TLDR: Mihawk and his rival/best friend wanted to be the world's strongest swordsmen, but she was a woman. Mihawk's friend became a Marine, which led to something Mihawk considered to be a betrayal, and Mihawk murdered his friend, becoming the Marine Hunter, and breaking himself in the process. Now, Mihawk wants to die by the blade to atone for his sin, and seeks a swordsman who is strong enough to kill him. Mihawk joined Cross Guild because while the OG Marines (Sengoku, Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru) weren't Swordsmen, Fujitora and Ryokugyu are. Mihawk is using Cross Guild to hunt the two sword-using Admirals, and will go after Green Bull, after hearing Green Bull took down Weevil.
Tashigi's dream is to collect every graded sword from criminals in the world. Mihawk is the worst graded sword-using criminal in the world by Marine standards. Tashigi is Kuina's cousin, also a Shimotsuki whose family left Wano and settled elsewhere. Mihawk will nearly kill Tashigi when she fights him for Yoru, and Zoro will save Tashigi, thus honoring Kuina's legacy, and kill Mihawk to set him free, making Zoro the World's Strongest Swordsman. Yoru will serve as Mihawk's grave marker.
Why is Mihawk this sad and lonely? Dude ONLY cares about swords, and finding someone who can defeat him. So, he wants to lose, to be defeated. Why? Well... what if he is just like Zoro, but chose the sword over his friend?
Kuina and Zoro fought fatefully with real blades to settle their score. Kuina had the chance to kill Zoro, but chose not to. What if Mihawk's story was very close, but just different enough to destroy Mihawk's mind? What if Mihawk, like Zoro, was the underdog... but won? What if he fought his real friend, his rival, to settle the score, and Mihawk's friend died in the process?
That would explain SOOOOO much about his behavior. He's a broken man who wants to die to the sword because that power is all he has left, what he gave up his Nakam for. Since he betrayed swordmanship, lost control, and killed his friend, he believes only death by swordfighting, and creating the World's Strongest Swordsman, can Mihawk atone for his sin.
I bet that Mihawk made a similar promise to his friend as Zoro did to Kuina; that one of them would be the world's strongest swordsmen.
"Sorry, Red-Haired... but this power knows no restraint."
This is why Mihawk fight weak swordsmen with a butterknife; he learned from his past, and only uses overwhelming power either for work (like Marineford), or if he deems it worth his time.
Shanks could no longer satisfy Mihawk once his sword skill was cut in half by his loss of his arm; Mihawk does not want to die to Haki, but to the sword.
Zoro is also connected so heavily to death, and who does Zoro meet/help bring to Mihawk, yep, the ghost girl Perona. it's all in reference to Mihawk's dead friend. This is also why Mihawk is so weird around Perona, and tolerates her randomly showing up in his freaking castle; since she's a ghost girl, he doesn't know how to handle her inherently. I heavily believe the person Mihawk killed was a woman he cared deeply for, like with Zoro and Kuina's case.
(you have no idea how tempted I was to use a shitty old Dressrosa translation for this, but I chose the better quality image because I have some standards. SOME)
It could have been a male friend of the same age, a female friend who was an actual love interest, an older man he was trying to kill, like Zoro is seeking out him, or an older woman who he chased after but refuted him. The romance doesn't really matter here, and Oda could add it if he wanted to make Perona fit in more like "the child Mihawk could have had with his lover", but, eh, I'd be happier with it being more platonic like Kuina and Zoro.
Point is, Mihawk killed the person he cared about most with his own blade, and has been a cold blooded, broken bastard ever since, with Shanks being the one guy who could make him smile, until he met the one mutherfucker who could beat Death in a fight:
This is why Mihawk believes Zoro can surpass him; while Mihawk chose the blade over his friend, Zoro's thoughts were on Luffy when he was defeated, not himself and his own power:
Zoro is willing to fight past death however many times it takes, until Kuina's name is known through the Heavens, and Luffy's name is known through the Seas. That is why Zoro is the only one who can make Mihawk smile; just as Kaido wanted Joy Boy to kill him, Mihawk wants to be ended by the World's Strongest Swordsmen, which is why he only challenges swordsmen to serious duels.
Some bonus content for possible future plotlines:
The reason Mihawk joined Cross Guild was because Fujitora and Ryokugyu are both swordsmen, while none of the previous Admirals were (wouldn't be surprised if in the past Mihawk murdered an Admiral/cut their arm off, hence his Marine Hunter title and becoming a Shichibukai, because the Marines realized Mihawk was fucking crazy and strong enough to try to kill an Admiral if they were a skilled swordsman). Cross Guild gives Mihawk a worldwide communication network to let him know where Fuji and Green Bull are so he can hunt them down.
