One Piece is an anime that cares a lot about bloodlines.
Or rather, most Japanese series are obsessed with lineage.
During the Onigashima incident, Kaido declared that only Haki was the power that stood above all else.Then he got beaten up by Luffy using the Nika Fruit.
Of course, that is not the point.
The point is this: if Kaido believed Haki was the most important, why did he eat the Azure Dragon Fruit?
The answer goes back to his days on Rocks's ship. After seeing Whitebeard use the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to trigger tsunamis, Kaido became obsessed with finding a powerful Devil Fruit of his own.
Because in reality, it is not that "Haki stands above all."
To be precise, only Conqueror's Haki is the power that truly reigns supreme.
The annoying part is that Conqueror's Haki cannot be trained. You either have it or you do not.
Look at all the known Conqueror's Haki users.
Garp, Dragon, and Luffy, three generations of the Monkey family, are all Conqueror's monsters. That is clearly a bloodline thing.
Garling, Shanks, and Shamrock belong to the Figarland family, the combat elite among the Celestial Dragons.
Kozuki Oden comes from the daimyo line that has ruled Wano for generations.
Loki is a prince of the Giant race.
Rocks, Teach, Roger... all of them are members of the D. clan.
With Kaido's origins, if he had not relied on a Devil Fruit, the peak of his life would have been comparable to someone like Rayleigh, Jaba, or Ben Beckman. Top-tier elites, but still short of absolute monsters.
Which brings us to the real question.
Which institute has the best excavator training?
Terrible meme. Delete that.
So what gives Hiruto Blake the confidence to fish in troubled waters during the war between the Sun God and Imu and walk away with the spoils?
Simple.
Because he has cheats.
The moment Blake spoke, his consciousness appeared in a clear blue void.
In front of him hovered a futuristic-looking screen.
On it were ten slots, and in each slot sat a card.
Every card showed a portrait and a name: Borsalino (young), Monkey D. Garp (young), Shiki (prime), Charlotte Linlin (child)...
Below the cards was a box shining with golden light.
"Same routine as always. Draw first."
Blake pressed his hand down on the box.
It trembled, then spat out a single card that floated into his hand.
The portrait on the card was that of a woman.
She wore a rose-colored business suit and a Marine coat of justice draped over her shoulders. A pair of deep purple gloves wrapped her hands.
Her light pink hair fell to her shoulders, styled into that classic "looks like she would be really good at basketball" updo, and a purple pair of sunglasses rested on her head.
Tashigi... nope.
Tina (prime).
"Hmm. Tina, huh? That is someone I can actually fight."
Blake rubbed his chin.
"I choose to enter."
The instant he spoke, his figure vanished from the blue space and, in the blink of an eye, appeared on a solitary island.
"Island terrain this time? Guess that counts as home-field advantage for her. I should be extra careful."
Thinking this, Blake began walking toward the center of the island.
At the same time, he pushed his Observation Haki to the limit, wary of enemies that could appear from any direction.
Suddenly, within his sensory range, a tall, sharp-looking woman stepped out from the dense forest ahead.
Only, this Tina's eyes were completely lifeless. There was no spark inside them, only cold indifference.
Blake's gaze sharpened, and he dashed straight at her, his speed explosive.
His right fist drew back into a bow, glossy black Armament Haki coating it.
Even so, with no "Observation-Kill" state activated to completely erase his presence, Tina still reacted in time. Her arms went up in a cross guard in front of her, Armament Haki covering them as well.
Blake's fist crashed into her forearms and sent her flying backward.
Seeing his advantage, Blake refused to relent and charged after her.
Still airborne, Tina thrust both hands toward him.
"Black Spear Formation."
In an instant, iron bars manifested out of thin air, thrusting toward Blake from all directions.
Relying on the sharp perception of his Observation Haki, Blake twisted and slipped past every iron rod, but his speed dropped.
Tina landed, then spun, her long leg whipping toward Blake's head in a high roundhouse. Under the sunlight, that long leg gleamed dangerously.
Blake was in no mood to appreciate it.
He had already thrown his balance off while dodging her fruit ability. Right now he could not evade, only raise his fist to meet the blow head-on.
A dull bang rang out as their attacks collided.
Normally, a kick generates more force than a punch. But Blake's physique was tougher than Tina's, so their clash ended in a draw.
In that brief moment of deadlock, Blake lifted his right leg and aimed a kick at Tina's waist.
She stepped back to evade, and Blake immediately followed in, closing the distance and forcing her into close-quarters combat.
He had done this on purpose.
Judging from Tina's moves in the anime, her fruit abilities favored long-range, wide-area, and binding attacks.
When there is not much of a gap in Haki between both sides, the one with a Devil Fruit has a significant advantage.
Blake's own edge lay in his physical toughness and the superior sharpness of his Observation Haki, which let him read his opponent first.
After several exchanges, Blake had a clear grasp of Tina's strength.
"Her Armament Haki is a bit stronger than mine, but not by much. If I rely on my physique and drag this into a war of attrition, I can win."
With that conclusion, his confidence surged, and his attacks grew faster and sharper.
In the blink of an eye, the night passed.
Blake once again stood in the blue space, holding a card in his hand.
Armament Haki (Prime Tina).
As he voiced the name, the card vanished. A surge of power welled up from deep within his body, and both the quality and quantity of his Armament Haki multiplied.
This was Blake's system, a rigid cheat that never said a single word.
First, Blake could draw one card every month.
The characters on the cards were random. They might be famous powerhouses from the original story, or they might be nameless extras.
The odds of drawing canon characters were much higher than those of drawing nobodies.
However, the same character could appear in different life stages, with vastly different power levels.
Blake could choose to challenge any character whose card he drew.
If he won, he could gain one ability card from the opponent.
The ability might be one of the three types of Haki, a Devil Fruit power, or a special physique.
If he lost, or if he did not want to challenge for the time being, he could store the card in the slots above.
The card pool had ten slots in total and could hold ten cards. Blake could wait until he was confident before attempting a challenge.
Over sixteen years, Blake had filled all ten slots with cards he had carefully selected.
Every single one had relatively strong, yet relatively achievable abilities.
Aside from Golden Lion Shiki and Red Count Baroric Ledfield, who had only appeared once each, the rest were characters at more manageable stages of their lives.
Take Garp for example. Young Garp was clearly easier to deal with than Garp in his prime or old age.
Among the ten cards, the most precious was Charlotte Linlin (child).
Of the ten, child Linlin was the weakest, and in that period she had neither Haki nor a Devil Fruit, only one special talent.
Iron Balloon.
As long as Blake could defeat her, he would definitely obtain the Iron Balloon ability card.
The tragedy was that even at sixteen years old, Blake still could not beat child Charlotte Linlin.