What's up with Shanks? (spoilers chap 1126, September 2024)

[Warmmedown]

Shanks postponed meeting Luffy because of Bartolomeo burning Shanks' flag and taking over his territory.
He caught Bartomoleo and asked him to give Luffy a poison, or be killed.
Barto drank it himself, didn't die and then when he was escaping, Shanks' crewmate (Yassop) exploded Barto's ship.



-Is he trying to provoke Luffy into a fight? Either to fight genuinely as an enemy, or just to see if Luffy is enough of a pirate to choose to fight Shanks after Shanks has hurt his friend?
-The poison - was it genuinely deadly, but we didn't get to see it take affect due to Yassop blowing up Barto's ship? Or was it just a fake poison to test Barto, and as reward for having a strong resolve, instead of outright killing him they gave him a better chance to survive by blowing up his ship?
-Is Shanks sad about potentially killing Barto to protect the people living under his protection? He looks amused.

-Seems like Shanks knows about the Gomu Gomu Fruit's true nature. So has he always known or did he find out long after Luffy ate the fruit? Has he been waiting for Luffy to awaken it? Is it possible he has some kind of plan involving the fruit's powers?

 

[SSJ2]

I think all things considered it was the best case scenario for Bartolomeo. I think the poison thing was just a test of character as it was obviously a fake poison. Yasopp blowing up their ship did give them a chance to survive, seeing as an explosion of that magnitude is highly unlikely to actually kill anyone in One Piece. But at the very least it was a reminder that Shanks is still a Yonko and he should be respected as one.

 

[sei'taer]

The poison was obviously a ruse. Everything we know about Shanks points to him never using such tactics.

Barto fucked up and he had to a pay a price for it, the price he paid was far better than the one Kid got. They'll show up later in the Mr. Nika-go or something.

Shanks absolutely knows about the fruit, they attacked heavily guarded ship just to get that particular fruit. Shanks didn't go to Raftel, but he probably knows more about the true history than anyone else in the world that didn't.