I want you to take what I say with a grain of salt, but also acknowledge this is coming from the "Most Credible Mihawk Fan" MCMF- (Self Proclaimed)
Now like every credible Mihawk fan I have before pondered the possibility of downplaying Mihawk's abilities, you know years ago I really had to think "what if they're right about Mihawk just being Yonko level like Big Mom and he's just gonna be Zoros equivalent of Luffy vs Kaido" etc etc.
And the more I thought about this, the more I realised how BS this take really is. Especially now that we're in the final saga and Oda has given full permission for readers to straight up skip everything pre-final saga and saying this is "THE ONE PIECE" that he's always wanted to draw for decades.
In this sense I think a lot of what has happened can be taken with a less rigid and fact of the matter approach, yet some things have a through line in always being consistent, and I think it's these things we need to pay attention to, or adhere to the validity of.
Now you might be wondering what this has to do with the title of the post, but like any credible reader knows, one cannot simply rush into such territory without first creating a foundation to make said logical leap from. And so I want to construct this trampoline to ensure that it has the highest potential velocity to carry through to the conclusion.
I'm not going to go over the very obvious things every reader should know, so this post assumes you're not a complete idiot, and that you already acknowledge basic facts. If you find I am too trusting your ability to read and acknowledge general truths then perhaps you need to seek professional help.
Now then lets begin:
What distinguishes this rivalry from other rivalries in One Piece, is that because of the fact of "it takes two to tango" different rivalries often don't last, because 1 of 2 individuals ends up being bested and falling to the wayside. You would think a rivalry could also be a back and forth where you win and lose some, but in this game of piracy the reason why many people don't make it to the higher levels of Yonko or PK territory, is that there is very little room to make mistakes, because said mistake could cost you your life, or your career.
Example 1- Chinjao & Garp:
"Chinjao The Drill" Was formerly a pirate who's head was renowned for it's unparalleled hardness. He prided himself when it came to the sheer destruction he could cause with his Drill like head, this manifesting in the form of his signature move "Drill Dragon".
However, once he lost to Garp, he was never the same in a physical sense and a mental sense, because believe it or not getting your skull caved in can impact both. Because of this he was devastated that he lost his symbol of pride, and his career in Piracy which he abandoned, instead looking to raise up the next generation.
Did Garp use this permanent infusion haki that Morj is going on about, so Chinjao's head couldn't bounce back? ultimately it doesn't matter too much because the point is that Chinjao ended up falling to the wayside, and didn't go on to become a legend on the same status of the greats. He actually ended up becoming a gatekeeper for individuals who wanted to get to that level:
Example 2- Moria & Kaido:
Gecko Moria of the "Gecko Pirates" were globally recognised. They ended up gaining enough notoriety to the point that they were confident enough to even step foot on Wano and challenge Kaido:
The battle ultimately led to the decimation of Moria's crew and traumatised him. And impacted him in such a negative way, led him to go down dark paths. Reanimating the dead and forging a crew out of living corpses. Moria didn't go on to continue to rival Kaidou after this, and in Kaidou's eyes he was just a "mere warlord". It actually gets more sorry than this because after getting socked in the face by Jinbei, Doffy comes up to him and tells him that he's not even strong enough to be considered a Warlord anymore:
Bro fell off at the end of the day.
Comparison: Mihawk & Shanks:
Unlike these two examples, Mihawk & Shanks's rivalry does not have the same situation where one is beaten by the other in a traumatic way that ultimately diverts the rest of their career, halting them from ever reaching great heights:
The matter is left unsettled first and foremost. (It's a bit interesting how Mihawk is assuming it would be settled this time around despite it not being settled prior, showing how Mihawk is confident he'd beat Shanks but it not being worth beating a one-armed man but oh well) As well as this, both go on to accrue respectable positions in their own rights. Shanks goes on to become one of the four Yonkou, and Mihawk instead of falling of the wayside like Chinjao & Moria, goes on to be renowned as the Worlds Strongest Swordsman, the title and throne that Shanks ultimately chose to give up on, for the sake of the next generation.
