Ofc I am in.
Mihawk is like the Sephiroth of the series for Zoro. All that teasing and hype surrounding is very similarly told:
- Oda established Zoro as a monster in East Blue through his reputation, durability, loyalty, and fights.
- He has to surpass a man to accomplish his dream
- Its Gin who is starting to show glimpses of how terrifying by being essentially a one man army taking down a whole fleet of ships.
- The strongest swordsman literally lives up to his reputation by cutting a giant ship and deflecting bullets with extreme precision.
- Mihawk literally puts Zoro in his place giving us glimpse on how insignificant our main characters are in comparison to the world.
- He has abs, strong, stylish cold, intimidating, and yet he is honorable and able to see the potential in people.
- Mihawk dares Zoro to become stronger, discover, and to challenge him again when he is ready.
- No wonder he has become a fan favorite through out the years. What a first impression and way to get fans hype for the future.
- We learns that he is part of a bigger universe by being a member of the Warlords to keep the world in check.
- He happens to know Shanks and thus making the world bigger and smaller at the same time.
- We see him again after Crocodile's defeat and Sengoku never expected him to come and is always intrigued by Luffy's rise.
- Mihawk is seen at the Schichibukai table and despite being the smallest he may be the strongest among among them at that time.
- During the battle, Oda clearly shows as little as possible on what the WSS can do. Just the sight of him being a little in action made me excited.
- Luffy is completely outclassed by everyone in Marineford and Mihawk is no exception. Despite growing stronger, our MC is still no match for him. He is literally an ant that could be stepped by countless boots when Hawkeye pinpoints his position in a crowded battlefield, and cut the giant frozen Tsunami.
- As we all know, he trains Zoro who until Wano is able to pretty squash any competition which speaks volume on how freaking powerful Mihawk is.
- One notable example is Hody, he is a very powerful Fishman who caused troubles for them in Arlong Park especially underwater. After two years of training, Marimo literally one shots him on his turf.
- Its important to point that Zoro was able push back the attack of an Admiral who were literally death sentences in part 1. He is clearly not strong enough to take him on but he is getting closer. Mihawk would clearly be able to go toe to toe with one.
- Despite all of this (before Wano), Oda is cleverly telling that Zoro is still no match for him. He has yet to learn to make his sword (Enma) permanently black. He has yet to acquire Nidai Kitestu which was teased since a sword nerd told us about it since Loguetown.
His rivalry with Shanks ( I am not debating who is stronger) deserves its own hype bullet lists:
- A Schichibukai facing a Yonku is not rare. Crocodile fought and lost against WB. Moria challenged Kaidou in Wano and lost his crew.
- Here is the thing, Mihawk challenged Shanks and never lost one fight. He is clearly above his peers.
- Wb already considered Red Hair a strong pirate to the point that even the Yonku was surprised when he lost his arm.
- Shanks uses Mihawk's name to persuade WB not to pursue Teach.
- Red Hair is no slouch himself. He is the former inheritor of Roger's will. Its obvious that the Pk saw that Red Hair as a successor capable to be as good as him in everything including battle.
- Shanks was able to live up to his former captain's expectations and be a Yonku. His fighting style is clearly reminiscent of Roger.
- Mihawk being able to go against the direct successor of Roger is telling of how strong he is.
Oda brilliantly teases us and imply through hype, mysteries, and world building how Mihawk lives up to his reputation.
PS: The only thing that Mihawk could not teach Zoro is how to handle Tashigi