Notorious subordinates like Crocodile" he would've been Mihawk's subordinate had Buggy not fucked up!
Difference is DR Zoro got the same bounties that Luffy/Law/Kid (captains) had when they were at Sabaody. Look at the difference between getting a high bounty as a Captain & getting a high bounty not being a leader of an organization...
Now realize that Shanks is just 10% higher on the bounty scale than Mihawk lol.
Thing is, Oda confirmed Shanks is a swordsman when Brannew used his name to hype Mihawk's swordsmanship. Ergo he is weaker than Mihawk since one is the Strongest & the other isn't. And talking about how "his skill surpasses even Red-Hair's" implicitly means he's stronger, since
(1) Oda doesn't differentiate between skill/strength as per Stephen Paul (you can thank Erkan for gifting Mihawk fans this gem XDD)
(2) This is the same thing Oda used to cement Denjiro's place as the strongest swordsman among the scabbards, ergo stronger than anyone except the Sulong Dukes. He simply said "his swordsmanship is the best among the Akazaya 9".
There really isn't cutting corners this time bro XD. Mihawk >~ Shanks.