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Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review,
your source for everything "One Piece."
And today, we are here to discuss an event
that could have reshaped the entire world as we know it,
being the potentially grand conflict
between Shanks and Kaido,
which, of course, we have never seen with our own eyes
and have not spoken about since,
but this is undoubtedly one of the most pivotal moments
that we have experienced in the series,
or more accurately, not experienced.
And if you're one of those people who hears that
and goes "Wait! What?
"When did this happen?"
I get ya, because it certainly wasn't presented to us
in a particularly memorable way,
despite the monumental importance
that such an event would have held.
And that importance was definitely not lost
on the very few characters who we did see discussing it.
However, I think that over time
this event has been lost in the annals of history.
And some of that does make sense
because it did take place directly before Marineford,
so the whole Whitebeard business
kind of overshadowed all that.
But basically, the first we heard of this
occurred 29 hours before the scheduled execution
of Portgas D. Ace.
And story-wise we were currently in the Impel Down arc.
So there was this brief scene outside of the prison
featuring one of my favorite Vice Admirals, being Momonga,
waiting to escort Boa Hancock,
and one of his officers made a rather urgent report
which went a little something like this.
"Vice Admiral Momonga!
"Red-Haired Shanks has been involved
"in some minor clashes in the New World!"
To which Momonga says, "Shanks? Are you sure?
"Why now? Against who?"
"Kaido! One of the four emperors!"
Which, you know,
just, let's pause for a second right there
because I do love the idea that this random marine
has to go to the trouble of telling Momonga
that Kaido is one of the four emperors.
You know, as if this Vice Admiral wasn't aware of that fact.
It's one of those things
where it's clearly intended to inform the audience
because Kaido wasn't a hugely known name to us back then,
like, we'd heard it here and there,
and we'd seen a terrible silhouette of him
but weekly readers or new readers
would have needed that reminder.
But then our fine marine also states that,
"Kaido is trying to take advantage of the current situation
"to kill Whitebeard, and Shanks interfered!
"At least that's what they think at headquarters.
"Everyone is on high alert right now!"
And, of course, Momonga's resigned reply is simply,
"Ugh, how quickly these crises can develop.
"These are turbulent waters indeed!
"But who can stop a fight among the four emperors?"
And the funny thing is, at the time,
we didn't even really know
the true weight of that statement.
The most we'd seen was that iconic shot
of Shanks and Whitebeard clashing,
which split the sky open.
But our eyes would not be truly opened
to the power of the four emperors
until we saw Whitebeard in full force at Marineford,
as well as exploring Big Mom during Whole Cake Island,
and Kaido during Wano.
However, despite Momonga's despairful approach
to the situation,
we do know that this skirmish was stopped somehow,
as Shanks would go on to arrive at Marineford.
And in chapter 580,
this conflict is referred to once again,
very briefly though,
with yet another random marine stating,
"The scuffle with another of the four emperors, Kaido,
"was only yesterday!
"And he's here already!?"
Referring to Shanks, of course.
And once again, I'll point out,
that this random marine
felt the need to remind his fellow marines
that Kaido was one of the four emperors.
But once again, that was probably just for the audience
because by that stage,
it had been exactly 50 chapters
or just over a year of real time,
since we had last heard the name Kaido.
So you know that reminder probably was necessary.
Although I do prefer the head canon
that every marine treats every other marine like a moron.
That really is the extent
to which we understand this conflict,
but there are a lot of inferences
that one can take from those scenes,
although they tend to bring up more questions
than they answer.
And first up, I want to bring in question,
the idea that Shanks and Kaido
actually engaged in conflict personally.
For those familiar with this event amongst the fan base,
there does seem to be an accepted opinion
that these two did actually fight
which I think spawns from the language used,
which tends to refer to the greater forces
of Shanks and Kaido as Shanks and Kaido,
as if their factions were some sort of monolithic entity
which isn't too far from the truth, I suppose.
However, from the very first statement made,
I think we can safely assume
that this was not an example
of the two of them engaging in combat.
The report made to Momonga
very specifically makes mention of the fact
that there were minor clashes
that took place in the New World.
And I really cannot see a fight
between two emperors, even the briefest of one,
being referred to as minor.
