One Piece Live Action: The Red Hair Pirates, Explained (2024)

Netflix's One Piece Live Action did incredibly well to adapt the entirety of the East Blue Saga. The story kicked off with the Romance Dawn arc, where fans find out quite a bit about the background of the character that is Luffy. In Luffy's past, there is one particular character who is extremely important and that person is none other than Shanks.

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When Luffy was around 7 years of age, Shanks and his pirate crew, the Red Hair Pirates, camped in Foosha Village in the East Blue. Luffy familiarized himself with Shanks as well as the rest of the Red Hair Pirates. This crew is incredibly important in One Piece Live Action and they will only grow in importance as the story progresses. With One Piece Live Action Season 2 being announced, fans will most definitely see glimpses of this pirate crew again, but there is a lot more to them than they let on, and they might have a much bigger role to play when the story continues.

Who Are The Red Hair Pirates?

The Red Hair Pirates are an incredible pirate crew that originate from the West Blue, where Shanks' hometown is located. This pirate crew was established at some point after the execution of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. Once Roger was executed, Shanks and many others who were witnessing the execution decided to go their own way and take the era by storm. Fans are led to believe that Shanks traveled across the blues at some point. This is because Ben Beckman is from the north blue and that is likely where he joined the crew. Fans know that Shanks went to the East Blue himself and that is where he recruited the Chaser, Yasopp. With time, the crew made its way to the Grand Line as well and that is where they got incredibly popular.

Shanks also received his scar somewhere in the Grand Line and it is likely around this point that the Jolly Roger of the Red Hair Pirates was born, given that it has the trademark scar of Shanks running across the pirate skull. In time, Shanks also met Dracule Mihawk, a very powerful swordsman who he then started a rivalry with. These two continued to fight on multiple occasions and their clashes echoed throughout the Grand Line, so much that even legendary figures, such as Whitebeard, heard of their exploits. Eventually, Shanks acquired a very high bounty and then, for some reason, went back to the East Blue, which is where he met Luffy.

The Captain Of The Red Hair Pirates

Fans know very well that the captain of the Red Hair Pirates is none other than Red-Haired Shanks himself. Shanks is an incredible pirate and he has earned the infamy that he has currently. Even in the Romance Dawn arc, it is quite clear to see that Shanks is very well respected by all his subordinates. In fact, none of his pirate crew calls him by his name. Instead, they refer to him as the Chief of the Red Hair Pirates. This goes to show the level of respect that he commands and the incredible height that he has reached as a pirate.

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Shanks is a very heartwarming person and someone who loves to laugh and party with people he considers to be his friends. To him, his friends are extremely important, even more so than himself. That is precisely why Shanks ended up saving Luffy when he was kidnapped by Higuma. At the same time, however, he has fury for his enemies and the fact that he is a seasoned pirate from the Grand Line only means that Shanks is a very powerful figure. Even in the Romance Dawn arc, Shanks ended up using an ability to scare away the Coastal King, and fans who have read the manga know this power to be Conqueror's Haki, an ability that he excels in. Above all, Shanks is Luffy's idol and the person that he wants to be more like when he grows up. He gave Luffy a dream and that increases his importance in the story by manifold. Shanks will show up in the story every now and then, however, the major role that he will serve will be towards the end of the series.

The Crew Of The Red Hair Pirates

Shanks is certainly not the only person that Luffy befriended when the Red Hair Pirates visited the East Blue. The entirety of the Red Hair Pirates are very close friends of Luffy. The second most important person in the crew is Ben Beckman, the First Mate of the Red Hair Pirates. His authority is second only to Shanks, however, his personality is very different. Whereas Shanks likes to party and have fun, Ben Beckman likes to be more careful and watch out for the crew. While one would assume that his role is like Zoro, they are very different in their personalities. Zoro is more stoic and doesn't tend to laugh as much. Ben Beckman is more responsible and, at the same time, loves to party just as much as any other person. However, he is more careful at the same time. Ben Beckman is described to be the shadow to Shanks's light.

Apart from Beckman, the other important people in the Red Hair Pirates are Lucky Roux, and Yassop. When it comes to Lucky Roux, fans know that he's extremely powerful and, at the same time, he gets along with Luffy incredibly well. Lucky Roux cares a lot about Luffy and, out of the entire crew, he's one of the people who has shown the most compassion for him. When it comes to Yasopp, he has also spent quite a lot of time with Luffy. Yasopp often bored him with his stories about Usopp, even before Luffy recruited him. When it comes to strength, however, Yasopp is anything but boring as he is most certainly the best sharpshooter in the entire world. Luffy certainly proclaims him to be the best he's ever seen.

There are other members of the Red Hair Pirates as well, all of whom are called the Officers of the crew. After Shanks, Beckman, Roux, and Yasopp, there are seven more members of the Red Hair Pirates which, although not as important right now, will gain major roles as the story progresses. In One Piece Live Action, fans will see the Red Hair Pirates again in the Grand Line, in season 2.

The Role Of The Red Hair Pirates In One Piece Live Action

The Red Hair Pirates are going to be incredibly important in One Piece Live Action. Their role was a pronounced one in the first season as well, even though they didn't feature in every single episode. In the first two episodes, fans got to see quite a lot of the Red Hair Pirates, thanks to Luffy's flashback. At the end of episode 2, Shanks was seen setting sail and Luffy promises to return his hat to him one day. At the end of One Piece Live Action season 1, fans got to see Shanks once again, this time, reacting to the bounty that Luffy just received. This was an incredibly happy moment for Shanks because the person who entrusted everything to had now finally set sail.

Fans will most definitely get to see more of Shanks in One Piece Live Action season 2 as well. Once Luffy makes his name known in the Grand Line, Shanks will most definitely react to his bounty once again. He also has a major role to play in the Grand Line, even in the early parts of One Piece. After all, Shanks is one of the strongest pirates on the ocean and a member of the Four Emperors of the Sea. This automatically assigns a certain level of importance to him, as well as his crew. The Red Hair Pirates are believed to be an impenetrable crew with high bounties on board and powerful fighters as well. Shanks is certainly going to lead the Red Hair Pirates in incredible ways and that is something that fans are very excited to see.

One Piece Live Action is available to watch on Netflix.

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