Lol at Hawkins not having haki. The first thing he did when he met an unknown, who turned out to be Law, was sensing the unknown was unusually strong, which he could only do with observation haki
Smoker also literally said you can't block Law's slash with a haki on Tashigi lvl, let alone no haki, with Hawkins' subordinates dispatched as fodders, but Hawkins himself able to block the slash, indicating his haki was strong enough to block Law's slash
We don't know what happened in the third encounter. Drake betrayed him.
He could have been caught off guard, but I'd say Hawkins did fine for someone who was nerfed(without his dolls). Hawkins can only transfer damage when he has dolls available. Both Hawkins and Law were injured when we met them(with Law more injured than before), indicating it was probably a close battle until Law managed to seperate him at one point, one way or another
Oda probably had to do this for the plot to advance while preparing Hawkins return as an ally after knowing his drive and motivations without revealing all his cards for the next time when he'd have all his lives, allowing him to use his cards expanding powers beyond natural limits and goma no sou to maximum efficiency