And secondly, the marine also only states
that Red-Haired Shanks had been, quote,
involved in all of this business,
which could mean that, yes, he acted personally,
but it could also mean that he instructed his forces
to engage in this skirmish.
Now that isn't to say
that things didn't eventually escalate
into a more personal conflict,
following this initial report of minor skirmishes.
But that is where we start
to get into the truly deeply speculative territory.
The thing about this is though,
is that Kaido's goal was to, allegedly, kill Whitebeard.
So with that small but crucial piece of information in mind,
it is pretty unfathomable
to think that he would not set sail himself
in order to complete this task.
Kaido is somewhat arrogant, actually extremely arrogant,
but it's not to the point
where he would believe that his subordinates
were capable of killing the strongest man in the world,
as well as dealing with the full brunt of his forces alone.
So for Kaido to have a real proper attempt at this,
he would have surely mustered the bulk of the Beast Pirates
and sailed with them in the New World.
And similarly, in order to prevent an effort like this,
Shanks must have gathered a large degree of his forces
to even have a chance
of successfully intercepting this fleet
to allow Whitebeard to take on the marines
as unhindered as possible.
And also, you know, prevent an all out war
between two of the four emperors
because that is most likely what would have happened
had Shanks not acted.
Kaido would have reached the Whitebeard Pirates
before their arrival at Marineford
and an entirely different Paramount War
would have taken place,
very potentially still resulting in the death of Whitebeard,
with the strongest man in the world
taking on the strongest creature in the world,
which would have been pretty cool to see.
But alas, no, it was not meant to be.
But knowing that Shanks intercepted Kaido
and prevented this,
brings up another question,
which is how did he prevent his situation
from erupting into another world reshaping war,
given that it was still a conflict
between two of the four emperors, just not Whitebeard?
And it really is quite a puzzling thought,
moreso in retrospect than it was at the time, actually.
Given that we did not know anything about Kaido
during the Marineford arc,
I think it was easy to believe
that Shanks had simply convinced Kaido to retreat somehow,
either by using logic or by the simple threat
of all-out war with the Red Hair Pirates,
which he eventually used to stop the Paramount War.
But then you get to know Kaido over the years
and you realize that,
that very much feels like what he would have wanted.
Kaido is thrilled at the prospect
of plunging the world into war,
and he is not the type to be intimidated
by anyone or anything.
I mean, just the way that we've seen him
casually disregard Big Mom,
and even confidently embark on his mission
to kill Whitebeard,
shows us that Kaido essentially views himself
as the very top of the food chain in the "One Piece" world.
And it's actually honestly quite difficult
to argue with that assertation
when it comes to raw power anyway.
So his reaction to Shanks appearing
probably would have been similar
to Whitebeard's reaction to Shanks
when we saw them meet after the Enies Lobby arc,
with Whitebeard holding this deeply-rooted
sense of superiority. And I guess what I'm trying to say
is that I really don't see a case
where Kaido was either convinced or intimidated by Shanks
to the point where he would retreat
and allow Shanks to sail on to Marineford.
And you would think that would leave one simple option,
which is to fight.
Because with Kaido's personality in mind,
seeing him transform into a dragon
and just blatantly attack Shanks
is in no way out of the question,
but at the same time,
that also doesn't make an awful lot of sense
with the other puzzle pieces that we have in play.
Quite specifically,
the fact that Shanks did arrive at Marineford
with, at the very least, his core crew of Red Hair Pirates,
and all of them, including Shanks himself,
looked entirely unharmed, fresh and ready for action.
So not only are there no physical indications
of a heated battle,
but it also doesn't make a ton of sense
thinking about the timeline.
Because once again, the first reports of actions
of the Red Hair Pirates,
occurred 29 hours before Ace was scheduled to be executed,
at which point he was definitely located firmly
in the New World.
And the Paramount War itself
began anywhere from 26 to 29 hours after that in real time.
And it would have lasted a couple of hours at most,
at which point Shanks arrived to put an end to it.
So that really does not give the Red Hair Pirates
an awful lot of time to both confront Kaido
and then to arrive at Marineford.
Especially with what we know now
about top figures in this world
battling for days and days on end.
So with all of that in mind,
I am forced to conclude
that Shanks somehow managed to halt Kaido
without excessive confrontation,
and thus prevented a secondary Paramount War
from ever beginning.
