Because if they fought, it would make Shanks look bad, which would ruin the story going forward.
Shanks is part of Luffy's goal. He is the man Luffy wishes to surpass. He has the most hype out of all of the yonko, even compared to Teach. Buggy even hyped him as a possible successor to Roger.
Mihawk haters love to bring up scenes from east blue or marineford, where Mihawk avoids fighting shanks. But really think about what would happen if the two fought at those moments.
Overall, Oda needs to maintain Shanks's hype, at least until we get to a certain point. What is that point? The final battle for One Piece.
Oda said that going forward, the next chapter will be like an all out brawl, something like that. The current state of the manga seems to reflect this fact, with all 4 yonkos making moves towards finding the One Piece. This will likely culminate in a battle between all 4 yonko.
At that point, Shanks's status as the "closest man to Roger" will no longer be important, as Luffy will be surpassing him, likely by defeating Blackbeard. Since Shanks's status will no longer matter, as Luffy will be facing Teach, Oda can let Mihawk go all out against Zoro, probably show feats better than Shanks, and the status quo won't change.
Luffy will appear to be the strongest SH, in defeating Teach. However Zoro will be a close #2, in beating Mihawk. With both Teach and Mihawk being hyped above Shanks, who was the former benchmark for the very, very top.
Shanks is part of Luffy's goal. He is the man Luffy wishes to surpass. He has the most hype out of all of the yonko, even compared to Teach. Buggy even hyped him as a possible successor to Roger.
Mihawk haters love to bring up scenes from east blue or marineford, where Mihawk avoids fighting shanks. But really think about what would happen if the two fought at those moments.
Overall, Oda needs to maintain Shanks's hype, at least until we get to a certain point. What is that point? The final battle for One Piece.
Oda said that going forward, the next chapter will be like an all out brawl, something like that. The current state of the manga seems to reflect this fact, with all 4 yonkos making moves towards finding the One Piece. This will likely culminate in a battle between all 4 yonko.
At that point, Shanks's status as the "closest man to Roger" will no longer be important, as Luffy will be surpassing him, likely by defeating Blackbeard. Since Shanks's status will no longer matter, as Luffy will be facing Teach, Oda can let Mihawk go all out against Zoro, probably show feats better than Shanks, and the status quo won't change.
Luffy will appear to be the strongest SH, in defeating Teach. However Zoro will be a close #2, in beating Mihawk. With both Teach and Mihawk being hyped above Shanks, who was the former benchmark for the very, very top.
