Shanks

Shanks (シャンクス, Shankusu), also known as "Red-Hair" Shanks (赤髪のシャンクス, Akagami no Shankusu), is both a fictional character and tritagonist from the J-Stars' Fairy One Piece Tail series created by Hiro Mashima and Eiichiro Oda.

He is the chief captain of the Red-Hair Pirates and a member of the Four Emperors that rules the seas. He is also a former member of the legendary Roger Pirates, where he started as a pirate as an apprentice and a cabin boy along with Buggy, Rex, and Teach.

When he came of age, Shanks saved his friend's son from a large sea monster and lost his left arm in the process. Notably, he also inspired Luffy to go on his journey as a pirate, and his crewmate found the Gum-Gum Fruit that was accidentally eaten by Luffy.

"Listen up... You can pour drinks on me, you can throw food at me, you can even spit on me. I'll just laugh that stuff off. But, good reason or not, I do not, and will not, tolerate anyone who hurts a friend of mine!!!!"
 * —Shanks, to Higuma.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Brandon Potter (English), Shūichi Ikeda (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Castilian Spanish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)
 * Voice Actor (Younger): Not Known (English), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Japanese), Not Known (Albanian), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Cantonese), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (Galician), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Indonesian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Mandarin), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Tagalog), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Valencian), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

Biography
Captain of the Red Hair Pirates and one of the Four Emperors who reign over the world's seas. He met Luffy as a young boy, who had always been drawn to pirates, and saw Luffy's predisposition before anyone else. He lost his arm saving Luffy, who fell into the sea. Usopp's father is part of his crew.

Appearance
Shanks is a relatively tall man (just under two meters), well-built, tan-complexioned, and in the prime of his mid-adulthood. Among the Four Emperors past and present he stands out as the smallest, most normal-sized by far, the others being various degrees of inhumanly proportioned.

True to his epithet, Shanks has distinctly red hair: usually depicted across media as deep-crimsonish. Worthy of note is that, uniquely among all characters yet seen, even ones with comparable hair tone, Shanks' hair is the sole one filled with grayscale in the black-and-white manga (instead of inked black or left white).

Post-Timeskip
After the timeskip,


 * Hair Color: Deep-Crimson Red
 * Skin Color: Not Known
 * Eye Color: Black
 * Age: 27 (debut), 29 (after timeskip)
 * Birthday: March 9th
 * Height: 199 cm (6'6½")
 * Weight: Not Known
 * Bounty: 4,048,900,000 berries

Friends/Allies

 * Roger Pirates
 * Roger D. Gol
 * Rayleigh Silvers
 * Crocus
 * Gaban
 * Seagull
 * Oden Kozuki
 * Dogstorm
 * Cat Viper
 * Red Hair Pirates
 * New Roger Pirates
 * Rex D. Monkey (best friend)
 * Fairy Tail
 * Makarov Dreyar
 * Natsu Dragneel
 * Gray Fullbuster
 * Erza Scarlet
 * Luffy D. Monkey
 * Makino
 * Mihawk Dracule (former rival)
 * Whitebeard Pirates
 * Whitebeard (despite being rivals)
 * Ace D. Portgas

Enemies

 * Buggy (his former friend)
 * World Government
 * Marines
 * Sengoku
 * Garp D. Monkey
 * Akainu
 * Kizaru
 * Beasts Pirates
 * Kaido
 * Blackbeard Pirates
 * Blackbeard
 * Big Mom Pirates
 * Big Mom
 * Kid Pirates
 * Kid Eustass
 * Alvarez Empire
 * Neinhart
 * Larcade Dragneel

Powers and Abilities
As a former member of the Roger Pirates, chief of the Red Hair Pirates, and one of the Four Emperors in the New World, Shanks is known to be one of the four strongest pirates in the world. However, not much is known about Shanks' powers and abilities in detail. Despite being the youngest of the Four Emperors, Shanks is on an equal level with the more experienced Kaido, Linlin Charlotte, and even Whitebeard, who was feared as the strongest pirate in the World.

Rockstar also used his captain's name to convey to Whitebeard the importance of the letter he delivered to him. It was also stated by the Five Elders that he is one of the few people capable of stopping Teach. Admiral Akainu fought through many men, a couple of Whitebeard's division commanders, and two former Warlords of the Sea to get to Luffy, but did not challenge Shanks when the Emperor appeared.

As a member of the Four Emperors, Shanks' name alone commands great power, as Buggy himself proved. His assertion that he previously had a "brotherly bond" with Shanks was one of the many things that earned him respect from the Impel Down inmates. Members of the Worst Generation such as Kid Eustass, Apoo Scratchmen, and Hawkins Basil had to ally with each other to have a possibility of overthrowing Shanks. In addition, Buggy did not shy from using the names of Shanks and his previous captain, Roger, to maintain his respect among them.

Even the fact that Buggy was seen back talking to Shanks was seen as a testament of Buggy's power to the former prisoners, who were not aware that the two had always acted like this and mistakenly thinking that it was because Buggy was not afraid of an Emperor. Shanks commands enough power to end the war at Marineford with just words. When he stated that there was to be no more fighting, no one stepped up to challenge him, even though the Marines were fired up after the death of Ace and Whitebeard.

