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The Elbaf arc ofOne Piecesees the story take its first big step in the final saga, given that Egghead opened the gates to it. Fans have always had high expectations for this story arc, and that’s due to a multitude of reasons. One of the biggest reasons why Elbaf is as hyped as it is has to dowith the Red Hair Pirates. For years, fans have been theorizing about the Red Hair Pirates and their role in the arc.
Although they have not been playing an active role in the arc just yet, they will most definitely step into action soon enough. As the Red Hair Pirates slowly creep into the plot more fans start to want to discuss their abilities more and that’s no surprise at all. After all, this crew is going to be absolutely monstrous in terms of their display in the final saga. Naturally, a big talking point when it comes to the Red Hair Pirates is the fact that they have no Devil Fruit users. While this can just be something that happened by chance, there could be a deeper reason.
The Power Of The Red Hair Pirates
The Red Hair Pirates are some of the most impressive pirates inOne Pieceand they’ve been portrayed by Oda in a phenomenal light since the very beginning. In fact, the Red Hair Pirates are the first crew in the entire story that the fans got to see. This is the very same pirate crew that gave a sense of true freedom to Luffy and put him on the path to becoming a pirate. Fans know that the Red Hair Pirates are incredibly powerful and that their captain is in contention to be the strongest in the entire world. It was revealed during the Water 7 Saga that Red Hair Shanks was one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. Later on, during the Wano Country Arc, it was revealed by Brannew that Shanks became a Yonko six years ago, meaning that when Luffy set out on his journey, Shanks had already been an Emperor of the Sea for about 4 years.
Above all, pirates have freedom! — Red Hair Pirates
In Elbaf, it was made quite clear that Shanks becoming a Yonkois directly tied to Loki, who was running riot on the seas after the alleged murder of King Harald. As Shanks beat Loki and brought him back to Elbaf, Oda implied that his crew became a Yonko tier crew. Since then, the Red Hair Pirates have developed greatly.
It has been revealed by Oda that the Red Hair Pirates have the best balance out of all the Emperor crews, which makes their defenses impenetrable. In other words, all members of the Red Hair Pirates are quite strong, and among the top officers, there isn’t much of a difference in terms of power. But, their strength doesn’t come from Devil Fruits.
Why There Are No Devil Fruit Users In The Red Hair Pirates
The Red Hair Pirates Are Made Unique By This Quality
The Red Hair Pirates don’t have any Devil Fruit users that the fans know of, and the reason for that could simply be that they value the ability to swim. One thing that fans can say for sure is that one doesn’t needa Devil Fruit to be a top tier in One Piece, but without Haki, surviving in the New World for even the strongest of the pirates of the One Piece world is going to be impossible. The Red Hair Pirates have strong Haki, and because of that, they’re able to survive in the New World and claim authority as the most balanced crew as well.
Out all the Yonko crews, they’re the ones who have the best balance. — Brannew
As far as the question of why they don’t have Devil Fruits goes, the answer is quite simply that they don’t happen to need one to be strong. It seems all members of the Red Hair Pirates are fairly secure in terms of strength, so they don’t necessarilyneed to eat Devil Fruits. This way, they can also maintain their ability to swim. In the Romance Dawn arc, Shanks even brought up the fact that Luffy sinks like an anchor, which means that their crew values the ability to swim, at the very least, for one reason or another.
Shanks could also have been inspired by his mentor and not wanted to consume a fruit. By far, this is the biggest reason why the Red Hair Pirates don’t seem to have any ability users. But, it must be said that Shanks didn’t specifically pick out non-Devil Fruit users for his crew. It just so happens that they didn’t have Devil Fruits from the get-go, and they chose not to consume one later down the line. Even the Gomu Gomu no Mi, which they secured, was most definitely not for their consumption.
But, while those are the logical reasons as to why the Red Hair Piratesdon’t have a Devil Fruit, the biggest reason why Oda made it so is that it sets apart the Red Hair crew. In the Big Mom Pirates, there are all sorts of Devil Fruit users, and they’re all mostly family of Big Mom, which makes the crew unique. Kaido wanted to create a crew full of Zoan users, and that made him unique. Blackbeard has a crew full of specific ability users that the group hunted themselves. The only thing that makes Shanks and his crew unique is that they don’t have any Devil Fruits.
Are The Red Hair Pirates Limited In Terms Of Power?
The Red Hair Pirates Are A Force To Be Reckoned With
While one may thinkthat the Red Hair Piratesare very limited in terms of what they can and can’t do, this couldn’t be further from the truth. As has been mentioned already, Haki is necessary for one to succeed in the New World, but Devil Fruits are not an absolute necessity. The existence ofShanks in the current eraand Roger in the previous era is proof of that.
The only thing that one needs a Devil Fruit for is to fulfill the Will of D as Nika, and as fans know, Luffy has already acquired this power, thanks to a push help from Shanks and fate itself. But, other than fulfilling the Will of D and ensuring the return of Nika, no Devil Fruit is absolutely needed in the story, at least so far.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and theManga Plusapps. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1140, is set to be July 16, 2025.
