Why Shanks Really Imprisoned Loki — And It Makes Perfect Sense
One Piece’s Elbaph arc is finally pulling Shanks and Loki out of the shadows, as Eiichiro Oda peels back long-guarded mysteries and tees up a reveal fans have been waiting years to see.
Elbaph has turned into a spotlight for two long-teased heavy hitters: Shanks and Loki. Oda kept both of them in the shadows for ages, and now he is finally peeling back the curtain. The big fan question right now: why did Shanks lock Loki up on Elbaph in the first place? The theory that keeps coming up — and honestly tracks with how Shanks operates — is that he did it to push Loki toward Luffy and keep him from getting himself killed chasing revenge on the World Government.
Is Shanks playing matchmaker?
Shanks always feels plugged into the larger plan. Recent talk in the story about him being some kind of destined child only adds fuel to that. He has also been a quiet mentor for Luffy since day one and feels likely to keep nudging him — directly or indirectly — through the rest of the final saga. So yeah, orchestrating a Loki-Luffy alliance sounds exactly like something he would do.
- Loki is billed as Elbaph's strongest giant and, thanks to his lineage, is tied to the deeper history of the world.
- Luffy is, well, Luffy — post-Nika awakening and now one of the Emperors of the Sea.
- Individually, neither looks built to topple the World Government head-on. Together, they could realistically crack that armor and tilt the era in a new direction.
If that is the play, Shanks putting Loki in chains starts to look less random and more like a controlled setup. And judging by where the Elbaph arc is headed, that team-up does not feel far off.
Why Loki wants blood
Loki being angry is not a mystery. The story has heavily implied that Imu and the people around them had a hand in the death of Loki's father, King Harald. Loki saw it firsthand, which means he knows exactly what was done and by who. No shock that he carries pure hatred for the World Government — and that he ended up with a special bounty that marks him as more than your average threat.
On his own, he could not bring the Government down. With Luffy and the Straw Hats backing him up? Different conversation. Luffy has a long track record of helping people settle scores and take their homes back. If Loki wants justice and not a suicide mission, standing next to the Straw Hats is the smarter path.
Straw Hat Loki?
That brings us to the fun speculation: could Loki actually join as the final Straw Hat? Fans have been kicking that around, and Elbaph is the perfect stage for it. Nothing is confirmed — this is Oda's call to make and reveal in the story — but the pieces are on the board.
Either way, the Elbaph arc and the broader endgame are shaping up to be weird, bold, and very Oda. If it turns out Shanks literally jailed the strongest giant just to aim him at Luffy, that is one of the colder long plays we have seen from him yet.
Do you think Loki ends up a Straw Hat, or does he stay an ally with his own agenda?
One Piece is streaming on Crunchyroll. Current scores: IMDb 9.0/10 and MyAnimeList 8.73.