Red Haired Pirate Crew
The Red Haired Pirate Crew are fictional pirates from the anime and manga One Piece, led by Captain Red-Haired Shanks. Template:Spoiler
Not much is currently known about them, though some of the crew are very famous. What is also known about them is that their Captain Shanks appears to know Mihawk and he seems to be on friendly (or at least neutral) terms with Mihawk. Shanks used to be a trainee on Gol. D Roger's crew with Buggy the Clown, and Buggy forever hates him for botching one of his treasure hunts by "making" him eat a Devil Fruit (though it was really entirely his own fault).
While they appear in only small scenes normally at the end of arcs, they seem to be an ongoing background plot throughout the entire story. They are a very laid back band of pirates who are almost always seen partying and drinking alcoholic beverages whenever they make an appearance. They seem much more friendlier compared to other pirate bands seen in the series, they hung around Luffy's hometown for a roughly a year without complaints from the local villagers.
Part in the story
The Red Hairs are the first pirate crew to appear in the series and are the main influences of both Luffy and Usopp's journey. Ten years before the present timeline, they spent a year in his town and became very good friends with Luffy, which led to him wanting to be part of their crew, but Shanks told him that he was too weak, which angered him. Shanks was also the one who, unintentionally, supplied Luffy with his Devil Fruit. When a group of mountain bandits hassled the crew in a bar, they didn't fight back, but once they left, they immediately burst out laughing. Luffy was angry at them for not fighting back, not realizing there was no need to.
Later after the bandits showed up again when the crew were away, Luffy overheard them saying bad things about Shanks and his crew so Luffy stepped in and tried to defend his friends. The bandits easily subdued him, and the Red Hairs finally struck in order to save his life, easily defeating them. However, the leader, Higuma the Bear, had escaped out to sea in order to kill Luffy, only to be eaten by a Sea King and as Luffy, who could no longer swim due to his Devil Fruit, sank into the water, Shanks pulled him up. Though the captain's left arm was bitten off by the Sea King, he showed no sign of pain and scared the monster away by simply staring at it. Later, when the crew finally decided to leave, Luffy decided he would become a pirate on his own, with his own crew. He declared his intentions to become an even greater pirate than Shanks and to become the Pirate King, so an amused Shanks gave his signature straw hat to Luffy, which he said to give back to him once he surpassed him. [1]
Usopp's connection to the Red Hairs is through his father, Yasopp. When Usopp was young, Yasopp left his family in order to go out to sea, as urged by his wife. Due to how he was raised, Usopp understood that his father left to pursue his dream and harbors no ill will against him--in fact, he wants to become a great sniper and man of the sea like him.[2]
They make their first appearance in the present timeline after Luffy gets his first bounty and celebrate Luffy's arrival in the world of piracy. Later on, they contact Whitebeard for unknown reasons, though it seems to somehow relate to Portgas D. Ace and Blackbeard. The World Government fears that the two crews may end up joining together, but have decided to simply observe their actions for now. Recently, it has been revealed that the Redhairs have broken through a government blockade and have reached Whitebeard, finally allowing for two of the pirate crews of the Four Emperors to meet.
Pirate Flag
Shanks's flag is a standard Jolly Roger with its mouth open, 3 slashes on the right eye and two swords in place of crossbones
Crew Information
Shanks
Captain
- See Red-Haired Shanks for more.
Ben Beckman
First Mate
Seiyuu: The late Kazuyuki Sogabe, Aruno Tahara
- Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment):
Ben Beckman (ベン・ベックマン, Ben Bekkuman) is the first mate in Red-Haired Shanks' pirate crew, he possesses astonishing wisdom and strength, and acts as advisor to his captain. When first seen in the manga and anime, he wears his black hair in a ponytail, and is never seen without his rifle nearby or a cigarette in his mouth. Later on in the series, his hair has turned grey and is cut short, and he has a large X-shaped scar on his left temple. These changes might be due to either some of the bigger battles he had or due to early aging. He appears to be a lot less fun-loving than the other members of the crew but a lot more relaxed, acting as the level headed member, similar to Zoro. It appears he is quite strong, wiping out a large group of Higuma the Bear's mates rather quickly.
Trivia
- In the English dub, Ben's cigarette is edited out.
- Ben tends to use his rifle more like a club than an actual gun.
- According to Eiichiro Oda, Ben Beckman has the highest IQ of all the characters introduced in the East Blue saga. [3]
- In the First Japanese Character Popularity Poll announced in volume 6 of the manga, Ben Beckman is ranked the 6th most popular character in One Piece.[4]
- In Third Japanese One Piece Character Popularity Poll announced in volume 43 of the manga, Ben Beckman is currently ranked the 33rd most popular character in One Piece.
- In One Piece RED: Grand Characters, his name is written as "Benn Beckman" in Latin alphabet by Eiichiro Oda. This is also the spelling used in the English manga published by Viz Media.
Lucky Roux
Lieutenant
- Seiyuu: Jin Domon
- Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment): Michael Alston Bailey
The fat member of Red-Haired Shanks pirate crew he is always seen eating a rack of meat. Lucky is also the first person to actually kill someone in One Piece and sets the stage for the series; a pirate's life is a dangerous one.
