Shanks

Red-Haired Shanks (赤髪のシャンクス Akagami no Shankusu?) is the pirate who inspired Luffy to go on his journey and the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. He found the Gomu Gomu no Mi which was accidentally consumed by Luffy. He is also one of the Yonko.

Statistics

Japanese Name:     シャンクス
Romanized Name:     Shankusu
English Name:     Shanks
First Appearance:     Chapter 1; Episode 4
Affiliations:     Red Hair Pirates, Yonko, Roger Pirates (former)
Occupations:     Captain, Pirate, Cabin Boy (former)
Epithet:     "Red-Haired Shanks" (赤髪のシャンクス Akagami no Shankusu?)
Japanese VA:     Shūichi Ikeda
4kids English VA:     Tom Souhrada
Funi English VA:     Brandon Potter
Age:     27 (Chapter 1)
37 (Chapter 1 to 597);[1]
39 (Chapter 598 and onwards)[2]
Birthday:     March 9[3]

Appearance

Shanks always wears a long black cape over his shoulders and, until he met Luffy, wore a straw hat obtained from his captain that he had worn for many years beforehand, and of which was synonymous with his image. He initially wore slightly loose brown trousers cut below the knee and collected halfway up the shin, with golden buttons down the outer leg. Recently he has been seen wearing a similar pair, but looser and with floral patterns on them. He wears a pair of sandals and is unshaven with a short scruffy beard. In all his appearances so far as captain of his own crew, Shanks has worn a white shirt which is only buttoned halfway, leaving his chest exposed. Around his waist is a large red sash, which also holds his sabre on the right side. Initially, in Chapter 1, his shirt is tucked under the sash. However, in his appearances that feature him since he left Luffy's hometown, the shirt is untucked, giving him a much scruffier appearance than when he is seen in the past.

The most striking thing about Shanks is the color of his red hair, where his epithet 'Red-Haired Shanks' comes from. He also has three scars across his left eye, which were revealed to have been given to him by Blackbeard,[4] and by saving Luffy from a Sea King he lost his left arm.

At the start of One Piece, Shanks bore a similarity to Luffy. As Oda's style changed, Shanks began to become more distinct. The shape of his eyes are drawn much sharper. His nose has become more defined, similar to how Nico Robin's nose is heavily defined from other characters in the series. His trademark red hair is also slightly longer with his fringe pushed more toward the sides. The scars seemed to tingle when he confronted Blackbeard.[5]

Personality

Shanks is 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. 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 Dracule Mihawk join in with his fun. Yet despite how simple minded he appears at first, Shanks is a complex person with some rather difficult to understand views. For example, he believes if two people share very different views, it's better they go their separate ways.[6]

Shanks doesn't seem to mind what happens to himself; he'll take others throwing food and drink or spitting on him without fighting back and laugh with his crew at his own misfortunes. Even losing an arm did not bother him much. However he would never forgive anyone for attacking his friend. Shanks and his crew are almost always seen partying and drinking alcoholic beverages whenever they make an appearance, as the captain's favorite 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 and cheerful personality.[7]

He also is against the idea of needless bloodshed, even if honor is involved and so far seems to only step up for a fight when a friend is in danger. He also seems to admire those who have courage, as seen when a young Luffy stood up against Higuma for insulting Shanks and also when he saw Coby gathering his courage to stop the war as the young marine believed that it was pointless to continue.

Shanks also has skills of diplomacy, managing to stop Kaido from attacking Whitebeard and even brokering a ceasefire between the Whitebeard Pirates and the World Government.

He also likes teasing people, as demonstrated by his apparent reactions to Luffy as a child.[8] Oda also stated that if a child asked Shanks for a Devil Fruit he'd tease them about being ten years too young to eat one.[9] Shanks himself was like Luffy (as a child) in his younger years.[10]

Despite being calm and brave most of the time, he has displayed a side of him that likes to panic when things go wrong.[11] He also seems to be carry about something personally deep within him, as when he speaks about his 3 scars to Whitebeard, he became serious about the situation surrounding Teach.

Red Hair Pirates

While only a few of Shanks' crew have been named (Yasopp, Lucky Roo, Benn Beckman, and Rockstar), he seems to generally get along with them all and they look up to him with respect as their captain. Shanks looks out for the well-being of the entire crew, from refusing to take a child (Luffy) on board his ship to denying permission to take on Whitebeard's men who had insulted Rockstar's honor.Benn Beckman seems amazed at the actions of his captain, such as panicking when Luffy was taken or getting even more drunk when he had already drunk a lot before and when Mihawk brought news of Luffy's new bounty.

Roger Pirates

Of the Roger Pirates, most relationships between Shanks and the other crewmates remain unknown. However, it has been shown through flashbacks that he would fight with Buggy over just about anything. The Marines themselves described their relationship as a 'brotherly bond'[12] and Whitebeard himself had noted the pair were always together. Shanks appears to still consider Buggy as a friend. He also still refers to Rayleigh as '"Master" Rayleigh'. Just like Buggy, he had a close bond to Roger as he was seen crying at Roger's execution and had acquired Roger's Straw Hat from him.

Friends

Monkey D. LuffyLuffy 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, dubbing him "Anchor".[8] Later after Luffy stood up for him in front of Higuma and his men, as they were leaving when Luffy declared he would be better than him Shanks begins to treat him seriously.

In the manga Benn Beckman tells Shanks that Luffy is going to make something of himself. Shanks confirms this by saying that Luffy reminds him of himself when he was Luffy's age.[10] Just as Luffy is currently looking for Shanks, Shanks eagerly awaits the day he meets up with Luffy. Shanks also sees Luffy as the future for piracy[13] and was delighted at his coming so much he threw a party to celebrate even though he was already suffering from a hangover over being drunk previously.

Portgas D. Ace
Shanks was on relatively good terms with Ace, who seemed to greatly respect him primarily for his role in saving his adoptive younger brother, Luffy, from the Sea King during the incident with Higuma. After setting out to begin his life of piracy, Ace immediately sought out Shanks to meet the man in person and thank him on Luffy's behalf. Shanks initially thought that Ace came to confront him (he was ready to unsheathe his sword at the Logia user on that very encounter), but immediately warmed up to Ace upon learning of his relation with Luffy.[14] Shanks showed some concern for Ace upon learning that he was in pursuit of Blackbeard. He personally sought out Whitebeard to vocally disapprove and attempted to persuade Whitebeard to recall Ace.[15] After the announcement of Ace's execution, it was revealed that Shanks personally intercepted Kaido, another of the Yonko, as the latter attempted to take advantage of the situation and attack Whitebeard.[16]

It is unknown if Shanks ever found out that Ace was the son of his captain, Roger, before Sengoku made this fact public to the world.

Dracule MihawkIn the past, Mihawk was a rival to one of the most powerful pirates in One Piece, Shanks. However, Mihawk lost interest in him after Shanks lost his left arm. He retains a neutral, though somewhat friendly relationship with Shanks, and is able to track him down if the need arises. He and Shanks do manage to get along, regardless of the fact that the two are opposites in personalities. Shanks is also able to get Mihawk to join in when he threw a party to celebrate Luffy's coming, even when moments beforehand Mihawk had scorned how laid-back Shanks was. Mihawk even mused out an apology to Shanks during the battle at Marineford, where he declares that he won't be holding anything against Luffy right before going after him. When Shanks showed up during the Whitebeard War, Mihawk left the battle, stating that fighting Shanks was beyond the scope of the World Government's orders.