Bruh, its not just relevance to the story, its actual portrayal of character. When has Mihawk actually done something other than shit on Luffy/Zoro/Mr. 1 and cut a tidal wave?
That is my point. Im not talking about "relevancy" when it comes to who is a main character vs who isn't. Nami clearly isn't stronger than Akainu, yet she is a vastly more important character. Katakuri was in 25 chapters as an opponent for Luffy. King has been around for ~75 chapters and doesn't even have a solidified opponent yet. I AGREE that presence doesn't equate to strength. What I am talking about is PORTRAYAL.
The mangaka has shown us plenty of different moments where Shanks just strait up rivals virtually every other top tier in the series. The only thing Mihawk has had in the entirely of this manga is hype behind a title and known history of fighting Shanks, who he is basically friends with.
So I don't get it. I'm not even saying Mihawk is weaker, but I do think using his title is a piss poor argument when it comes to comparing him to one of the 4 strongest pirates in the world, who has presently and clearly shown more top tier feats compared to Mihawk.
I'm just saying, if Mihawk allies with Shanks after losing his Shicibukai title, since he has virtually no other direction in this story aside from waiting for Zoro and being friends with Shanks, what are people going to say then?
Like I've said, Shanks' standing in the world eclipses Mihawk's. On one hand, you have Mihawk being used as a tool to fight Whitebeard in a needless war, who REFUSED to fight Shanks once arrived. On the other, you have someone who was respected by Sengoku enough to entirely halt the war.
All I've ever said was you all need to be patient instead of blindly fanboying the WSS title. Its getting a little ridiculous at this point.