#ONEPIECE1198
Insane theory: Luffy in his Nika form bit off Shanks’s arm, and the strawhat itself serves a specific purpose.
This might sound crazy, but I think it’s a really compelling theory, it comes from a good friend of mine(+me), @xRevenantMirage (go follow him):
We’ve seen Luffy’s version of how Shanks lost his arm, right? What if that was a distorted perception?
What if Luffy just imagined it that way?
Even when caught off guard, someone with his level of Haki, someone who can see into the future should easily be able to block a Sea King.
Even after 25 years, people still ask: why didn’t Shanks just stop the Sea King with an air slash or Conqueror’s Haki (CoC) infusion? But what if it wasn’t the Sea King at all? What if Luffy under the influence of the Nika power, was the one who severed Shanks’s arm?
And what if Shanks then used his own Conqueror’s Haki to bring Luffy back under control?
Luffy might have only seen what he wanted to see or perhaps he suppressed the memory but what if that’s exactly what happened, and Shanks lost his arm because of Nika?
If it really was Luffy who took Shanks’s arm, perhaps the strawhat exists specifically to suppress the power of Luffy’s Nika fruit.
The strawhat might be imbued with Conqueror’s Haki, protecting Luffy from Nika’s influence all these years. This would explain why Shanks said he only wants the hat back once Luffy is "ready."
But ready for what?
And why is it so important?
Perhaps by "ready," Shanks means the point at which Luffy gains full control over the Nika power, at which point he no longer needs the straw hat.
We know that objects can store Conqueror’s Haki; it’s not at all implausible that the hat contains CoC, which has been suppressing the fruit’s power.
As soon as Luffy masters his Nika power, he will return the strawhat, at which point, according to Shanks, he will also be "ready"...
Imagine we all believed for 25 Years including Luffy that Shanks lost his arm to a seaking only to be revealed that it was Luffy, that would be the biggest plottwist ever in manga history...
What do you guys think about this?
@7havensarchive i’m thinking there’s gonna be like a time skip later in the show cuz as much as it’s like wtv rn, there’s no way these 9 yr olds are gonna end up fighting who/whatever the final villain is.