No because its a fan assumption to sit here and assume Shanks did anything but compete for that title, all while assuming the WSS title has anything to do with Shanks as a whole, who's goals are entirely unknown
This also assumes people need to compete for the WSS for it to automatically apply
Do you know an anime called Afro Samurai? In that anime, theres a title of “God” that is achieved by being in possession of something called The number one head band. The “God” is always automatically assumed in the world to be the most powerful person in the world in reality, its just a title that applies even if you just find the number one headband lying around on a field somewhere
In Afro samurai, the dubiousness around the title of “God” is the point. We are shown and its implied many times that the current God is definitely not the strongest person in the world.
In One piece, this doesnt exist. First of all, only one person wants the title of WSS from Mihawk and if any doubts were supposed to be had about the legitimacy of the title, Zoro is the only person who would care. And in 1000 chapters where Zoro has encountered Rayleigh and Fujitora and Big mom, Zoro has zero doubt that Mihawk is the WSS.
Second, the title is absolute because once again, Zoro decided its absolute. Remember Only Zoro is our POV character here. He’s the only one who wants it unlike in Afro Samurai where the whole world wanted it. So in Zoro’s eyes, if the title is Absolute then by default in the story its absolute.
By this i mean, Zoro wants to actually be stronger than everyone else. He doesnt just want to be called the strongest, he actually wants to absolutely be the strongest. So there cannot be any doubt in that title of Mihawk because if the title can be given to a person who isnt the strongest swordsman then Zoro’s dream no longer works since we will never believe hes actually the strongest
Third, this is word of god. By this I mean whether Shanks wanted the title or not, the story has said hes not the strongest as per mechanics so he is not the strongest.
"far he is from that man",
This isnt what he said. He was talking about the totality of their force compared to the totality of Whitebeard’s force
he says “how far WE are from that man”. Whitebeard here being a representation of his whole force. Hence why Jozu was used to block Mihawk. Because its a fight between all the Navy and warlords and all the whitebeard pirates.
So lets replace Shanks here
Shanks with his whole crew Looks at Whitebeard’s forces from across a field, and Shanks says “how far WE are from that man” and Sends out a slash or shoots a haki blast with his bare hand across hundreds of meters or shoots red lightning or stops time or sends out a CoC wave that disintegrates Matter, WHATEVER you think Shanks can do, do you think he will do something specifically more impressive here? Like Shanks will do something significantly more impressive here against the totality of Whitebeard and his crew
I dont know, doesnt seem to me that Shanks can do better. Him clashing with Whitbeard in a situation thats not even really that hostile while Whitebeard’s crew just barely even acknowledge what hes doing doesnt seem to me to imply that Shanks would do so much better here.
I mean if we want to Wank Shanks, you can give him Roger level portrayal with the Roger clashing with Whitebeard business but even that doesnt show Roger can just swipe his sword at a whole Yonko crew and dismantle them instantly does it? Like Can Roger in Mihawk’s place as well do something significantly more impressive too?
Just as a quick example, lets use Kaido a fellow yonko, in Mihawk’s place, and then lets use a much weaker group than the whitebeard pirates, The red scabbards. And then lets use a good long range opening move, boro breath. Anha? How well did a yonko do against a significantly weaker force in such a situation?
See, we’ve seen by now, attacking entire groups no matter how strong you are doesnt automatically mean you can dismantle them like flies or whatever. Its very easy for someone to just have specific counter for you when attacking entire groups