Kid’s Hatred Of Shanks, Explained

Being one of the more noteworthy members of the Worst Generation, Kid has always had an interesting spot in the eyes of the One Piece community. While some believe Kid is an impactful rival to Luffy who shows the protagonist the darker side of pirating, others believe the character is far weaker and more annoying than most give him credit for. However, no matter the opinions the audience may have regarding Kid, the character is pretty important to the overall adventure of One Piece, despite his current status in the story being unknown.

However, outside of his intense rivalry with Luffy, one of the driving factors behind Kid in One Piece has always been his fierce hatred of Shanks. Although no interaction between Shanks and Kid has been shown on screen, outside their brief fight on Elbaf, fans are well aware of the primary reason that Kid despises Shanks; the Red Hair Pirates took his left arm. However, beyond this, some fans have speculated deeper reasons for Kid’s hatred of Shanks in One Piece, delving into various fan theories to explain Kid’s motivation.

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Kid Hates The Red Hair Pirates In One Piece

He Has Encountered The Emperor’s Group Twice On His Journey

In One Piece, sometime during the two-year time skip, Kid took on one of the Emperors of the Sea and battled against the Red Hair Pirates. However, as many could have guessed, during this encounter, the Kid Pirates were soundly defeated and the First Mate of the Red Hair Pirates, Benn Beckman, somehow cut off his left arm. Despite this, the Kid Pirates were able to continue their usual operations, even going as far as to steal a copy of a Road Poneglyph from Big Mom.

After helping with the events of the Wano Arc in One Piece, Kid was given another opportunity to face off against Shanks. Now, with the confidence that came with defeating Big Mom, Kid attempted to wipe out Shanks and his entire crew. Sadly for him, Shanks was able to defeat him with one attack and then stole the Poneglyphs that they possessed. After this, Dorry and Brogy destroy Kid’s ship, letting One Piece’s Worst Generation member fall into the sea. Since then, Kid has not been in the story ever since.

Why Does Kid Hate The Red Hair Pirates In One Piece?

His Lost Arm Is A Reminder Of His Failures

• The Red Hair Pirates Defeated Kid And Took His Arm
• Kid May Have Targetted Shanks Initially For A Specific Reason

Although this likely won’t be where Kid’s story ends in One Piece, many fans were perplexed by how intense his hatred for Shanks would need to be to make attacking an Emperor a worthwhile decision. The first and most obvious source of Kid’s hatred of Shanks comes from losing his left arm to One Piece’s Red Hair Pirates in their first encounter. While he is able to use a metal arm to a similar degree, the shame of defeat and his lost arm being a reminder of this, seem to be the primary reasons he has such a violent reaction to One Piece’s Emperor of the Sea, Shanks.

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However, at the same time, other fans feel that Kid’s hatred of Shanks goes even further beyond this. Initially, while there were other Emperors Kid could have targeted during time skip, likely including the newest addition Blackbeard, choosing to fight Shanks first seemed like something that the One Piece pirate, Kid, decided for a very specific reason. Although some fans believe that Kid felt that Shanks was the easiest target, many others believe that he chose Shanks as his initial target due to an already intense hatred he felt for the figure, even before losing his arm.

Some Theories Attempt To Provide A Further Explanation For Kid’s Hatred

Shanks Could Have Been Linked To Kid’s Past

From here, fans have tried to figure out the reason why Kid hated Shanks enough to choose to fight him first during the time skip of One Piece. Firstly, some believe his hatred stems from Shanks being connected to his gang-filled home island of the South Blue. Potentially, this may have been a place that Shanks had visited before, especially since the island itself is unaffiliated with the World Government.

However, until more information is revealed, theories like this in One Piece feel like a bit of a stretch. However, with Kid likely returning to the story sometime in the future, there is plenty of time to further explore the past of the Worst Generation member. Whether this includes a deeper motivation for Kid’s hatred of Shanks in One Piece, beyond losing his arm, is simply up for Oda to decide.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)