Red-Haired Shanks

Of average human build, Shanks was the smallest and most ordinary-looking member of the original Emperor lineup, the rest being giants or otherwise outsized. His complexion is tanned and his frame muscular. The crimson hair that gives him his nickname came from his mother, and his look shifted over the years from a middle-parted style worn loose to a wavier, slicked-back cut.

Two marks define his face. A trio of parallel scars cross diagonally over his left eye, dealt by Blackbeard roughly fifteen years earlier, and his left arm is gone below the shoulder, bitten away by a Sea King while he was rescuing the boy Luffy. He typically wears a long black sleeveless cape with a high collar over a white shirt left half open, trousers cut off below the knee, and brown sandals. A sash at his waist holds his saber Gryphon. For years he also wore the straw hat passed down from Roger, until he gave it to Luffy.

Relaxed almost to a fault, Shanks would rather drift the seas with his crew, throw banquets, and trade jokes than chase any goal in a hurry. His charm is strong enough to draw even a loner like Mihawk into the festivities. Beneath the easygoing surface sits a careful moral code: he shrugs off insults and abuse aimed at himself yet turns deadly serious the instant a friend or someone under his care is endangered.

A pacifist by inclination, he avoids needless bloodshed and prefers to resolve trouble peacefully, though as an Emperor he will strike hard when his reputation or the people relying on him are at stake, as the Barto Club learned. He never underestimates an opponent and openly admitted his scar proved Blackbeard's strength rather than his own mistake. Despite his noble lineage he holds power and wealth in contempt, resenting his Figarland heritage to the point of regretting his birth.

Shanks entered the world on God Valley as the younger of twin sons born to Figarland Garling of the World Nobles, his elder twin being Shamrock. During the God Valley Incident his mother Magnolia entrusted the infant to Monkey D. Dragon, and he wound up inside a treasure chest taken by the Roger Pirates. Raised aboard the Oro Jackson, he grew up as Roger's apprentice alongside Buggy. The Knights of God repeatedly tried to reclaim him, but the crew fought them off each time.

Following Roger's execution he began building his own crew, then briefly returned to Mary Geoise, rejoining his family and the Knights of God as Saint Shanks before renouncing his noble rank once his true aim of undermining the government was served. He rose swiftly to fame and was counted an Emperor six years ago. Twelve years ago he lost his arm shielding Luffy from a Sea King and gave the boy his hat. Two years ago he helped bring the Summit War of Marineford to a halt, and with his rival Emperors fallen in Wano he now seeks the One Piece.

Carrying a bounty of 4,048,900,000 Berries, the highest among the present Emperors, Shanks wields no Devil Fruit yet commands all three forms of Haki, including the rare Supreme King variety, and ranks as a master swordsman through his saber Gryphon.