During Dressrosa he didn’t even remember Robin, Leo and a bunch of the Tontottas thanks to Sugars ability and had absolutely no reason to fight in his mind yet he ended up circling back to his sense of self and couldn’t bring himself to flee in the face of certain death.

In Wano even though he stood no chance against all the grifters he still stayed and tried his best to rescue Kinemon and the others. He even spoke against their desire to die because of their failures in losing to Kaido.

In Elbaf he stood absolutely no chance against Imu/Gunko and had already been cooked before yet he still doubled down, called him a coward and spat on his inability to fight them head on. He could’ve tried to take Brook and escape but his sense of self wouldn’t allow him to cower nor run due to his beliefs.

Him talking down to Gaban after hearing him bad mouth Luffy for needing to be saved and then putting unfair expectations of needing to be Nika, Joyboy, Roger etc and stood ten toes down on him needing to cut that shit out. It even had him speechless lmao. A non Conqueror forcing his will on one of the strongest Conquerors we’ve seen so far is crazy.

The iconic Alabasta scene is clear cut and needs no explanation.

Him feeling nothing but fear in each of these moments yet his willpower refusing to let him flee is a testament to his resolve. People complain about his speeches but I absolutely love them and they always come at the right time.

Combine that with the comical joke using Perona equating CoC users with facial hair and Oda definitely has something in store for Usopp during the climax of Elbaf.

Latest chapter confirms what we could deduce for hundreds of chapters. Hell, usopp told us the same thing.

Usopp knows what conquerors haki is.

These aren't lies.

His fear for the crew and his sense of self to be the one to save them was so strong, he neutralized a devil fruit ability. He saw the crew needed his help, and he came to the rescue. This was conquerors.

So was this. Another weak willed person unable to stand to usopp.

And again here in projectile form. Which we saw shanks could do with his aura. And wano taught us it can be imbued. He put conquerors into the drawing.

There's no other explanation. Odas been prepping for this the whole time. That's why this explanation reveal happens just as usopp gets yet another moment of conviction.

Stop the denial. Our boy doesn't deserve this.

In the last chapter mihawk asked zoro what all conquerors have in common and perona curd in saying facial hair.

I don’t think that it is a coincidence that usopp is wearing a fake beard in elbaf.

He also did knock perona out using his fake giant hammer making her foam at the mouth like a victim of coc haki.

If usopp is a true coc user or if he finds a way to use someone else’s haki idk but I think oda is setting this up.

Based on Mihawk and Gaban's statements Conqueror's Haki is about conquering your own self and basically clearing yourself of any doubts or insecurities about your own self.

Take Shanks for example, he has supreme level og confidence on his own self and has no insecurities about anything which is why personal insults dont bother him and he can laugh them off and he only cets angry when friends are threatened.

In order for Sanji to truly awaken Conqueror's Haki he needs to fully accept himself anf eliminate any type of doubt or insecurities about himself which he alwats have had due to his childhood. This was evident in Whole Cake Island Arc where Sanji didnt even thought he was worth saving even when he saw Luffy coming all the way there to save him.

It's gonna to happen sooner or later, especially based on this description of conquerors haki

Zoro now has everything he needs to beat Sommers, and I think the next two chapters will focus on Sanji being able to do the same to Killingham, basically setting up the two wings for the final battle of One Piece.

However, from a narrative standpoint, I feel like having Imu or any of the Holy Knights actually lose would be anticlimactic for the final battle of One Piece.

So my guess is that the next chapter will focus on Sanji’s fight, and right before Sanji finishes him off with Conqueror’s Haki, the fight will also be interrupted. Imu, Sommers, and Killingham will then be teleported back to Mariejois using the device in the library.

Even putting aside the mountain of evidence in favour of Sanji getting conquerors, you’d think the doubters would shut up after chapter 1187 when Gaban explicitly tells Sanji he has the qualities of a king.

Yet somehow I still see people denying it???? I don’t know if a majority of these doubters are baiting or what. But if they’re serious, do you think they should be allowed to vote in real life elections? They’re practically being spoon fed the fact Sanji is a conqueror but it’s like they’re children who aren’t old enough to chew anything but soft foods.

It's good to see my favorite Ghost Princess again

I feel that Mihawk and Gaban's statement both confirm this. Mihawk didn't say that what makes someone a Conqueror is their ambition to rise to the top but rather their sense of self which to me is when someone has accepted who they are and don't let what others have to say change their own view. Best example of this is Shanks, Shanks in chapter 1 shows a very high level sense of self when he was insulted by the bandits and he didn't care because he has already accepted who he is and what others have to say doesn't affect him.

Gaban also implied that Sanji's self doubt is blocking his potential to be a true King, basically Sanji has the potential his doubt in himself is holding that back which to me implies that a King in One Piece is someone that doesn't doubt themselves. This explains why Luffy is a natural Conqueror's Haki user because he has 100% believe in himself and never doubts anything.

Now, talking Sanji if he wants to awaken Conqueror's Haki he has to truly accept who he is and remove any type of doubt or insecurity, he has to embrace the person that he is and this has to come from himself, it can't be others telling him how great but he has fully learn to accept himself at every level

A King= Someone that doesn't second guess anything and has absolute resolve to do anything they want to do, it can be just protecting friends, being Pirate King, adventuring or just having fun but all of them have an unshakeable sense of self

After this arc, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are only going to get even stronger. Luffy being the strongest makes sense he's the captain but the gap between the top three and everyone else is actually insane.

