Before starting I want to say that by SHANKS VS BARTOLOMEO I don’t mean their one on one fight (I don’t want Luffy’s biggest fan to die).
In one of the cover stories Bartolomeo burned down Shanks’ jolly roger (I think he has gone too far lol. I am a big fan of Luffy but if I was in One Piece Universe I would be really scared to burn down flag of a Yonko).
There are many theories on the internet about Luffy’s mother, Zoro, Wano etc. but no soild theory about this. I think no one considers this a major incident. Because people think that Shanks would just laugh it off and forgive Bartolomeo as he sees stickers of Luffy or as Bartolomeo mentions Luffy, I don’t think so. This I believe will be a big incident and so many things can happen as a result of this.
Firstly Shanks can’t simply not care here as most people believe. This is because what Bartolomeo did was not insult Shanks but he insulted the Red Hair Pirates and Shanks has to act on it because a jolly-roger is the very existence of a pirate crew. If a crew does not respect it, it simply means they have no honour as pirates. That is why Luffy did not let Chopper’s flag to be dropped during the Drum Island arc.
Secondly Barto burned Shanks flag that means he declared war against Shanks (when Ussop burned World Government flag they said it means Straw Hats have declared war against WG).
If Bartolomeo starts hurting those people like he did on the last island, Shanks won’t just laugh it off. He didn’t get to be a Yonkou by going easy on pirates who torture and extort the people in his territory. Shanks is a good guy but still he is a pirate.
Now even if Shanks forgives Bartolomeo for Luffy, other crew members Benn Beckman, Lucky Roo like newcomers don’t give a shit about Luffy.
They would take that as an insult and if Shanks doesn’t take action it would be an insult, you can’t just declare war against Yonko and get away with it. Now I know it’s not their actual flag like the one on their ship but seeing how other pirates care a lot about their jolly rogers, Shanks isn’t just going to take it easy.
I think Bartolomeo has to pay a price for what he did. If Luffy hears about it he is going to be pissed. I’m sure Oda is setting something up for the future.
*Theory by GodSogeking
