 It's actually very easy to tell evil shanks apart from regular shanks because the evil one has like a twirling moustache and a goatee. And you know what? I have it on very good authority that evil shanks is lurking somewhere in this video, which is pretty scary stuff. So do let me know if you find him. Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review or source for everything One Piece. My name is Liam. And if I had to rank the color red on some sort of tier list and I'd say B maybe. I mean, it's pretty all right. It's not the best. And today we are here to talk about everyone's favorite One Piece redhead, which has been empirically proven to be shanks. Seriously, shanks ranks, which rhymes, but shanks ranked 12th in the globally conducted One Piece character poll to claim the title of most popular redhead in the series, defeating other notable contenders such as Charlotte Carter-Curry, Eustace Kidd, and of course Rockstar, who has yet to do anything. But it's precisely because shanks is a favorite that a particular idea has spawned. One where our lovable role model is playing a very different, not so lovable role and modeling it badly. So today we are going to be diving into the history and the logic behind the evil shanks theory. And look, if you think those words are utterly ridiculous then I mean, you might be right, but you know what else is ridiculous? Talking into snails and then expecting them to talk back at you. And yet this provides by far the most valuable infrastructural asset in the entire world of One Piece. I wanna emphasize not reality. Then again, I'm not sure if we've tried. So look, we're not gonna be too quick to dismiss ideas here. In fact, I'd say that on average, we usually take about 10 to 12 minutes to reach that point. And we are going to commence our evil shenanigans with a quick round of sneaky shanks-y, a very simple mini-game, the rules of which are as follows. Shanks is being what we here in Australia would call a bit of a larrican. And he has replaced your toothpaste with an unknown substance. It is going to be your job to guess what that substance is. Should you guess incorrectly, then your punishment will be to subscribe to the Grand Line Review, also resulting in consistent injections of One Piece culture administered directly into your YouTube feed. And if you are correct, then you will earn the right to use regular toothpaste again in the future. But what substance will it be? A, B, or D? Because we're evicting the letter C here today. So make your choice now and we shall reveal the answer in three, two, one, and bam, it was a delicious yet very Bernie wasabi. So if you guessed incorrectly, then you know things to do. And please do say hi in the comments below if you are a new member of the Grand Fleet, welcome. So let's now repeatedly smash our heads against the heavy rock that is the history of Evil Shanks. Because I have to say for such a prominent fan theory, it really does have rather questionable origins. The earliest recorded mention I've managed to find regarding it comes from a Reddit thread posted by a user named Woofy, who I am now picturing as a golden retriever using a laptop. However, this post essentially consists of the following. Maybe Shanks really is evil or maybe not. Theory, yes. Now to be fair, I think this is a pretty damn impressive theory. I mean, I've been a dog owner for over six years now and he has yet to concoct a theory even approaching that level of quality. However, if possible, I really would like to hear Evil Shanks argued by a human. And two years after Woofy's comment, this desire would come to fruition in a new thread posted by Rinku72, which expands on Woofy's topic with the following. I don't have much to say. It's mostly that I love the concept of it. And that's great. Look, at least we're being honest here and in the interest of honesty, I do need to point out that now in the one piece fan timeline, the Evil Shanks theory has technically existed for two years and the primary evidence supporting it consists of maybe it's true and if so, I would like that. Thankfully, a year later, another user named take, take, take off would come to the rescue, finally offering something for us to latch on to here. So ever since Shanks showed up in the reverie to talk to the Gorase, I've been thinking that the Evil Shanks theory might have something to it. Ah, excellent. So this is what I would credit as being the true catalyst of Evil Shanks. Because while the thought did clearly exist before, there was a grand total of no evidences to support it whatsoever. However, the idea that Shanks can just stroll on up into Marishwar and organize a meeting with the Five Elder Stars will never not be suspicious. That's right, I used a double negative. So, you know, deal with it or don't, but whatever you do, don't not deal with it. What personally intrigues me most about this event is that the Five Elder Stars themselves show absolutely no concern that Shanks is here. In fact, if anything, they seem to actively belittle his presence and they kind of give him the admin version of the finger by just proceeding with their paperwork as if he wasn't one of the most powerful and feared pirates on the planet thing. The casualness is odd at best and a gigantic red-headed flag at worst. So I do applaud take, take, take off for starting out quite strongly. Now, let's see where the theory goes from here. We don't even know his full name. Another great point, Shanks's lineage is indeed wildly mysterious. So do you have any more insight? It's probably Drake Hill D. Shanks. It's probably Drake Hill D. Shanks and he's Mihawk's cousin and they are both related to Eam and have noble blood but decide to be pirates because they're WG agents, WG meaning world government. Well, like I said, it did start out strongly. However, I think, and this is just a general rule for everyone, but if the words Drake Hill D. Shanks ever appear in your theory, here's a pro tip. Go back to that section of your typing, highlight it, hit delete, and then post the theory. Trust me, that's the way to go. With that said, we have touched on a fair few major discoveries within this one and in the very same year, the user Bubalatikas. Oh, names. Why do people name yourselves things? But Bubalatikas would also throw their thoughts into the mental arena. Yo guys, I recently came up with the idea of Shanks being the one who diseased Gold Roger when he was quote, just a cabin boy. I don't know, it came up my head. Share what you think about this. I think you should see a doctor about that thing, but at its core, this is another good emerging argument. The idea that Shanks has an ulterior motive in an almost Blackbeard-esque grand plan that has been subtly yet powerfully influencing the world from the shadows, which I have to say would be very intriguing because there is already such a strong parallel narrative at play with both Shanks and Blackbeard. Their stories are so much more connected than most people realize and I have another very handy video detail all of that right about here. But one year on from these particular thoughts, we land at a thread by Abi Yabahoy, who probably presents what is the most coherent argument yet. Shanks is a spy sent from the world government to capture the one piece for the world