Shanks is currently one of the four strongest pirates in One Piece. With his Haki alone, he can make opponents flee from a fight with him. But why did he lose his arm in the first few episodes? Several fan theories want to explain this.
Why did Shanks lose his arm? One particularly popular theory goes back to the inspiration for Shanks. Just from the wooden figure of his ship you can tell that the red-haired pirate is based on Viking lore.
Shanks is said to have been modeled on the Norse god Tyr. Tyr sacrificed his arm to the Fenris Wolf to ensure the balance of the Nine Realms. According to the theory, the one-armed pirate also voluntarily sacrificed his arm in order to ensure a better future through Luffy (via reddit).
The scene can be seen on Crunchyroll’s YouTube channel:
Alternatively, Shanks could use this action to teach little Luffy a lesson. The Straw Hat Boy wants to become the king of the pirates, but he didn’t behave accordingly when he was a child. That’s why Shanks didn’t want to take him on his pirate ship.
It could be that the red-haired pirate wanted to use the lost arm to show what it means to be a captain and take responsibility. A few moments later he can chase the Sea King away with a simple look – so Shanks would have been able to take on the Sea King.
But there could be a much simpler reason: Oda didn’t originally plan for Shanks to lose his arm (via Twitter). In a 2010 interview in Jump magazine, it was revealed that the idea came from his editor.
The reason for this was that it would spice up the story even more. Therefore, it could be that there is no reason within the story of One Piece why the arm ended up in the stomach of a sea king.
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How did Shanks lose his arm? 10 years before the start of Luffy’s journey to the Grandline, he is in danger of sinking into the sea. Shanks jumps into the sea and saves little Luffy from a sea king who wanted to take the boy. It is a gigantic and dangerous sea monster.
Instead of Luffy, the Sea King gets Shanks’ arm. Since then, the red-haired pirate has only been seen with one arm. Despite the missing arm, he is one of the 5 pirates who have a chance at the One Piece.