Oda hinted at Shanks' twin a long time ago

This article contains spoilers from the Elbaf arc of One Piece.

summary

• Oda reveals that Shanks has a twin brother in One Piece 113

• Earlier hints about Shanks having a twin were in Silhouette.

• Oda refuses to answer if Shanks is two people, fueling speculation about Shanks' twin.

a piece The latest developments have caught fans by surprise, and much of it has to do with a very exciting plot point that saw Shanks' twin brother Elbaf appear in the arc. It's safe to say that this is the biggest twist that fans have seen in the story to date, and this twist will have a huge impact on the Elbaf arc going forward. Excitement is already through the roof, and, while some questions have been answered, other even bigger questions have now been raised, which fans will want answered in the next few chapters.

However, the most important thing right now, is the newly introduced character a piece Joe is Shanks' twin brother. Interestingly, Shanks' twin brother was not introduced a piece Absolutely out of nowhere. In fact, Oda had already hinted at the presence of this person in the story some time ago.

Oda reveals that he is Shanks' twin brother

• Oda recently revealed a Shanks look in Piece 1134

• Finally, one piece is the answer to the mystery of 907

in a piece Chapter 1134, Oda officially revealed to fans that Shanks has a twin brother. The development came as a shock to some fans. Shanks was always going to be a huge character in the final saga a piece. Every fan was hoping to hear the biggest secret about Shanks here, but one thing they weren't fully expecting in this arc was the introduction of Shanks' brother. In One Piece Chapter 1134, the story took a very exciting turn. As Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates continue their meeting with Saul in Owl's Library, a great threat looms over Elbaf. Just as the giant warrior pirates, along with the giants, were preparing for the big feast they planned to celebrate with Luffy, a huge bolt of black lightning struck the castle near Elbaf Village. It looks like the same castle where King Harald ruled. It seems that the castle is completely empty, which makes sense, since Elbaf hasn't had a king in a long time, and that means no royalty at this time.

Inside the castle, fans could see a huge summoning circle, and this summoning circle was surrounded by a huge fire. It was obvious to the fans that this fiery circle was similar to the circle from Saturn in the Egghead Arc. When other Elders were summoned to Egghead by Saturn, this same summoning circle also appeared. This time, however, no elder appeared outside the summoning circle. Instead, the two men in robes had their faces completely covered.

In the final panel of the chapter, fans could clearly see the faces of these characters. Among them is an unidentified woman, with half of her face bandaged and one eye covered, while another character looks exactly like Shanks. In fact, the side profile that fans got in this chapter was actually the same one they got in One Piece chapter 907, when Shanks supposedly met with the Five Elders.

How Oda hinted at Shanks having a twin

Oda dropped a hint about Garling's children

Oda had already hinted that Shanks was a sibling. This shouldn't come as a surprise to any keen-eyed fan. The first thing to say is that Oda is hinting that there was a character in the story who looked like Shanks. The first hint of this came after the events of the Wano Country arc, where the dragon first talked about the Knights of God. Apparently, a person with the same silhouette as Shanks popped up, and at the time, fans didn't pay much attention to it, simply because it was a silhouette, and Oda's silhouettes are widely known to be inaccurate. However, readers had questions about this silhouette matching Shanks.

It happened once again, when the Knights of God were recently imagined in one piece, and once again, they were all in silhouette. This time, the character also coincided with Shanks, which led many fans to believe that the head of God's Knights may have something to do with the Figurland family.

In fact, the Supreme Commander of God's Knights was already revealed to be St. Garling Figarland, Shanks' father, and his son would also be a member of God's Knights. Things were taken a step further in the Egghead arc, where Oda revealed a man with a sword and face, similar to Shanks, covered in silhouette, which also matched Shanks.

Look carefully, children! — St. Garling Figarland

If all that wasn't enough, the Kuma flashback that fans got in the Egghead arc apparently showed a smaller version of St. Garling in Figureland in God's Valley. There, Garling had his children with him, and told everyone to watch carefully while he fought. The fact that Garling mentioned more than one child is proof that Shanks had siblings in one piece and because of that, it shouldn't come as a surprise to fans that someone who looks like Shanks has now made an appearance.

Oda refuses to answer the big question about Shanks

Oda purposefully avoided the question about Shanks' secret

While it only became clear to fans that Shanks had siblings, some fans were curious about Shanks' siblings long before the final saga began. In fact, some have asked Oda by Shanks if there are actually two people, and Oda refuses to answer this question. The idea was that Shanks had stopped Kaido a long time ago and then it was impossible for him to appear in Marineford on the same day. Still, he somehow pulled it off. Here's how Oda was asked about Shanks' twin a long time ago:

F (Q): You may have been asked this a thousand times, not sure, but are Shanks two different people? F: You know, because Shanks is sometimes drawn without his scar, plus he arrived at Paramount Battle so quickly with incredible speed (despite having just fought Kaido)…

O: (censored)

Obviously, Oda refuses to answer the question here, which adds fuel to the fire that Shanks is actually more than a person. But, it must be said that the person who fought Kaido was definitely Shanks and this is evident from the fact that Shanks is high on the list of people Kaido has fought. At the same time, Shanks' brother had no reason to stop Kaido, especially when he planned to stop Whitebeard and prevent Paramount from going to war. It actually helped the government, which meant that counterfeiters had no reason to do so.

Anyway, it's interesting to see that some fans have noticed inconsistencies with Shanks' character, such as his scar, among other things, and have been wondering for ages if he has a twin brother. Now, Oda has finally given everyone an answer, and fans are waiting to see what happens next.

A piece is available to read through Viz Media. Series fans can read the series officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and Manga Plus apps. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1135 is set for January 5, 2024.