Shanks is not, nor has he ever been, Luffys end goal.
That is literally just cope by his hardcore stans to the same degree as him being called a god king.
This post is gonna be longer, so if some people want a tl;dr?
Despite his stans wishing it to be so, this AIN'T Shanks story. He ain't that important. He is a tool for plot development more so than an actual character. And he sure as hell ain't Luffys end goal, because unlike Shanks no matter what you may think about Luffy and i am far from his biggest fan at LEAST he actually does shit and doesn't sit around waiting for somebody more "worthy" to do it for him.
More in depth? All slander aside from my end, and I LOVE to slander Shanks, being 100% factual?
These are the hard facts of the matter okay?
By the timeline of the Manga we are given Shanks spent the better part of his career as a Pirate doing NOTHING but wait for the TRUE heir of ROGER. Or, at least he did prior to the intro of Joyboy/Nika. Because ever since Oda retconed Luffy as the chosen one who ate a divine devil fruit? Shanks has been firmly established as the guy who is supposed to help the chosen one. Nothing more.
I know his stans hate this fact, but Shanks going "lets get the One Piece" towards Beckman after two plus decades of sitting on his ass does not suddenly make him end game material/the secret Top 1 of the setting okay?
Shanks HAD what he needed to be HIM. And he did fuck all with it. He had two arms. He had the Nika fruit. And what does he do with it huh? Does he seek out Rayleigh and train with him some more? Does he seek out the keys to Laughtale? Does he do ANYTHING to further his own power or position? NO! No he does not.
Because Shanks KNOWS he is not HIM despite his stans insisting he is. Roger knew it, and either straight up told Shanks "give this to my son when he is ready" if Shanks indeed was looking for Ace, or Roger just told him to find anybody worthy. Both implicitly mean Roger knew that Shanks was not the man who was worthy of being the next Joyboy or whom should eat the Nika fruit.
Buggy himself is pissed of at Shanks as Oda fairly recently revealed not just because of petty reasons but because he feels like Shanks gave up and did not strive to become equal to or surpass their old captain. And to be frank, that is what Shanks did.
Again, people do not like to address this, but Shanks HAD what he needed to become Luffys supposed "end goal" and did shit all with it.
Like really, what did Shanks do as far as Oda told us? He stole a divine devil fruit from the Marines sure, but besides that? He spent the vast majority of his life after Roger died drinking and partying his time away. Sure, he one shot Kid and does punish the occasional pirate like Barto, but who ultimately cares? People get on most characters ass for "not doing anything" but for some reason Shanks is absolved of that.
Why?
Shanks according to his fandom is quite literally the strongest person alive in the setting despite spending his entire Pirate career doing fuck all besides show up occasionally to remind everybody "yo, dont forget I exist" but not ACTUALLY doing anything.
Why does he then not actually do something with his powers all this time? Shanks ain't out here dealing with Pirates like Big Mom or Kaido, or hell even Blackbeard. He ain't toppling the World Government, dealing with Admirals.
This man does nothing but protect fodder, and WAIT. Just like Shanks waited for Kaido and Big Mom to die before “making his moves” for the One Piece. Just like he waited for Luffy to become a Yonko.
Because all Shanks does is wait for shit to happen, instead of doing anything himself. And I can promise you right now if Blackbeard does not just straight up jump Shanks and kill him like I expect, he STILL ain't doing jack shit in the end game but act as stepping stone for Luffy.
Because that is all he ever was, and all he ever will be.
