Shanks

Red-Haired Shanks (赤髪のシャンクス) is a fictional character in the One Piece manga and anime.

About Shanks
He is the captain of the Red Haired Pirate Crew and Monkey D. Luffy's childhood hero. He is also a legendary and powerful pirate in the Grand Line. He is greatly respected by most of the characters, despite having a 'soft' and friendly nature and never appearing in actual combat. As a whole, he does not make many appearances in the series, although he appears in a majority of the opening or closing themes of the anime.

Shanks always wears a long black cape over his shoulders and until he met Luffy, wore a straw hat that he had worn for many years beforehand. He always wears trousers that are cut below the knee as well as a pair of sandals. The most striking thing about Shanks is the colour of his red hair, of which his nick-name 'Red Haired Shanks' comes from. He also has three scars across his left eye, of which the origin of have yet to be revealled, as well as having a missing left arm. Shanks and his crew are almost always seen partying and drinking alcoholic beverages whenever they make an appearance as the Captain's favourite pastimes are attending and hosting parties and banquets.

According to Oda, Shanks is the one character that resembles himself the most out of all the One Piece characters, because of his fun-loving partying nature.

He also speaks with a cockney accent in the English anime dub.

In Japanese fan polls, he is consistently the eleventh most popular character.

Early One Piece
Shanks was first featured in the first pilot of One Piece Romance Dawn: version 1 in the Shonen Jump specials showcasting upcoming artists, about a year and a half before One Piece began.

In the second pilot Romance Dawn: version 2 of One Piece (featured in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine itself), Luffy got both his hat and the Devil fruit he ate from his grandfather, not Shanks. According to Oda the reason for not featuring Shanks was that he wanted Shanks to be kept a secret until One Piece was serialized so he would have a greater impact.

Personality and Relationships
Shanks one of the most laid back characters in the world of One Piece preferring to take his time as he and his crew travels around the world rather than rushing from one place to another. He also enjoys parties and having fun but at the same time is also serious when he has to be. Shanks isn't cruel like many other pirate captains nor does he rule over his crew with fear to gain respect. His friendly nature means he won't purposely seek to harm others, and he is able to make serious characters like Mihawk join in with his fun.

Shanks doesn't seem to mind what happens to himself. He'll take others throwing food and drink or spitting on him without even fighting back, laughing with his crew at his own misfortunes. Even losing an arm did not bother him much.

Luffy looks up to Shanks as his role model, childhood hero and the man he wants to eventually surpass. At first, Shanks never took Luffy seriously as he was just a boy so mocked his dreams to become a pirate. Later after Luffy stood up to the bandits and then as they were leaving declared he would be better than him, Shanks begins to treat him seriously. In the manga Ben Beckman tells Shanks that Luffy is going to be big. Shanks confirms this by saying that Luffy reminds him of himself when he was Luffy's age. Just as Luffy is currently looking for Shanks, Shanks eagerly awaits the day he meets up with Luffy.

It is said that Shanks' sword fighting skills were once a match for the world's strongest swordsman, Mihawk. It also is said that the two men would often spar with each other. When Shanks lost his left arm which was also his good arm, Mihawk stopped seeking him out for duels. However, it seems he and Mihawk remain on neutral terms with each other.

So far, outside of the World Government, the only one who appears to oppose Shanks is Buggy the clown. Ironically, in their youth Buggy accused Shanks of being too naive and innocent to ever make it as a pirate and yet presently Shanks is a great pirate while Buggy and his crew are still quite weak in comparison.

Shanks the Trainee Pirate
While Shanks was introduced during Chapter 1 of the manga and episode 4 of the anime, his story actually begins much earlier. In his past, he was a pirate in training aboard a ship alongside another would-be pirate, Buggy the Clown. The two spent most of their time together arguing over meaningless things, such as which pole was colder, the North or the South. Their constant bickering was met with annoyance by the rest of the crew.


 * Note: In one of the SBS sections of One Piece, in reference to Shanks and Buggy's 'which is colder' question, a fan asked Oda who got it right.  He went onto explain the Arctic was just a mass of ice and that the Antarctic was a continent, made of land.  Since land is colder then the sea (and the Arctic is frozen sea whereas the Antarctic is frozen land), Shanks was correct and the South Pole is colder, however it is not the coldest place in the world.

Sadly, the two young men would forever remain at odds with one another, thanks to a particularly unfortunate accident on Shanks' part.

It occurred after a raid on a passing ship where Buggy acquired a map which told the location of an underwater treasure. Once he realized his dreams of becoming the captain of a powerful crew would be all too possible with such a treasure, he chose to conceal the map and keep it for himself. Later that night, he had a conversation with Shanks who told him of a Devil Fruit (a cursed fruit of the ocean which was told to steal the ability to swim from the person that ate it, but grant them a special power) that had been found in the earlier raid. Shanks also told him of the Fruit's value, an amount great enough to set Buggy's dream in motion.

The next day, Buggy switched the Devil Fruit with a fake he had acquired from the kitchens and, with the entire crew as his audience, devoured the imposter fruit, successfully deceiving his crewmates into believing he had eaten the cursed fruit. Afterwards, Buggy retreated to a lifeboat with map and Devil Fruit in hand, ready to leave his apprenticehood and become a true pirate. However, his plans were thwarted when Shanks discovered him and, in an attempt to hide the stolen fruit, Buggy stuffed it into his mouth. A quick reproach about stealing from the kitchens and Shanks made to leave, but a moment later turned and hailed his crewmate once more, surprising Buggy into swallowing the precious fruit and dropping his treasure map into the ocean below.

Buggy, desperate to retrieve his only means of gaining his own pirate ship, jumped in after the map, only to discover that the rumours of the Devil Fruit were true and he was unable to swim. He was soon rescued by Shanks, but from that day forward blamed the other man for hindering his dreams.

