Shanks, Shamrock, and The One Piece: Oda’s Acknowledged Mistake Could Change Everything

The revelation had been anticipated for years: the hooded man who appears before the Gorosei in chapter 907 of One Piece was not Shanks. It was Shamrock, his twin brother. This clarification, provided in the SBS of volume 114, officially puts an end to an ambiguity surrounding one of the manga’s most discussed scenes.

Yet this confirmation does not close the debate. On the contrary, it raises numerous questions about how this sequence was constructed, adapted, and documented. Between the voice used in the anime, the Gorosei’s lines, and information once published in databooks, the Shanks/Shamrock case now looks like one of the biggest points of friction in recent continuity.

In Chapter 907, It Was Not Shanks but Shamrock

When the hooded man meets the Five Elders at Mary Geoise, everything led readers to believe that he was Red-Hair Shanks. His appearance, silhouette, and the context gave the impression that one of the Four Emperors had been granted an exceptional audience with the World Government’s leaders.

The clarification radically changes how this scene is read: the visitor was Shamrock. The revelation therefore explains why this appearance seemed difficult to reconcile with Shanks’s usual place in the story. It also offers a new perspective on the Figarland family’s role, the God’s Knights, and the ties between Mary Geoise and the twins.

Shanks remains central to the question, however. His journey, his extremely calculated interventions, and his relationship with the world’s greatest secrets have long suggested that he moves forward with particular knowledge of events yet to come. This possibility is explored in our analysis of whether Shanks already knows the future and the end of the story.

Shanks’s Voice in the Anime: The Mistake Acknowledged by Eiichiro Oda

The most delicate point concerns the anime adaptation of this scene. At the time, the hooded character was voiced by Shuichi Ikeda, Shanks’s voice actor. Since the character ultimately turned out to be Shamrock, that choice has retrospectively become a significant inconsistency.

Eiichiro Oda acknowledged that he had forgotten to tell the anime team that the man was not Shanks. He later met Kenjiro Tsuda, who was selected to portray Shamrock, and felt that he suited the character. The author ultimately considers it preferable that the production did not rush into choosing a distinct voice at the time the scene was first adapted.

This explanation does not convince every reader. For part of the audience, the voice confusion is a sign that a decision was changed or clarified late in the process. For others, it mainly reveals a communication issue between the manga and anime productions, in a work where very long-term planning remains especially complex.

The Gorosei’s Dialogue Also Raises Questions

The voice is not the only issue. In chapter 907, the Five Elders ask the visitor what brings him before them and point out that his position does not lend itself to geopolitics. This wording seemed coherent if the man was Shanks, a pirate Emperor.

It becomes stranger in light of the revelations concerning Shamrock. Since chapter 1167, the God’s Knights’ temple has also been located at Mary Geoise. Moreover, the God’s Knights possess considerable authority: Garling has notably been shown able to execute a Celestial Dragon and intervene far from the Holy Land.

In this context, stating that Shamrock’s status is not suited to geopolitics feels less natural. Readers can therefore see it as a textual contradiction, or conclude that the Gorosei used wording whose exact meaning still needs to be clarified. In any case, the visitor’s identity can no longer be analyzed without taking these lines into account.

Are the Databooks Now Outdated?

Another consequence is that several databooks identified the man in chapter 907 as Shanks. These books, which are meant to compile official information about the world and its characters, are therefore contradicted by the clarification in volume 114.

They can no longer be used as a definitive answer regarding this specific scene. The situation is a reminder that databooks may reflect the information available at the time of publication, without being immune to later developments or clarifications from the manga.

The Shamrock case leaves two possibilities open. Either the author had planned for Shanks to have a brother, but certain details were not sufficiently conveyed to production teams and editors. Or the ambiguity was maintained before the character’s identity was settled more precisely. The available evidence does not make it possible to conclusively choose between these two readings.

Could The One Piece Become a More Cohesive Version of the Story?

This controversy comes as The One Piece, the anime remake entrusted to WIT Studio, is generating major expectations. Announced in 2023, the project still has no release date, but its ambition is clear: to offer a modern adaptation with more controlled pacing and no unnecessary filler.

George Wada, WIT Studio’s CEO, has stated that the remake will avoid pacing issues. The challenge is immense: with nearly 1,200 episodes, the long-running One Piece anime can intimidate new viewers, both because of its length and its visual style, which originated in the 1990s.

Eiichiro Oda’s supervision could allow the remake to revisit the placement of certain narrative clues. The live-action adaptation has already begun introducing some elements earlier, with references to Brook at Reverse Mountain, God Valley, Nika, and Loki on Little Garden.

WIT Studio could follow a similar approach and give earlier prominence to Joy Boy, the Void Century, Vegapunk, the God’s Knights, the Rocks Pirates, God Valley, Imu, or Nika. The goal would not be to alter the substance of the story, but to establish more landmarks that strengthen the world’s coherence from its earliest arcs.

From that perspective, The One Piece could become an expanded version of the adventure: more accessible to newcomers and richer for readers already familiar with the manga. The mysteries surrounding Shanks and Shamrock show exactly how revisiting early events can gain new importance as the story progresses.

Shanks Remains at the Heart of One Piece’s Ending

The correction involving Shamrock does not diminish Shanks’s importance; it redefines it. From now on, every appearance by Red-Hair Shanks must be distinguished from those of his brother, while taking their possible connection to the World Government’s highest circles into account.

This separation also raises the stakes of the race for the final treasure. Shanks, Luffy, and Teach are among the characters most closely associated with the outcome of the adventure. Questions surrounding Joy Boy, Imu, and the treasure are also at the center of our feature on Joy Boy, Imu, and the mystery of the One Piece.

The revelation about Shamrock therefore forces readers to revisit a scene from several years ago with new information. Above all, it is a reminder that in One Piece, a visual detail, a voice, or a line of dialogue can take on a completely different meaning much later.

FAQ: Shanks, Shamrock, and the One Piece Remake

Who meets the Gorosei in One Piece chapter 907?

The hooded person is not Shanks, but his twin brother Shamrock, as Eiichiro Oda clarified in the SBS of volume 114.

Why did Shamrock have Shanks’s voice in the anime?

Oda explained that he forgot to inform the anime team that the character was not Shanks. Shuichi Ikeda, Red-Hair Shanks’s voice actor, therefore performed the role in that appearance.

Does The One Piece have a release date?

No release date has been announced. WIT Studio’s project is intended to offer a modern adaptation with improved pacing and no unnecessary filler.

Could the remake fix the inconsistencies surrounding Shanks?

The project could reorganize or introduce certain important lore elements earlier. However, it has not been announced that it will specifically alter Shamrock’s scene before the Gorosei.