Red Hair Shanks - Tumblr Posts

I don’t know when Mihawk got the title of Worlds Strongest Swordsman and it’s not something Itend to stress but I’ve been thinking about a world where Mihawk doesn’t get his title till after Shanks loses his arm and that makes everything worse.

Sterlin Harjo, creator of Reservation dogs, was talking about the ending of the show and he was talking about how you can’t keep coming of age forever, eventually you are just; off age and I think that’s what Shanks finding luffy, losing his left arm and giving away his hat was. This was him finally being of age he quite literally let go of that childhood. While his hat was a symbol for his childhood with the Roger Pirates that he intentionally let go off, I think the loss of his left arm can symbolize letting go of that part of his childhood he shared clashing swords with Mihawk.

Shanks losing his left arm fundamentally alters their lives and their relationship. And unlike his hat this isn’t something Shanks willingly gave (sure he doesn’t regret but I’m pretty sure he didn’t want to lose his arm) it had to be severed from him which, they were never going to become the men they are now if they didn’t let go of the boys they were but neither was ever going to let go willingly so fate gave them no choice. They weren’t the rival the other needed not for this and holding onto it wouldn’t make that any less true.

Losing his arm ripped him into being of age and he dragged a resentful Mihawk right along side him.

And Mihawk was always going to be the World’s Strongest Swordsman, Shanks didn’t want it the way he did and some part of Mihawk has always known that. And we all know Mihawk’s probably going to have a devastating backstory But maybe those duels with Shanks were the last good thing Mihawk had from his Childhood. Maybe he can’t help but hate Shanks for ripping it away just like everything else has been ripped away from him as well

Maybe in the deepest darkest part of his heart that still cares about such silly things like childhood hurts, he also blames Shanks for this constant loneliness and boredorm that he feels. Maybe he blames Shanks for making it just that little bit lonier at the top.

The idea that Mihawk doesn’t go into the new world unless he absolutely has too because there will always be an idiot lovesick redhead trailing after him trying increasingly ludacris ideas to get his attention just really tickles me.

I think it’s interesting that despite Shanks being more of a pirate in the traditional sense (fleeting from place to place never staying long ) and Mihawk being the one with an actual consistently used home base (cause god knows he does not live on that tiny coffin boat for more than a week at most)

In the context of their relationship though it feels like Mihawk is the one that comes and goes at will while Shanks is the one that is found, he’s the more reliable presence even though he will rarely ever be in the same location for too long.

It’s a nice little inversion of the usual trope

While I do think there’s a kind of tragedy if Mihawk was Rayleigh’s bio child

But I do think it’d be funny if he just had a very Damien Wayne attitude about the whole thing with Shanks and buggy.

Can you imagine a 4 year old Mihawk staring with complete disdain into the treasure chest the Roger Pirates just stole, containing sweet little baby Shanks on HIS birthday!

He’d immediately ask for a refund and probably suggest they throw the chest into the sea if they can’t go back to God Valley for an exchange. He refuses to even entertain the idea that they might actually keep the baby

to complement this post

I think the red hair pirates would be obsessed with S-Hawk too! Especially the main group who've known Mihawk through his teenage marine hunting phase.

Benn would know they are walking on thin ice but look at him! He’s a little baby Mihawk! Look at his little uniform shirt tucked into his little shorts. Every angry and threatening expression s-hawk could make would mean nothing to a crew that has seen the real thing live and in color. It would just be adorable like look at his little frown! His glare! The threat of disembodiment in his eyes! Adorable

Mihawk is very uncomfortable with how much the red hair pirates fawn over and adore what is essentially a manufactured baby him. But yet also somehow touched? By it. He’ll kill everyone and then himself before he admits it tho

Yasopp, who actually did know a shorter 19 year old Mihawk, would ask him if he was that adorable but tiny (still can't comprehend that the seraphim are infact giant) as a child and if he had any pictures, and Mihawk almost takes his head.