I could go into magazine statements and whatnot, a lot of extra stuff that you might say "okay thats cool", yet none of these things hold the same weight as what I am about to show, which is:
This statement from Oda really does encompass a lot. If we think about what a dream confrontation means, we can come up with different things:
The Dream Confrontation- In other words the most fantasised about, dreamt about and anticipated fight in One Piece. Go on Reddit right now, and you will see an abundance of threads to do with this specific match up. Every. Single. Day. No one can shut up about this matchup, it is the most hyped and the most wanted bout.
Other series that make reference to One Piece literally reference this fight. If you're into One Piece you cannot escape this topic. Oda knows this.
Now it's also the Dream Confrontation in the sense that, it wouldn't be much of a dream matchup if one just completely outclasses the other. Kaido vs Moria or Garp.
Now did Oda ever call Akainu vs Aokiji a dream confrontation? did he call Big Mom vs Kaido the dream confrontation? did he call WB vs Roger The. Dream. Confrontation?
Only Mihawk vs Shanks has this kind of portrayal, in and out of the series. So that brings us to the next question:
Why haven't we seen it? because people love to say, especially shanks tards right, that shanks was just sOoOoOo much weaker back then.
Well if that's the case, if they were really that much weaker, this works either way really. They were sooooo much weaker, yet WB the Worlds Strongest Man is bringing those duels up, they were soooooo much weaker, well, why not just show that clash? as set up for what to have expected in the new world?
You know we could have just seen YC1+ mihawk and shanks clashing and it it shows haki like katakuri and luffys clash, and it would be all good. But instead, nothing.
You know what we do get though? Roger vs WB. Before a much weaker Mihawk and Shanks?. Could it really be that, if Oda showed this fight earlier on, it would make Roger and WB look bad?. Because we know for example that Shanks at 1 Bil bounty had an ability to cancel out Obs haki.
Did you see Kaido do this? Big mom? Ray? Scopper? Akainu? Sengoku? Garp? Roger? WB?. Or could it be that Mihawk and Shanks are both generational talents on the highest level? with a genius level understanding of haki, one using abilities we've seen no one use, and the other forging a black blade. Remember, Shanks is capable of emulating the move of the Pirate King, from what he saw of Roger when he was just a boy, this is the level of genius we are talking about:
Shanks has an innate talent to unleash the same attack as the Pirate King, something for example Big Mom or Kaido don't have the talent to do, otherwise we'd have seen Kaido imitating something he saw from Xebec or WB, or Roger for example. But no, because he doesn't have that raw capability. Kaido definitely did look up to Roger didn't he? but instead of doing what Roger did, he uses Roger as an example, instead of being able to become that example.
Did you see Kaidos bagua causing a fucking shockwave explosion? Did you even see Rogers Kamusari doing that? If we look at objectively how Shanks is being portrayed. Without any ifs or buts, Oda chose to make Shanks's Kamusari intentionally for a fact. Narratively he made this decision. People are going to react based off what they see, and they saw Shanks Kamusari as a better version of Rogers.
So not only is Shanks emulating Roger, but he's also looking better than him whilst doing it. And even when Shanks is such a genius in swordsmanship to look at Rogers move as a child, then go on to copy it, Mihawk's swordsmanship is still above Shanks. These are the types of Monsters we are talking about:
Oda didn't give Mihawk a black blade for you to question the validity of it because Roger didn't have one, he gave Mihawk a black blade to show Mihawk is on a level Roger isn't on. And so when it comes to the nature of Mihawk and Shanks fight, it could be that one of the reasons why Oda chosen to keep this particular lid shut, is that it would reveal to us a level of haki and combat that would make everything else seem dull. Because even back then they had already surpassed the previous generation.
