certainly mean that in the eyes of the one-piece world, especially to the ordinary citizen, the pirate captain Straw Hat Luffy had become a household name with a fearsome reputation, even instilling fear, perhaps enough to be thought amongst the likes of other emperors. And ever since his journey began, with each of his encounters with the other pirates or islands and kingdoms, it was clear Luffy possessed a special ability to gain influence in a very unique way, inspiring those he met. But had Luffy achieved this influence in the eyes of the other emperors themselves? Because even though Luffy dealt quite a blow to Big Mom and Toto Land, it's not quite true to say that he posed a threat to endanger the balance of the power system. And this was made excruciatingly clear when we first got to Wano, when Luffy, along with the readers, saw firsthand the difference in strength when fighting against the Yonko. But since we got to Onigashima, this is a perception that Oda has been steadily changing. With each chapter, we've seen Luffy develop more and more to the point that even Kaido would question just how strong Luffy would become, comparing him to the likes of his fellow Yonko, perhaps his greatest foe in Odin, his former Captain Rocks, and even late pirate king Goldy Roger. A well-deserved recognition because shortly after, Luffy learned the ability to infuse his attacks with Conchra's Haki. But even this wasn't enough to showcase the heights of Luffy's power, because soon after, Kaido defeated Luffy once again, sending him below to the depths of the sea. And then, Chapter 1026. Luffy's sky-splitting clash with Kaido was an ultimate showcase of his strength, a moment which undeniably cements his ability to match Kaido, a Yonko. Because this is what had probably been the greatest factor from everyone being able to agree on Luffy's status as a Yonko. He had the impressive feats, the bounty, the grand fleet, territories, and posed enough of a threat against the world government. But up to this point, his threat to another Yonko, or lack thereof, has always held him back from being recognized as one. Plain and simple, he was strong, but not strong enough to challenge a Yonko one-on-one. But this moment in Chapter 1026 is a moment when we clearly see Luffy finally reach this stage. When two Yonko clash and it results in the sky-splitting, what we're seeing is the result of physics. And though I can't say that I understand it to the greatest of scientific knowledge, whether it even makes complete scientific sense, but essentially, we're seeing the collision of two forces of comparably equal strength to the point that the momentum being exerted can't overcome the other, and instead it results in the clash shooting out, or in this case, up into the sky. And this is what Luffy has achieved against Kaido, of controlling his conquest haki so that its force would be equal to Kaido's. And I'm not suggesting this now means Luffy is as of equal strength as Kaido, just as I don't think anyone claims that Whitebeard and Shang's were of the literal same strength or Kaido or Big Mom. But it's undeniable that Luffy has reached a level where he can seriously contend to challenge Kaido and match him. Again, not literally as strong as Kaido, but capable enough to contend and challenge Kaido. And compounded with everything else that Luffy had accomplished up to this point, this clash means that Luffy has achieved the minimum of what it means to be a Yonko. And I know that there are some fans who have gripes about Luffy's rapid development on Onigashima. At the end of the day, only two weeks within the One Piece timeline has passed from their initial showdown at Flower Capital to their sky splitting clash in Chapter 1026, but apart from the fact that Luffy has always had an extraordinarily fast growth rate and a keen ability to develop and increase his combat ability mid-battle, the real difference in his ability against Kaido was his ability to control and wield Konkurshaki. Back at the Flower Capital fight, Luffy was able to land blows on Kaido, but this didn't have an effect because his attacks couldn't penetrate Kaido's tough skin. And in reverse, his own endurance wasn't great enough to withstand Kaido's Nandabagwa imbued with Konkurshaki. This was the point of the Unon Prison arc for Luffy to gain endurance through training whilst wearing sea stone cuffs and for him to learn yoh. But as we know, imbuing his attacks with Armament Haki wasn't quite enough, in Luffy's words, still too shallow. And so it really came down to his knowledge of imbuing his attacks with Konkurshaki. And though his use of his newfound ability was initially understandably clumsy, through the sky splitting clash, it signifies Luffy as now truly being able to stand on equal footing against Kaido. Chapter 1026, marked as per the chapter title, a pivotal point not just for the war on Onigashima, but in the series, where Luffy can truly enter the arena of being considered an Emperor of the Sea. There are arguably differences in strength between each of the Yonkou, with Luffy definitely being at the lower end of the spectrum, but it's undeniable that he has now at least truly entered the stage as an Emperor of the Sea. So let me know what you think by leaving comment below, don't forget to like and share the video, and please do subscribe for more One Piece discussions. 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