I’m not someone that particularly cares about a ship being canon or not, in fact I would rather the media I consume have no romance at all (giving my blog confusing yes I know)

But there is something about the canon ties between Shanks and Mihawk that drives me feral with need to see what their whole deal is.

Because like there are so many little inconsequential details that when taking separately seem pathetic and weak. But then put together it feels like it paints the picture of a larger undeniable connection and understanding between two wildly different men.

The fact that their main color is both red (Mihawk’s is a more wine dark red than Shanks’ bright red and a little more “subtle” given that Shanks is literally called red hair) but even then their main symbols, their identifying features, are red! Mihawk’s eyes and Shanks hair (yes while I love the gold and think that’s better I cannot ignore the fact that Oda consistently colors in Mihawk’s eyes red even though the gold is infinitely more popular)

They have the same birthday, are practically the same height, both with the promises to our two main protagonists to meet them at the top with a parting “gift”, both serve as a mentor to the protagonist (mihawk literally thought zoro how to kill him 😭), both with the bird(ish) iconography.

The fact that Mihawk, Mihawk! A man whose introduction was that he didn’t care much about anything and caused destruction on a whim, cares enough about what Shanks thinks to mentally apologize before trying to kill luffy (what the fuck).

The fact that whitebeard felt the need to reference his duel with Mihawk in his conversation with Shanks, despite not really being very relevant to the conversation and the fact that this is the first we’ve seen shanks in years and it is brought up in the same context as his relationship with Buggy (an already established relationship) reveals his relationship to Roger seems to point to the fact that this duel between Mihawk and Shanks is an important relationship to shanks. It couldn’t just be to show strength because he was about to clash with whitebeard the strongest man. It’s also hard to notice that those two relationships didn’t end particularly well for shanks.

Also the fact that it was Mihawk out of every character , Mihawk that brought luffy’s bounty to Shanks. Something he obviously knew would mean a lot to him. I used to think the scene was just there to show us how big a deal Shanks actually is like look at that fun childish alcoholic gang inspired our main hero? He’s actually a super big deal and he used to spar with the strongest character by far we had seen at that point (it wasn’t even close) and they fought on equal footing. It added a new layer of mystery to Shanks.

But it’s also the fact that even now with Mihawk’s bounty Shanks was mentioned and he’s the only one who this was mentioned for. Crocodile is just for his df and intelligence and they don’t mention that he literally tried and almost succeeded in subjugating a country and he was beat by luffy “or smoker given how many marines actually know the truth” even buggy who was literally Shanks’ sworn brother under the pirate king doesn’t get a mention like that. But Shanks and this duel is so integral to Mihawk’s character that it’s mentioned along with the only other long lasting fact we know about him and that is that he is the World’s Strongest Swordsman. Isn’t that fucking insane.

And like I feel insane scrapping all these details together as proof of something because they are all (besides the duel) the barest bones of a connection but god it is actually driving me insane.

And I’m not saying Mishanks is going to become canon or that it should or that I even particularly want it too. What I do want is to see how deeply these two are connected. What are these red strings of fate tying them to each other. Why can’t apparently ten years of little contact sever it? I swear to god if it’s actually nothing much I will lose my fucking mind. If nothing ever comes of all of this I will actually go insane. How can some people look at this and not see foreshadowing!?!?!!

Shanks trying to explain to people that Mihawk is actually hilarious and cracks a lot of little sarcastic jokes and his crews just like sure boss we believe you

Shanks growing desperate and frantic trying to explain that Mihawk can actually be really fun and is very sporadic a lot of the time and is the literal embodiment of “do it for the plot 🤷🏿‍♀️”and the crew’s just like captain’s really whipped ain’t he. Hawkeyes’ really got your number boss.

All the while Mihawk watches on eyes alight with joy only Shanks can see. This was all part of his plan

Shanks, because he is infinitely more politically minded than Mihawk (a man actually in the government) will ever have the patience to be, is more than likely aware that the marines will be extremely rattled and that the blow back would be intense if a Warlord of the sea was seen around an Emperor.

