Well, to make up for the massacre they did to my boy up there at the warlord meeting, I'll share actually decent analysis. This is Part 1 about how Mihawk's visual symbolism tells us about his character:
Mihawk wa mou shindeiru but not really.
He's figuratively dead. In a literary sense. But not in a literal sense. Well, you'll see.
Start with Yoru. Mihawk’s most striking visual symbolism for me
is that he’s a vampire is that of a crucified person.
Please note that I’m not saying Mihawk is Jesus. It’s just a method of execution. Nobody in OP is supposed to be Jesus except the guy literally named Jesus, and he’s not even a good person…
Anyway, Mihawk is, of course, surrounded by crosses in his daily life, but Yoru is especially significant. Unlike the kogatana, which could serve as a rosary allusion or just exist because Oda likes to give people necklaces, Yoru is entirely preposterous and unlike anything from real life and it’s unique in the OP world.
Oda could have just given him a generic cross-shaped sword. He didn’t have to give him a bigass 7+ foot walking and seating impediment with a crossbar and grip extending so far that he probably snags it on low-hanging power lines. No one else has such a weird and oversized sword! (Law excluded, but his is based on a real sword more than Mihawk's is). In one of the Color Walk spec drawings, Oda even mentioned that Mihawk shouldn’t be able to sit down in his boat while wearing it, but he can, because well, he’s Mihawk!
Besides looking damn fine with his aesthetic, what does Yoru’s crucifixion symbolism mean?
Is Mihawk a condemned man? Did he commit a crime? Is he marked for death?
Wellll, to be fair, any manga character with the prefix “World’s strongest” before their title is technically marked for death, but I don’t think Oda means to do that to my boy.
Mihawk’s crucifixion symbolism is related to what Zoro said at the Baratie to Luffy and Usopp.
To be a great swordfighter means to fight fearlessly and to never hesitate due to concerns about one’s own safety. Zoro says in Japanese that he gave up or threw away his life.
剣士として最強を目指すと決めた時から命なんてとうに捨ててる
This scene from the 3D2Y special is a great example of Mihawk’s fearlessness. Yeah, it's from a special, but it's very in-character. He knows instantly what to do and he reacts without thinking
Mihawk’s crucifixion is a symbol of the fact that to be the greatest, a swordfighter needs to think of their life as already forfeit. That doesn’t mean taking unnecessary risks, but attachment to one’s own life shouldn’t figure into the equation. Zoro takes this to hilarious extremes at Little Garden when he tries to cut off his feet.
Yoru’s giant size represents the weight of the burden that Mihawk must bear. It’s not all fun and games being WSS and Mihawk’s blasé attitude, represented by Yoru, contrasts well with Zoro’s puppy-like eagerness at the Baratie. He knows that despite Zoro’s enthusiasm, he doesn’t truly grasp the significance of the title or what life for the titleholder is really like. To be the greatest, you have to live like you’re already dead.
