Starting off when zoro first uses conquerors haki in his fight against king he’s asked if he intends to be a king
With Zoro answering yes and referring to his promise to become the wss to kuina and Luffy
Tho when he decides the type of king he wants to become he says king of hell while still referencing his promise to become the wss
That alone should make it pretty clear that being king of hell or at worst hell itself probably has some ties to becoming the wss. Zoro might even view mihawk as the king of hell even if it isn’t an official title he has
Hell and death might have just as many connections to mihawk as zoro
When zoro met s-hawk the first the he says is how he cooks more human than mihawk. Maybe that’s because 2 main reasons
- Mihawk has at one point died and came back
- He has 2 souls which his eyes might hint at. The 2 souls being his original and yoru
Zoro himself has been close to death many times but has seemingly never actually died. Maybe him dying will lead to him reach the next level for him
Strong enough weapons similar to devil fruits in a way but maybe more specifically zoans have wills of their own separate from the users along with being able to find/pick who wields them
Strong weapons
Zoans
So maybe mihawk went to a transformation similar to zoan awakening with yoru. With all the religious cross and vampire aesthetics he has him actually being an “undead” vampire could be cool