And sinces he’s not trying to cause a WG incident everytime he tried to go on a date with his pretty bird and also because he’s just a troll at heart. Shanks has collection of increasingly ridiculous giant sunglasses that he insists (read pouts) that Mihawk wear to hide his gorgeous eyes, before they go anywhere they could be seen.

What started out as a “necessity” had quickly grown into Shanks’ pet project of finding out just how absurd a pair of sunglasses could be and how much would he have to beg before Mihawk put them on?

I feel like the main reason this evil shanks theory is so prevalent (besides the private meeting the the gorsei which up even I can’t explain) is that his general cheeriness and lackadaisical disposition is more of a presented front, a mask to be slipped on and off at will which would be fine if he weren’t often put in the same boat as Roger and Luffy two people ( for as much as we know about roger) who have no masks at all.

Don’t get me wrong I’m pretty sure that Shanks is a naturally happy, good natured dude but he’s also the most politically minded pirate we have seen on the show (and some of these pirates were actual politicians) like I’m pretty sure Roger is more mature and secretive than Luffy ( makes sense he’s older and has seen more of the world) but with both of them you never get the sense that their silliness is something they are putting on for the direct purpose of making themselves less of a threat. They both can get serious when the situation calls for it but that feels more of an extension of their already established personality more than a hidden personality.

While with shanks it’s undeniable that something changed within him and his goals the day Roger died I don’t know if Roger actually told him something or if he just wasn’t dealing with the abandonment well it was probably a mix of both honestly. But yeah Shanks comes off as a guy with his ear to the ground someone who has schemes on schemes on schemes. he’s someone playing in the long run, kind of like crocodile but not nefarious. And when compared with a straight forward head first always kinda guy like Luffy, like he often is, he can come off a little suspicious.

There’s something that’s a little fake about his cheer, something a little too performative about his optimism and foolishness. I think it’s a mix of; he’s housing a deep sadness, he’s more of a realist that an optimist and also dudes just a pacifist unlike like luffy who loves to brawl ( like luffy knows when it’s better not to fight but he also loves a good fight) and he would rather deescalate a situation than fight it out and sometimes the easiest way to do that is with an air of cluelessness and making yourself seem less of a threat which makes it so much more jarring but effective when he reveals just how big a threat he is. but I can see why people think it’s suspicious.

(Interestingly even when luffy tries to emulate this behavior like when he first encountered Bellamy at the pub his plan is to just not react which while in the same vain is very different than Shanks actively playing the drunken good natured take it on the chin role for the bandits Luffy was still essentially himself he just refused to react while Shanks played a role which made it more terrifying and effective when he stopped)

Also it doesn’t help that until recently he’s largely been missing from the narrative with just a man echoing or a whisper here or there of how powerful he is.

But I think we should remember that Shank’s goal is essentially world peace. and peace, a true lasting peace, is just a little more of a precarious balancing act, than utmost freedom. For freedom you have to destroy the old game, for peace you have to learn to play a new one, hopefully with a bit more kindness injected into the foundation.

honestly you would think Rayleigh gave birth to shanks the way they are just exactly the same person right down to their alcoholism, penchant for scheming love of sandals and other generally horrible fashion items.

In a world where Mihawk meets Shanks first, he later goes to challenge old man Rayleigh and it all starts to click into place. like "oh you're the reason I'm stuck with that" point to Shanks wearing an outfit a pattern blind person put togther.

I don’t know how many people have seen that clip of Nick Jonas pulling Priyanka Chopra’s chair closer to his during an interview

But I need you to know that Shanks would undoubtedly do that to Mihawk too. If the word “tangled” can’t be used as a descriptor then they are simply sitting too far apart for Shanks’ tastes.

I’ve been rereading this lovely fic by @erinyra (it’s great I seriously recommend) and I’ve been doing some thinking and I do think Mihawk should get sick and it could be just like a passing illness or bug but something that lays him out for a bit and while yes I think a sick Mihawk would be adorable and terrifying and I love that for me.

