... You're still using the shell though.

Don't think so (at least not on Unix).  For example:

$ strace -fq -eexecve perl -e 'system "/bin/echo", "foo"'
execve("/usr/local/bin/perl", ["perl", "-e", "system \"/bin/echo\", \"
+foo\""], [/* 71 vars */]) = 0
[pid 27279] execve("/bin/echo", ["/bin/echo", "foo"], [/* 71 vars */])
+ = 0
[download]

So, no shell involved...