The One Piece Manga just confirmed that Shanks is on Elbaf getting
ready to fight Eustass Kid and taking his road poneglyph. This is a major reveal,
that has incredible implications about Shanks’ true power, his real goal and how the Elbaf arc
will play out once the straw hats inevitably get there after escaping from Egghead Island.
Starting with the imminent battle between the red hair pirates and the Kid Pirates. Does Kid
stand any chance at all against Shanks? And what does this fight mean for the endgame
of One Piece? Eiichiro Oda, the author of one piece, has created 2 groups for the final Saga,
that are competing for the One Piece treasure. And interestingly enough, Luffy is part of both. On
the one hand you have the four Yonko, the most powerful pirates in the world, Luffy, Shanks,
Blackbeard and Buggy, but technically Mihawk. And on the other hand the top fighters of the
worst generation, which are again Luffy, Kid and Law. Which means that we have a total of 6 crews
trying to get their hands on all 4 road poneglyphs and reaching Laugh Tale first. And Oda has now
put 2 of the Yonko up against two of the worst generation. Law has been attacked by Blackbeard,
while Kid has actively sought out Shanks. Blackbeard and Shanks want to get their
hands on Kaido’s road poneglyph, while Law would get the one Aokiji stole from Whole
Cake island. And Kid is trying to get the one that is most likely hidden on Elbaf, protected
by Jaguar D. Saul, the man with the burning marks, who most likely rescued it from Ohara,
together with the rest of its ancient treasures. This might actually the road poneglyph that went
missing from fishman island, where Shanks saw it when he was still part of Roger’s crew.
Now we can not forget that both Kid and Law have fought against Kaido and that both of
them together have defeated Big mom. However, it would truly take a small miracle for either
of them to actually win a 1 vs 1 battle against another Yonko, so shortly after leaving Wano.
Especially since both Shanks and Blackbeard have been heavily foreshadowed as two of the
main opponents that Luffy has to defeat at some point in the story. Then again,
who knows what sort of curve balls Oda has planned for this final saga. And it also
opens up the possibility that Luffy will run into Buggy, Crocodile and Mihawk soon as well. However,
I think it’s fair to say that Luffy has his hands full right now. There is an Admiral and
one of the Gorosei themselves coming for him with an armada of 100 marine warships. And we actually
do not know yet, if Mihawk and Crocodile actually want to compete for the One Piece.
So let’s focus on the battle between kid and shanks. When you put both characters next to
each other like this, you will notice that they share a lot of physical similarities. Both have
red hair. Both have a scar over their left eye and both are missing an arm. That last one is
especially ironic, because Kid lost that arm in his first encounter with the red hair pirates.
It turns out however, that it wasn’t Shanks who cut it off. In fact Kid never even got to
see Shanks during that fight. Instead, it seems like Ben Beckman was the one who took Kid’s arm,
which kinda makes it look like some sort of really morbid joke. Maybe Beckman saw
Kid and how similar he looked to Shanks and thought to himself: You know what would be
hilarious..? I think we’re all about to find out why the red hair pirates are all
considered monsters and not just the group of chill partying men that we have seen so far.
While for the longest time it seemed like shanks was the only yonko with only a small crew and no
territory, this has been completely busted by Oda at this point. We learned that Shanks has
actually his own part of the new world that he rules over and as Kid arrives at Elbaf,
we also get confirmation that Shanks has a giant army of other
pirate crews fighting for him, just like Whitebeard, Big mom or Kaido.
What is maybe the craziest part about this fight, is it’s now 100% confirmed that Shanks wants to
reach Laugh Tale himself. he did say, that he wanted to enter the race when he appeared
during Wano. However there was still a chance, that he simply meant actively helping Luffy to
become pirate king. But in that case, Shanks wouldn’t need Kaido’s road poneglyph. After
all Luffy already has that one. Which means that he wants it for himself. This makes his
true motivations even more mysterious than they already were. After all, he could have taken
the Poneglyph from Luffy when he came to Wano. Actually, Luffy would probably have just given
it to him. Instead he just apparently just came to save Luffy and co from Greenbull.
So let’s put Kid aside here for a second and talk about what it means that Shanks is in the
bar here on Elbaf with Dorry and Broggy. And first of all, given that most theories that
any of us make don’t end up coming true, it feels nice being right for a change. Because
I have been speculating about Shanks being the secret protector of Elbaf for almost 4 years
now. In case you wonder what the hints were for this, here’s a quick overview:
Elbaf, which is just the word fable spelled backwards by the way, is the country of
giants which has a giant tree in the middle of it. While Wano was inspired by samurai and
japanese mythology, Elbaf is clearly based on Vikings and Nordic mythology. It’s a reference
to the world tree Yggdrasil and the 7 realms, one of which is the realm of giants and its
ruler is literally called Loki. The island was first mentioned back in chapter 115 when the
straw hats ran into Dorry and Broggy, the two giant warrior captains that are with Shanks in
the bar here. Both of them wore Viking armour and the ship of their giant pirate crew was
also a classic viking ship. And you might not know this, but one major inspiration for One
PIece was actually the anime Vicky the Viking, which was produced in both Germany and Japan.