I also think it’d be a way for Shanks to confront his probably latent issues with illness and seemingly untouchable people. After all his captain was as untouchable as they come, literally king of the pirates, but he still got sick and that ruined Shanks life. And here it is happening all over again. Mihawk probably the strongest most unflappable person he knows is sick with some unknown disease (not really his anxiety riddled mind just can’t process what Hongo is saying) And Shanks is not handling it…..well.

Shanks can withstand many things; any manner of injury or bodily harm to him and his loved ones that’s fine they can walk it off. but illness? he does not fuck with illness…

I think buggy is just the right side of idiot to demand that they meet the Red Hair pirates in a challenge and base his entire strategy on Mihawk fighting Shanks (and if he’s honest the other heavy hitters as well)

And Mihawk’s just the right side of uncooperative asshole to think it would be hilarious not to mention that he hasn’t fought Shanks for 10 years and has no plans to break that streak now, especially not for the schemes of a clown as buggy is issuing said challenge to the Red Hair Pirates

And Crocodile….crocodile’s just trying figure out how it is exactly that a clown that owed him money and a grown ass, vampire-bat, of a man in his feels, really about to get him his ass beat right now.

He knows that somehow strawhat’s to blame

I’ve been rereading this lovely fic by @erinyra (it’s great I seriously recommend) and I’ve been doing some thinking and I do think Mihawk should get sick and it could be just like a passing illness or bug but something that lays him out for a bit and while yes I think a sick Mihawk would be adorable and terrifying and I love that for me.

I also think it’d be a way for Shanks to confront his probably latent issues with illness and seemingly untouchable people. After all his captain was as untouchable as they come, literally king of the pirates, but he still got sick and that ruined Shanks life. And here it is happening all over again. Mihawk probably the strongest most unflappable person he knows is sick with some unknown disease (not really his anxiety riddled mind just can’t process what Hongo is saying) And Shanks is not handling it…..well.

Shanks can withstand many things; any manner of injury or bodily harm to him and his loved ones that’s fine they can walk it off. but illness? he does not fuck with illness…

Hello, it's me again. Back on my bullshit. as per this post

This one is about to sound even more conspiracy theorist but hey we ride or we die 🤷🏿‍♀️

but yeah, I just learnt that Mihawk and Shanks are both Pisces. and Pisces are associated with Yin and Yang which you know famous for equal balance a good month to give two famously, equal rivals.

But also if we take Red as their main color my good people I ask what would you say their supporting colors are? 🤔

That's right Mihawk's is black Shanks' is white bing bang boom Yin and Yang ladies and gentlemen. Not to mention they have the dot Shank's coat is black while Mihawk has his pasty white skin, and oh his trousers are usually colored white in the manga(so is his kogatana apparently. Apparently Toei just likes the way gold looks on Mihawk)

also as @manofbeskar pointed out Shanks' jorts (spiritually) are flower patterned but not just any flower, Roses! guess who also likes roses. Also the coat Mihawk wear when he actually deigns to wear a shirt is eerily similar to Shanks' and the only other person I can remember that wears a coat like that besides Shanks is Luffy who is also tied to Shanks so do with that what you will

so yeah there we have it; I have no idea what any of this could mean but I'm having fun.

honestly I'm just spiraling at the idea that Oda might actually never reveal anything about their connection 😭 I would actually die if that happened.

I think meeting Zoro, someone that is not only just as dedicated to the blade but also just genuinely loves fighting as much as Mihawk does.

And I think seeing that same thrill reflected back at him really opened his eyes to the fact that Shanks didn’t like fighting he just liked fighting him.

And I think that kind of forced him to recontextualize how he thought about their whole relationship and I think that’s a little part of why he decides to end their decade long break.

He’s not gonna fight him cause Mihawk’s a man of principle but he can stay for a drink.