Captain Shanks and the boy Luffy
The memory of what became of Buggy never left Shanks' mind, and he was soon faced with a similar problem some years later when, after becoming the captain of his own pirate ship, he arrived on an island where he met a strange young boy named Monkey D. Luffy. Intrigued by the boy and enjoying the atmosphere of Luffy's village, he decided to make the island his crew's base for a short period of time.

Luffy quickly grew attached to the crew, so much so that he wished to join their ranks and become a pirate as well. Shanks refused to allow the boy into his crew on the basis that he was too young and was still unable to swim (it was because of this attribute that Shanks and his crew had affectionately given Luffy the nickname 'Anchor.') Instead of snuffing his vigor, Shanks' rejection led Luffy to prove his manhood and stab himself in the cheek with a knife, scarring him permanently. This scene was exempt from the anime in fear of children mimicking Luffy's actions.

Shanks remained unimpressed, and stood firm under his decision. Sometime later, while Shanks, his crew, and Luffy were relaxing and (on the part of the crew) drinking heavily in the town bar, a group of mountain bandits arrived. Their leader, ignoring the pirates and seeing them as no apparent danger, walked up to the counter to ask for sake, only to be told the pirates had finished off the last of the bar's supply. Shanks apologized to the bandit leader and offered him the last unopened bottle, but instead of accepting the liquor, the man smashed the bottle with his fist, spraying Shanks, the counter, and floor of the bar. Despite this abuse, Shanks didn't appear to be angry, instead moving to help the bartender clean up the mess. The bandit leader, incensed, drew his sword and broke the rest of the dishes, including Shanks' meal, then left the pirate captain to his cleaning.

Once the group left the bar, Shanks cracked a smile and laughed along with his crew at his own misfortune. Luffy, who detested the sight of his hero acting weak, yelled that if you didn't fight back and protect yourself, you were not a real man. Shanks, being the cool, calm person he is, explained that spilled sake was nothing to get angry over.

Luffy, still displeased, turned away from Shanks and in doing so spotted a small chest containing a strange fruit. Always a heavy eater, Luffy ate the fruit and found out a few moments later from Shanks the fruit was a Devil Fruit and he would never be able to swim.
 * In the manga, it seems as though Luffy found the fruit before the encounter with the bandit leader, since he was already eating it when the leader walked up to the bar counter.

Yet again, someone close to Shanks had eaten a Devil Fruit. Yet, unlike Buggy, Luffy did not blame Shanks for the mishap.

Sometime later, while Shanks and his crew were away from the town, Luffy argued with the group of bandits from the bar and demanded they apologize to the Red-Haired pirate. Laughing at such a small child's actions, the bandits hauled Luffy from the bar and began beating him, though they were soon stopped by the sudden appearance of Shanks and his large group of pirates.

Shanks was much different in this confrontation, as a friend was something he considered worth fighting over. After a quick fight (ending with one of the bandits dead and the others, excluding the leader, out cold), the lead bandit set off a smoke bomb and made off with Luffy toward the sea, believing pirates would never search for a bandit out at sea. Luffy continued to berate him, and finally getting tired of listening to him, the bandit tossed the boy into the water to drown. Moments later, a giant Sea King appeared and devoured the bandit, then turned his attention to Luffy. Thankfully, Shanks saved the boy from a grisly death, but in the process lost his left arm.

It was this scene of such intense bravery and the will to go to great lengths to save those he cared for that set Luffy's life on its current course.

A short while later, Shanks decided to leave the village. During their departure, while he and his crew were bidding the town farewell, Luffy swore that he would become better than the Red-Haired Pirates - he would become the Pirate King. Pleased with such a statement, Shanks decided to give Luffy his precious straw hat, instructing the boy to return it to him once he had become a great pirate. This straw hat would later become the trademark of Luffy's crew, the Straw Hat Pirates.

Shanks present storyline
After leaving Luffy's home town, we next see Shanks and his crew 10 years later after the main storyline begins. They are seen relaxing on an island after drinking heavily. Then much to the terror of a few of Shanks' weaker crew members, Mihawk pays Shanks a visit, bringing news that delights the red-haired pirate; Luffy has come at last.
 * Note: In the 4Kids version this scene suffered heavy cuts. Shanks still asks Mihawk to stay, but much of this scene was removed because of the alcoholic references, including references to him throwing a party to celebrate Luffy's coming.  Thus Shanks' fun-living nature was lost and instead it depicted him with an evil tone.  Also, the scene was cut from its original episode and added at the end of a much earlier episode.  In the process many other scenes from the original episode were also cut from the 4Kids version and never shown, such as the scene showing Kaya and Luffy's hometown.

Currently, Shanks and his crew are sailing the Grand Line, but while they are aware of Luffy's rise to fame, they have not yet encountered the younger pirate or his crew. Shanks also for some reason has an interest in Portgas D. Ace and Blackbeard, and has sent a messenger to deliver a note to Whitebeard concerning this matter. Shanks is now on his way to visit Whitebeard in person.

Although Shanks spent quite some time in Luffy and Ace's hometown, there is no evidence of any relationship between Shanks and Ace yet. However, Shanks does know Ace's captain, Whitebeard, so they could know each other. What exactly he wants to discuss with Whitebeard on Ace and Blackbeard remains a mystery.

The World Government fears that Whitebeard and he are forming an alliance with each other, though whether or not they will try to prevent Shanks meeting Whitebeard is another question yet to be answered. Shanks has already declared that he is prepared to defend himself and his crew if they get in his way. The World Government may be just observing his actions for now, but they have considered drastic measures such as elimination if he causes trouble.