Why Shank's twin might be the strongest villain we've ever seen

Chapter 1134 of One Piece could go down as one of the series' most important for several reasons. Not only was this chapter filled with big reveals, but it also had some incredible character moments, like Luffy and Saul meeting for the first time and Robin going to Elbaf's Owl Library to discover that the research from Ohara's scientists survived, meaning their legacy and life's work endures to this day.

However, nothing in chapter 1134 lives up to the startling reveal of Shank's twin brother, seemingly confirming one of One Piece's most common theories. While it's still not 100% confirmed if this is Shank's twin or just the Emperor himself, it's more than likely the former because it just makes the most sense. In this article, let's go over why this mysterious character has the potential to become the strongest villain fans have ever seen up to this point.

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The power of Shank's twin

Why he can be one of the series' strongest characters

When fans officially entered the Final Saga with the Elbaf arc, fans had always known that the characters at the end of the series would be the strongest of them all. Shanks' twin is the perfect character to further accentuate this point, as his overwhelming power may have already been hinted at by the insane feats Shanks has displayed over the years.

Now, to confirm his strength, one must first look at Shanks' Lineage Factor. Although the events of One Piece: Red movie is largely non-canon, many aspects of it are officially said to be canon, especially those relating to the overall world building. The most famous example of this is Shank's descent as a Sky Dragon from the Figarland family, which, along with their resemblance, most likely places him as the son of St. Figarland Garling; former Supreme Commander of the Knights of the Gods and one of the current Gorosei.

This puts the power of Shanks and his twins through the Lineage Factor at an incredibly high level. While Shanks, through his adventures at sea, definitely built up his strength to be Yonko level, he already had a tendency to be very powerful due to the weight of his blood. As such, his twin will likely be on par with him in this regard.

Shanks also has the most powerful Conqueror's Haki in the current setting that fans have seen, so it can also be assumed that his twin's Haki could be about the same strength, if not as strong. Perhaps the biggest trait a user of this ability needs to have is incredible ambition, which would also work for the Gemini. Figarland Garling used to be the Supreme Commander of the Knights of the Gods before he was promoted to a Gorosei, so his skill in using Conqueror's Haki is almost confirmed.

Also, at the meeting between Shanks and Whitebeard in chapter 315, Newgate remarked how every time he sees the young emperor, the massive scar across his chest aches and reminds him of a certain person. People always assumed this was Roger, but with additional context, Whitebeard may have been alluding to Garling, who would likely have scarred Whitebeard during their confrontation at God Valley. It was here that Roger probably found Shanks to take him on and also where the greatest forces of the day clashed.

At this point, Garling was the Supreme Commander of the Knights of the Gods and permanently damaging Whitebeard in his prime could be one of the greatest feats in the series, as not even Roger could do this. Furthermore, it also shows that something like this is almost impossible to do without Conqueror's Haki. The point here is that with Garling now designated as a Gorosei, the role of Supreme Commander of the Knights of the Gods is likely to be filled by his son, pretty much confirming him as a Conqueror's Haki user as well.

It also seems that the mysterious silhouette that the entire fandom went crazy over from Chapter 1121 might just have been the twin, as many had theorized. This had to do with the vague resemblance it had to Shanks and the sword he used being of the same style as Shanks, which is especially strange since many believe this blade could also be a Supreme Grade Weapon.

With the Lineage Factor giving him insane levels of power, he is the leader of one of the One Piece's most powerful factions, that he possibly has a Supreme Grade Sword, and that he likely has Conqueror's Haki on a similar level to Shanks easily makes this evil twin one of the series' most powerful characters. At this point, with the exception of Gorosei on Egghead, he appears to be the biggest threat the heroes have ever seen before in the series and will likely be the main enemy on Elbaf.

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What this means for the future

Where the story could go from here

While Oda has not 100% confirmed that this is Shank's twin, this is the most likely scenario. If this ends up being true, the story potential is incredibly exciting to consider, given that this is an adversary directly tied to Shanks, making him a person of interest to Luffy as well. From here, some fan theories say that he could somehow play a role where he tricks the heroes to further his own goals.

However, the most likely storyline regarding this twin is his inevitable clash with Shanks, as this is something that Oda subtly hints at. How this fight plays out no one can say yet, but the prevailing theory is that he will somehow kill Shanks, causing Luffy to become even stronger to eventually face him and Gorosei down the line. There is another theory as to how it was actually the Knight of the Gods that ended up killing King Harald and pinning it on Loki, so it's very likely that if that's the case, Loki will join Luffy and the giants to take down Shank's twin and the remaining knights of the gods.

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One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the king of pirates' ultimate treasure, One Piece, to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it become a major media series, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.

Release date

October 20, 1999

Creator

Eiichiro Oda

Number of episodes

1122