St Garling Figarland is one of the most intriguing characters in One Piece at the moment, and based on the way Oda has been focusing on him as of late, revealing bits and pieces about him, fans know that he has a massive role to play.

Saint Garling Figarland was introduced in One Piece as the Supreme Commander of the God’s Knights. However, since then, he has moved up positions quite a bit and is now one of the Five Elders. Fans know that he is being set up as a massive antagonist, and given his connection to Shanks, he is inevitably going to meet him in battle one day. Their clash will have great repercussions for the story to come.

Garling And Shanks’s Connection

Garling Is Shanks’s Father

Shanks Was Separated From The Figarland Family

As fans know already, Shanks and Garling are related. The very first mention of Garling figure land came in the Final Saga of One Piece, where it was revealed to the fans that he was the Supreme Commander of the God’s Knights. At the same time, fans were also told that Saint Garling was a very powerful individual who established himself during the God Valley incident, where he was declared the Champion of God Valley. Clearly, his strength was deemed to be very high, and while getting hints about his power level is certainly interesting to the fans, what was even more interesting was the fact that this person was actually Shanks’s father. In One Piece Film Red, the Five Elders made it clear that Shanks was a member of the Figarland family.

Watch carefully, children! – Garling Figarland

Then, fans got to see Garling in the flesh, which essentially made it clear to them that this person could have been related to Shanks. In the God Valley Flashback that fans got recently, a younger version of Saint Garling was shown to them, and the fact that he looked exactly like Shanks essentially went on to confirm the fact that they are father and son. This was backed up further by the fact that Garling had his children with him on God Valley, and eventually, Shanks got separated from them, finding his way to the Roger Pirates, where he was raised.

Clearly, Shanks and Garling have a very interesting connection, and fans know that Oda will go on to explore this connection later down the line in One Piece. The Figarland family in itself is a massive piece of the puzzle in the final Saga that Oda has placed quite a lot of importance on. Inevitably, this family is going to see characters come face to face and that is exactly what fans are waiting for.

Why Garling Will End Up Fighting Shanks

A Clash Of Father And Son Is Inevitable

Shanks and Garling Figarland are inevitably going to fight at some point in One Piece. This is simply down to the nature of their positions. Shanks is a pirate, while Garling is a member of the Five Elders. More specifically, Garling is a Celestial Dragon and a representative of the World Government. He is one of the descendants of the founders of the World Government order that destroyed the Ancient Kingdom, and, by definition, he is a villain in the story. Shanks, on the other hand, is one of the good guys, and he is doubly special because he is the man who put Luffy on the journey to become the Pirate King. Then, one also has to consider the fact that Shanks is essentially the Roger of this generation, simply because he was openly labeled by many to be Roger’s successor. The fact that Shanks even uses the same moves as Roger, such as Divine Departure, which is directly aimed at removing the Celestial Dragon from power, is proof of the fact that Shanks is against them and will eventually go on to fight them when the time comes.

I want to talk about a certain pirate! – Shanks’s Twin

Naturally, if Shanks is going to fight the Government, the very best opponent for him is going to be his very own father, Saint Garling Figarland. These two are going to be on opposing ends in the Final Saga and a battle between them is going to be absolutely spectacular for the fans to witness. Fans know Garling is very strong already. In fact, Oda even hinted at his strength recently when he did a question-and-answer event where he answered 10 specific questions, one of them being about Garling Figarland. Given that his strength has been confirmed, it is going to be an extremely interesting fight when he collides with Shanks.

Another interesting reason why Shanks could fight against Garling could be related to his mother. As is clear from the color scheme of Garling, he does not possess the peculiar red hair at all. Meanwhile Shanks and his twin both have red hair, which essentially means that they got this hair from their mother. It could be that Shanks’s mother is a Celestial Dragon as well, but, a very likely possibility is that she was a commoner, and possibly even a slave. There is a reason why Shanks does not carry the Figarland name, but he carries the Red Hair moniker, named his pirate crew the Red Hair Pirates, and even called his ship the Red Force. Shanks clearly wants to be associated with the red hair that he possesses, while having nothing to do with the Figarland name. It is possible that Shanks knows his mother and cares for her deeply, and if that truly is the case, then it would be incredibly exciting to see Shanks go up against Garling and essentially beat him in battle once and for all.

Will Shanks Destroy The Figarland Family?

Shanks Could Spell The Doom For The Figarlands

Shanks will most definitely come face to face with Garling Figarland in the Final Saga One Piece. This is especially the case because the Five Elders will have to be defeated at some point. As fans know, Luffy will most likely go up against Imu, which means the other Elders will have to be dealt with by some other powerful individuals. When it comes to Garling, Shanks is going to be the best candidate of all. Shanks will most likely slay Garling, and well his twin brother will likely be taken down by someone else, possibly long before the Final War event begins.

In essence, Shanks could go on to destroy this family for good, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to the fans at all. After all, Shanks carries Rogers’ will, and by definition, he is against the Celestial Dragons and wants them stripped of power. Hopefully, fans will get a phenomenal battle later down the line when Shanks does take part in the final war, and it goes without saying that this battle is going to be very special.