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Hi 😊👋 I'm a huge fan of Law too. I've just finished reading Law novel too. Maybe you want to share your thoughts on this asks:

Does Law see his crew as subordinates or friends? Would you say that Law has a weakness for people who have a trauma too? 🤔

i'm sure law sees them all as his friends.

at the start of the novel, when law asks bepo, shachi and penguin if they want to stay with him and wolf, it's not because law and wolf actually need someone that can help them with their tasks, it's just because law wants to offer them a safe place to stay, but he's not in touch with his emotions enough to admit it. when he recruits them, he even calls them his subordinates explicitly, but it's clearly just a part of his façade; again, he's not ready to admit he cares about them yet. sure enough, by the end of the first novel, he refers to them as his friends, and has matured enough to admit he loves them and realize that he can count on them. also, the fact law often seems to separate from his crew before he gets into any dangerous situation is kind of relevant to this conversation: he prefers to go solo or to form a temporary alliance with other pirate crews because he doesn't want to put his crew in danger, not because he thinks they aren't strong enough. he always tries to keep his crew safe no matter what, because they're more than allies to him, they're his friends, his family, and the only people he has left. this is also the reason the clash against the blackbeard pirates is so heartbreaking: law tried his best to protect his crew, because he didn't want to, once again, experience the loss of the people he loves most, but he couldn't do anything to prevent it.

i do think law finds himself drawn to other people with trauma, especially if their trauma is in any way related to their families. even though law always tries to hide his actions behind the "i acted on a whim" excuse, it's clear that his empathy gets the best of him when he has to choose whether to recruit someone for his crew. we've seen this with every crew member with a canon backstory: first it was bepo, who set sail to try and find his brother and found himself stranded and alone; then it was penguin and shachi, who lost their families and ended up being used and abused by the adults that should have protected them; and now, in the newest chapter, it's hakugan, who lost his parents and has to bear the responsibility of raising his little sister alone. all of them are scarred and survived multiple traumatic events. law sees his reflection in his crewmates, when he looks into their eyes he can see the little boy he once was, scared, alone and devoid of purpose. that's why he's so determined to help them, and offers them a place in his crew with no hesitation: he wants to be to them what cora was to him, even though he probably doesn't realize it.

thank you so much for your question, anon!

trying not to think about the fact shanks was probably abandoned because his father only needed one heir, and it was shamrock, so shanks wasn't worth raising. trying not to think about the impact this might have on shanks once he knows. trying not to think about how buggy has always felt sidelined, like roger's "second choice", an afterthought, while he saw shanks as the "favorite kid", always praised, always celebrated, oblivious to the fact shanks was once the second choice too. trying not to think about how, once again, shanks and buggy mirror each other perfectly, but it still didn't stop their relationship from shattering

I have maybe stupid thought/question. It’s thought that changes into question. And it could be dumb so I choose anon option.

Let’s go! “it channels strength, in a way that is characteristic of shanks throughout the whole manga.” This got my attention because maybe I’m an idiot but a lot of those moments are shanks mask. He is playing big bad emperor, he needs to do it to protect his fleet. We see it more recently. I understood this that way. “mihawk isn't afraid of shanks, but he's still alert while approaching him”. That also. Tbh I always saw them as two close friends who occasionally spared for the title. But this looks weird to me now? I just thought shanks face is a joke because he is just hangover but acts like something big is going on. But your interpretation seems to be more into shanks is channeling his emperor persona. And yes mihawk is dangerous but I never thought he would attack shanks? He constantly is against that. I’m not sure why, can we trust him it’s only arm or something more? Does he care about shanks that much? Not attacking luffy would point to it. So if that’s the case why is shanks like that? Putting this strength face on? Sorry if it’s stupid.

it's not stupid at all, i see your point of view and all your questions are valid to me.

i think when talking about shanks we necessarily have to split between two separate readings of his character, and look at him from two different points of view: the one of the readers and the one of the other characters.