Which of course is a given, it would be incredibly stupid for the main characters of this shounen series to look up to, and make their goal individuals who are still weaker than the previous generation "Oh too bad luffy, you were born in the wrong era even though it's the greatest era of piracy, you really should have been around for Roger who is stronger than Mihawk and Shanks to use as a stepping stone"
Now like every credible Mihawk fan I have before pondered the possibility of downplaying Mihawk's abilities, you know years ago I really had to think "what if they're right about Mihawk just being Yonko level like Big Mom and he's just gonna be Zoros equivalent of Luffy vs Kaido" etc etc.
And the more I thought about this, the more I realised how BS this take really is. Especially now that we're in the final saga and Oda has given full permission for readers to straight up skip everything pre-final saga and saying this is "THE ONE PIECE" that he's always wanted to draw for decades.
In this sense I think a lot of what has happened can be taken with a less rigid and fact of the matter approach, yet some things have a through line in always being consistent, and I think it's these things we need to pay attention to, or adhere to the validity of.
Now you might be wondering what this has to do with the title of the post, but like any credible reader knows, one cannot simply rush into such territory without first creating a foundation to make said logical leap from. And so I want to construct this trampoline to ensure that it has the highest potential velocity to carry through to the conclusion.
I'm not going to go over the very obvious things every reader should know, so this post assumes you're not a complete idiot, and that you already acknowledge basic facts. If you find I am too trusting your ability to read and acknowledge general truths then perhaps you need to seek professional help.
Now then lets begin:
What distinguishes this rivalry from other rivalries in One Piece, is that because of the fact of "it takes two to tango" different rivalries often don't last, because 1 of 2 individuals ends up being bested and falling to the wayside. You would think a rivalry could also be a back and forth where you win and lose some, but in this game of piracy the reason why many people don't make it to the higher levels of Yonko or PK territory, is that there is very little room to make mistakes, because said mistake could cost you your life, or your career.
"Chinjao The Drill" Was formerly a pirate who's head was renowned for it's unparalleled hardness. He prided himself when it came to the sheer destruction he could cause with his Drill like head, this manifesting in the form of his signature move "Drill Dragon".
However, once he lost to Garp, he was never the same in a physical sense and a mental sense, because believe it or not getting your skull caved in can impact both. Because of this he was devastated that he lost his symbol of pride, and his career in Piracy which he abandoned, instead looking to raise up the next generation.
Did Garp use this permanent infusion haki that Morj is going on about, so Chinjao's head couldn't bounce back? ultimately it doesn't matter too much because the point is that Chinjao ended up falling to the wayside, and didn't go on to become a legend on the same status of the greats. He actually ended up becoming a gatekeeper for individuals who wanted to get to that level:
Gecko Moria of the "Gecko Pirates" were globally recognised. They ended up gaining enough notoriety to the point that they were confident enough to even step foot on Wano and challenge Kaido:
The battle ultimately led to the decimation of Moria's crew and traumatised him. And impacted him in such a negative way, led him to go down dark paths. Reanimating the dead and forging a crew out of living corpses. Moria didn't go on to continue to rival Kaidou after this, and in Kaidou's eyes he was just a "mere warlord". It actually gets more sorry than this because after getting socked in the face by Jinbei, Doffy comes up to him and tells him that he's not even strong enough to be considered a Warlord anymore:
Comparison: Mihawk & Shanks:
Unlike these two examples, Mihawk & Shanks's rivalry does not have the same situation where one is beaten by the other in a traumatic way that ultimately diverts the rest of their career, halting them from ever reaching great heights:
The matter is left unsettled first and foremost. (It's a bit interesting how Mihawk is assuming it would be settled this time around despite it not being settled prior, showing how Mihawk is confident he'd beat Shanks but it not being worth beating a one-armed man but oh well) As well as this, both go on to accrue respectable positions in their own rights. Shanks goes on to become one of the four Yonkou, and Mihawk instead of falling of the wayside like Chinjao & Moria, goes on to be renowned as the Worlds Strongest Swordsman, the title and throne that Shanks ultimately chose to give up on, for the sake of the next generation.
