Supreme Headcanon: Napoleon Bonaparte/Waterloo conceptualized One Piece's Conqueror's Haki
Seems it's about that time I awaken the One Piece theorist in me, by proving that the concept of Conqueror's Haki was inspired by a scene in Waterloo, a classic about Napoleon Bonaparte that came out in 1970. Truth be told I've never actually watched the movie, but judging from what I saw in the youtube review below and what I can feign remembering from my history books, Napoleon Bonaparte truly was a badass! Badass and controversial that's for sure.
For more historical context History Buffs's Nick goes in detail in the video below but for the purpose of this post;
Waterloo - Ode to Napoleon's Battles;
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CoC's Birth?
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CoC's Birth?
By March 1815, Napoleon had been in exile for some months where he'd been gaging when would be the right time to make his comeback. Meanwhile back home, King Louis XVI had been losing in popularity among civilians and soldiers alike due to his policies, and banking on it Napoleon gambled that the population would welcome him back with open arms if he returned to France. So he and his Old Guard did just that, and to stop him in his tracks King Louis XVI sent General Ney and his troops.
[Source: Youtube Video Below]
Instead of ordering the Old Guard to engage their fellow patriots, Napoleon told them to lower their weapons, no French blood would be spilled on his account. He instead taunted General Ney and his men to shoot him and him alone if it's really what they wanted.
9:43
Napoleon Bonaparte: If you want to kill your Emperor? Here I am.Source.
...
Fire!
None did, they all just stood astonished, stared at him in reverence and according to the movie one of them even fainted. One by one they dropped their arms, switched sides and joined their emperor's march. Over and over it kept happening until his one regiment had became a full blown army. Dude literally took over the country without a single shot being fired. And there were thousands of witnesses to all of it, now what's more badass than that?
Oh yeah. As soon as he returned to power the Britain-Russia-Prussia-Austria alliance declared war against him. No not against France, that coalition of juggernauts was going directly against him! 🤣
Napoleon: Well, they've done it. All the great powers have declared war against me. Not against France -- against me! Marshal Michel Ney: They honor you by making you a country.
Napoleon: Honor? They deny me the decency of law. They make it legal for any clown to kill me!Source.
😎
Before the meat, first things first. what is One Piece? Or more accurately, have you met our lord and savior Mugiwara no Luffy?
One Piece:
One Piece Charlie - Memegenerator
One Piece is a manga mainly about pirates who may or may not have eaten Devil Fruits. It follows a go lucky pirate called Monkey D Luffy and his crew as they sail and fight their way through the turbulent Grand Line, with the main goal of obtaining the One Piece. And in their way are the countless other pirates after the same thing as well as the 3 great powers of the One Piece universe. Those great powers are;
The World Government(WG):
They basically rule the One Piece World. Masters of propaganda and swift with deceit, they have their hands in virtually everything. From legal to illegal, from being liberators to engaging in slavery. Plenty plenty factions under the WG.The Shishibukai:
Aka The Seven Warlords. These are pirates who made a deal with the WG under which they agree to be at their beck and call whenever wherever. In exchange they get deals under the table and virtually no punishment for their crimes, no matter how gruesome. Unless said crimes are exposed to the masses of course.The Yonko:
Aka the 4 Emperors of the seas. Creme de la creme de la pirate gangs, they basically run the pirate game. They each have their own connections, territories, and overpowered fleets. So much so the WG had to deploy most of it's might including all the admirals to fight just one of these emperors. Most of them are also after the One Piece.
Those are some of the main factions as acknowledged by the WG, some of the more or less obscure are The Underworld and The Revolutionaries.
Content breeds Content:
As all fans know, Eichiro Oda, loves using real World myths, cultures and history as inspirations for his characters, plots and locations. Other inspirations he loves using are the stories he used to love as a youngin.
Like how all the admirals are based on some of his favorite actors in their iconic roles, how Luffy is to a certain extent based on one of his childhood favorite cartoons, Vicky the Viking(1974) and to another on Dragon Ball(1984), which is itself inspired by an ancient Chinese Folklore, Sun Wukong's Journey to the West. The latter actually being an inspiration for numerous Shonen manga.
So is it too far fetched to assume those few seconds in the movie could have been the inspiration for one of the story's most broken abilities? Or at least how it's visually depicted? Heck no! Nothing ever too far fetched with Goda, dude's awakened after all.
