I like to think of myself as a Zoro fan. I agree with Zoro fans on most things. But there is this one thing I just can't find myself seeing eye to eye with a lot of them. That's this obsession with Mihawk being Zoro's EoS opponent.
Bros, Mihawk is a member of Cross Guild. He is part of a yonko crew. Luffy needs to defeat the yonko before he becomes PK and fights the WG.
That includes Cross Guild.
Oda didn't need to put Buggy into the race for Pirate King. For most of the story, he was only focused on Captain John's treasure. Oda could have just let Buggy focus on that while Luffy, Teach, and Shanks focused on Pirate King. But the fact the Buggy is in the race is unquestionably a set up for Zoro vs Mihawk.
Chronologically speaking, Zoro needs to beat Mihawk before he fights Nasujuro. And that's okay. I've noticed Zoro fans have a nasty habit of downplaying future Zoro opponents. Y'all did this very same thing with King during the rooftop, with Zoro fans claiming that rooftop Zoro would low diff King without a power up. And look what happened.
Ultimately, Nasujuro being above Mihawk doesn't downplay Mihawk or Zoro in any way, so Zoro fans need to stop being so insistent in this nonsense chronology. Mihawk is the World's strongest swordsman, Nasujuro is a god. A god being above a swordsman is only natural. It only serves to hype up Zoro when he tears Nasujuro from his throne. Mihawk still has better portrayal than Shanks, Fujitora, and any other swordsman in One Piece. The man just isn't a warrior god, and that's fine. But there's no need to lose braincells over this.
Luffy will become PK by defeating Teach, and then go on to defeat Imu in the final war.
Zoro will become WSSM by defeating Mihawk, and then go on to defeat Nasujuro in the final war.
Seriously, this isn't that big of a deal