The following contains spoilers for One Piece Film: Red by Gorō Taniguchi, Tsutomu Kuroiwa, and Eiichiro Oda, now playing in theaters.
A common joke among the One Piece fandom is how rare it is for Red-Haired Shanks to show up. Despite being introduced in the first chapter and a key figure in the overarching story, he's only made a handful of appearances throughout the story. The same goes for his crew, the Red Hair Pirates This issue has only been exacerbated by One Piece's decades-long run.
Shanks' lack of screen time throughout One Piece had some fans worried he wouldn't get a lot to do in One Piece Film: Red. Despite being central to the plot, some estimated that he'd be present for 5 minutes of the movie's 115-minute runtime if not less. However, now that the movie is out, fans can finally see for themselves how much the Emperor gets to do.
When Does Shanks Appear?
As some fans guessed, Shanks didn't appear in the early parts of One Piece Film: Red, at least not in person. He was, however, noted for being the father of the movie's central antagonist, Uta. Because of this, some flashbacks were shown of him and Uta in a few places: aboard his ship, in Windmill Village with Luffy, and on the musical island of Elegia. This doesn't seem like much, but it did give audiences a general idea of the connection they shared.
Uta used to love and admire Shanks as a father and a captain, but things changed after the incident in Elegia. Apparently, he and the Red Hair pirates had destroyed the island, plundered it, and left her behind on it. This led her not only to resent Shanks but Pirates in general. She ended up going down a dark path that involved trapping everyone in an endless dream world.
Shanks wouldn't make a physical appearance until the third act of the movie. By this point, Uta had used her Sing-Sing Fruit powers to put everyone who heard her singing to sleep; she, alone, could interact with the dream world and the real world simultaneously. She was about to kill Luffy in the real world over a serious argument, but Shanks stopped her. He and the rest of the Red Hair Pirates would remain in the movie until the credits rolled.
While Luffy's story was unfolding in the dream world, Shanks needed to take care of matters in the real world. Not only did he have to convince Uta to free everyone, but he also had to stop the Navy from killing her and the audience members she was controlling. While the dream world events were arguably more interesting and important, it can't be said that Shanks had nothing to do.
How Much Fighting Does Shanks Do?
Eventually, Uta unleashed Tot Musica, the demonic entity that was actually responsible for destroying Elegia. It turned out that Uta had accidentally unleashed the monster previously, but Shanks helped stop it. He also took the blame for Elegia's destruction so that Uta wouldn't have to bear the guilt. But he still sailed off with their loot.
The only way to stop Tot Musica, who had manifested in both worlds, was to attack it from both sides simultaneously. While Luffy and his friends and allies attacked the Demon King in the dream world, the Red Hair Pirates and a few of their allies attacked it in the real world; their efforts were coordinated by Usopp and Yasopp, respectively. This led to a dramatic climax where Luffy and Shanks finished the monster off with their combined attacks; around this time, Shanks had one more flashback to finding Uta as a baby and raising her. With this, the Red Hair Pirates finally got to show what they were like in a real fight.
Once the battle was over, Shanks used his Conqueror's Haki to convince the Navy to withdraw. Then, Uta used the very last of her strength to wake everybody else up. The last scene before the credits was of the Thousand Sunny and the Red Force sailing away from each other; Luffy caught a glimpse of the Red Hair Pirates standing over Uta.
In total, Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates sans Uta took up around 20 minutes of the movie's 115-minute runtime; this includes flashbacks and scenes where they aren't on screen but are still present. Besides being integral to Uta's story, they were given all sorts of tasks throughout the third act of the film that could only be accomplished by them. This was also the first time fans got to see the Emperor and his crew in a serious fight from start to finish. They may not have been in the movie for long, but their time was used effectively to give viewers greater satisfaction than they dared to dream of. Fans who go into this movie hoping to see a lot of Shanks will certainly get their money's worth.