This article contains spoilers for One Piece's Elbaf Arc.
Summary
- Shanks vanished after Roger's execution, with a year unaccounted for in his timeline.
- Shanks has ties to Celestial Dragons and may have visited his homeland during his disappearance.
- Shanks may have been recruited by the God's Knights before becoming an Emperor of the Sea.
When it comes to One Piece, at times it can be fairly difficult to track the stories of every character throughout the series. With so many moving parts and tons of characters, some fans are bound to lose track of what the smaller characters are doing at all times. This is especially true with the history surrounding One Piece characters before the start of Luffy’s adventure, which can often get muddied over time.
One such character who has been difficult to keep track of throughout the story of One Piece is the Emperor of the Sea, Shanks. While Shanks is one of the most popular characters of the series, he doesn’t appear as often as most fans would like, leaving large periods where his current status is unknown. One moment specifically where Shanks isn’t accounted for is soon after Roger’s execution, when the Red Hair Pirate vanished for an extended period, only to return much later as a great pirate.
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Shanks Left To Sea After Roger's Execution
One Year Of His Time Is Unaccounted For
shank
During the early stages of his adventure as a pirate, Shanks was a member of the Roger Pirates, a group that raised him as a child. However, after Roger was executed, Shanks was forced to go out on his own, following in his footsteps to become a great pirate, just like his former captain. Eventually, around one year later, Shanks reemerges with a fledgling pirate crew, where he attempts to recruit the sniper Yasopp, Usopp’s father, to join his crew.
He returned to the Holy Land once... - Shamrock regarding Shanks
At the same time, it is worth noting that it was recently revealed in the story that Shanks has ties to One Piece’s Celestial Dragons. Shanks’s father, Figerland Garling, is the fromer head of the God’s Knights, a group that protects the World Nobles and high-ranking World Government officials, while his twin brother, Shamrock, is a member of the same organization. Despite this, for some reason, Shanks ended up in a treasure chest in God’s Valley, where he was found and taken in by the Roger Pirates.
Shanks May Have Visited His Homeland During This Period
The God's Knights Could Have Offered Him A Position In Their Ranks
- Shanks May Have Been A Potential Recruit Of The God's Knights
- After Refusing He Started His Own Pirates Crew
It is this link between Shanks and the Celestial Dragons that may explain what Shanks was doing after Roger’s execution. At some point during One Piece’s Elbaf Arc, Shamrock mentions that at one point, Shanks had returned to the holy land of the Celestial Dragons, where he most likely came into contact with his family. Although it currently hasn’t been stated why Shanks returned, some fans believe that his brother and father were looking to potentially recruit him to become a God’s Knight.
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This visit to the holy land of the Celestial Dragons in One Piece would explain what Shanks was doing after Roger’s execution. It seems likely, with Roger’s execution taking place in the East Blue, it would take a fair amount of time for Shanks to reach Mary Geoise, which is located on the Red Line. Plus, if Shanks were to take any breaks along the way, potentially recruiting followers to join his pirate crew, it’s likely that it could take anywhere from a few months to an entire year to make this voyage, depending on what distractions Shanks runs into.
The Celestial Dragon's Likely Wouldn't Deal With Shanks If He Was An Emperor
The Best Time To Visit Home Was Before His Pirating Career
Overall, it would make sense if the Emperor of the Sea, Shanks, was summoned, or personally decided to visit his homeland. Mainly, since this was before he became a fully fledged pirate captain, this may have been the Celestial Dragons’ last attempt to recruit him back into their organization. Additionally, this encounter may have been another motivation for Shanks to follow in Roger’s footsteps, with his visit to Mary Geoise showing him the cruelty of the World Nobles.
He seems to perfer the filth of the lower world... - Shamrock regarding Shanks
While there is no guarantee that this is what happened, knowing that Shanks did visit Mary Geoise at some point in the series, he likely visited his homeland after Roger’s execution. With this being the last opportunity before Shanks started his infamous career as a pirate, it seems unlikely that the Celestial Dragons would want him in Mary Geoise after he became a pirate captain. In the end, based on this theory, there may have been a One Piece timeline where Shanks was recruited by the God’s Knights, and he never became an Emperor of the Sea.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
