The Straw Hats and Red-Haired Pirates are both after the One Piece, and when they ultimately meet, they will likely partake in a Davy Back Fight.
There is one arc in One Piece that particularly stands out when compared to the others. After the “Arabasta” saga and the Battle upon Skypiea, the Straw Hat Crew found themselves arriving at the peculiar island of Long Ring Long Land. The island itself has some interesting connections to the most recent events of One Piece, but it also hosted pirate contests that seemed to come and go in the series without much thought. However, in the manner in which Eiichiro Oda includes plot points to later be revisited, it’s quite possible that the Davy Back Fight and Long Ring Long Land will return.
Another theory that has picked up traction due to Shanks’ behavior at the end of the “Wano” arc is that the Red-Haired captain is going to be Monkey D. Luffy’s final opponent and an antagonist. While there is certainly some circumstantial evidence that implies this and Shanks’ statements of wanting to find the One Piece being evidence in itself, it has come across somewhat too blatantly to be a reality. Blackbeard is the perfect final “antagonist” for Luffy, but Shanks will still have a part to play as a final obstacle, with the form of their conflict likely being a Davy Back Fight.
The Importance of the Davy Back Fight and Long Ring Long Land
The Davy Back fight is considered an age-old tradition of pirate contests, created by pirate captains trying to collect the greatest sailors for their crew. While this is the main premise for the competition, the arc showed that the winner of a contest is not beholden to keep a crew member and can also take something of pirate value, such as a Jolly Roger. Luffy wears something of great perceived piracy value: the straw hat. At first, his hat appeared to be an emotional representation of his bond with Shanks, but all the developments throughout the series imply that it holds far more significance to Joy Boy, the World Government and the One Piece.
It’s possible that the Davy Back Fight was just a fun event for a lighthearted arc before the audience was thrown into the darker events of Water 7 and Enies Lobby, but considering the callbacks to old plot points in recent arcs, there is a strong possibility that the “Long Ring Long Land” arc will also find itself re-purposed as vital foreshadowing. One Piece has few coincidences, and Long Ring Long Land Island itself practically screams its connections to Luffy’s devil fruit — the stretching of animals, trees and people, similar to Luffy’s stretching of imagination, and Tonjit believing he had met Luffy before, likely sensing the spirit of Joy Boy through the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
The Straw Hats and Red Hairs Must Have a Face-Off
Shanks’ presence, while always veiled with power, was generally portrayed with good-guy qualities. However, as the series has progressed, a heavier weight of shadowy intentions has been layered onto his actions. Shanks’ desire to locate the One Piece is in direct competition with Luffy and the Straw Hats, placing him as a powerful obstacle for them to overcome for Luffy to succeed in his ambition to become the Pirate King. There can only be one Pirate King, and Shanks is showing that he too desires the crown. His behavior is more likely a red herring to deceive fans into believing he is a villain, or at least is simply making him more morally ambiguous. He entrusted the future to Luffy, but it came with the caveat that Luffy could grow to the point of challenging him.
A Davy Back Fight between their two crews is the perfect way to test the Straw Hats and Luffy before they can claim the One Piece on Laugh Tale, and the prize of the contest will be ownership of the straw hat itself, which technically belongs to them both — Shanks lent the hat to Luffy to return to him once they meet in the New World. The significance of the straw hat and its connection to the mysteries of the world have been hinted at so many times that it’s clear it is vital to unlocking the world’s secrets. Alternatively, the awakened Joy Boy within Luffy is the key to the One Piece and Shanks will fight to force Luffy to join his crew, making Shanks the King of the Pirates by taking advantage of Luffy’s development through his adventure.
Once the Marines and the World Government have been quashed and Blackbeard’s dastardly desires have been stopped in their tracks, the final challenge for the Straw Hat crew will come from the one who set everything in motion. Upon the shores of Laugh Tale Island, Shanks and Luffy will be each other’s final obstacles to achieving the role of Pirate King, as promised at the beginning of the series. However, Shanks is not the evil villain of One Piece, and the age-old tradition of the Davy Back Fight will be shown to have the utmost importance to the series as the two final crews in competition for the One Piece fight in a 10-coin challenge.
Src: cbr.com
