haki

Luffy has awakened an ability known as "Haki" and is one of the few known people able to use all three different types. Luffy managed to learn the basics of Haki within a year and a half, even though Rayleigh had intended to spend the entire two years teaching him, meaning that he either is a fast learner once he understands the concept, or he has an innate affinity for Haki. Rayleigh departed after a year and a half, leaving Luffy to train by himself for the remaining six months. He is able to use Haōshoku Haki, a type of Haki possessed in one in a million people. Luffy used this ability several times in the series. This power first manifested itself when Luffy scared off Motobaro, Duval's bison steed, and made it faint. The first time that Luffy's possession of "Haōshoku" was recognized by others was when he made the warriors of the Kuja tribe faint just by yelling "I SAID

STOP!." It was here that Boa Hancock, another user of "Haōshoku ," commented on how he had this level of Haki, but not the ability to control it. Luffy used this ability again in Level Five of Impel Down against the wolf unit to save Mr. 2 Bon Kurei.

     Before training under Rayleigh, Luffy displayed limited to no control over this ability, and did not seem to realize he had it, but used it on instinct whenever it seemed to be most needed, and can still use it even when extremely injured. Luffy uses another burst of Haōshoku Haki when he sees Ace about to be executed and it is clear that he's knocked out quite a number of both Marines and Pirates.

     With this training, Luffy has demonstrated the ability to focus his Haōshoku Haki, knocking out a small group with a quick glare without affecting anyone else. A possibility of Luffy's Haoshoku Haki is that he can tame large animals as he was capable of taming all the animals of Rusukaina Island, and he even said that he was going to tame the Kraken, which he did with great success in a very short time. So far Luffy has only used Haoshoku Haki when he needs to get people out of the way with minimum damage.

     During the Whitebeard War, he appears to have developed the ability to predict his opponent's moves, by instinct, during his skirmish with Mihawk. This is most likely because of Kenbunshoku Haki. Luffy stops his Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka in mid strike when he has a vision of his arm being cut off by Mihawk. Mihawk remarks that the move showed that Luffy was "surprisingly clear-headed."

       He was also able to dodge a bullet point-blank and a beam shot from a Pacifista's arm, but whether it was because of his Haki or simply his incredible reflexes is unknown. He did describe the Pacifista's attacks as being, "slow" and was also able to sense Rayleigh, as well as many other characters, a great distance away to the point they aren't even visable on the page. Luffy later exhibited his Kenbunshoku Haki by predicting the arrival of an airborne axe thrown by Vander Decken, and was able to catch it in time.

     Luffy seems to have also mastered Busōshoku Haki, as shown when he defeated a Pacifista with a single Haki imbued punch used in conjunction with his Gear Second. He can now also use his Gear Third in conjunction with his Busoshoku Haki. This has shown to change his arm color into black and harden it. He was capable of knocking out a giant beast such as the Kraken easily, despite the great disadvantage of being under water (where his power was considerably weaker). After he used this, he did not turn into his chibi-like form, though it might have just been that Oda skipped it as in the manga version of Marineford.

Techniques

    Busōshoku: Kōka (武装色 硬化? literally meaning: "Color of Armaments: Hardening"): Luffy concentrates his Busōshoku Haki into his body (or parts of it) to harden it without in any way hindering the natural elasticity of his own body. It was seen used by Luffy in conjunction with Gear 2nd to make his attack more powerful and destroyed a Pacifista with a single punch and was used again against the Kraken in conjunction with Gear 3rd to harden his enlarged arm to the point of it attaining a completely dark and shiny appearance, in order to use his Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun.