One Piece Theory: Shanks Planned Everything Since Beginning

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One Piece Theory Shanks

If you’re a follower of One Piece theories, a recent bump may have hit you. If you know what’s up with Luffy’s new Devil Fruit awakening, you’re more than willing to throw a shut up onto everyone’s mouth. Few such chatter heads say that Luffy adopted rubber-like powers because it’s his Devil Fruit in its pre-awakening stage. Remember Shanks who mentioned to a panicking Luffy that this fruit turns the user into rubber and he, therefore, loses all his ability to ever swim?

What if this has all been a ploy? What if Luffy’s entire power was a result of him manifesting what he was told to believe? That’s the theory we are going to analyze today: Did Shanks plan Luffy’s Climb into The Grand Line Since The Beginning? One Piece Theory Shanks

Well, this theory had been making rounds lately. How plausible is it? Hop in as we analyze it and establish it with what the recent Manga chapters have let out.

One Piece Theories Come To A Halt Because There’s So Much Still Unexplained

Ask any newbie who has just dived into the fantastic world of One Piece just how much he knows of it. He will ditto tell you that he knows quite much. Ask a veteran weeb who has followed One Piece all his life and he will tell you that he knows nothing (Jon Snow). The thing about One Piece is that the more you dive into it, the more apparent it becomes that there is so less you know. Void Century – what’s that? Haki – what’s that? One Piece – What’s that?

one piece jon snow

What One Piece Theory Are We Analysing Again?

The theory has two parts. One is a series of hypothesis and possibility theories, and the second is establishing those with what we have accumulated so far. The first part will consist of some pre-hand speculations and some small-tier theories. These pre-hand speculations/small-tier theories will help us when we set the narrative for the main hypothesis. We will use the evidence from the second part to establish the first part.

Firstly we will put out some theories, minor ones. After we establish each of their ground we will conclude them for the sake of this article. Think of the main article as one big One Piece theory, and all these small pieces of a puzzle that connect together. Each of these can be made into essays in themselves, but for the sake of keeping things short, we will analyze each One Piece theory and give them a possible conclusion. We will then use the conclusion to establish the next one. However, the primary goal of the entire article is only one theory –

One Piece Theory: Shanks Influenced Luffy To Become A Central Piece of His Game of Chess From The Get Go

Theory Part 1: Speculations

One Piece Theory Mini 1: Shanks Is Evil?

The thing about Shanks has always been mysterious. Some one year ago, fans speculated that Shanks may actually be evil. That Shanks by some means knew that Luffy is a person destined to find the One Piece, and hence is using Luffy to find the One Piece himself. Of course, the latest Manga developments thwart this theory to a certain extent. This is given from the bold declaration by the red-haired Yonko that he is to now go find the One Piece. Declaring it like it’s a piece of cake like he already knows where it is – like he has its location memorized better than the AI from Google Maps.

One Piece Theory Shanks
Manga Chapter 1054

Given that we have seen this, it is unlikely Shanks would be able to analyze and guess that a chimp from East Blue would ever be the reincarnation of Joyboy, or his successor. Unless of course, there has been some prophecy – something akin to Jiraya’s destiny in finding the child of prophecy. (Which he knew with certainty was Naruto in his dying moments, ah the tears.) Wait, what?

Conclusion

Shanks being evil is still kinda far off the boat. In all possibilities, he may be the final boss, or he may simply be an ally all throughout. The thing is, the speculations on Shanks being evil matter less for now. What we should draw from this theory however is this: There may be a prophecy of some sort indicating that Luffy is the to-be successor of Joyboy. Using this, let us advance.

One Piece Theory Mini 2: Shanks Losing His Arm was Intentional

Why Did Shanks Sacrifice His Arm For Luffy if He Didn’t Foresee Something?

Now, why did Shanks go and lose his sweet arm just to save Luffy from a meager sea monster from the East Blue? All Shanks had to do was lift his eyebrows and any monster within a 100 KM Radius would go crawling back to the hole from which they came. Of course, Shanks did precisely that. Although he did it a tad bit too late. By the time he lifted his Conquerer’s Haki, the now Yonko had already lost his arm.

What the heck did he possibly have to gain from such a risky move?

One Piece Theory Shanks
One Piece Episode 1 (Reanimated)

Did Oda Plan Everything Beforehand?