So, if I had to guess, Mihawk is about to fight Green Bull, who kidnapped Weevil recently, after hearing about that incident. Fuji's been off the radar as far as we know, still hunting Luffy and Law.
Based on the recent SBS, it's also possible the Marine who betrayed Mihawk WAS his friend, and he had to kill his Marine friend in combat (mirroring Luffy and Koby fighting at Marineford). That would be very grim and bitter, and fit the series' tone well IMO, so it's my leading theory, as it also fills in Zoro's "rivalry" (I will never forgive you for this Oda you sick sexist son of a bitch) with Tashigi as a Marine Swordswoman, while also connecting to Kuina's death, which works because Tashigi is Kuina-coded as hell to begin with.
If I had to guess where Mihawk's arc would lead if I'm right about his past, Tashigi, a Marine swordswoman will challenge Mihawk eventually to claim his blade, since he's a pirate and she wants to collect all the famous blades from criminals, and Zoro will, once a-fucking-gain, save Tashigi (Kuina's Shimotsuki cousin) from Mihawk. Zoro will have become the Strongest Swordsman in the World by being able to protect everyone he cares about, not just by being able to defeat any other swordsmen. While he couldn't save Kuina, he'll save Tashigi, her family, from Mihawk, kill Mihawk, and become the world's strongest swordsman. Whooooooooooo. He's the best, he's better. Luffy's better though because FUCK is Kizaru getting messed up in Egghead, damn, man caught strays at the end of this arc when everyone least expected it.
Fucking Pizza diffed.
Anyway.
Mihawk falls to the ground, as Zoro lifts his sword in the air, both he and Tashigi hanging tightly onto the other to avoid toppling over.
Zoro: "I've done it... Can you hear me, world?!? HEAVEN AND HELL! RORONOA ZORO AND SHIMOTSUKI KUINA ARE THE GREATEST SWORDSMEN IN THE WORLD!"
The sky parts, and sunlights shines down upon Zoro as he laughs
Tashigi blinks:, crying tears of surprise, and whispers "Wait... how do you know that name???"
Zoro sighs, and says, "Well, if you'll actually listen to me for once, I guess I've got a hell of a story to tell you."
(@Kizaruber Eats I know you won't read the whole thread lol, but there's a Perona section you might like)
(also no I'm not a Tashigi-Zoro shipper, I'm a Hiyori-Zoro shipper because Momo constantly being upstaged by his brother in law being a better swordsman that he is sounds absolutely fucking hilarious to my clown ass).
Tashigi's dream is to collect every graded sword from criminals in the world. Mihawk is the worst graded sword-using criminal in the world by Marine standards. Tashigi is Kuina's cousin, also a Shimotsuki whose family left Wano and settled elsewhere. Mihawk will nearly kill Tashigi when she fights him for Yoru, and Zoro will save Tashigi, thus honoring Kuina's legacy, and kill Mihawk to set him free, making Zoro the World's Strongest Swordsman. Yoru will serve as Mihawk's grave marker.
Why is Mihawk this sad and lonely? Dude ONLY cares about swords, and finding someone who can defeat him. So, he wants to lose, to be defeated. Why? Well... what if he is just like Zoro, but chose the sword over his friend?
Kuina and Zoro fought fatefully with real blades to settle their score. Kuina had the chance to kill Zoro, but chose not to. What if Mihawk's story was very close, but just different enough to destroy Mihawk's mind? What if Mihawk, like Zoro, was the underdog... but won? What if he fought his real friend, his rival, to settle the score, and Mihawk's friend died in the process?
That would explain SOOOOO much about his behavior. He's a broken man who wants to die to the sword because that power is all he has left, what he gave up his Nakam for. Since he betrayed swordmanship, lost control, and killed his friend, he believes only death by swordfighting, and creating the World's Strongest Swordsman, can Mihawk atone for his sin.
I bet that Mihawk made a similar promise to his friend as Zoro did to Kuina; that one of them would be the world's strongest swordsmen.
"Sorry, Red-Haired... but this power knows no restraint."
This is why Mihawk fight weak swordsmen with a butterknife; he learned from his past, and only uses overwhelming power either for work (like Marineford), or if he deems it worth his time.
Shanks could no longer satisfy Mihawk once his sword skill was cut in half by his loss of his arm; Mihawk does not want to die to Haki, but to the sword.