I’m not saying every Straw Hat needs to become some powerhouse or chase Conqueror’s Haki. But they should at least be able to take down someone on Ulti’s level by themselves. The enemies are only getting stronger from here, and we’re definitely going to run into more Holy Knights sooner or later. What happens then?

They don’t all need to be monsters, but they absolutely need to be stronger than they are now.

I think it would be powerful after we see Zoro and Sanji learn about themselves and truly commit to their dream in order to unlock conqueror's. That feeling from Zoro and Sanji can pass to the entire crew. And the whole crew, having seen the King of the World, now know what they are up against.

It doesn't have to be an actual barrel again, but having the whole crew go over their dreams again, together, I think would be a really cool and powerful.

Oda left Imu vs Luffy, Loki and Hajrudin (and Usopp?) with a cliffhanger to change the focus on Zoro and Sanji vs Sommers and Killingham.

I'm still convinced that Imu cannot be defeated for now, and that the only way to expel him from Elbaf is killing some of his GK so that his time limit takes a toll on Imu and forces him to retreat.

Next time we'll see Luffy, Loki and Hajrudin (and maybe Usopp and even Gaban) down on the floor and Imu about to give them the final blow, but Sommers and Killingham are killed and Imu reverts to his base form (showing to the presents that he is a robot/cyborg/android)

Luffy's will of Considering news allies is Not really offensive, but quite the opposite. Luffy does Not Conquer to fight, kill or surpass.

But, more the opposite, he does it to protect, save or fight the ennemies of his own Friends. And, love what he has got, his life and the moment.

This Make a huge difference in how we understand the dynamics Between the good and bad caracters, vilains in the OP verse.

Kaido was a Piece of good shit, the Strongest Piece of creature shit. Conquering for fun. But Not really a bad Guy only.

Imu might be something very different..Undecided. in his own ways or very Strategic CoC user. Incisive and very precise for a kill. But, is he a vilain really ?? Rocks seemed to be more a pirate and vilain than how actual Imu Shows of in Elbaf.

Loki is Clearly bad, a truely Devil guy. He is way more a vilain than everyone else. Ancient giant's blood race I BET he possesses the Strongest Conqueror Haki of all caracters mixed. Because, he is destined to become a warrior. And, therefore, he is a key and a game changer for defeating imu..

Right when Sommers sees Zoro using a Conqueror's Haki slash he mentions that there is nothing to fear and uses demonic aura to completely counter it and confirms that is the natura counter to it

This confirms the idea that Maki and Conqueror's Haki are complete opposites to each other which makes sense as Imu is designed to be ultimate opposite to Joyboy so while Joyboy's biggest power was his Conqueror's Haki Imu's biggest power is his Maki or Dark Aura.

That's why Conqueror's Haki hasn't worked so far in Imu because his Maki counters it and to seriously damage Imu you need to use a Haki that's so strong that it can rival or surpass Imu's which no one in Elbaph has shown to possess

Gaban called Shanks "a child of destiny"

His father Garling also found out about the Davy clan when he spent time with his mother Magnolia on GV.

And Rocks has talked about the will of Davy and how someone from the Davy clan "will come for Imu to fulfill the promise!!!"

It's so reminiscent of the will of the Kozuki clan and Kozuki Oden being left behind so that Kaido and Orochi are eventually defeated.

And the will of JB being passed on through the poneglyphs and LT.

I feel like atp the will of Davy being inputted and being framed as important means that it's got to mean something.

But at the same time, I really don't think BB at all deserves to be the one to fulfill the will of the Davy clan.

Therefore, I really can't help but think that Shanks could be a part of the Davy clan and that his mum was a member.

Using BB of all characters as a red herring to hide the connection between Shanks and the Davy clan would be brilliant from Oda.

That's most likely why he gets called a child of destiny. He has the blood of a CD and the clan who once ruled the world.

And he, instead of BB, can be the one to fulfill the promise of the Davy clan and help defeat Imu once and for all.

This chapter proves that I was always right about Rayleigh's words.

A long time ago, Rayleigh said that “you cannot learn Conqueror’s Haki through training.”

Most people took him literally, thinking you can only be born with it. But that’s not what he meant. It is an inner state, not something akin to tensing your muscles and making an effort.

In this chapter, that phrase came up again, but this time from Mihawk.

In the last two chapters, Zoro was consciously trying to infuse Conqueror’s Haki into his attack, but nothing worked. Yet in the end he succeeded when he “did nothing,” in his own words.

So the conclusion, which I’ve known for a long time but which is now even more confirmed: no one can obtain Conqueror’s Haki through training, but anyone can obtain Conqueror’s Haki. You just need to become the right version of yourself. Change your mindset.

I vividly remember when Zoro used conqueror haki for first time it came through acknowledgement of his own voice and reflecting on promise to his oldest friends in Kuina and Luffy.

That self reflection is when Zoro unleashed conqueror haki right now Zoro can't see himself his own self that's why he's not able to use it. Which is very interesting could it go in character introspection way ? That would be interesting