When Shanks offered to fight the very overconfident and pompous Blackbeard (who moments before had boasted about destroying the island and taking down Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Garp after having already killed Whitebeard), Blackbeard declined and decided to leave, as it was too soon for him and his crew to take on Shanks. Furthermore, when Shanks requested that Whitebeard and Ace's dignity at death not be violated, Sengoku himself decided to call off the war and offered to take responsibility, showing that despite being a pirate, Shanks has earned Sengoku’s respect, something that no pirate other than the late Whitebeard is known to have achieved. He also possesses enough influence to gain an audience with the Five Elders, who like the leaders of the World Government would normally consider him an enemy. Although he did have to wear a hood to hide his identity to not cause trouble.

Leadership
According to Brannew, one of Shanks' greatest attributes is his leadership and charisma, having managed to earn the absolute trust and loyalty of the most talented and capable individuals from the regional seas all noted for having particularly high bounties and recruited them into his crew. The most prominent are his officers: Beckman Benn of North Blue, Yasopp of East Blue, and Roux Lucky of South Blue. This made Shanks' crew extremely well balanced and impregnable, able to contend equally with the enormous military power of Linlin Charlotte's Big Mom Pirates, Kaido's Beasts Pirates, and Newgate Edward's Whitebeard Pirates.

Stealth Master
Shanks proved to be extremely skilled at infiltration and stealth, as shown when he successfully managed to infiltrate Mary Geoise by wearing only a cloak, a noteworthy feat considering that for most pirates, entering through Mary Geoise without being invited or enslaved is practically considered an impossible and unthinkable feat. He also avoided detection from the many guards and marines present.

Physical Abilities
Shanks has immense physical strength as he was once a rival to Mihawk, a master swordsman with tremendous power that could overwhelm Zoro in terms of brute force with immense ease. Even with only one arm, Shanks can apply tremendous power to his swordsmanship, able to easily match Whitebeard, a gigantic man who could completely overpower giants and an entire army of powerful and skilled Marine officers. With his physical strength combined with Armament Haki, Shanks could defend against Akainu's magma fist which has extremely destructive offensive power that could burn powerful enemies such as Jimbei, Ace, and even Whitebeard.

Shanks possesses an immense amount of endurance and tolerance to pain. Even after having his arm bitten off by a Sea King that attempted to devour Luffy, Shanks was completely unfazed despite the heavy bleeding. Shanks is also an excellent swimmer, having once swam deep into the ocean depths to save Buggy from drowning and also swam a long distance with Rex fast enough to save Luffy from being devoured alive by a Sea King.

Swordsmanship
As the former rival of Mihawk who is known as the world's greatest swordsman, Shanks himself is an immensely powerful swordsman. Shanks could match a blow from Whitebeard with only one arm, which is a testament of his prowess in swordsmanship. Shanks is also powerful enough to easily defend against Akainu's magma fist using only his sword and Armament Haki. Shanks appears to have favored his left arm before he lost it, as he is always seen holding his sword in his left hand during flashbacks. He is presumed to have been left-handed.

Techniques
The named techniques that are used by Shanks that involve his Swordsmanship are as follows:
 * This Isn't For Show: Shanks pulls out a large shotgun and fires it. Used by Shanks (Strong World) as one of his special attacks in Fairy One Piece Tail: Burning Blood. He also uses the said gun as a part of his C2's full-input-finisher and his inverted C3's full-input-finisher in Wizard Pirate Warriors 3.


 * Betting on a New Era: Shanks charges towards the opponent and knocks them into the air with Gryphon, then pulls out his shotgun and shoots the helpless opponent. This Isn't For Show can be used afterward for a follow-up attack. Used by Shanks (Strong World) as one of his special attacks in Fairy One Piece Tail: Burning Blood.

Haki

 * Main article: Haki

Shanks is one of the very small number of people in the world who can use all three types of Haki. Even Whitebeard complimented Shanks for his Haki when he used it on his visit.

Conqueror's Haki
Shanks can use Conqueror's Haki, an ability that only one in several million people can use.

While Shanks was boarding Whitebeard's ship with Rex for their meeting, a large number of Whitebeard's crew (experienced men who have survived in the New World) collapsed into unconsciousness and the ship itself began to take physical damage from their mere presence. Whitebeard's men attributed this to his superior Haki. Oda mentioned in an SBS that Shanks could have knocked out all 100,000 pirates and fish-men opposing the Straw Hats during the Fish-Man Island Arc with his Conqueror's Haki (Luffy managed to overwhelm 50,000).

Armament Haki
Shanks has great mastery over Armament Haki, as shown during the Summit War of Marineford, with his Haki-infused sword he easily blocked Akainu's magma enhanced punch that is powerful enough to burn the strongest enemies such as Ace, Jimbei, and even the Emperor Whitebeard.

Observation Haki
Shanks possesses the ability to use Observation Haki. He has been seen using it while on Whitebeard's ship when dodging the jug thrown at him by Whitebeard after their discussion.

Weapons
In Fairy One Piece Tail: Wizard Pirate Warriors 3, Shanks wields a large firearm (either a shotgun or rifle) which he uses during certain combos. He also wields a similar weapon in Fairy One Piece Tail: Burning Blood, though only as part of the moveset for his Strong World costume.

Griffon

 * Main article: Griffon

The Griffon (グリフォン, Gurifon), is a large saber with a single edge blade and a large hand guard. So far, Shanks has only wielded this sword in combat.

Shanks has wielded four different swords at various points in the past aside from Griffon. He used two different swords during his time as an apprentice pirate aboard Roger's ship (one around the time Buggy ate the Chop-Chop Fruit and another during a clash with the Whitebeard Pirates) and another one during his stay in Luffy's hometown. He was seen wielding a different sword during his meeting with Ace, which means he obtained Griffon after the encounter with Ace.