Zoro is also connected so heavily to death, and who does Zoro meet/help bring to Mihawk, yep, the ghost girl Perona. it's all in reference to Mihawk's dead friend. This is also why Mihawk is so weird around Perona, and tolerates her randomly showing up in his freaking castle; since she's a ghost girl, he doesn't know how to handle her inherently. I heavily believe the person Mihawk killed was a woman he cared deeply for, like with Zoro and Kuina's case.
(you have no idea how tempted I was to use a shitty old Dressrosa translation for this, but I chose the better quality image because I have some standards. SOME)
It could have been a male friend of the same age, a female friend who was an actual love interest, an older man he was trying to kill, like Zoro is seeking out him, or an older woman who he chased after but refuted him. The romance doesn't really matter here, and Oda could add it if he wanted to make Perona fit in more like "the child Mihawk could have had with his lover", but, eh, I'd be happier with it being more platonic like Kuina and Zoro.
Point is, Mihawk killed the person he cared about most with his own blade, and has been a cold blooded, broken bastard ever since, with Shanks being the one guy who could make him smile, until he met the one mutherfucker who could beat Death in a fight:
This is why Mihawk believes Zoro can surpass him; while Mihawk chose the blade over his friend, Zoro's thoughts were on Luffy when he was defeated, not himself and his own power:
Zoro is willing to fight past death however many times it takes, until Kuina's name is known through the Heavens, and Luffy's name is known through the Seas. That is why Zoro is the only one who can make Mihawk smile; just as Kaido wanted Joy Boy to kill him, Mihawk wants to be ended by the World's Strongest Swordsmen, which is why he only challenges swordsmen to serious duels.
Some bonus content for possible future plotlines:
The reason Mihawk joined Cross Guild was because Fujitora and Ryokugyu are both swordsmen, while none of the previous Admirals were (wouldn't be surprised if in the past Mihawk murdered an Admiral/cut their arm off, hence his Marine Hunter title and becoming a Shichibukai, because the Marines realized Mihawk was fucking crazy and strong enough to try to kill an Admiral if they were a skilled swordsman). Cross Guild gives Mihawk a worldwide communication network to let him know where Fuji and Green Bull are so he can hunt them down.
So, if I had to guess, Mihawk is about to fight Green Bull, who kidnapped Weevil recently, after hearing about that incident. Fuji's been off the radar as far as we know, still hunting Luffy and Law.
Based on the recent SBS, it's also possible the Marine who betrayed Mihawk WAS his friend, and he had to kill his Marine friend in combat (mirroring Luffy and Koby fighting at Marineford). That would be very grim and bitter, and fit the series' tone well IMO, so it's my leading theory, as it also fills in Zoro's "rivalry" (I will never forgive you for this Oda you sick sexist son of a bitch) with Tashigi as a Marine Swordswoman, while also connecting to Kuina's death, which works because Tashigi is Kuina-coded as hell to begin with.
If I had to guess where Mihawk's arc would lead if I'm right about his past, Tashigi, a Marine swordswoman will challenge Mihawk eventually to claim his blade, since he's a pirate and she wants to collect all the famous blades from criminals, and Zoro will, once a-fucking-gain, save Tashigi (Kuina's Shimotsuki cousin) from Mihawk. Zoro will have become the Strongest Swordsman in the World by being able to protect everyone he cares about, not just by being able to defeat any other swordsmen. While he couldn't save Kuina, he'll save Tashigi, her family, from Mihawk, kill Mihawk, and become the world's strongest swordsman. Whooooooooooo. He's the best, he's better. Luffy's better though because FUCK is Kizaru getting messed up in Egghead, damn, man caught strays at the end of this arc when everyone least expected it.
Fucking Pizza diffed.
Anyway.
Mihawk falls to the ground, as Zoro lifts his sword in the air, both he and Tashigi hanging tightly onto the other to avoid toppling over.
Zoro: "I've done it... Can you hear me, world?!? HEAVEN AND HELL! RORONOA ZORO AND SHIMOTSUKI KUINA ARE THE GREATEST SWORDSMEN IN THE WORLD!"
The sky parts, and sunlights shines down upon Zoro as he laughs
Tashigi blinks:, crying tears of surprise, and whispers "Wait... how do you know that name???"
Zoro sighs, and says, "Well, if you'll actually listen to me for once, I guess I've got a hell of a story to tell you."
(@Kizaruber Eats I know you won't read the whole thread lol, but there's a Perona section you might like)
(also no I'm not a Tashigi-Zoro shipper, I'm a Hiyori-Zoro shipper because Momo constantly being upstaged by his brother in law being a better swordsman that he is sounds absolutely fucking hilarious to my clown ass).
