Red-Haired Shanks
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Image:Aarockstaraaaa1oo.jpg Red-Haired Shanks is a fictional character in the One Piece manga and anime. He's the captain of the Red Haired Pirate Crew and Monkey D. Luffy's childhood hero. He speaks with a cockney accent in the English anime dub.
While Shanks was introduced during Chapter 1 of the manga and episode 4 of the anime, his story actually begins much earlier. In his past, he was a pirate in training aboard a ship alongside another would-be pirate, Buggy the Clown. The two spent most of their time together arguing over meaningless things, such as which pole was colder, the North or the South. Their constant bickering was met with annoyance by the rest of the crew.
Sadly, the two young men would forever remain at odds with one another, thanks to a particularly unfortunate accident on Shank's part.
It occured after a raid on a passing ship where Buggy aquired a map which told the location of an underwater treasure. Once he realized his dreams of becoming the captain of a powerful crew would be all too possible with such a treasure, he chose to conceal the map and keep it for himself. Later that night, he had a conversation with Shanks who told him of a Devil Fruit (a cursed fruit of the ocean which was told to steal the ability to swim from whomever devoured it) that had been found in the earlier raid. Shanks also told him of the Fruit's value, an amount great enough to set Buggy's dream in motion.
The next day, Buggy switched the Devil Fruit with a fake he had aquired from the kitchens and, with the entire crew as his audience, devoured the imposter fruit, successfully deceiving his crewmates into believing he had eaten the cursed fruit. Afterwards, Buggy retreated to a lifeboat with map and Devil Fruit in hand, ready to leave his apprenticehood and become a true pirate. However, his plans were thwarted when Shanks discovered him and, in an attempt to hide the stolen fruit, Buggy stuffed it into his mouth. A quick reproach about stealing from the kitchens and Shanks made to leave, but a moment later turned and hailed his crewmate once more, suprising Buggy into swallowing the precious fruit and dropping his treasure map into the ocean below.
Buggy, desperate to retrieve his only means of gaining his own pirate ship, jumped in after the map, only to discover that the rumours of the Devil Fruit were true and he was unable to swim. He was soon rescued by Shanks, but from that day forward blamed the other man for hindering his dreams.
The memory of what became of Buggy never left Shanks' mind, and he was soon faced with a similar problem some years later when, after he had become the captain of his own pirate ship, arrived on an island where he met a strange young boy named Monkey D. Luffy. Intrigued by the boy and enjoying the atmosphere of Luffy's village, he decided to make the island his crew's base for a short period of time.
Luffy quickly grew attached to the crew, so much so that he wished to join their ranks and become a pirate as well. Shanks refused to allow the boy into his crew on the basis that he was too young and was still unable to swim (it was because of this attribute that Shanks and his crew had affectionately given Luffy the nickname 'Anchor.') Instead of snuffing his vigor, Shank's rejection led Luffy to prove his manhood and stab himself in the cheek with a knife, scarring him permanently. This scene was exempt from the anime in fear of children mimicking Luffy's actions.
Shanks remained unimpressed, and stood firm under his decision. Sometime later, while Shanks, his crew, and Luffy were relaxing and (on the part of the crew) drinking heavily in the town bar, a group of mountain bandits arrived. Their leader, ignoring the pirates and seeing them as no apparent danger, walked up to the counter to ask for sake, only to be told the pirates had finished off the last of the bar's supply. Shanks apologized to the bandit leader and offered him the last unopened bottle, but instead of accepting the liquor, the man smashed the bottle with his fist, spraying Shanks, the counter, and floor of the bar. Despite this abuse, Shanks didn't appear to be angry, instead moving to help the bartender clean up the mess. The bandit leader, incensed, drew his sword and broke the rest of the dishes, including Shanks' meal, then left the pirate captain to his cleaning.
Once the group left the bar, Shanks cracked a smile and laughed along with his crew at his own misfortune. Luffy, who detested the sight of his hero acting weak, yelled that if you didn't fight back and protect yourself, you were not a real man. Shanks, being the cool, calm person he is, explained that spilled sake was nothing to get angry over.
Luffy, still displeased, turned away from Shanks and in doing so spotted a small chest containing a strange fruit. Always a heavy eater, Luffy ate the fruit and found out a few moments later from Shanks the fruit was a Devils Fruit and he would never be able to swim.
Yet again, someone close to Shanks had eaten a cursed fruit. Yet, unlike Buggy, Luffy did not blame Shanks for the mishap.
Sometime later, while Shanks and his crew were away from the town, Luffy argued with the group of bandits from the bar and demanded they apologize to the Red-Haired pirate. Laughing at such a small child's actions, the bandits dragged Luffy from the bar and began beating him, though they were soon stopped by the sudden appearance of Shanks and his large group of pirates.
After a quick fight (ending with one of the bandits dead and the others, excluding the leader, out cold), the lead bandit set off a smoke bomb and made off with Luffy toward the sea, believing pirates would never search for a bandit out at sea. Luffy continued to berate him, and finally getting tired of listening to him, the bandit tossed the boy into the water to drown. Moments later, a giant Sea King appeared and devoured the bandit, then turned his attention to Luffy. Thankfully, Shanks saved the boy from a grisly death, but in the process lost his left arm.
It was this scene of such intense bravery and the will to go to great lengths to save those he cared for that set Luffy's life on its current course.
A short while later, Shanks decided to leave the village. But when Luffy promised him that he would become King of the Pirates, Shanks gave him his precious straw hat, the trademark of the RedHead Pirates, only for Luffy to give it back to him when he fullfilled his vow.
Image:Aardockstaraaaa1oo.jpg Shanks' pirate crew is believed to be one of the strongest groups in the story, as they are under constant surveillance from the government who regard them as dangerous as the pirate White Beard. One reason why Shanks is monitored by the government is that he was a great friend and rival of Mihawk, a Shichibukai member known to be the strongest swordsman in the world.
Some of Shanks' pirate crew were pretty famous. In the game, he is portraed as a great swordsman, even though he only has one arm. Among them are Benn Beckman, the vice-captain of the RedHead Pirates, Lucky Roux, the person who is always shown eating meat and supposedly the swiftest person in the Grand line, and Yasopp, a skilled sharpshooter and the father of Usopp (one of Luffy's Straw Hat Pirate crew). Currently the pirates are sailing the Grand Line and, while aware of Luffy's rise to fame, have not yet encountered the younger pirate or his crew.
He is currently 37 and is voiced by Shuuichi Ikeda in the original Japanese version and Tom Souhrada in the American dub.fr:Shanks