Remebered that before the strawhats went to Skypea Mihawk was drawn carrying Luffy’s second wanted poster and Zoro’s first on his way to Mary Geosie. And was shown to be visibly suprised when he left and they already had new posters again which makes me think that he was on his way to deliver the posters to a certain Red head after his meeting and them being such menaces fucked up his plans.

But I think if it’d be cute if Mihawk just kept bringing Luffy’s and Zoro’s bounty posters to Shanks to the point that Shanks goes out of his way to avoid them cause he knows his own personal little messenger birdie will be here soon with the news.

I think Shanks gets really worried about Mihawk’s loneliness. Especially in their more quiet moments.

And I think he overcompensates by subconsciously always soothing him. Like constantly rubbing his back or rocking them in placepetting his hair all that good soothing shit, just trying to compensate for something he thinks Mihawk deserves

Mihawk has no idea what is going on and thinks this is just another way of Shanks’ weirdness manifesting. He doesn't mind tho

We should get to see Shanks and Rayleigh be slightly awkward family.

Mostly because I think they have a natural rhythm they’d fall into, they love each other after all theres alway been an easy camaraderie between them Shanks has always been the best parts of him and Roger and it’s hard not to be easy around him. but he’s also got their worst parts so it’d be one of those things where the lightness can never last and they get quiet with the weight of all the unsaid hurt between them. Because their captain was sick and then he died and then Ray abandoned him. And shanks still has so many suppressed issues about that.

Also I think their the type of people to do that cute knocking heads together thing and id pay good money way to see that.

Mihawk and the Red Haired Pirates

-Look I don't know what to tell you, Mihawk's epithet is literally Hawkeyes meaning he is world-renowned for his eyesight meaning that he'd probably make a good sharpshooter. And maybe Yasopp decides to test this theory with a little friendly competition. And after giving Mihawk a quick intro into how guns work, maybe Yasopp had to pull out every trick there is in the book to narrowly avoid losing to said Hawkeyes, who as it turns out is indeed very good at hitting targets and who had literally just learned how to cock a gun not even 30 minutes ago. But who's to say what actually happened, the day of November 25th at 2:35pm? Certainly not Yasopp, the record clearly shows he is undefeated.

-Once a year Ben and Mihawk go on a little trip just the two of them. They act like it's just so they can shit-talk Shanks but actually, they just go fishing somewhere in the middle of the ocean and drink horribly overpriced and fancy alcohol. Look Benn loves his crew, and would die for them but also if he doesn't get at least a week to himself once every year he'd kill them all himself. He deserves nice things and a little peace and fucking quiet and not being constantly inundated with the whims of a man child and Mihawk's the closest he's ever gonna get to a friend with taste, and he travels alone with a bunch of fancy wine. Sue the man. Mihawk who would rather nap is fine to let someone else sail his overgrown raft against the annoyingly ever-changing grandline for a week or two.

-Wouldn't it be cute if Mihawk learned a lot of his fancier cooking techniques from Roux? Like he knew how to cook to survive but watching Roux is how he learned to like properly dice vegetables and that eating fish prepared the same way three times a day is not infact a life he would like to lead. This was of course less cute to Lucky Roux who in the beginning had no clue what was happening and only felt the weight of Mihawk's otherworldly stare on the back of his neck as he handled knives. (he defiantly for at least a little bit, thought Mihawk had a knife fetish. which, he's not entirely wrong)

-To Building Snake (who I just learned is the RHP's navigator) Mihawk might as well be a modern-day miracle. In his eyes, Mihawk's sailing is proof that god exists, because only divine intervention can explain how this man ever gets anywhere never mind on time or early even. Building Snake is pretty sure he owns neither a map nor a log pose and he has never actually seen the sails of Mihawk's pretend ship unfurled or in use. Actually, he has never seen Mihawk do anything but sit menacingly on the throne in the middle of the boat, which why? If you think about it for even a second longer that 2 minutes how Mihawk "sails" anywhere breaks every law of physics and somehow even the concept of geography. Building Snake would like to dissect him and study him under a microscope but knows the boss would disapprove.