I have spoken before how many of One Piece's end-game strongest characters are inspired by the Journey to the West and One Piece itself also being a journey towards the west, on the Grand Line, so to say... I drew many parallels with recent manhua(?) of the same name and today I would like to take under the loupe the strongest character of the same author who wrote Journey to the West but in a different work that came before it - Feng Shen Ji.
This is another speculation about Mihawk's power. If you are not interested, feel free not to read further.
At some point, Oda will have to flesh out his powers and explain why he is what he is - the ultimate challenge.
It is the most important opponent Zoro will ever have so you could imagine that quite some planning will go into Mihawk's abilities.
When Oda says he has to take a break to do some research for the manga, he probably just ends up reading the work of others and stealing their ideas and transforming them a little before incorporating them into his own work. Or he just calls in sick while actually taking a trip to Africa...
So, while researching potential abilities that he might plan to give to Mihawk, reading Feng Shen Ji might be one of those sources...
Why do I think that?
Well, I have been putting quite some thought into how Oda can make all 10 Strawhats make an impact in the world and be unparalleled.
Obviously, it will be done through their dreams because Dreams are one of the main pillars of the One Piece story.
I have said before that I think all 10 Strawhat members will have impossible dreams - something no other can achieve.
How would Zoro's impossible dream reflect onto the world and what does it mean to be impossible?
It means he has to do what no one else can - beat Mihawk. Only that way, Zoro's dream is impossible.
How is that actually achieved? Just by making Mihawk the strongest in 1vs1 among all in existence?
Well yeah but that is a very simplified answer and I want to go deeper into it.
The strongest character of Feng Shen Ji is an Ancient God named Hei Long, usually just called Tian(Heaven).
He is straight up without equal, invincible and unbeatable. The number of opponents plays no role to him.
Even the MC of that manga or manhua, whatever it is, idk the difference, doesn't stand a chance against him.
And that says a lot considering that the MC is a child of prophecy, stacked with all the possible abilities.
And MC himself knows beating Tian is straight up impossible and instead proposes a challenge - to take his spear away from him.
That is how the MC achieved "victory" while actually beating Tian was never an option. Nobody ever came close to it.
Does that sound like a solid inspiration for Mihawk, the impossible dream? Absolutely!
Let's take a look at the possible parallels between Mihawk and Tian:
Tian is an Ancient God with 2 dragons growing out of his back and supreme commander of a huge beast that obeys him - also a dragon.
Mihawk's name Dracule means son of a dragon so they have a dragon connection of some sort.
He wields the strongest weapon in the show - the blood spear while Mihawk also wields the strongest weapon - the black blade Yoru.
The connection through the strongest weapons is also there.
There is also a parallel in their personality, they do not remember the names of individuals that they do not consider strong.
Another parallel is that they do not draw their weapons for people they don't take seriously or find outstanding in any way.
Another parallel is that Tian likes to impale his opponent, with his spear or the long dragons that grow out of his back.
Mihawk is based on Vlad the Impaler and wanted to impale Luffy in Marineford.
Another parallel is that Tian sees everything in the world despite not being physically present.
Some events in OP could explain Mihawk's concept nickname being Clairvoyant, the hawk eyes that see everything.
Another thing is that Tian as well is severely holding back his true power most of the time.
This brings us to the core ability that makes Tian invincible - the strongest among Divine Powers - Monochromatic Wall.
While Tian possesses many abilities himself, despite not being as stacked as the MC of that show, this is the ability that nobody can beat.
The MC himself has the same ability but the one from Tian is on a whole different level.
So, what is a Monochromatic Wall?
It is a power that creates pressure in all directions once activated and shades the surroundings into black and white in its domain.
Invisible barrier so to say which suffocates and gets stronger the closer you are to Tian.
Sounds unimpressive? Well, far from it because nobody has managed to fully break through it, at least not when he is actively using it.
And there is another stage to it that only Tian achieved, a White Wall that blinds everything in the vicinity and increases the pressure further.
To the point of blood vessels being ruptured on one of the strongest characters in the show(top 3?) just from being in the vicinity of it.
Is there anything in One Piece that resembles this power? Of course there is!
Haki barrier itself!
We have literally seen back in Fishman Island Zoro demonstrate the same thing that Tian usually does but on a smaller scale.
Hyozou's 8-sword style was stopped in its tracks by a haki barrier. The only difference is that Zoro's wasn't omnidirectional.
But who says it cannot be? After all, Joyboy's rope haki burst was omnidirectional!
Of course, Oda would not copy this 1:1 but this might very well be the inspiration and the reason why Mihawk is unbeatable.
The strongest haki that nobody can break through!
Whether this will also be used the same way Tian does it, in omnidirectional way of just as coating on the sword is unclear.
However, the result is the same - it cannot be beaten unless faced by the same ability that is even stronger aka stronger haki.
To summarize Tian's abilities:
As you can all see, all of these abilities of Tian are very similar to what is doable with no-touch barriers in One Piece world.
The strongest Monochromatic Wall is unbeatable and that is being built up in OP with haki as well.
Since Dressrosa we know this:
>Once I am coated in haki, I am invincible!
>Only if your haki is stronger than mine!
Just like Monochromatic Wall, haki barriers behave nearly the same.
Once activated and placed in front of attacks, they are very rarely being pierced through.
So, considering that Mihawk's haki forged the strongest weapon in the world, his barrier is the strongest.
This is a perfect explanation why nobody is capable of beating Mihawk.
Does it make sense?
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