government, which is a bit of a twist in and of itself. The world government desiring the one piece for the world government. I'll truly, truly sinister, but it brings a much needed connective tissue here. Putting Shanks's alleged, actions into perspective. Because if he was an antagonist behind the scenes doing all sorts of crazy crap like Diseasing, Roger, or attending fancy soirees with the fine of elder stars, then an association with the world government does indeed make some sense. I mean, until it doesn't, which admittedly is very quickly. One of the main issues arising at this point being Luffy. At the moment, it is very difficult seeing Shanks willing to sacrifice any part of himself to save someone who he believes carries the world. Someone who he believes carries the inherited will of Roger. If his goal is indeed to act as an antagonist of this will. It's tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky. That's all right though, because our run DMC of theories, Abiyabahoy, has the perfect response to all of our concerns. I think that to use the one piece or obtain you have to be a member of the will of D, which is why he couldn't have got it back then, he referring to Shanks. But this is where Luffy comes in. Shanks, a pirate of huge strength and control of Konkaki, lost his arm to a sea monster that Luffy one shots. There's a question there. And if that is indeed a question, then I am here to say that that is correct. Please proceed. Yes, he lost it on purpose to gain the trust of Luffy. Now that is big brain thinking. In fact, this blew one Redditor's mind so thoroughly that his entire life imploded resulting in the deletion of his Reddit account. And I have to say that this really isn't the most outrageous theory I've heard if we've got some pretty bad ones. However, Evil Shanks is a collaborative effort. It's a theory that has been slowly, and I mean very slowly built over the course of half a decade by many different cooks in the one piece fan kitchen. And I don't blame you if you haven't kept up at this point because things have gotten very muddy, you know, like pigs in a pig related situation. But to distill the concept of Evil Shanks, this theory is constructed with three main materials. One, the idea of an unknown motive. Shanks is one of the best kept secrets in one piece and regardless of whether he is good or bad, his motivations have been very purposely kept far, far away from us, which naturally draws suspicion. Secondly, he does have a confirmed relationship to the world government. And once again, regardless of whether Shanks is good or bad, he has a shockingly stable connection with the main antagonistic group of the entire series, which isn't just displayed through the Five Elder Stars meeting and in retrospect, Shanks seems to be on very respectable terms with many high-ranking Marinos. An example of which being his wonderfully civil encounters in Goku at Marineford. And the third point of the Evil Shanks theory is of course, I don't know, lol, it'd be fun. And that is arguably the most important point in the Evil Shanks theory because it is what drives people to bind points one and two together. And if I have my history straight, then the story would go a little something like this. Shanks at age unknown is recruited by the world government or was perhaps born into the organization. A reasonable thought because we do know that the world government are not exactly above conscription of children. I mean, that's how they constructed CP-9 and how they still constructed to this very day. And back in the times of Mother Carmel, they would literally buy children to enlist in the Marines. Young Shanks is then sent to infiltrate the Roger Pirates for reasons. Probably because Garp could never get the job done so Shanks acted as something of a spy or perhaps even assassin. Somehow causing Roger's condition, which may or may not work with the actual timeline of events, we're not sure right now. After Roger is executed, Shanks remains in the guise of a pirate recruiting his own crew when sailing as a world government operative. With the fact that Shanks being a world government operative currently known only to a select few. Also not entirely out of the question, I suppose because there is precedent for that as well. For example, Rosinante. He was sent to infiltrate the Don Quixote pirates and of course we have Diaz Drake who did the exact same thing by adopting the guise of a pirate only to secretly operate within sword. So at some stage Shanks does discover Laughdale. However, due to Will of Deige and Nanagonry, he is unable to access exactly what the one piece is because it requires a big old D in Shanks while he's less than gifted in the department. At which point his mission changes to find someone with that inherited Will. Somehow leading him to East Blue and discovering Luffy. In this scenario, Luffy is an all important key to obtaining the one piece for the world government. So Shanks does everything he can to protect him thus losing an arm, which of course gains Luffy's trust because why would a bad guy do such a good, good thing? Although instead of taking this all important key to everything, Shanks instead leaves Luffy behind then becomes an emperor. And many, many, many years later, he appears to talk before the five elder stars regarding Luffy and his key based qualities, a feat he can achieve because he was a secret agent all along. And that would be the general gist of things. And as for my thoughts, I mean, I agree very strongly with the third pillar of the evil Shanks theory. You know the whole, I don't know lol, it'd be fun pillar. However, if this were to actually be true, then I think that it may very well be the worst thing that has ever happened in One Piece. And this series is not perfect. Bad choices have definitely been made. However, this would dwarf everything. One Piece is a series that deals with elements so pure that in reality, we would call them naive. However, these elements work quite cohesively and our role models are one of them. Shanks is the entire reason why Luffy has his ambition and acts the way he does. To have that revealed to be but a clever ruse would be a dark and shocking twist, no doubt, but it just wouldn't quite be One Piece. It would be on the same level as Nami having another flashback and we discover that Belmere was working with Arlong all along. It would devastate so much of the hard and heartfelt work that Oda has put into this point, as well as completely undermine the journey that readers and watchers at this point have been in the process of for almost a quarter of a century. I mean, just think about that. To reveal that this almost 25 years of story was all based on a lie, I mean, it'd be a ballsy maneuver, I'll give it that, but it's one that I don't think Oda would ever consider because let's be real, if he isn't even going to kill a birdie caught in a nuke, then I think that Evil Shanks is probably well and truly off the table as well. But to experience a nice meal on an organized table, then do check out this video, which explores the more recent and somewhat popular theory of Zoro killing Kaido. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous and maybe it is, but you'll never know until you click it, so do that, do it now. Why are you still here?