Yeah that’s where the whole “Shanks > Mihawk” thing stems from
Oda sucks off Shanks yearly and gives Mihawk crumbs even though he should be stronger
this sort of delayed gratification tends to pay off tho because at the point in the story mihawk will go all out , we will prob know about every single level of haki possible. Things like splitting the sky would be a bit more regular.
if you think about the comparison to shanks
look at what zoro is doing now , its all prep for him to fight mihawk
so the expectation that mihawk will look absolutely monstrous is well placed. its just a tad annoying when those conclusions are drawn without seeing anything.