WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece Episode 936: "Get the Hang of It - Wano Country's Haki, Ryuo!" now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and VRV.

Over the last few episodes, Luffy has been training by beating up every one of Queen's grifters and the Udon Prison's guards, trying to figure out how to use his Haki in new, incredible ways, all in an effort to gain enough power to defeat Kaido. While he's beaten every adversary thrown at him in the sumo ring — all while protecting the old man Hyogoro — he's failed to reach his goal: to throw a punch that sends enemies flying without touching them.

However, the old man he's been protecting this whole time might be far more powerful than Luffy was led to believe. Hyogoro, former head of Wano's Yakuza, has a great deal of power stored in his little old body. And he's willing to share his secrets with Luffy.

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The Pirate, The Yakuza and the Queen

Luffy and Hyogoro In Udon Prison

Hyogoro is an old man Luffy met in Udon's Prison. He ended up finding a kindred spirit in the old man and companionship in his company. Luffy even offered Hyogoro extra food tickets so he could eat, giving Hyogoro a chance to find some pleasure after years of toiling away under Orochi and Kaido's rule.

However, Hyogoro is not simply an old man Orochi didn't like. Rather, he's the former leader of the yakuza, a powerful and feared individual known throughout all of Wano. Luffy's blissfully unaware of this, however, even as he and Hyogoro are put into a sumo competition of life-and-death, courtesy of the villainous Queen. The two have clamps around their neck that will constrict and pop their heads off, should they exit the ring. They fight until nothing stands in their way, after which they might be allowed to leave, assuming Queen keeps his word.

Luffy has been protecting Hyogoro for the most part, even using his Haki to telegraph his moves in an attempt to help the old man avoid attacks that would otherwise kill him. However, Hyogoro, observant and sharp as a tack despite the years of imprisonment, picks up that Luffy is trying to do something far greater than he can manage. And he has a solution.

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The Sword Without Swords

Luffy explains what he wants to Hyogoro, as well as past experience with those who used Haki to move adversaries around them in the past. While Hyogoro admits that, while Haki is a foreign concept to him, he knows of a technique in Wano that can turn your spiritual energy into a sword that envelops the whole body, in a sense. It's often used by swordsmen to enhance their sword-swinging techniques.

Hyogoro demonstrates this power against the two adversaries, showing off the technique. While he asks Luffy to direct him using Haki to evade attacks, he demonstrates the power against their enemy, Alpacaman. Turning his hand black and radiating purple-pink energy around his fist, Hyogoro slams his open-palm near his adversary's throat, imploding it without laying a finger on him.

Hyogoro leaves everyone in awe, turning to Luffy and offering to teach him this power. Luffy immediately accepts with an eager grin on his face. If this technique proved so mighty in the aged, prison-weary yakuza boss, it's hard to imagine how much energy Luffy could generate in his far stronger build. It's possible that Hyogoro's new technique might even be what Luffy needs to turn the tides against Kaido himself.

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