If there is one thing that separates One Piece from the rest of the manga series that is the huge number of characters that are involved in the series. There are so many well-written characters in the series that one can't get enough. With each arc, more and more characters are introduced.
One Piece isn't showing any signs of slowing down. There will be plenty of new characters that we are going to see. However, our focus is on a rather well-known character. The character that we are going to discuss is Shanks. A lot of things about this man are still a mystery and the fans are dying to know more about him. So, in this post, we are gonna discuss ten things that you should know about him.
10 No Devil Fruit
Shanks is only Yonkou, who doesn't possess any kind of devil fruit powers. This separates him from the rest of the Yonkou as all of them have devil fruit powers. Big Mom has the Soru Soru no Mi, that allows her to take souls, Kaido has an ancient mythical zoan that enables him to turn into an eastern dragon, and Blackbeard has two devils fruits— Yami Yami no Mi and Gura Gura no Mi.
Yami Yami no Mi allows him to nullify the power of other devil fruits and Gura Gura no Mi allows him to create tremors. This just shows how powerful Shanks is even without a devil fruit.
9 Youngest Yonkou
In one of the recent chapters in One Piece, it was confirmed that Shanks became a yonkou just six years ago. The other Yonkou are much older than Shanks. Shanks' rise to the status of a Yonkou would be a journey worth seeing.
It would be interesting to see what did Shanks did to rise to the status of Yonkou at such a young age. There are just too many mysteries surrounding this guy and there is no telling when these mysteries will be unraveled.
8 Not a Rocks Pirate
Another peculiar thing about Shanks is that he is the only Yonkou(before Blackbeard) who is not a member of the Rocks Pirates. The rest of the Yonkou were members of the Rocks Pirates.
They would have clashed against each other when Rocks Pirates fought against the Roger Pirates and the Marines. The God Valley Incident changed a lot of things and it brought down the curtains on the life of Rocks D. Xebec, who was known to be Gol D. Roger's arch-rival.
7 First Person To Show Haki
Shanks made his debut very early on in the series. He met Luffy before he became a Yonkou. Shanks has also demonstrated the use of Haki. In fact, Shanks is the first character who used Haki in the series.
Also, Shanks is the first character to use Haoshoku Haki in the series. Shanks' is arguably the strongest Haki user in the series since he doesn't really have a devil fruit to rely on, unlike the other Yonkou. Oda once said that if Shanks released his Haoshoku Haki at Fish-Man island instead of Luffy then he could have knocked out 100,000 Fishmen.
6 Oda's Personality
According to Oda, Shanks is the character who resembles him the most. Oda has said that Shanks' personality is very similar to his own.
He said that Shanks resembles his calm and cool personality. Also, Oda stated that Shanks' stand-out attire is another thing which resembles him closely. Oda really adores Shanks and so do the fans of the series. It is really difficult to not adore a unique character like Shanks.
5 Most Famous Yonkou
Shanks is the most famous Yonkou in the series. He has the most fans out of any Yonkou in One Piece. In the sixth Fan Poll, Shanks finished 11th on the poll, which made the most famous Yonkou.
Blackbeard finished in the 48th position, Big Mom on the 69th position and Kaido finished in the 96th position. So, there was a really considerable gap between Shanks and the rest of the Yonkou.
4 Gryphon
Shanks is a swordsman and he wields a named saber. The name of Shanks' sword is Gryphon. Currently, there is no information about Gryphon's grade. It is unknown whether or not it is a Meito.
If we were to speculate then it's very likely that it is one of the rarest swords in One Piece. Mihawk and Shanks were rivals and we know that both of them have clashed a lot in the past. It doesn't feel like right if Mihawk would have a Saijō Ō Wazamono grade sword and Shanks would just have an ordinary saber.
3 Apprentice of the Pirate King
Shanks wasn't a super strong pirate right from the beginning of his life. He had to find his way to the very top. Shanks started his pirate journey on the crew of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. Shanks was seen in a few flashbacks that involved the Roger Pirates.
He was also seen crying at the execution of his captain at Logue Town. At Logue Town, Shanks and Buggy also went their separate ways. One of them became a well-known clown and the other became one of the strongest characters in the series.
2 Mihawk and Shanks
The rivalry between Shanks and Mihawk is known throughout the world. It is one of the few rivalries that has piqued the interest of fans ever since its revelation. According to Whitebeard, Shanks and Mihawk's rivalry was ferocious. The clashes between the two were famous throughout the Grand Line.
Mihawk lost his interest to fight Shanks after he lost an arm. However, the two of them don't only share a rivalry. The two characters have the same birthday. Both of them have been born on March 9.
1 Luffy's Idol
Normally one would expect the grandson of the "Hero of the Marines" to become a fighter of justice. However, poor Garp could not save his grandson from catching the pirate-fever. Shanks met Luffy when he was still a kid. Luffy was so impressed with Shanks and his crew that he decided to become a pirate himself.
Luffy idolizes Shanks and he respects him a lot. Shanks even sacrificed his own arm to save Luffy from drowning. He gave Luffy the Straw Hat and made Luffy promise that he'd return the Straw Hat back to Shanks. It is fair to say that Shanks is one of the coolest and well-written characters in the entire series.
