Shanks was already part of the Roger Pirates team when they set sail for Laugh Tale. Even though he was very young at the time, he is able to remember well where the One Piece.
The Connection between Shanks and Gol D. Roger
A Pirate Past Since Childhood
Shanks was very close to Gol D. Roger and was with the Roger Pirates guys right in the final stretch of the adventure for Laugh Tale and the One Piece guy. Even though he was just a kid, it was certainly a great time and a place he wouldn’t forget so easily.
The story doesn’t exactly tell how Shanks ended up joining the Roger Pirates, but when he was around 10 years old, Roger had already placed him and Buggy as apprentices on the team. Buggy even comments in chapter 19 of One Piece that they were pirates in training, doing odd jobs on the ship and learning the trade. Shanks, as an apprentice, became very close to Roger, to the point where Roger gave him his famous straw hat, which Shanks later passed on to Luffy.
Shanks was along for the Roger Pirates’ important trips, including the last one to discover Laugh Tale. But look, before the crew left for the last leg to Laugh Tale, Buggy got really sick and Shanks stayed in Zou taking care of him. He promised that one day he would arrive at Laugh Tale himself. Shanks and Buggy rejoined the team on the way back from Laugh Tale and stayed with Roger until he was executed in Loguetown.
Shanks and his Legacy
From Apprentice to One of the Four Emperors
In the 30 years after Roger’s execution, Shanks became one of the most feared pirates on the Grand Line, reaching the level of Yonkou, that is, one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. He took everything he learned from the Roger Pirates to heart.
With decades of sailing around, he must have been to countless places and knows how to get to every corner of the Grand Line. Shanks must already have the location of Laugh Tale on the tip of his tongue, or at least know how to find it. This is kind of implied in chapter 1054 of One Piece, when he talks about going after One Piece. He doesn’t talk about “finding” One Piece, but rather about “claiming it”, like someone who already knows where he is just waiting for the right time to get it.
His experience and experience suggest that he knows where Laugh Tale is or has a way to find out without going through the trouble that Roger’s crew went through. First, as a pirate’s apprentice, he was almost there once and thought he could find it again.
Then, because he was close to Roger, he probably had an idea of how to get there. And coming back from Laugh Tale, Roger certainly must have given some spoilers about how they got there. Finally, after so many years at sea and commanding his own team, there must be few places he doesn’t know of as possible Laugh Tale hideouts.
Shanks is a fan-favorite character in One Piece, bringing a direct connection between Luffy and Roger. But it makes sense that he doesn’t appear that much in the manga, since the story focuses more on Luffy’s search for One Piece than on someone who already knows where everything is.
The One Piece anime is available on Crunchyroll.