So without further ado;
Napoleon Bonaparte <=> Big Mom:
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By the second decade since he'd enlisted in the military, Napoleon had quickly risen through the ranks all the way to emperor status during the French Revolution period. Sure he aggressively chased and tightly held to power, but just like Caesar he knew the benefits of keeping the population and soldiers happy. Many of his reforms and policies had that effect, some so groundbreaking they survive to this day in some shape or form in most countries.
Against his enemies however, French or not, he was ruthless, never shying away from showcasing his military genius and resorting to economic sanctions when needed. Like he did with Great Britain in 1806, but boy did that backfire. The embargo dictated that no ally of France would trade with Great Britain but inevitably one by one nations found away around it, or just straight up ignored it. Once Spain starting ignoring it he invaded them, didn't go so well. Next up to ignore it was Russia, he invaded them as well in 1812. Another disastrous campaign that forced him to retreat, yet another win for Russian's winter and their scorched Earth tactics.
In march 1814 the newly formed alliance of Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia marched on Paris and forced him to abdicate. He was then exiled to the island of Elba where he spent 11 months before escaping and making his grand return. Once in Paris he raised an army to combat the quadruple alliance. Sadly though, the campaign was short, ending a few months later when he was sent packing from Waterloo.
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Big Mom - Opfanpage.com
This is not a new revelation by any means, quite the opposite actually. Matter of fact it's well known that she also draws parallels from Marie Antoinette's life and The French Revolution in general, with some theories suggesting that the latter might be one of the main inspirations for the whole story. Still, we'll only focus on Napoleon's influences.
For starters, Charlotte Linlin aka Big Mom, is one of the Emperors of the Seas.
As a child, she was a misunderstood and problematic child who very quickly somehow grew to a semi giant's size, with abnormal and rarely matched strength. Usually sweet and giving, once angered she was unstoppable, and when craving sweets she'd go berserk causing unimaginable damage and sometimes loss of life in the process. Unable to deal with her tantrums her parents abandoned her on the island of giants aka Elbaf, hoping they'd be able to deal with her and that eventually she'd learn how to behave.
They couldn't, she didn't.
Fast forward ±20 years, she starts her pirate crew. 40 ish years later she's one OP and terrifying empress with one of the widest networks in the story. Her territories are plenty, her main island being Whole Cake Island where all races are welcome to live peacefully without being discriminated against. As long as they pay the, very heavy not so sweet tax. It also applies to her other territories. Pay or face annihilation.
Also, she was recently defeated or at least expelled by the newly allied Kidd and Trafalgar D. Water Law. Another clear reference to Napoleon seeing how the battle at Trafalgar is one of his most infamous losses and the one near Waterloo his last.
And owh, her hat slash sword is called Napoleon.
Cool?
Cool.
Onto the last stretch.
: Act Three: Supreme Tinfoil
Conqueror's Haki, aka Haoshoku Haki, aka Supreme Haki, aka CoC, is a type of haki only possessed by 1/1 000 000 of people. Those are high willed individuals with kingly traits and who are in most cases powerhouses. It's base functions are to command respect, overwhelm and/or knock out fodder characters or in OP terms, the weak willed. As for it's evolved functions, well I'm still kind of confused as of now, and don't even get me started on that awakening. Nika Nika no what? But for real the last few chapters have been peak insanity; hilarious, epic and mixed feelings inducing!
Anywho, an AMV of CoC moments for the uninitiated;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Y3PAhqsulZU
So ladies and gentlegents, specially fellow OP enthusiasts, am I tripping for thinking that that Bonaparte scene could have been where the concept for CoC came from? Because to me, the way they are depicted in the anime and in the movie is awfully similar, except only one person got "knocked" out in the movie, and some other not so slight exaggerations in the anime of course.
I got goosebumps the first time I Watched that Waterloo scene. Same tension, same CoC vibe, same epicness.
Not only is Goda himself a history buff, but with so many Napoleonic references sprinkled in the story, and the fact that a lot of the media that inspired the story were released around the same time as the movie did, I just can't help but... Ok, enough rambling. What you think? 100% probability, or complete crackpoterie? No in-betweens please.
- This post contained spoilers;
Woohoo.. if there is one character that I admire so much in history, it's Napoleon. And I love the way he liked doing his grand entrance whenever he is goes on exile and returns.
Edit: by the way @ange.nkuru , where have you been? It's been 16 days already. I hope you're okay though
Indeed, Napoleon was a badass and he knew it!
And I'm still around and doing well. I just go through times in which I don't post, changing that soon tho.
Cheers for the comment and the checkup tho @iskafan.
I am glad you agree.
Oh nice. I'll be looking forward to more of your posts then. 😉
You are so welcome.