Future Events Is Mihawk Zoros end opponent?
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This isn't to say that Mihawk should be Zoro's last fight ever, but his final climactic duel to push him and bring his character to fruition? Definitely. Shiryu or the Gorosei guy are nothing in comparison.
Zoro's final opponent should be the one his dream has been focused on since day one. Mihawk doesn't need to be an enemy we hate for the fight to have significance, and the idea that Zoro needs to be some 'good' hero beating an 'evil' enemy for his final fight to have any weight is insulting to his character imo. Defeating the unforgivable villain has always felt more Luffy's thing to me anyway, Zoro's opponents might be scumbags sometimes but never on the level that it's Zoro's incentive on defeating them. Making Zoro's name reaching the heavens to second place to a cliche "good beats evil" is mixing up his priorities, obviously if that's the structure of the story then so be it, but Zoro v Mihawk should always be Zoro's peak.
Also I don't think Oda can build up a character to be a more impressive final fight for Zoro at this point anyway. At best Shiryu will feel like Daz Bonez or King or Hachi; needs to be defeated but Zoro doesn't feel a huge deal towards them, it's more about doing his duty to Luffy. Gandhi is similar, no build up for Zoro personally and as far as strength goes he shouldn't be stronger than Mihawk, unless we want to start moving into Naruto territory of final enemies.
Zoro's final opponent should be the one his dream has been focused on since day one. Mihawk doesn't need to be an enemy we hate for the fight to have significance, and the idea that Zoro needs to be some 'good' hero beating an 'evil' enemy for his final fight to have any weight is insulting to his character imo. Defeating the unforgivable villain has always felt more Luffy's thing to me anyway, Zoro's opponents might be scumbags sometimes but never on the level that it's Zoro's incentive on defeating them. Making Zoro's name reaching the heavens to second place to a cliche "good beats evil" is mixing up his priorities, obviously if that's the structure of the story then so be it, but Zoro v Mihawk should always be Zoro's peak.
Also I don't think Oda can build up a character to be a more impressive final fight for Zoro at this point anyway. At best Shiryu will feel like Daz Bonez or King or Hachi; needs to be defeated but Zoro doesn't feel a huge deal towards them, it's more about doing his duty to Luffy. Gandhi is similar, no build up for Zoro personally and as far as strength goes he shouldn't be stronger than Mihawk, unless we want to start moving into Naruto territory of final enemies.
I don't think so mostly because the expected confrontation doesn't really line up all that well with zoro's backstory, nor what we know of the story so far.
In his backstory zoro missed out on his fated chance to defeat kuina and surpass her as a swordsman. While it may be cathartic in some way for zoro to get his chance with mihawk it would probably be a more interesting catalyst for character growth and parallel if he is also robbed of his chance to grab a W off mihawk as well. I think missing a chance to beat mihawk is the only way to really make zoro's arc come full circle. You can only show definitively that a character has changed on his journey if he is presented with the same challenge of his past, and he overcomes it.
Plus, it seems very difficult to line up mihawk with any of the potential end bosses of OP (Imu, BB, Akainu). The only way I can see mihawk fitting into a final confrontation is if, well, shanks is evil.
In his backstory zoro missed out on his fated chance to defeat kuina and surpass her as a swordsman. While it may be cathartic in some way for zoro to get his chance with mihawk it would probably be a more interesting catalyst for character growth and parallel if he is also robbed of his chance to grab a W off mihawk as well. I think missing a chance to beat mihawk is the only way to really make zoro's arc come full circle. You can only show definitively that a character has changed on his journey if he is presented with the same challenge of his past, and he overcomes it.
Plus, it seems very difficult to line up mihawk with any of the potential end bosses of OP (Imu, BB, Akainu). The only way I can see mihawk fitting into a final confrontation is if, well, shanks is evil.
