Kid has been a threat to the navy, civilians, and other pirates from the get go – killing and destroying for little to no reason. Meanwhile this whole chapter built up all the steps Shank took to come to a solution without having to fight.
In a way, Shanks and Kid take opposite stances on what it means to be a pirate. Shanks gives out his flag to weaker pirates who would get flattened in the New World, he questions whether Kid is even healthy enough to fight and upon learning a little about the path he took to face Shanks at Elbaf decides to sail out and face him directly.
Unfortunately for Kid (and arguably Shanks) Kid goes for the kill immediately with his awakening and Shanks reacts instantly because he sees the damage Kid can do with his future sight. There’s a panel of a pirate getting cut in half under Kid’s cannon and Shanks cares deeply for protecting his friends.
Kid, Law and Luffy are all different representations of how one decides to live as a pirate beyond just their own personal strengths. Kid chose to cause havoc and mayhem wherever he went and that clashes directly with Shanks’ (and by extension, Luffy’s) pirate way of life. This was a swift beat down because Kid left Shanks no other choice.
Also, the future sight/divine departure reminds me heavily of the two other times we’ve seen Shanks show up to stop a fight. He saves Luffy in chapter 1 and saves Koby at Marineford and I am soooo unbelievably curious to know what Shanks saw with his future sight in those two instances. I think this chapter was a remarkable chance to showcase Shanks’ abilities and expand on how he sees himself in the greater One Piece world while also showing how Kid’s own mindset put a target on his back from one of the strongest pirates in the world.
Kid made it far, but he wasn’t the one Shanks gave his straw hat to. He didn’t say the same things Roger once said and as a result is not worthy of being the pirate king. This chapter is a brutal ending for his crew but is so exciting on what it reveals about Shanks’ own goals and ambitions!!
*by mo-rek