it's obvious that shanks has two sides to him; his emperor persona is in direct opposition to his sillier, more carefree side. when we see shanks in the manga, we always look at him from the point of view of other characters, mainly luffy, buggy or, like in the case we are talking about, mihawk. as the point of view varies, so does shanks's demeanor, depending on what type of relationship he has with said character. after a brief menacing introduction, and after luffy's wanted poster is revealed, we see a side of shanks that is adjacent to the one we see in luffy's flashbacks: mihawk is an old friend of his, so he invites him for a drink and makes space for him to celebrate with his crew. the air felt thick before mihawk mentioned luffy, but only because his visit was sudden and unannounced. don't forget mihawk was a warlord at the time, so of course shanks got defensive. they weren't exactly on bad terms, it's true, but they're both two affirmed figures now, so it's fair for them to be more cautious in the presence of the other.

if we hop behind the fourth wall and look for a non-diegetic explanation, then, it's more or less what i explained in my previous post. we, as readers, have a more global understanding of shanks. we know shanks puts up a front, an armor of sorts: behind his façade lies a more solemn version of himself, one that takes his place very seriously and appears more meditative and resolved. is this side of him a travesty, too? there's no way to know as of now.

i love how puzzling shanks is, it's my favorite part of his character. he's unpredictable, sometimes basically indefinite. it's not a character flaw, though. everything we know about him passes through other characters' visions, which contributes to the confusing outline the readers have of him. it's a tool that helps us know him without ever seeing his side of the story.

I’ve been searching you 4ever and now I know it’s you who wrote that thing bout shanks I looked at one of people I follow and they reblogged with their own meta about panel with mihawk When he goes and meets shanks He has the same thing going on The scar cover The meta said shanks has to feel guilty for losing arm and now he can’t finish rivalry with shanks Shanks still wants to duel but it will never happened

What do you think? Since you wrote so much about the theory I ask u Finally it’s you I found you

hi, thank you so much for sending this!! i'm glad you were able to find me, and i'm sorry for making you wait so long for a reply, but i'm here now!

i'm glad you brought this to my attention; i honestly didn't remember the existence of this panel, but you're right in saying it looks a lot like the ones i analyzed in this post, so i will briefly explain what i think about it.

there's something that sets this panel apart from the ones i included in my meta post, and it's the context in which it's placed. in this particular moment, the reader is meant to see shanks from mihawk's point of view, while still maintaining a sense of suspence: mihawk isn't afraid of shanks, but he's still alert while approaching him; at the same time, the reader still doesn't know who mihawk came to look for, and the scar is a very distinct characteristic that would kind of "spoil" the reveal. i think the scar was hidden mainly as a way to keep the suspense high, to put it simply.

i don't think the fact his scar is covered is linked to his missing arm, or his rivalry with mihawk in general. however, it's true that mihawk was seeking out shanks to inform him about luffy's bounty, so the paneling might have also been used as a little callback to the moment when shanks lost his arm in the first chapter!

in conclusion, you were right, anon, in pointing out how the panel mirrors the ones from chapter 1 and chapter 434; however, while those two instances were meant to portray shanks's weakness, i think this one does the exact opposite: it channels strength, in a way that is characteristic of shanks throughout the whole manga.

i know their interaction in the latest gakuen chapter was. well. minimal. but i really hope people still manage to see their potential and start shipping corasmoke...

i mean. look at them. corazon is so open and upfront about his feelings, he acts theatrically to say the least, while smoker is always so composed... and their very first interaction summarizes this difference perfectly. they would be so interesting as a duo because they seem like such an unlikely pair that they may actually work well together. i wish we could have seen them together in the main timeline too, it wouldn't have been that much of a stretch since they're both marines, but oh well </3

i’ve seen a lot of people genuinely confused about shachi and penguin’s relationship in canon. i happen to be hyperfixated on them both, so i thought i’d write a post briefly explaining the origin of their bond!!

i think the confusion stems from the fact most one piece fans haven’t read law’s novel, and learned more about penguin and shachi exclusively through the wiki, which (despite the editors’ much appreciated work) sometimes lacks info. when the wiki says “their parents were killed in a tsunami” it doesn’t mean they share the same parents, as someone seems to think. this is clarified in law’s novel (thank you @/odaslaughtale for your translation!), in the paragraph where penguin opens up about their past.

