Okay so will Zoro be stronger than Shanks when he beats Mihawk?
Since Mihawk and Shanks seems so unclear when Zoro is clearly above Mihawk, will he be clearly above Shanks? No right? Youโll say, what if Shanks slightly stronger than Mihawk all along.
Okay then what if after beating Mihawk, Zoro gets into a battle with 1000,000 swordsmen nonstop for 20 days and at the end, zoro says โWow, i got even more powerfulโ, Will Zoro be Above Shanks then? No right? Because maybe Shanks was WAY above Mihawk all along
And then what if AFTER THAT Zoro eats Kaidoโs DF and trains for two more years and obtains CoC and his curse sword activates and creates a susanoo. Will Zoro finally be above Shanks? No right? Because maybe Shanks could fodderise Mihawk all along
See im not saying you yourself would make these arguments, im saying this is the type of argumemt that CAN BE MADE by people when ambiguity is created. If Mihawk is not definitively the strongest libing swordsman on the entire planet, it immeditely means there cannot be any definitive statement made that Zoro will ever actually accomplish his dream. Thats just it. It can no longer happen. He will be the only Strawhat who will not be able to accomplish their dreams simply because POWER SCALING
I'm not saying one is stronger than the other actually. I'm pretty much saying both are equal and never defeated the other. Its like Whitebeard and Roger. Technically both were the strongest pirates, but WB didn't want to be PK. Whitebeard also became known as the WSM after Roger's death (seemingly because nobody could rival him anymore). If we apply the same logic to Mihawk/Shanks, its just possible they are equal and Mihawk didn't want to compete for the WSS seat with Mihawk, just as it is with Mihawk taking pity in Shanks because he lost his arm (which again, doesnt imply he lost power considering what we've seen from Shanks)
See, the thing is I believe that Shanks/Mihawk are how the series comes fill circle. Shanks is enigmatic enough to not know his true goals and can cause possible discourse between him and Luffy. At this point we dont truly know but that's been my prediction for years now, especially since his meeting with the Gorosei.
So yes, in the end, I've always thought Shanks and Mihawk were Luffy and Zoro's final matchups. But again, I've thought they were equal. In the end if Luffy and Zoro's opponents and it puts them both on equal standing as PK and WSS, then thats a fucking excellent way to tie everything together and keep the main character and his first crew mate consistent with how we understand portrayals in this series.
It would then make sense for Blackbeard, Akainu and Im to fall before Shanks, because Shanks is "equal" to Mihawk
Hopefully that gets my point across. I have a "biased" motivation for explaining it this way, but not in a way where I like Shanks over Mihawk or anything. Its been my thought that THEY are the endgame for the main characters