- Note: In the English dub he does not kill the bandit, instead claiming that cap gun was used.
Incidentally, a roux is a sauce or soup base used in French and Creole dishes. Although his name can be either "Lucky Roux" or "Lucky Roo," his name is most commonly romanized as "Lucky Roux." He is called "Lucky Roux" in the English One Piece Collectible Card game as well.
Yasopp
Sniper
Seiyuu: Michitaka Kobayashi
- Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment): Jason Anthony Griffith
Yasopp (ヤソップ, Yasoppu) is a gifted sharp-shooter capable of shooting the legs off an ant at 100 feet without harming the rest of it. He is the father of Usopp and was one of Luffy's favorite members of the Red-Haired pirates. It is unknown whether he knows that his son has recently become a pirate. Before, His name is written on his headband, while currently he doesn't have his headband anymore, but spawned dreads and tattoed his name on his right arm.
- Note: In the anime only, Yasopp had a duel with Daddy the Father. Daddy lost against Yasopp and wanted to be killed since he lost the duel but Yasopp let him live when he saw a picture of his daughter.[5]
In the English Dub by 4Kids, Yasopp and Usopp have similar voices and are done by the same voice actor.
Rockstar
Miscellaneous Crew
Seiyuu: Daisuke Gōri
- Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment):
(94,000,000 beli bounty)
A newer member of Red-Haired Shanks pirate crew. Shanks sent him to deliver a message to Whitebeard, which the pirate captain promptly ripped up, going along with Shanks' prediction anyway. Even so, Rockstar wanted to fight Whitebeard to reclaim his honor, but Shanks told him it was no big deal and to pull back.
Rockstar has only appeared in one anime episode so far. Even though little is known about him, it can be assumed he is quite powerful since his bounty is so high. Together with the info that he is a new member it could mean that many of Shanks' nameless members could also have high bounties, maybe a little hint about how great Shanks' power could be.
Rockstar's character and personality is possibly a joke referring to old rockstars who frequently try to see if people remember them. When he arrives on Whitebeard's ship, he asks some of Whitebeard's crew if anyone remembered him from his solo days. Despite his high bounty, everyone he asked replied with a surprising (or unsurprising) "no."
Crew strength
The strength of the crew as a whole is unknown. But Rockstar, a recent addition to Shanks' crew, has a bounty of 94,000,000 and is still considered to be a rookie. While it is yet to determine if many of Shanks' other crew members have bounties, if Rockstar's bounty is any indication to go by, their crew is indeed very strong.
The first hint at their crews strength came early on in the story from Luffy's past. The bandit leader Higuma the bear tried to threaten Shanks with his 8,000,000 beli bounty but Shanks was not afraid of the man and even took having a bottle of sake and his plate of food being smashed and split over him. Then later on Ben Beckman took on the bandit's men and wiped them all out with ease telling Higuma afterwards that if he wanted to take them on they should bring a warship as a back-up. Moments later Shanks did something shocking while rescuing Luffy from the sea - he scared away a Sea King just by staring at it.
When Mihawk, one of the Shichibukai, brought news of Luffy's rise to fame, the younger, weaker members of his crew appear terrified of the great Swordsman and approached him with caution. However, the senior members (including Shanks, Ben Beckman, Yasopp and Lucky Roux) appeared not bothered at all by his visit. This is possibly because of their captain's friendly relations with him, but also likely that this is because they are around his league also. [6]
Shanks does not fear Whitebeard, the world's strongest rated pirate whereas some pirate Captains quiver at the mere mention of his name. Rockstar also used his captain's name to plea to Whitebeard the importance of a letter he delivered to him as well as wanting to challenge Whitebeard's men for insulting his honor.[7]
The final clue to the crew's strength is that the World Government greatly fears what would happen if his and Whitebeard's crew joined up.
Recently, it has been revealed Shanks is one of the Four Emperors of the second half of the Grand Line, along with Whitebeard. This makes the Red Haired pirate Crew one of the four strongest pirate groups in the Grand Line. [8] They were also able to come in contact with Whitebeard, by going through a naval blockade the Navy had set up, under the order of the Five Elder Stars. Furthermore, he is still able to fight one-on-one against Whitebeard, despite the loss of his good arm; their current battle appears to have managed to split the clouds apart.
References
- ^ One Piece - Episode 04 and One Piece manga - Vol.1 - Chapter 1. The Red-Haired pirates and Luffy
- ^ One Piece - Episode 09. Yasopp and Usopp
- ^ SBS questions: One Piece Manga - Vol.8 Chapter 65, Fan question: Who has the highest IQ?
- ^ Appendix of One Piece Manga - Vol.7 Chapter 60: Results of the 1st One Piece Character Popularity Poll
- ^ One Piece - Episode 50 - Yassop and Daddy's duel
- ^ One Piece - Episode 45. Mihawk Visits the Red-Haired Pirates.
- ^ One Piece - Episode 151. Shanks contacts Whitebeard
- ^ One Piece manga - Chapter 432, the 4 emperors revealed