plus, if they were related, i don’t think there would have been a point in specifying the people that took them in after the death of their parents were exclusively shachi’s relatives and not penguin’s.

we don’t know exactly when shachi and penguin met, but since their parents knew each other and it was normal for the two families to hang out together, it’s not a stretch to think they have known each other since birth due to their parents being friends or something like that. it warms my heart just thinking about it sorry

i obviously don’t have anything against people that see penguin and shachi as siblings; everyone is allowed to interpret the relationship between characters as they’d like (when no type of bond is explicitly stated in canon!!!), and exchanging ideas and headcanons is without doubt one of the best parts of fandom culture. however, i don’t want people to unknowingly spread misinformation, especially since law’s novel isn’t available in all languages and some may not have access to it. so i thought a post like this might be useful!!

months ago, while mindlessly scrolling through twitter, i came across an analysis of this particular panel from chapter 434 (i can’t remember who wrote the thread, i’m so sorry </3), and i really want to talk about it too.

(EDIT: original author of the thread is @goingbuggy!!! go check out their metas, they're amazing)

the thread was focusing on the way the speech bubble covers shanks's scar completely, and how it can be seen as a sign of vulnerability. oda is using shanks’s own words to hide his suffering, letting his physical scars be representative of his emotional ones, even though the event he’s talking about is completely unrelated to the way he got his scar.

in fact, we know shanks is not ashamed of the scar, since just a couple of pages after this one he mentions it directly as a way to start the conversation about blackbeard:

he doesn’t have a problem with the marking itself, it’s just used as a narrative device, a tool to highlight (in an extradiegetic way) his emotional wounds and the pain he always tries so hard to hide, in an effort to keep his usual composure.

the original author of the thread compared the panel from chapter 434 to another, way older one, from the very first chapter:

this takes place right after shanks loses his left arm to save luffy’s life. it’s obviously a very emotionally charged moment, which means the best thing to do would be showing a close-up of shanks’s reaction to everything that’s unfolding in front of him at that moment (luffy’s cries, or even his own reaction to his sacrifice). oda, however, chooses not to do that; instead, he hides half of shanks’s face, just like he did in chapter 434. the way the moment is portrayed tells the reader shanks is willing to hide his pain in an even deeper way than what he’s showing by smiling at luffy right after getting his arm chopped off.

it’s a great way to explain an important characteristic without stating it right away. it's a focal point of shanks's character: it's his way of showing luffy he cares about him and would much rather hide his suffering than pass it onto him, but it's also oda's way of conveying that shanks is much more vulnerable than what he allows himself to show.

having said that, the reason oda chose to bring back this framing in chapter 434 appears obvious: shanks misses buggy.

it’s plain to see, especially if we look at the whole page.

shanks tries so hard to act collected when talking about buggy, but it’s obvious that he’s hurting. his wording makes it clear he’s trying to detach from him (“that’s the end of it” + “rumors have it”); he acts like buggy doesn’t exist in his thoughts anymore, when it’s obvious he still does. he feels remorse, he regrets letting buggy go. he’s scared he might have been in the wrong. he knows he hurt buggy, but he desperately wishes he didn’t.

all of this weighs on him in a way he isn’t used to, so he locks these feelings up, thinking of them only in relation to something that happened in the past, and as so, stays in the past. he smiles while talking about him and buggy, but it’s a remorseful smile. he cuts the conversation short even though he vividly remembers what happened between them, and as he does so, his words hide the scar. he desperately tries to patch things up in his mind by exclusively clinging onto the good memories they share, but the remorse always creeps up on him. he always smiles when talking about buggy, even when he’s talking directly to him. but his smile always ends up looking sour.

this is exactly why i hate it when people say shanks doesn’t care about buggy. oda wouldn’t have given these panels so much depth if he didn’t want to show just how much shanks actually cares. even just the fact the panel we are focusing on directly mirrors a panel from the first chapter, one so important and impactful, should tell you everything you need to know.

buggy will always be shanks’s weakness. caring so much about someone when you’re a pirate of that caliber is difficult in itself, even more so when that someone is so far away from you now.