Warning! The following contains spoilers from the latest issues of the One Piece manga. Continue enjoying the anime and live-action series with your Netflix subscription, and read at your own risk!
The start of the 2025 TV schedule means we're that much closer to One Piece Season 2 premiering on Netflix, and as excited as I am about that, I can't get over the latest reveal in the manga. The franchise dropped a massive piece of information about the beloved pirate Red-Haired Shanks, and it's so big that I'm mad the live-action adaptation will likely never get to cover it.
As much as I love that Netflix is adapting One Piece to live-action, I'm often reminded that even if this show became the most successful streaming series in history, it's likely never going to reach the episode count of the anime. This means all the great stuff that happens later on will probably never be explored, and while I couldn't care less if they ever flesh out Fishman Island, this big Shanks spoiler stings to think about.
One Piece Revealed Shanks Has A Twin Brother
Shanks has been in One Piece from the very start as Luffy's mentor and the person who inadvertently gifted him the Devil Fruit that gave him powers. While his appearances in the anime are sporadic, he's one of the hero's guiding lights on what it means to be a pirate, and he is generally known to be one of the strongest pirates in the show's universe. The manga has only really begun to pull back the curtain on Shanks lately, and now they've thrown this whole story into question with the latest reveal in the Elbaf arc, which is that he has a twin brother.
Fans have suspected something like this was possible, given some confusing scenes with Shanks that didn't align with the character. Most notably, there was a scene in the manga and anime in which Shanks met with the leaders of the World Government, which would be confusing given his status as one of the four emperors who holds dominion over a section of the sea in opposition to the government.
So, who is this twin, and is he as powerful as Shanks? I have more questions about this than I do about what the rest of Chopper looks like in the live-action adaptation. Unfortunately, as is often the case for One Piece, it'll likely take some time before we get any answers on this twin and his overall significance to the story.
Why I'm Mad The Netflix Live-Action Series Will Likely Never Address This
I've largely made my peace that, unless it skips a lot of stories, Netflix's One Piece will never adapt more recent tales like Dressrosa, even if it is Zoro actor Mackenyu's favorite arc. The reveal that Shanks has a twin, however, is much harder to make amends with, because it is something that we may ultimately learn was relevant in the story very early on, and viewers were completely unaware.
The live-action adaptation has made vague references to future events in the way the anime didn't, like mentioning Warlord Jimbei, who becomes a key part of One Piece further down the road. So, I would love to see this be the case for the Shanks reveal, but I think it's just too fresh and too far down the road to make its way into the adaptation. Unless Eiichiro Oda gave the crew a heads-up about it during his latest set visit, we won't see any hints about Shanks' twin in the new show.
The good news is that there are plenty of ways to enjoy One Piece, and I highly suggest that readers do that while they wait for the new live-action season on Netflix. For those looking to spend a lot of time watching something, I can't think of any better alternative.
