Shanks running away from a fight? I doubt it. I wouldn't say Kaido couldn't be killed. That huge scar on his lower abdomen indicates he can be harmed if his opponent is strong enough or then again maybe he got that scar during one of his suicide attempts.
No that's wrong, it's not like Kaido was targetting Shanks to begin with
That doesn't make sense. The reason why shanks confronted Kaido was because he needed to stop the latter from going after WB. If he went to Kaido only to run away, then he accomplished nothing and Kaido could have potentially arrived at marineford to bring utter chaos to an already desperate situation.
We have no context at all regarding the circumstances under which he was captured or defeated in the past though. Quite a few things come into play in this regard though the relevant ones would be what exactly was his position in the world when it happened. Do we know for a fact kaido had his current standing and position when he was captured in the past? None of the things in the list given in the chapter seem to be particularly recent, specially if we consider that the only reason shanks vs kaido wasn't a bigger deal before is that the great war itself was about to start.
The fact is the manga mentioned the Yonko in plural, not just one Yonko(WB). And he apparently lost multiple times to them. Whether he was a Yonko back then or not is not a clear indication of him prevailing against Shanks. When it comes to a fight between Yonkos, the fact that they would fight with their crews would be risky, because they would sustain losses that they might not recover from easily, in terms of crew members. That's why you don't see the Yonko fighting all the time, because if they were to attack each other let's say on a daily basis, they would simply become weaker, and lose their territories. They all have a good idea of each other's strength, but more than simply being afraid for themselves, they are also afraid for their crews. So it would make a lot more sense if Shanks and Kaido met and fought, that they would try to solve this one on one, with their crews not interfering. If Kaido's goal was to get to WB then he would do anything to keep the casualties low, as for Shanks his goal was to stop the war.Even back then when Shanks tried to warn WB, we didn't see Marco and the others gang up on Shanks. Sure it was a skirmish, or maybe less than that, but you get my point. Kaido doesn't seem to be the cowardy type, on the contrary, he's suicidal, but not to the extent of losing his crew. And if we put ourselves in his perspective, he wouldn't be afraid of facing Shanks, because if he has set his eyes on WB, for the reasons we know, then there is a good chance he won't back down from fighting Shanks, because he doesn't give a fuck if he dies. That's exactly what he wants, what difference does it make if it's Shanks or WB?
There's nothing that implicates it only being effective against fodder and we saw both Joker and Luffy use it against each other.
There are various ways people react to intimidation, just because it's not expressed doesn't mean it's not having an effect. We don't know how it works over-time against formidable opponents.
Well, we don't Shanks and Whitebeard ended with just 1 clash of swords and back to Sake, things may have gotten more heated than we witnessed.
Really? Thought someone in the manga said Kaidou intercepted Shanks to prevent him from saving Ace and Whitebeard.
Other way round... Shanks is not the kind to run away from a fight. The guy demands respect and he gets it without batting an eyelash. How could you have thought he ran from a fight with Kaidou? Lets not put Shanks on the same level as BB.
Lol no. That doesn't even follow. What's kaido's business if shanks wants to go to the war? It's not like Shanks could have put more effort into it than WB himself. Even if Kaido was trying to take advantage of the chaos, going after a 3rd party yonko doesn't make sense. Anyway, it was the other way round. Shanks intercepted Kaido's attack on WB
Actually, shanks is precisely the type that would run away, avoid or otherwise not have a battle if he can. That specific personality quirk of his has been a major plot point through the manga. Take his very first appearance during the first chapter. A punk broke a bottle of booze on his head. And what did shanks do? Precisely squat, he went ahead and cleaned the mess himself. Then what about the time he met with WB? He did have a skirmish with WB however the original reason he went there was to ask Ace to stop his vendetta against BB. And even before he clashed with WB he commented on the era of recklessness. And what about during the war? Shanks did not pick a single fight there, he actually stopped the fighting altogether. It was under the threat of thoroughly obliterating whoever dared disobey however he did stop the fight and the bloodshed. Shanks certainly wouldn't back away from a fight which he has no option but fighting but other than that he would certainly avoid a fight if its a viable option.
Kaidou wants Whitebeard dead, and Shanks would prevent that from happening. But if Shanks intercepted Kaidou, then yeah, he wouldn't run. I assumed he was running from Kaidou because he was intercepted and wanted to save Whitebeard.
Thats completely different from running away and what my post was about. Shanks avoids conflict and is very diplomatic... He would only take action if he needed to do so. In this case, stopping Kaido from advancing was something he could not shy away from. Even remotely suggesting that Shanks ran away from Kaido in any shape or form is an insult to his character. The guy arrived at Marineford and was ready to take on whoever wanted to challenge him... Does that sound like the kind of person who would run away or retreat against Kaido?
If the recent info on Kaido is any indication, he wanted to challenge Whitebeard to die - seeing as WB was realistically the only one who could kill him (at least thats my interpretation). Shanks wanted to stop the war, not save Whitebeard.
My point is not that shanks is a coward or anything of the sort, just that he would not have a battle which he can avoid fighting. I am not saying shanks rank away scared from kaido. My point would be more along the lines that if there was something he can do to not have that battle then he would do it. And to be fair, if there isn't a reason to fight kaido it wouldn't be weird in the slightest that shanks simply bails...
Why would Shanks oppose Kaido just to end up running away and then Kaido decides to not go after Whitebeard in the end? Things went Shank's way, so if they fought, it's likely that Kaido lost or Shanks simply pressured him enough for Kaido to consider retreating as the best option.
What gives you the impression that Shanks would back away from a fight with Kaidou when he was willing to fight everyone in Marineford... some who he had no reason to fight nor knew who they were. Just because he chose not to fight in the flashback does not mean that is his characters trait. Kaidou was going after WB and Shanks was going to stop him. If a reason is required for Shanks, then there it is. He wasn't going to let Kaidou advance.