In episode 2 of One Piece, Shanks saves a young Luffy from the sharp teeth of a sea dragon. But how did he do it?
In the One Piece universe, there are men and women with powers. Some acquire them thanks to Devil Fruits (like Luffy and Buggy), others by developing them over the years, thanks to relentless training. In this category is what we call “fluids” or haki, in Japanese.
Season 1 of the Netflix series showcases this power from episode 2. When young Luffy is kidnapped by a bandit and taken to the open sea, Shanks (Peter Gadiot) comes to his rescue. His red-haired mentor protects him as the Bay Monster – a sea dragon – lunges at him. If Luffy doesn’t get a scratch, the pirate will lose his left arm in the battle.
screenshot Shanks facing the Bay monster
But what we remember from this sequence is the way in which Shanks managed to scare away the sea monster. With just his gaze. If the Netflix series does not do justice to the power of the scene in the manga and the anime, we understand very easily that it also has power.
The royal fluid
Without going into detail or spoiling the rest of One Piece, just know that Shanks has what is called Royal Fluid, an ability that allows him to use his own spiritual energy. Unlike Luffy, he didn’t bite into a Devil Fruit to gain this power.
Fluid or haki is divided into three categories (perceptual, offensive and royal). Only a handful of characters in the universe have this latter power, which makes Shanks quite special. The pirate can use this characteristic in three different ways (domination, incapacity and pressure).
Faced with the Bay monster in episode 2, the Redhead seems to have used domination. By staring at the beast before him, and telling it to go away, he forced it to submit to him by inflicting fear on it. The holder of the royal fluid can also go so far as to knock out people or animals in front of them, especially if they do not have a strong will…
If the series follows the plot of the mangas, unfortunately we are not likely to see Shanks’ haki in action for a little while (he rarely appears in the universe)… unless the writers decide to take some freedoms and to interweave the arcs.