Such a fantastic quote and character defining moment there. Shows how truly vast his ambitions and discipline/patience are. And thus how much Zoro means to him even after such a short first encounter and almost killing Zoro too.
Honestly I don't think that is downplay. Mihawk is only the strongest swordsman by title but it is a heavily implied fact that he never beat Shanks so even if Shanks is a swordsman there is simply no reason for him to be weaker than Mihawk if you are honest. Oda also treats Shanks like a much bigger deal and associates him with Luffy while Mihawk associates with Zoro. As a writer I would do all those things to make it obvious that Shanks is at worst equal.
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