Shanks, the commander of the Red Hair Pirates is the center of many otaku debates. His loyalty is questioned and often he is considered to be the hidden villain of One Piece, nevermind the fact that he saved Luffy in the very first chapter/episode.
But over the years, Shanks has shown understanding and care for his crew as well as other potential rivals in a way that is unprecedented. So it’s very easy to negate the argument of Shanks being a villain. In fact, the battle against Kid proved why Shanks cannot be an antagonist in One Piece.
Shanks Warns the Kid Crew to Evacuate
Chapter 1079 of One Piece saw a one-sided annihilation of the Kid crew. In the chapter, Shanks tells the pirates to clear out before he attacks so they don’t get harmed. This proved that despite being a fierce pirate, Shanks is not a bad person.
Shanks could have easily targeted all the pirates and gotten rid of them in one go. No one expects a pirate to be selfless or kind, yet Red Hair Shanks tries his best to not annihilate an entire crew.
Shanks is Aware of Kid’s Wounds
Shanks even asks if Kid’s wounds from Wano have been fully healed yet. After his encounter with Kaidou, Kid was separated from the crew and was defeated and placed in a cell in Wano Country. Later he helped Luffy overthrow the villains but was gravely injured as a result.
In order to save his own authority, Shanks ended up defeating Kid and destroyed the Victoria Punk. He warned the Kid Pirates about what would happen if they provoked him again. Despite all the destruction, he made sure not to kill Kid and the pirate crew and thus lived to see another day.
Shanks Stopped to Judge Kid Before Attacking
Eustass Kid and his crew had arrived on Elbaf and begun attacking the allies of the Red Hair Pirates. This threatened Shanks’ governance as well as territory, leaving him no choice but to teach the youngling a lesson. However, he still did not blindly go for a kill.
Before jumping into battle, Shanks did thorough research on Kid. He found out that Kid had done a lot of rampaging before arriving at Elbaf. Kid had already obtained a reputation for killing, and after the time skip, the pirate must have committed even more serious acts. This must have convinced Shanks even more that he had to bring Kid under control.
Shanks Made a Calculated Attack
When Kid readied his railgun to launch an attack on Shanks’ fleet, the latter foresaw the damage it would cause via his Observation Haki. Not only would it damage the fleet, it would have spread to the nearby areas as well. Thus, Shanks had to catch Kid off-guard to defeat him.
Shanks never battled the Kid Pirates unprovoked and even did prior research before attacking the crew. Add in the fact that he tried to give Kid a chance to get away, Shanks seems like the only person who doesn’t like needless violence. All of these pieces of evidence together suggest that Shanks is innocent.
You can read One Piece on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
