SHANKS SCAR
Even after almost a thousand episodes, Red Haired Shanks remains one of the most mysterious characters of the One Piece verse.
He doesn’t have a devil fruit but his conqueror Haki is supposedly the most powerful out of all of the One Piece characters that are still alive.
He has lived almost all of his life as a pirate. About 30 years ago, when he was only 9 years old, he was seen among the Roger pirates together with Buggy. At that point, he was already wearing the Straw Hat that previously belonged to Roger.
Shanks is in a way the spiritual father of Monkey D. Luffy, his inspiration, his mentor, it is he who transmitted to him the passion for piracy, his share of trips, adventures and discoveries. It is also through his fault that Luffy will find himself endowed with the powers of one of the devil fruits which will make him elastic and it is also who will bequeath him his famous Straw Hat.
Also, many people are asking this question :
Why is Shanks badass ?
Well, we don’t know and that’s why he’s badass, we hardly ever see him and when we see him he does almost nothing, hardly ever speaks and yet his only presence in any board where it is located is epic. The guy terrifies the Sea Kings in 1 glance, causes the fainting of a good part of the crew of the Whitebeard pirates without lifting a finger and especially he is known for this incredible badass moment : he stops a devastating war on his own.
Shanks barely sets foot on the Marineford battlefield that everyone begins to be afraid : the Navy, the Admirals, the Pirates, the Warlords, EVERYONE ! Shanks said something like that : « If you don’t stop your bullshit right away, I’ll take care of you 1 by 1 » and presto. End of the war, everyone goes home within Red-Haired Shanks is BADASS.
While there is a lot of stuff we don’t know about him, there are still a few things we do know such as the fact that it was the Pirate King who gave Shanks his straw hat.
This brings us to another event, remember when Luffy told Shanks that he is going to be the next Pirate King and Shanks replied : « Oh you are going to surpass us, then ? »
That’s how Shanks handed over the hat to Luffy, believing that it is possible for Luffy to achieve that dream. It seems that there is an emotional connection between this hat, Shanks, Gol D. Roger and now Luffy. That’s why it is an important part of the One Piece series.
While we could talk about the straw hat for as long as we want that isn’t the main topic of today’s post. The main topic is :
How did Shanks get his scar ?
As far as the matter of time goes, he didn’t have the Scar when he was a member of Roger’s crew but when he had his first encounter with Luffy, he did have the scar. In fact, many fans forgot the exact answer to this simple question :
When did Shanks get his scar ?
After a deep analysis we know that Shanks got his scar after Roger’s death and before he met Luffy.
In addition to that it was also revealed that out of all of Shanks’ scars, the most prominent one (which happens to be around his left eye) was given to him by Blackbeard. Shanks himself stated that the scar was given to him by Marshall D. Teach and it is the worst because it reminds him of the dark aspect of his past. Let’s see the exact words Shanks told to Whitebeard about his scar as well as Blackbeard :
« I’ve been through numerous battles and received many wounds, but…Right now, the one that aches…It’s this wound…This one isn’t one I got from an adventure, nor received from Hawkeyes. The one who gave me this scar was one of yours…Blackbeard, Teach ! »
Shanks continued to tell Whitebeard how Blackbeard didn’t become his commander to be renowned. He did so to conceal himself. All this time, he was quietly waiting for his chance. Blackbeard hid himself under the shadow of the name Whitebeard but now he has started to make the moves needed, to attain greater power.
In the end, Blackbeard’s goal is to reach the top, with his own free will. After listening to all of this, Whitebeard asks Shanks about what he wants him to do, then ? Shanks tells him to stop Ace who was in pursuit of Blackbeard in order to punish him for what he had done to Thatch.
After listening to everything that Shanks had to say, Whitebeard laughed and even mocked Shanks by saying that he is about 100 years too young to tell him what to do. In the end, Whitebeard never listened and we eventually lost two of our dearest characters, both Ace and Whitebeard.
Shanks connection to Blackbeard
Shanks’ conversation and clash with Whitebeard made it clear that Shanks knows more about Blackbeard than anyone else. The two of them had their first encounter after a scuffle between the Roger pirates and the Whitebeard pirates.
Shanks learned that Blackbeard has an inability that keeps him from sleeping. Even though Shanks wasn’t sure if this information was actually true or not, he still became a little envious.
During the battle of Marineford, Shanks arrived at the scene a little late but when he did, he immediately flinched at the sight of Blackbeard, he also addressed him in a somewhat tense manner. It is not something that Shanks usually does as he always tends to keep himself calm and composed.
