that being said
if you take away zoro's goal , he ceases to be the same character is my point
so surpassing rayleigh at that point is no longer a guarantee
joining luffy's crew is no longer a guarantee . the swordsman on his crew was supposed to be the best.
We're talking about hypothetical scenarios here. And in that manner I think the most logical thing to do is to assume that the next pirate king, Luffy, and the man who is his first mate, Zoro, would surpass the previous duo. Due to the shonen stuff and all.
Rayleigh had no specific ambition that we know of and he still made it there. It would be quite logical to assume that Zoro without any specific ambition would reach the same level or slightly stronger fulfilling the same role as Rayleigh.
from my standpoint I look at rayleigh being talked about as a legend comparable to wb, the marines wouldnt want to take on at the same time.
Mihawk was talked about by Oda as a figure that stands at the very least on the same pedestal as Whitebeard and Shanks, in a combat situation
Mind you mihawk participated in this same war and received nothing close to tha.
It simply wasn't Mihawk's time to show off. None of the warlords did anything remotely impactful in the war at all. But the entire plan was for the warlords to fight the Whitebeard pirates at first thus it's implied that Mihawk would have fought WB, unless you think some other warlord will, which I doubt unless you're trolling lol
I look at Rayleigh halting a BB close to his prime(based on his reputation) ;BB undoubtedly the strongest pirate of this time soon.
I didn't read this chapter lmao. But I think it's clear Teach is not yet at his peak.
I have checked the CG chapter though. And Mihawk allying himself with Buggy along with Crocodile, but we all know who the real muscle there is made them a Yonko crew, with Mihawk being the shadow Yonko. Garnering him a higher bounty based on his strength, that his supposed Yonko captain and a rival to Shanks, something unheard of previously.
I look at Rayleigh holding off an admiral to the point of the latter getting very enraged at the age of 72 and implying in his younger years he would have been capable of a lot more
That's a plus for Rayleigh not a minus for Mihawk lol. It's quite clear Rayleigh is one of the top dogs of all time.
Mihawk 's title in comparison does not command him the same attention or respect Rayleigh does in his era and also in the current one after his retirement.
It does. It's a title that netted him such a high bounty due to his strength, made an alliance that he is part of a Yonko crew, like I said above, made him the goal of the 2nd in the strawhat crew, confirmed him as the strongest in name and actuality multiple times amongst the many swordsmen in the One Piece world, made him the goal of the kingly ambition, made him one of only 3 people, well more likely 2 since Kaido's was never officialized, to have the WS title, made his name known even before the great era of pirates, amongst legendary pirates like Roger, Whitebeard, Rayleigh, etc
if it couldnt get more evident one would become the would be mentor for the pirate king himself and that was rayleigh while the other mentored his n2 .
so to speak rayleigh has also become a benchmark for luffy to surpass.
But then you'd have to argue old Ray>Mihawk, which makes no sense lol, if we look at it like that. And I don't really see Ray as a benchmark to Luffy at all.
Rayleigh is immensely strong, no doubt, I just have Mihawk above him cuz he's that strong as well. Even moreso if it's revealed that he is Ray's son like it's been theorized, and when we get to learn more about Mihawk. And with him being the designated goal of Zoro I think it's fair to give him the benefit of the doubt.
EDIT: Agree to disagree I guess, I've had my share of OP talks lmao.