@Vanessa:
Except that Shanks requested two things from Newgate in their meeting:
- call back Ace
- leave Teach alone.
Nowhere was it said or even hinted at during that conversation for anyone to replace Ace to hunt down Teach or to stop his attempt at reaching the top.
Shanks doesn't want to take him down, and I fail to see where people get that idea from.
I'm sorry, but are you implying that the "leave Teach alone" request stays in effect forever? That he asked this of Whitebeard at the time is not in question, but are you saying that should Blackbeard become dangerous that Shanks will never attempt to stop him based solely on this request?
Secondly, if Shanks makes this request at that point its because he is wary of Blackbeard, not because he does not want to get involved. At that point Blackbeard was a big unknown that was potentially very dangerous. With this in mind, he asked Whitebeard not to interfere, but this is clearly more of a "for now" statement than a permanent one.
If anything, this cautionary advice was because Shanks had met a very powerful man many years before, and now this man was making a move and he knew what others didn't.
I think you are assuming more things than the rest of us when you say that Shanks does not wish to stop Blackbeard, regardless of what he may be doing. If anything, for now he remains passive, but should Blackbeard become a threat to Whitebeard, I think it is clear at this point that it is more likely that he will try to prevent his fall than to aid it. This is based upon a "good" morality that Shanks displayed whenever possible. I don't think that Shanks is just another pirate waiting for someone to take down Whitebeard so that he can make a bid for the top. If this is what you are implying then I cannot argue the point because we currently do not have enough to say whether or not Shanks is a man capable of such tactical detachment.
What I can say is that I am not arguing that Shanks will actually interfere, just that saying that he will could very well make sense, even though I do not believe it will happen. This whole exchange was originated when I defended what I believed was not a contradictory statement a few posts back made by Wonder.
Edit: But wouldn't it be cool that Shanks actually became a secret ally of BB back when they fought? That would make things very interesting.