Highlights
- Shanks is a powerful pirate in One Piece, potentially the strongest, with incredible fighting skills and mastery of Haki.
- Despite not having a Devil Fruit ability, Shanks makes up for it with his exceptional Haki, including Armament and Observation Haki.
- Shanks’ Conqueror’s Haki is his biggest strength, allowing him to send attacks from miles away and defeat powerful opponents in a single blow.
Shanks is one of the most powerful pirates in the One Piece world and that has been established in the story long ago. He is incredibly dangerous as a fighter and his strength is such that it can only be matched by a select few individuals in the series, if any.
When it comes to the strength of this particular individual, there have always been debates as to whether he’s truly the strongest or not. For one, Shanks has never been explicitly stated to be the strongest while other characters have, however, despite all that, Shanks might actually be the strongest pirate in the current era who is alive.
Shanks’s Power In One Piece
When it comes to Shanks’s power in One Piece, fans have a few things to consider. For one, Shanks does not have any Devil Fruit ability and while that might be a handicap in the New World, where the vast majority of powerful pirates rely on these Devil Fruit abilities, Shanks makes up for it with his incredible Haki. Shanks has trained his Haki to such an extreme that he has become a master of this ability. He has access to all three types of Haki and fans have already seen them in action on many occasions. When it comes to Armament Haki, fans do not know how strong it is, however, given that it is among the easier types of Haki to master, it can be assumed that he has trained it to the absolute maximum. When it comes to Observation Haki, fans have recently seen glimpses of Shanks utilizing this power at a level better than anyone else in the entire story. When Kid attacked Shanks, he utilized the power of Observation Haki to see the future.
However, the key difference here was that Shanks did not just see a glimpse of the future. In fact, he ended up seeing more than 10 seconds of the future, which is completely extraordinary. No character in One Piece has the ability to see this much of the future, yet Shanks certainly is an exception there. Katakuri, the character through which this ability was introduced, could only see a few seconds into the future. Luffy, who has trained this ability relentlessly, can also only see glimpses of the future. Yet, Shanks can see extended events that far surpass 10 seconds and this gives him an incredible advantage in battle.
While his Observation Haki is nothing short of impeccable, his biggest strength is, of course, his Conqueror’s Haki. Shanks has showcased feats utilizing Conqueror’s Haki that no pirate ever has. Shanks can send his Conqueror’s Haki from miles away to attack his enemies and this was seen towards the end of Wano, where he scared Green Bull into retreating, despite him being a Marine Admiral. Green Bull was even damaged by his Haki that was sent from miles away. Shanks could also communicate through his Haki somehow, which is a bizarre ability that has not been explained in the series at all just yet, however, fans can only hope that it is mentioned later down the line.
Aside from sending his Haki from a distance, Shanks can also coat his weapons and his body in Conqueror’s Haki and this gives him a massive advantage in battle. His Haki is of such a high degree that he could easily destroy both Kid as well as Killer in combat in a single blow. It should be kept in mind that Kid himself fought both Kaido and Big Mom and neither of them was able to replicate such a feat against him. Yet, against Shanks, he could not stand his ground for even a second. Shanks did not just defeat Kid in that single attack. This attack also took down Killer, his right-hand man, and essentially the big chunk of the pirate crew in a single swing of his sword. Such strength is insurmountable and has never been seen before in the story.
Why Shanks Was Never Declared The Strongest
When looking at the displays that Shanks has produced in the small moments that he has been given in the story, one would wonder as to why he has never been declared as the strongest ever. This is simply down to the fact that Shanks has never actively played the role of a pirate in the story, that is, until now.
It is clear that Shanks has been waiting for something to happen before he finally joins the great game. Shanks was a Yonko for many years, however, he was always seen as a peace-loving Yonko or someone who wasn’t all that aggressive. Shanks even had good relations with the World Government in the sense that he could visit even the Five Elders and this might largely be because he is of Celestial Dragon descent himself.
However, the fact is that Shanks wasn’t hostile enough for them to bar entry from the Holy Land. Shanks did have skirmishes here and there, such as when he clashed against Whitebeard, however, he was never fighting at the best of his abilities and destroying places around him, such as Kaido. People like Kaido were actively trying to gain more territory, and causing more damage and destruction to the World Government. Naturally, people such as him would get the title of the strongest since he was actively hunting for the One Piece and causing damage to the world as well. Meanwhile, Shanks was sitting quietly waiting for something to happen.
After the events of Wano, it was confirmed that Shanks was waiting for the arrival of Nika. Now that Nika has descended upon the world, Shanks has decided to join the great game and that means the Shanks that fans will see now is going to be completely different to the Shanks that they have been seeing up until this point in the story.
Is Shanks The Strongest Right Now?
As has been clarified already, Shanks was never seriously in the hunt for the One Piece up until now. This clarifies the fact that Shanks has always hidden his true strength from the people of the world and even his 4.0489 billion beri bounty isn’t reflective of what he can truly accomplish. Based on feats alone, Shanks has done incredible things in One Piece already and these are feats that cannot be replicated by any other character at the moment. Shanks will continue to grow in terms of both power and influence in the final saga and fans will get to see why he is, at the very least, on the same level as characters such as Kaido, Big Mom, Whitebeard, and Roger.
In fact, fans should not be surprised if Shanks is above the level of the likes of Kaido and Big Mom and on the same level as the likes of Whitebeard and Roger. He is a legend of the world and just because he was biding his time waiting for Nika does not mean that he isn’t among the strongest. The final saga will showcase the true power of this individual to the world and fans will simply need to sit back and watch it all unfold.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. Since One Piece is going to be on break, the release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1104, is set to be January 21, 2024.
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