Summary
Red-Haired Shanks is one of the most important characters inOne Piece. He is currentlyone of the Four Emperors of the Sea, however, long before that, he was responsible for setting Luffy up on the journey to becoming the Pirate King. Shanks holds tremendous importance to both Luffy and to the overarching plot of the story.
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WithOne Piececurrentlyin its Final Saga, it is time for Shanks to start being more active than ever before. These are exciting times for the fans as Shanks has never been as involved in the story ever before. At the same time, this also means that fans' questions about Shanks and his powers will finally be answered. Unsurprisingly, recently, Oda has teased quite a lot about his abilities already and it is possible that Shanks possesses powers that have never been seen before in theOne Pieceworld and do not pertain to either swordsmanship or Haki.
Shanks In Film Red
Shanks was revealed to be central toOne Piece Film Redright upon its first announcement. Judging by the title alone, fans knew that he would be heavily involved in the plot of the movie and, as time went by, more details about the movie dropped,including information on Shanks’s daughter, Uta.In the movie itself, fans got a good look at both Shanks as well as the Red Hair Pirates. While Uta was the protagonist of the movie, Shanks played a very important role, given that he was her father, and Uta was doing what she was doing because of him. Her plan to plunge the world into a state where they could live a life of dreams and do whatever they want was eventually quashed when Shanks appeared to help his daughter out.
At the same time, the Navy had surrounded the island which only meant that a confrontation with the Red Hair Pirates was inevitable. Furthermore, towards the end of the movie, Tot Musica had finally been awakened, which meant Shanks had plenty of opportunities to showcase his powers to the fans and that is precisely what ended up happening.
For instance, fans saw Shanks use his burning sword in Film Red. Through some means, Shanks could make it appear as if his sword was on fire and launch a powerful strike at his enemies. This strike was incredibly potent, capable of damaging even Tot Musica. How exactly Shanks did this isn’t known, however, there is much more to the abilities that he revealed inOne Piece Film Red.
Shanks In The Final Saga
Long before starting the Final Saga, Oda once said that the day fans see Shanks appear in the manga very often, they should understand that the series is now in its Final Saga. Just as promised, Shanks has been heavily involved in the current arc ofOne Pieceand his involvement in the main storyline is going to get even higher moving forward. Fans saw Shanksin the Egghead Island arcfighting against the Kid Pirates and completely demolishing this crew. Much to the surprise of the fans, Shanks was able to dismantle both Kid as well as Killer in a single strike of his sword. This gave fans an idea of his fighting style. Being Roger’s apprentice, it is no surprise that Shanks wields the same techniques as he does. Fans saw him use a technique called Divine Departure, which many would remember to be the technique that Roger used against Oden.
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Add the same time, fans also got a look at Shanks' Observation Haki. Shanks is a great user of Haki, and while most people attribute his strength to the Color of The Supreme King, his Color of Observation is absolutely incredible as well. In fact, he might just be the best user of the Color of Observation that fans have seen so far. In his fight against Kid, Shanks was able to see more than 10 seconds into the future, which is more than any other character has in the series so far. Much about his powers has been revealed to the fans already, however, despite what fans have seen of Shanks, his fighting style remains to be full of mystery.
What Oda Has To Say About Shanks' Powers
While fans know Shanks to be an incredible user of Haki as well as swordplay, some of his abilities appear to stem from something else entirely. For instance, Shanks has the power to neutralize the Observation Haki of his enemies somehow. According to Oda’s very own drafts, Shanks has the power to disrupt the breathing of his enemies somehow, and, through that, he can prevent them from using Observation Haki and, consequently, seeing into the future. This ability was first mentioned by Oda in Film Red and is completely canon. However, the source of this power was not elaborated upon. Fans have seen nothing in the series like this so far and it is unlikely that this is an application of Haki. The implication here is thatShanks has some other powers up his sleevethat fans do not know about, which separates him from other swordsmen or fighters.
In fact, Oda isn’t the only one who has implied that Shanks has some other fighting style up his sleeve. In Film Red, director Goro Taniguchi used Oda’s advice to draw the fighting style of the Red Hair Pirates. However, the director is believed to have deliberately put some fake fighting styles into the mix. This was done because he was worried that Film Red would end up spoiling the manga way too much and he believed that the original fighting styles should be revealed in the manga itself. This was said in a statement concerning the fighting style that fans saw, including that of Shanks. For instance, Shanks was seen using his swordplay and other members of the Red Hair Pirates used their unique powers as well. The implication here by the director is that Shanks has something other than swordsmanship and Haki up his sleeve since he didn’t actually reveal how Shanks fights.
What Ability Does Shanks Possess?
What exactly the ability that Shanks possesses is remains unknown. It could be that Shanks is simply a great user of Haki and that his mastery of it allows him to use new facets of this power, such as disrupting the Haki of his enemies. This would make Shanks the greatest Haki user in the entirety of One Piece. However, it is equally likely that Shanks possesses some other ability up his sleeve. What the source of this ability is and how he’s able to use it cannot be answered at the moment. Perhaps, this ability is related to his bloodline and is unique to the members of the Figarland Family. Or, it could also be possible that Shanks mastered some other form of power somehow.
The truth is, Oda has dropped enough hints for the fans to believe that Shanks isn’t purely just a swordsman. There is more to his fighting style than meets the eye and fans need to be seated with patience to see what it actually is. WithOne Piecein its Final Saga now, it is only a matter of time before Shanks appears in chapters once again. When that happens, fans will see what powers this legendary fighter has up his sleeve and what the source of those powers is.