Believe me when I say Oda is a genius. There is no way he would write this without having thought of a power scaling. Because one speculation is that Oda just hadn’t properly thought of where to put Shanks. Maybe Shanks was just a random dude and was not originally planned to be a Yonko. That’s why when the first chapter was written, Shanks was not properly imagined as an emperor of the Sea

But given that it’s Oda, that’s slightly unlikely. Now Of course Oda did say some characters turned out major as the story went along, but such is true for any fiction. If you are a writer yourself or an artist, you may relate when I say that amidst a work of art sometimes the hand flows by itself and things you didn’t originally plan starts happening. On that part, Oda mentioned that Chopper didn’t have a design until Drum Island. Vivi wasn’t at first a princess, but Oda ended up liking her. Rob Lucci wasn’t thought of until the Water 7 arc.

One Piece Theory Shanks

These are great displays of a writer’s might. But to even dare conceptualize something as mighty and as expanding as the universe as One Piece without having the backbone of it figured, would be foolish. There is no way I can accept that Oda wrote Shanks without having figured out that he would be an emperor of the sea from the get-go.

Shanks Didn’t Sacrifice His Arm, He Invested It

If we follow the logical stairway, it goes like this. There is no way Oda would be so out of his breath to measure the power of Shanks to that who has to risk an arm to an East Blue sea monster. If so, it must follow that Shanks was more than capable of saving his Arm yet he decided not to.

  • Shanks could be seen smiling after losing his arm. This may mean he’s a tough Otoko (man). Or it is most likely that this was the smile of a conqueror who knew that he just invested 50 million pounds into a bet he was going to win.
  • Shanks also goes on to entrust his Straw Hat, which is an inheritance of Pirate King Gold D Rogers, the symbolic hero of the entire One Piece series, to Luffy. Why would any sane person do that?
  • The speculation is simple: there could be a prophecy of some sort about there being born a successor to Joyboy. Someone who will inherit Hito Hito No Mi: Nica.

Conclusion

Shanks knew Luffy was to be the successor of Joyboy and that he will bring a series of changes to the world towards finding the One Piece.

Now that these speculations have been made, we can continue to first talk about the part of the theory that has been confirmed by recent manga developments. Mind you this theory has been discussed previously by many people on the internet. They have been talking about this theory even when it was not confirmed to this extent in the manga.

One Piece Theory The Second 2: Evidence

Now this part was first also a theory. This part however was confirmed in the latest Manga chapters. This part didn’t exist organized, we have merely mentioned the confirmed pieces and categorized them into part one. Remember that part one and second is my categorization for ease of understanding.

Proved: Shanks Have Always Known

Shanks has always known about the Gomu Gomu no Mi’s true abilities. It has been known that the World Government for over 800 years has tried to subdue the fruit. A flashback showed where Shanks tries to steal the Gomu Gomu no Mi.

The World Government’s Attempts

The world government for one has tried very much to subdue the secret of Gomu Gomu no Mi, which is in reality called Hito Hito No Mi, Nika. It allows the user to transform into the legendary mythical deity, Sun God Nika. Joyboy was the first person ever to inherit this power and was a disaster to the world government.

Shanks Stealing Gomu Gomu no Mi

One Piece Theory Shanks

Shanks invaded a Marine Warship that contained the Gomu Gomu no Mi, overtaking the Fruit from the protection of CP9. The CP9 even comments that why would such a powerful pirate go after such a mere devil fruit? 

Shanks Smiling When Losing His Arm

In the same chapter, Oda illustrates a brief flashback, and Shanks is illustrated to be smiling before losing his arm to the sea monster in East Blue. We have already discussed this point. One only needs to put two and two together. 

And hence proved.

Concluding

One Piece Theory Shanks

Well yeah, there’s so less we know that it’s excruciating. All these hypotheses are only because we can’t confirm more. Whether Shanks knew of Luffy or not would be something that can find viable ends only when the means itself is achieved. The means achieves itself through Oda. Ultimately all theories serve one purpose: to quench the eternal thirst of us fans. Until Oda gives us a sufficient answer, these theories are all we are stuck with. And perhaps til the time comes for the ever eternal truth, we can dive into the world of One Piece fantasizing about our feats of hypothetical theories.

Also Read: Monogatari Series for dummies: A Watch Guide

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