And you might or might not have noticed, that Shanks himself actually has a really strong
viking theme going on as well, that connected him to Elbaf pretty much from chapter 1 in the story.
First of all, Shanks’ ship is exactly the same Viking design as the ships from Elbaf. Not only
that but Shanks is also inspired by the nordic god Tyr. Now Tyr might not be as famous as Thor,
Odin or Loki, but he is actually one of the most powerful and important gods in nordic mythology.
He was apparently the god concerned with **the formalities of war—especially treaties—and also,
appropriately, of justice.** Which of course fits perfectly with Shanks’ role in the story so far,
stopping the war at marineford and all. On top of that though,
Tyr is most famous for sacrificing his arm to the giant monster fenrir so that the other gods
could bind him. Which of course is pretty much in your face considering that shanks
also literally sacrifices his arm to a giant monster in the first chapter of one piece.
One thing, that is still unclear though, even after chapter 1076, is whether Shanks is just
an ally and guardian of Elbaf, or if Elbaf is actually under his rule and part of his territory.
An argument against Shanks being the ruler of Elbaf is the existence of Loki and that big mom
was confident that she could get the warriors of ELbaf, known as the strongest army in the world,
on her side by marrying off Lola to Loki. If Shanks acutally rules Elbaf,
that shouldn’t have been possible. At the same time, one woman says to shanks that
they should be paying protection money to him for keeping them safe, kind of implying
that Shanks has control over the island, kind of like the yakuza in Japan. Dorry and Broggy
also not only refer to Shanks as big brother, which also sounds like respectful yakuza lingo,
but they also willingly follow Shanks into battle, even though they both are captains.
Which of course leaves a very important question on the table:
If Shanks is allied with the giants of Elbaf right now,
how will Usopp be able to lead them at the end of the story? Something that has been majorly
foreshadowed. Let’s look at what Shanks being on Elbaf means for the Elbaf arc and the straw hats.
And first of all, if it wasn’t already obvious that Luffy and Co will be going to Elbaf soon,
Shanks being there is the ultimate proof that it will happen. Just think of all the story
arcs that are leading to this island. There is the adam tree, that produces the indestructible wood
that the thousand sunny is made out of. It is also most likely the main entrance to the sky islands
and Birka, which would make it the perfect arc to introduce Urouge, the one supernove we have seen
no trace of so far. Of course we have also just learned that the entire knowledge of the library
of Ohara has been transported safely to Elbaf by Saul, making a reunion with Robin a must-see.
Then there is this color spread of the straw hats as vikings. And let’s be real, if Oda had
planned to skip going to Elbaf altogether, he surely would have shown it off to us in all its
glory instead of shrouding it in so much mystery and barely giving us a glimpse of its shoreline.
but the two most important character arcs i want to see on Elbaf are of course Luffy and Usopp.
Especially now that the red hair pirates are confirmed to be there. You have of course Luffy’s
overdue meeting with Shanks to prove himself as a great pirate. But before we get into that,
I want to talk about Usopp first, because I’m convinced that Elbaf will be his arc.
As you might know Usopp has gained the respect of various Elbaf giants throughout the story,
including Dorry, Broggy, Oimo, Kashi and Hajrudin. Usopp is inspired by the giants of Elbaf to become
a brave warrior of the sea. As Usopp’s lies keep coming true, Usopp could really become
the leader of the giants and lead an army of 8000 men into battle beside Luffy, like he once said.
Also remember, that we have the mysterious prince Loki. In nordic mythology, Loki is
known to be a trickster an liar. But so is Usopp. Both of them might be quite similar
in terms of their personality, but while Usopp values bravery and wants to be like the giants,
Loki mostly values himself and oppresses the other giants. So Usopp could show his bravery,
by challenging Loki to a duel. Now we have the classic theme of David with his slingshot vs.
the giant Goliath. At this point it would also be a waste, if Oda didn't give Usopp a Mjolnir-like
hammer, to parallel Thor and Loki. And who knows, maybe another lie will come true and Usopp might
awaken his conquerors haki after Luffy and Zoro, something fans have been speculating for a while
now. And on top of all that, we have of course the entire relationship with his father Yasopp,
the sniper of Shanks’ crew. In a way he is responsible for Usopp being a coward and a
liar in the first place. When he left Usopp and his mother, he left Usopp with 2 choices: Resent
his father for leaving or, as he did in the end, glorifying him. After all why would he leave his
only kid behind, if he wasn't a legendary pirate with very important work to do? This really hits
home hard, when you realize that it's probably EACTLY THIS insecurity about being left behind,
that lead to Usopp's chronic lying. He lies about being a great and powerful man, having had many
adventures, just like his father, because he feels like he could never truly BE this person
in reality. He sees himself as weak, insecure and worthless. So confronting his father and finding
closure could truly be the breakthrough for Usopp, that makes him one of the most badass Straw Hats.
But the biggest thing about Elbaf will of course be Luffy finally meeting Shanks,
getting the chance to prove himself to his mentor. And here it will be really interesting
to see what Shanks’ true intentions are. Is he good, neutral or maybe even the secret villain
of the story? To find out what will most likely happen when Luffy arrives at Elbaf to meet Shanks,
you can watch this video right here with all the evidence in the story so far. Shanks for watching.