Summary
Friendship is perhaps the most central theme in the entireOne Pieceseries. This can be seen with the main cast since Luffy is without a doubt considered to be the main character, with the whole story revolving around him and his exploits across the sea. However, as important as he is, he would never have made it close to as far as he did had it not been for his crew, who all come together to fill in any gaps that Luffy lacks.
As such, friendship is seen throughout the series, between both the heroes and villains of the tale. One ofOne Piece’smost potent friendships is the one of Shanks and Buggy, who started off asapprentices on Gol D. Roger’s crewup to now, where they’re each an Emperor of the Sea! Let’s examine this unlikely relationship and see just why fans love the dichotomy of these characters so much.
Buggy’s First Appearance
One Piece, Episode 4, “Luffy’s Past! The Red-Haired Shanks Appears!”
Buggy and Shanks are currently some of the most important characters in all ofOne Piecedue to their status as Emperors of the Sea, but they go way back. These 2 were originally on the crew of thelegendary Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, together and were quite good friends in their youth. Though they constantly bickered and fought, they were always at one another’s side and actually shared somewhat of a friendly rivalry.
With the Roger Pirates, these 2 saw much of the world and were there for some of the most important events in the entire journey to the One Piece treasure, though they stepped out when their crew was about to make the voyage to the final island of Laugh Tale. An example of this could be when they went to Water 7 and met with Tom the Shipwright, or even when they took part in the 3-day battle against the Whitebeard Pirates.
One day, Buggy stole a Devil Fruit from the crew with the plan of secretly selling it off to finance the founding of his own pirate crew in the future. However, when Shanks unknowingly surprised him from behind, Buggy panicked and ate the fruit,giving him his iconic powers, though this went against the plan he had in mind. This was something he always blamed Shanks for, along with the fact that Shanks accidentally lost the map of the treasure that Buggy had been searching for.
Moreover, Buggy always felt that Shanks was the one to follow in Roger’s footsteps to become the King of the next generation, due to which he abandoned his dreams of becoming so himself, since he knew that Shanks shone much brighter with potential. They reunited once more on the day of Roger’s execution, where Buggy was surprised to find out that his old friend did not want to search for the One Piece. Subsequently, Shanks does not follow in Roger’s footsteps, which is what Buggy wanted from him, leading to the latter running away to form his own crew, claiming his old friend was not who he thought he was.
From Apprentices To Emperors
How Buggy and Shanks rule the seas
To many, Shanks is known as the second coming of Gol D. Roger; an extremely powerful character with an equally overpowered crew and someone who relies purely on his mastery of Haki. Through hisunbridled strength and fearsome reputation, Shanks eventually worked his way up the ladder, going from a small captain to arguably the strongest Yonko of them all.
Buggy’s story, however, went quite differently. For much of his career, he was a very small-time pirate who most didn’t think much of, especially since he was beaten by Luffy at the very start of his journey. Though he was imprisoned at Impel Down, he eventually managed to escape with a bunch of other criminals who swore allegiance to him for literally anything he did. His luck was so great that these men began to think of him as an almost deific figure who everything always managed to work out for, even though he didn’t know how.
It was during this prison break that he met up with Shanks for the first time in years, though he still held a grudge against his former crewmate. Shanks, on the other hand, was quite happy to see Buggy and still considered him his old friend, claiming that he wished that they had still kept in touch.
Eventually, Buggy’s influence continued to grow despite him not knowing how any of it worked. This led to him becoming a Warlord of the Sea and, eventually, an Emperor,finally standing shoulder to shoulder with Shanks. Due to this update, Buggy realized that, through sheer luck, he was now equal to his old rival and friend, claiming that he had remembered his childhood dream and was now just as much in the running to become the next Pirate King as Shanks and the other Emperors are!
One Piececan be streamed onCrunchyroll.
One Piece
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga’s popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
