Until now in the series we saw glimpses of Shanks in three different islands, apart from Foosha Village and Marineford.
1.This was when Luffy received his first bounty and Mihawk revealed the news to Shanks.
2.This was when Shanks ordered Rockstar to give a message to Whitebeard.
3.This was in Ace’s flashback when he wished to meet him to talk about Luffy.
Consider all these islands to be on the Grand Line.
Notice something here?
- Two of the islands which were shown were WINTER islands. They could be islands of other kind in winter season as well, but the thing is Shanks was staying in that kind of climate.
- The first island is not like this, but Mihawk says something :
“Hanging around in an island like this……he’s an easygoing man
At first I thought that he only says this because it’s easy for the Marines to find him or something like that. But we know for a fact that Shanks isn’t that weak or clumsy as he is shown to be. He also has a history with Mihawk. So, I don’t think Mihawk said those words just for the sake of it. He probably knows something important about Shanks from his long relationship with him and was surprised why he chose that island.
And that something must’ve been the same reason why selects cold or wintry islands as his base of operations.
This might be a hint regarding his ability. Of the many theories put forward related to this, two devil fruit powers have been considered likely i.e.
Time…………and WATER
Hence, for now, lets keep the possibilty that such a fruit exists in the future open.
Before that,
Right at the end of the Dressrosa arc, Doflamingo is on an escort ship heading to Impel Down, bound by quite a few seastone handcuffs. However he still has a lot of energy left enough to hold a conversation with Tsuru and shake the chains vigorously.
This is different from pre-timeskip Luffy, who would instantly be in a state of exhaustion and fatigue.
The point to be noted here is seastone is no different from water in suppressing Devil fruit powers. However, in Doflamingo’s case, that doesn’t seem to make much difference to him.
So it wouldn’t be a crime to predict that in future, devil fruit users [unless drowned] will be able to overcome heavy seastone or even large amounts of water for that matter.
But how is this possible?
Answer: REALLY POWERFUL HAKI, STRONG ENOUGH TO RESIST ANYTHING , EVEN THE INDIVIDUAL’S OWN ABILITIES.
Do we know anyone with some ‘really powerful Haki’?
Answer:
Oda once mentioned that Shanks would’ve been able to take out all 100,000 fishmen on Fishman Island. Also, considering that the people on Whitebeard’s ship were not your average small fries, it is safe to say that Shanks has not been even close to using his full Haki power.
Since water is the natural enemy of the Devil, its fruit possesses a lot of dangers to its user. In other words, it is a forbidden fruit. And the only person able to use it , due to his extraordinary Haki, is Shanks.
Shanks needs to have his Haki suppress the fruit’s power all the time, and it must be really difficult or painful for him. It’s possible that every time he uses it, his life is shortened depending on how much is used. This also means that if he wants to use the fruits’ powers, he needs to release a bit of his Haki.
Here is a very familiar scene to all of us.
- Shanks saw that Higuma had kidnapped Luffy and had immediately set off on his boat.
Realizing he had no choice, he used a bit of his power to create another layer of water on the
sea .Since it was his own, he is able to swim across
[This is same case with Kuzan and Kalifa.Though their powers are related to water, they are
not harmed as it is their own. This is also how he was able to reach Marineford much before
his crew arrived.] - He saw that the Lord of the Coast was inches away from gobbling Luffy.
Next thing we know, Shanks saves Luffy, uses Haoshoku Haki, and has lost an arm.
Shanks knew something important beforehand:
Another risk due to the fruit is after the power is used, its power is completely lost and takes quite some time to use it again. If he did want to use it again though, he would need more Haki.
However, he had used it to make the layer to swim to where Luffy was.
[Like Luffy’s Gear 4. Using too much Haki, he needs 10 minutes to recover]
Even if he had Haki, it was too less to control the power and knew that his water ability would then go berserk , posing danger to Luffy and himself as well.
Cornered, the best thing he was able to do was save Luffy by hand, losing his arm [due to losing his seemingly Logia power] and unleashing Haoshoku Haki thus knocking the beast out unconscious.
Since his devil fruit ability is forever sealed by his Haki unless released in good time, he does not think of using it anytime, anywhere. That is why Higuma was able to smash the battle on his face in Chapter 1 which makes him look like a non-ability user.
However, he felt he needed to use this risky ability to save a friend like Luffy and stop the war in Marineford.
Now, in exchange for these risks and difficulties, he is granted something very formidable indeed.
And that is… If he wills it, he can use its full power to create floods, surface tsunamis and sink a whole island by himself. Also he can prevent others from using their abilities. Both these powers are similar to the Yami Yami no mi, as well as having their own disadvantages.
It’s therefore probably the only fruit that can match up and even overpower the Yami Yami no Mi [we know that that fruit is susceptible to attacks, hence an attack involving water is tough to avoid] but with Shanks having have his life force lessened drastically.
Now for the question: how did Shanks get his hands on such a frightening fruit in the first place?
That’s because…….this fruit is nothing but the ANCIENT WEAPON URANUS.
It was given to him be his captain, Gol D. Roger.
He knew that the only one trustworthy, young and mighty enough to entrust with and use this fruit’s power was Shanks.
He must’ve give it to him along with the Straw Hat with this message – ‘Don’t eat this fruit yet. It has many dangers which you will probably realize only after eating. But when the time comes, then use your instinct and do what is best’.
The time was of course, was when Blackbeard gave him that scar on his left eye.
Shanks as we know has admitted that he was not being less cautious during that battle. He learnt that Blackbeard was going to be a trouble for the world in the future. Knowing this, he decided to eat the fruit but he went through hell trying to control the power, so that he could use it properly when the time came.
At the end of the series, his mission might be to use this fruit/weapon to support Roger’s will, i.e. Luffy, and help him achieve his goals.
Like many theorists have put forward, the Red Line may be destroyed. We know Pluton is much more like a nuke, and Poseidon can only summon Sea Kings. Hence, Uranus or the Mizu Mizu fruit is the one to lead this destruction if it does happen.
He is also shown to use Gryphon – one of the Meito – possibly with a special feature that is it may be able to have the same abilites as the user posseses.
Probably the only ones who know about the secret of this fruit and its connections to the Ancient Weapon are the Roger Pirates. And Shanks told about this to although his rival, but trustworthy friend Mihawk, since it is hinted that he also hates the Government.
Plus, the reason why he stays on snowy islands, is because if he is ambushed, he can turn the snow into water and control it without much effort, rather than using his own power. It is similar to the awakening of Doflamingo’s and Katakuri’s powers.
*Theory by Higuma