And with that conclusion,
we also come up with a series of potential scenarios
under which this occurred,
some of which are more plausible than others.
And the first of which I'd like to examine is simply fate.
Now this might initially sound like a cop-out
but you know, that's just "One Piece" sometimes,
because this series is heavily subject to fate,
especially surrounding major figures like this.
And an example of fate in action would be say,
Shanks intercepting Kaido's fleet,
and then all of a sudden the weather shifts
and a deadly storm occurs,
because, remember, we are also in the New World
and it is prone to that sort of tomfoolery.
And there is precedent for Oda doing that sort of thing,
which happened in Chapter Zero,
where Roger confronted Golden Lion Shiki
and his massive fleet,
only to be saved by the hand of fate via a giant storm.
And as deus ex machina as it is,
I quite like this idea
because it very effectively explains
why Kaido would have retreated.
I mean, think of a scenario where Shanks stands his ground,
giving Kaido effectively two options,
have the majority of his ships sunk by a storm
or retreat to the safety of Wano.
And then he just very very begrudgingly retreats,
allowing Shanks to move forward.
Another explanation though, is one I've already dismissed
which involved the L word, being logic,
a very dangerous word to use in anime-related videos.
But basically the idea is that emperors exist
in a very precarious position
and there is often no good reason
for one emperor to engage in conflict with another,
because it would leave both parties compromised
and more easily engulfed by the remaining emperors
or even the World Government.
And I really really don't like this idea
but I think there is a slim chance
that Kaido made the logical decision
not to engage with the Red Hair Pirates,
with his primary objective
being perhaps to sandwich Whitebeard
between the Beast Pirates and the World Government,
and take advantage of things that way.
However, when faced with a direct war
against another emperor,
well that might have been a much less enticing proposition,
and so Kaido made the odd decision
to bide his time and to continue preparations
for thrusting the world into war.
And I guess it is a reasonable argument.
It's just being applied
to a heavily unreasonable individual.
Then, of course,
there is another potential explanation
which is perhaps underwhelming
but possible nonetheless,
which is that Kaido made the decision to attack Whitebeard
whilst in a drunken stupor,
as that appears to be
how he spends the majority of his life.
And then maybe by the time that he had set out to sea
and confronted Shanks,
he sobered up and called his fleet back
or actually maybe,
he even proceeded to become even more intoxicated
and decided to go home on a drunken whim.
I highly doubt this option as well though
because from what we've been shown in the series,
Kaido is capable of sobering up exceptionally quickly.
But as for my final and most outlandish explanation,
I have seen the idea floated around every now and then
that Kaido was never actually intending to kill Whitebeard
but was actually mustering his forces
to either help Whitebeard
or take this opportunity to crush the World Government.
The latter of which I can see
far more reasonable than the former.
And in this case, Shanks intercepting him
does still go on to make sense
because as far as we know,
Shanks does seem to have some sort of relationship
with the World Government,
and even if he didn't,
he may just not have enjoyed the idea
of a world ruled entirely by the four emperors.
And I make this statement
because the only evidence we have
of Kaido's true intentions
was the report from the random marine to Momonga,
who stated that Kaido was targeting Whitebeard.
But he also explicitly expresses his uncertainty at this,
by saying at least that's what HQ thinks.
So this could simply be false information
although, once again,
that could be an admittedly outlandish thought,
because Oda is generally a very straightforward author,
who does not tend to invoke
the devices of the unreliable narrator
or unreliable exposition all that often, if at all.
Pretty much everything he does
is for the benefit of imparting a truthful story
to the readers
and you can see this in the examples
that I went out of my way to point out,
where random marines keep having to remind each other
that Kaido is one of the four emperors,
which is for the benefit of the reader,
not the benefit of the characters.
So in the end,
it's quite a fascinating
historical examination of the series,
and another one of those moments
where the very fate of the world
could have radically shifted
and reshaped "One Piece" as we know it.
On this occasion though, balance was maintained,
be it by fate, logic, intoxication,
or some sort of hidden reasoning.
Whatever the case,
this world very likely owes a great debt of gratitude
to one Red-Haired Shanks
who not only put an end to the actual Paramount War,
but in the background,
he prevented a second Paramount War from ever beginning.
But what do you guys think?
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But for now, this has been the Grand Line Review
and I'll see you next time.