The Truth Of Shanks’ Arm, Explained

When it comes to the most powerful pirates in the world of One Piece, none compare to the Emperors of the Sea. Furthermore, even among these Yonko, Shanks sets himself apart with some of the most notable feats of power in the entire series, namely stopping the Marineford War with his mere presence and destroying the Kidd Pirates with a single slash from his sword.

However, he is the subject of one of the greatest and oldest mysteries in the entire setting. Given his strength and stature as the captain of the notorious Red Hair Pirates, Shanks losing his arm to the Lord of the Coast in the very first chapter of One Piece strikes everyone as odd. However, an answer to this bizarre event could have possibly been revealed in Chapter 1140 of the manga, so let’s see how this could be.

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How Did Shanks Lose His Arm?

A Sacrifice For The New Generation

The first chapter showed the beginning of the events that eventually led to Luffy becoming one of the closest to finding the mythical One Piece treasure. In it, he’s a rowdy young boy who dreams of setting out to sea along with his friend and idol, Red-Haired Shanks, who is the captain of a notorious pirate crew. Eventually, however, Luffy gets kidnapped by some bandits and Shanks has to go to save him.

In the closing moments of the chapter, Luffy is taken out to the sea by the bandit leader, where they are eventually attacked by a massive sea monster known as the Lord of the Coast. As Shanks rushes in to save Luffy, the monster attacks and rips Shanks’ arm off. However, using his Conqueror’s Haki, Shanks is able to dominate the will of the Lord of the Coast and send it fleeing away in terror.

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Chapter 1140 Reveals The Truth Of Shanks’ Arm

How Was It So Easily Ripped From His Body?

With all the accolades he has and the fear he inspires around the world, Shanks is considered by many to be the greatest of all the Emperors of the Sea and one of the most powerful characters in the series. Many even put him above Luffy in his Gear 5 state, though this is mostly because of the fact that fans haven’t seen either of their full powers. On top of this, Shanks is a masterful user of every Haki type, particularly Conqueror’s Haki, of which he has shown the greatest feat of any character in the modern day.

So, with all this in mind, fans have been asking for years how Shanks lost his arm to something so insignificant to the grand scheme of things as the Lord of the Coast. Whenever he is questioned about it, his go-to response is that he sacrificed his arm for the future/ the new generation, and there is great truth to this, since he is Luffy’s biggest inspiration. It’s implied that Shanks knows more about the world than he lets on, so he may also have an idea about the truth of the Void Century.

Because of this, he sacrificed his arm to save Luffy since he most likely had an idea about the importance of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika and why it chose Luffy in the first place. However, Chapter 1140 reveals that there could be another reason why Shanks lost his arm that fateful day, and it may have to do with his lineage as a Celestial Dragon.

Firstly, it should be known that Shamrock confirmed that Shanks once visited the Holy Land but eventually chose to leave it. This is important because there was a noticeable gap of 2 years following the execution of Roger and the beginning of the Golden Age of Piracy where Shanks was inactive from any piracy, where it’s implied that he made his way to the Holy Land to spend time with his real family, perhaps even at the behest of his captain, Roger.

However, he left this life behind as he loved the world of the surface far too much. Keeping this in mind, it was just revealed in Chapter 1140 that the summoning circles that the Gods’ Knights and Gorosei use allow them to travel through the ‘abyss’ because of a mark that they have. Saint Shepherd Sommers was teleported onto Elbaf all of a sudden and without prior knowledge, showing that characters can be summoned anywhere without their consent.

On top of this, Sommers’ left arm was heavily tattooed, and there was a particular tattoo close to his elbow that looked like the mysterious pentagram that is used to summon the Gods’ Knights. Essentially, this theory states that, during his time in Marijois, Shanks also got this magical pattern tattooed on him, which is also where he likely got his sword. The properties of these tattoos allow nonconsensual summoning by other Gods’ Knights to and from any part of the world, so it gives insight into the truth of Shanks’ arm. Even St. Qilingam Limosiv’s left arm had a band with a particular symbol on it, implying the same for him.

This theory states that Shanks was also given the tattoo on his left arm but hated the fact that he could be controlled by the Celestial Dragons at any point, so he allowed the Lord of the Coast to rip his arm off so he would never again be subject to their whims, since he could very well have coated himself in Armament Haki to prevent any such injury from occurring in the first place. This would be quite a great revelation that would work perfectly with everything else that’s known about this character and would answer perhaps the oldest mystery in the entire One Piece series.

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