Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece chapter #1126.One of the benefits of One piece Because in his last saga is that Shanks appeared much more often. Not only was he one of the main characters of One piece of film: redBut he now appears consistently in the manga. With the increase in shanks prominence, It was also a better insight into what kind of person he is, and surprisingly, One piece Chapter #1126 shows that Shanks is a much darker figure than he was previously made out to be,
Shanks’ behavior can be described as cruel as he is seen relishing in psychologically torturing the poor Bartolomeo, who, although surely guilty of picking a fight with the red hair pirates, is still only a blip on an Emperor’s radar. It would be presumptuous to call Shanks a villain, but he’s far from a straightforward hero, and that might make his character more interesting as a result.
One piece Chapter #1126 shows just how dark Shanks really is
Shanks is much more complicated than people think
One piece Chapter #1126 finally picked up the plot thread of Shanks going after Bartolomeo when the latter started burning down his flags, and after beating him and his crew, Shanks gave Bartolomeo a choice: Be killed by him, or poison Luffy within a month. Bartolomeo took a third option and drank the poison himself. While it turned out that the poison was fake, the Barto Club Pirates were still shot down by Isopp When they tried to leave, and it is currently unknown whether they are dead or alive.
It is clear that Shanks was testing Bartolomeo’s loyalty and determination with the fake poison, but it is still A very twisted mind gameAnd he may have killed a group that had already given up fighting against him. Taking all this into account, One piece Chapter #1126 makes it clear that Shanks is nowhere near as honest as history and fans often make him out to be. Granted, he’ll still likely be on Luffy’s side by the end of the series, but it’s clear that he’s a character with far more gray morals than one might have expected.
Shanks’ treatment of his enemies shows why he is an Emperor
One Piece Chapter #1126 completely changes the context of Kid’s defeat
Something else about Shanks’ cruel treatment of the Barto Club is that it completely recontextualizes Shanks’ crushing defeat of the Kid Pirates. Originally, it could be assumed that Shanks only went as far as he did because Kidd was going to kill his allies, but with how similarly he dealt with the Barto Club despite them doing much less, Shanks probably would have destroyed the Kid Pirates even without the pretense of protecting his allies. This idea retroactively makes Shanks actions even darker, and it further adds to the idea that he is not a straightforward hero.
As cruel as Shanks’ last actions may be, all of them work to perfectly illustrate why Shanks is one of the Four Emperors. Even if Shanks is a good man at heart, the fact that he’s an emperor means that he can’t afford to do anything that makes him look weak, and that includes easily taking on people who have invaded his territory like Kidd and Bartholomew. It would have been more out of character for Shanks to go easy on Kid and Bartolomeo And yet they call themselves an emperor, so it makes perfect sense that things progressed the way they did.
Shanks’ actions are also an excellent callback to one of his most defining moments from the beginning of the series. In the first chapter of One pieceShanks put both of these Pirates should not be afraid to kill their opponents And that threatening his friends was unforgivable. In this respect, Shanks’ cruelty is merely an extension of what has been established about his character since the beginning of One piece. The only difference is that it is now framed in a harder and more serious light.
Shanks being a darker character makes him much more interesting
Above all else, Shanks is a darker character can serve to make him much more interesting. Shanks being a straightforward heroic figure could easily work to make him boring to watch, but being depicted as a more gray figure in One piece Can give him more depth and allow a wider variety of stories for his character, something that works especially well for the final saga.
It should be noted that, at the end of the day, fans know next to nothing about Shanks, his past, and his motivations. Even if Shanks Is not necessarily a hero, there is still a lot to look forward to with his future actions in One piece.