I could go into magazine statements and whatnot, a lot of extra stuff that you might say "okay thats cool", yet none of these things hold the same weight as what I am about to show, which is:
The Dream Confrontation- In other words the most fantasised about, dreamt about and anticipated fight in One Piece. Go on Reddit right now, and you will see an abundance of threads to do with this specific match up. Every. Single. Day. No one can shut up about this matchup, it is the most hyped and the most wanted bout.
Other series that make reference to One Piece literally reference this fight. If you're into One Piece you cannot escape this topic. Oda knows this.
Now it's also the Dream Confrontation in the sense that, it wouldn't be much of a dream matchup if one just completely outclasses the other. Kaido vs Moria or Garp.
Now did Oda ever call Akainu vs Aokiji a dream confrontation? did he call Big Mom vs Kaido the dream confrontation? did he call WB vs Roger The. Dream. Confrontation?
Only Mihawk vs Shanks has this kind of portrayal, in and out of the series. So that brings us to the next question:
Why haven't we seen it? because people love to say, especially shanks tards right, that shanks was just sOoOoOo much weaker back then.
Well if that's the case, if they were really that much weaker, this works either way really. They were sooooo much weaker, yet WB the Worlds Strongest Man is bringing those duels up, they were soooooo much weaker, well, why not just show that clash? as set up for what to have expected in the new world?
You know we could have just seen YC1+ mihawk and shanks clashing and it it shows haki like katakuri and luffys clash, and it would be all good. But instead, nothing.
You know what we do get though? Roger vs WB. Before a much weaker Mihawk and Shanks?. Could it really be that, if Oda showed this fight earlier on, it would make Roger and WB look bad?. Because we know for example that Shanks at 1 Bil bounty had an ability to cancel out Obs haki.
Did you see Kaido do this? Big mom? Ray? Scopper? Akainu? Sengoku? Garp? Roger? WB?. Or could it be that Mihawk and Shanks are both generational talents on the highest level? with a genius level understanding of haki, one using abilities we've seen no one use, and the other forging a black blade. Remember, Shanks is capable of emulating the move of the Pirate King, from what he saw of Roger when he was just a boy, this is the level of genius we are talking about:
Shanks has an innate talent to unleash the same attack as the Pirate King, something for example Big Mom or Kaido don't have the talent to do, otherwise we'd have seen Kaido imitating something he saw from Xebec or WB, or Roger for example. But no, because he doesn't have that raw capability. Kaido definitely did look up to Roger didn't he? but instead of doing what Roger did, he uses Roger as an example, instead of being able to become that example.
Did you see Kaidos bagua causing a fucking shockwave explosion? Did you even see Rogers Kamusari doing that? If we look at objectively how Shanks is being portrayed. Without any ifs or buts, Oda chose to make Shanks's Kamusari intentionally for a fact. Narratively he made this decision. People are going to react based off what they see, and they saw Shanks Kamusari as a better version of Rogers.
So not only is Shanks emulating Roger, but he's also looking better than him whilst doing it. And even when Shanks is such a genius in swordsmanship to look at Rogers move as a child, then go on to copy it, Mihawk's swordsmanship is still above Shanks. These are the types of Monsters we are talking about:
Oda didn't give Mihawk a black blade for you to question the validity of it because Roger didn't have one, he gave Mihawk a black blade to show Mihawk is on a level Roger isn't on. And so when it comes to the nature of Mihawk and Shanks fight, it could be that one of the reasons why Oda chosen to keep this particular lid shut, is that it would reveal to us a level of haki and combat that would make everything else seem dull. Because even back then they had already surpassed the previous generation.
Which of course is a given, it would be incredibly stupid for the main characters of this shounen series to look up to, and make their goal individuals who are still weaker than the previous generation "Oh too bad luffy, you were born in the wrong era even though it's the greatest era of piracy, you really should have been around for Roger who is stronger than Mihawk and Shanks to use as a stepping stone"
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