Shanks and Blackbeard meet at Marineford
One thing that became obvious is that Shanks considered only Blackbeard to be an actual threat, even though there were the Marines as well as the Whitebeard pirates. On the other hand, Blackbeard also got a little surprised at seeing Shanks.
However, that lasted only a moment. Teach immediately starts mocking Shanks for the scars that he gave him. Of course, this mocking ended up making Shanks a little angry but that isn’t the main point here. The main point is that Blackbeard was able to give scars to Shanks even before he had those crazy devil fruits.
Not to mention, these scars also tend to sometimes remind Shanks of the dark old days. We can imagine that there is something really obscene that happened between Shanks and Blackbeard that we still don’t know about. What we can take away from this information is the fact that the great Red Haired Shanks sees Marshal D. Teach as the biggest potential threat there is.
We sincerely believe that Shanks went to see the Five Elders (Gorosei) during the Reverie to warn them of the real danger that is Blackbeard.
Shanks meets the Gorosei
On the basis of these informations, some fans have even made theories on how Blackbeard will eventually kill Shanks and in the end, Luffy would defeat Blackbeard and become the next Pirate King.
That’s what Fairy Tail fans would say, luckily we have Oda and he has never ceased to amaze us.
Blackbeard’s Strength and Past
We also know how Blackbeard said that he has achieved his goal for now after he had acquired two stupendously strong devil fruits and a loyal crew. All we can deduce from this statement is that the worst is yet to come.
Blackbeard is nothing but an arrogant and selfish dictator who would stop at nothing to achieve his goal. It has gotten so bad that he practically thinks, he is invincible. Even though he remained a part of Whitebeard’s crew for almost 20 years and Whitebeard treated him like a son which is to be expected as Whitebeard referred to all of his subordinates as his sons, Blackbeard never hesitated in killing Thatch in order to obtain the devil fruit called Yami Yami No Mi, which Thatch had accidently discovered.
This devil fruit is a Logia type that allows the eater to harness the power of Darkness. Depending on the way it is used, it can even be considered as the most powerful devil fruit in One Piece. We did an article on the Top 10 Strongest devil fruits in One Piece, click here to check it.
Not to mention that in addition to Darkness this fruit also allows Blackbeard to control Gravity as well but that’s not all there is to it, this fruit also has a lot of hidden potential that hasn’t even been explained yet.
If we connect the dots then if it weren’t for this fruit, Blackbeard would have never been able to devour a second devil fruit in the first place which is something he definitely did. He took his deceased captain Whitebeard’s devil fruit the Gura Gura No Mi after wrapping a black envelope over himself and the dead body of Whitebeard.
We still don’t know how he did it, right ? That’s why, to think that Blackbeard has no limit when it comes to acquiring devil fruits, it might not be a ridiculous theory anymore.
He has enough power that he has already been recognized as one of the Yonko. Even if he isn’t taking any substantial actions at the moment, he still has the devil fruit of the world’s strongest man. A fruit that is said to have enough power to destroy the world, that’s in reference to how strong Blackbeard is right now.
How did Blackbeard gave Shanks his Scar ?
Blackbeard has been seen with metal claws on his left hand. This goes back to the time when he was still a part of Whitebeard’s crew. He has been using this weapon ever since.
On a closer look, The scars on Shanks left eye also look like they have been slashed with the exact same claw that Blackbeard has always had. As for where did Shanks get his scar or when did Shanks get his scar, all we have are Shanks Scar theories, which are predictions made by fans.
Some of them are ridiculous, and some of them actually make some sense. In addition to the exact time and place of when Shanks got his scar, there are a few other questions that we still don’t know the answers to.
What is Shanks’ true power ?
How can he be strong enough to become a Yonko without a devil fruit ? There is a lot of stuff about One Piece that we still don’t know and from the looks of it, it seems that the series is going to drag on for a couple of years longer.
The more we think about the unanswered questions, the more we began to see how much we don’t know about One Piece. I mean we don’t even know what the legendary Treasure One Piece actually is, do we ?
Become badass like Shanks
Know you know the origin story of the scars that Shanks has on left eye. True distinctive signs, they bear witness to important events in the life of the pirate and show his progress during his journey.
If like us you are a fan of Luffy’s spiritual menthor, we have reserved for you a whole set of goodies bearing the image of youngest Yonko. Discover our collection of clothes, hoodies and phone cases at the and without further delay immerse yourself in the world of piracy on Grand Line alongside the most badass character in One Piece !
