What if Oda has been misleading us with shanks and that instead of him opposing Teach, he was secretly working together with him all this while. In this scenario, Shiryu is a red herring, meant to distract us from this possibility. By giving Teach a swordsman right hand, we wouldn't question who Zoro would fight in the BBP, because its obvious, right?
However, to me it doesn't really make sense. The WSSM is Mihawk, right. And mihawk's greatest rival was shanks. By EoS, Zoro should be close in strength to Mihawk, so then how would Shiryu fit into this? Would Shiryu be close in strength to Mihawk and Shanks? While its possible, I can't help but feel like Shiryu never had this type of portrayal. Yes, he was portrayed to be YC1 or higher pre-DF and his DF will obviously boost him greatly. But would invisibility really put him on the same tier as Shanks? I find it hard to believe.
Shanks is a CoC master, Mihawk has a black blade, and all Shiryu has is an invisibility DF. Could he have ACoC? Maybe, possibly, but even that seems unlikely as he was an impel down jailer and nobody but sengoku has been confirmed to have CoC in the WG. Now I'm sure Oda could give Shiryu some massive hax to justify zoro fighting him, but I think Shanks would make so much more sense.
For Shanks, Oda doesn't need to justify Zoro fighting him. He's already a legend. He's the 2nd strongest swordman. Oda could even have him kill mihawk and become the WSSM and the fanbase could accept it because we know they are close in strength.
Zoro vs shanks would not only tie into Zoro's dream, but Luffy's dream as well. Luffy wanted a pirate crew that could surpass shanks's. So if Zoro, Luffy's right hand, defeated shanks, that would fulfill part of Luffy's dream.
As for Shiryu, I think Oda will replace him by having him be defeated by a non-SH before Shanks is revealed to be a villain. I'm thinking Kid, Law, maybe someone from the RHP who isn't 100% on board with shanks, or maybe a marine or a revolutionary. Idk. While Sanji could fight him, I think Oda will make sanji's matchup parallel Zoro's by also having Sanji fight a full blown top tier/legend. I think Sanji vs Aokiji would make a ton of sense.
However, to me it doesn't really make sense. The WSSM is Mihawk, right. And mihawk's greatest rival was shanks. By EoS, Zoro should be close in strength to Mihawk, so then how would Shiryu fit into this? Would Shiryu be close in strength to Mihawk and Shanks? While its possible, I can't help but feel like Shiryu never had this type of portrayal. Yes, he was portrayed to be YC1 or higher pre-DF and his DF will obviously boost him greatly. But would invisibility really put him on the same tier as Shanks? I find it hard to believe.
Shanks is a CoC master, Mihawk has a black blade, and all Shiryu has is an invisibility DF. Could he have ACoC? Maybe, possibly, but even that seems unlikely as he was an impel down jailer and nobody but sengoku has been confirmed to have CoC in the WG. Now I'm sure Oda could give Shiryu some massive hax to justify zoro fighting him, but I think Shanks would make so much more sense.
For Shanks, Oda doesn't need to justify Zoro fighting him. He's already a legend. He's the 2nd strongest swordman. Oda could even have him kill mihawk and become the WSSM and the fanbase could accept it because we know they are close in strength.
Zoro vs shanks would not only tie into Zoro's dream, but Luffy's dream as well. Luffy wanted a pirate crew that could surpass shanks's. So if Zoro, Luffy's right hand, defeated shanks, that would fulfill part of Luffy's dream.
As for Shiryu, I think Oda will replace him by having him be defeated by a non-SH before Shanks is revealed to be a villain. I'm thinking Kid, Law, maybe someone from the RHP who isn't 100% on board with shanks, or maybe a marine or a revolutionary. Idk. While Sanji could fight him, I think Oda will make sanji's matchup parallel Zoro's by also having Sanji fight a full blown top tier/legend. I think Sanji vs Aokiji would make a ton of sense.
