One Piece already has a second main character, and it's not Zoro

One Piece is currently in the Final Saga, which Oda himself has hyped to be the most exciting part of the story, overall. Ever since then One Piece began, Oda has longed to draw the final saga of the story, and all the other exciting battles that come with it. Finally, after a decades-long wait, Oda has the opportunity to illustrate and explain everything he's been keeping secret from fans, as well as focus on some of the main characters in the story that he had saved the longest time.

When One Piece was in its very early stages, Oda clearly told fans that when a certain red-haired man starts appearing frequently in the manga, fans can assume that One Piece is in the Final Saga. In other words, Shanks was always going to be deeply involved in the series' final saga. Oda himself believes that Shanks is an extremely important character, even going so far as to call him the child of destiny. But if all that is not enough, Goro Taniguchiwhich Oda shared the end of One Piecementioned it openly Shanks is as important to One Piece as Luffy himselfwhich makes him in a way, the other main character of the series, specifically in the Final Saga of One Piece.

Shanks is as important to One Piece as the main character Luffy

Goro Taniguchi confirms his importance to the plot

• Oda has a special role for Red Haired Shanks

• Shanks is destiny's child

Shanks is as important to One Piece as Luffy may seem absurd at first, but it makes sense the more you think about it. Shanks is the man responsible for setting Luffy on the path to becoming the Pirate King. He was Luffy's idol, and still is. Without Shanks, Luffy's journey would not exist. But there's more to Shanks than just being the trigger to the story.

Shanks is the man who stole Gomu Gomu no Mi from the world government and the person who was looking for the next Nika. Shanks is also the same person who bided his time in the great pirate era until Nika showed up. Clearly, Shanks is deeply attached to the liberation of the One Piece world and break it free from the clutches of Imu and the World Government.

But it's more than just that. The current one God Valley Incident flashback clearly highlights what Shanks really means One Piece. Shanks was born on the same island that was Homeland of the Davy Clanthe group of people who were destined to oppose the world government. Shanks was also born the son of Garling Figarland, a sky dragon, but could also have had Davy blood. Also, Shanks, like Blackbeard, was saved by a twist of fate on Doomsday Island. Shanks ended up being destiny's childand whatever happens to One Piece the world will be greatly affected by the path Shanks takes in the future.

Each One Piece Arc has its own Deuteragonist

Oda switches deuteragonist based on arcs

On the whole, Shanks is a major protagonist in the Final Saga of One Pieceeven bigger than most Straw Hat Pirates, except for Luffy. This should not be confused with being The deuteragonist of an arc. It's something that Oda changes every arc. One Piece does not have a set of deuteragonists, and each arc has its own. But, for the last tale of One Pieceif there's one character that comes close to Luffy in importance, it's only Shanks, and that's one character fans should watch out for.

One Piece Chapter 1163 is out this week. As usual, One Piece will be released on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece will be released at 12pm JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on October 26th. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1163 is October 26, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

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

Author

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)