She visits now and then...
Mihawk's entire character design is mysterious. He's a weird dude. He speaks strangely, with an archaic vocabulary and he drops particles in Japanese and uses words weirdly. He speaks in metaphors and questions. He doesn't seem to have any close friends except Shanks, even among his age group. You'd think someone who was the top swordfighter would be more popular with his own peers, but it seems that everyone in-universe has decided he's just a weirdo, which is something the fans pick up on as well. In- and out of- universe, he's treated as unknowable, incomprehensible, and unpredictable.
I can tell you my headcanons, but there's always a chance I'm way off. There are so many loose ends and half-stories with him! To fill in the rest, we can use clues from the manga, but all it takes is one SBS for Oda to say, "Ah, he's actually from the moon!" and there goes my entire life's work.
That being said, here's what I think:
- Where do you think he comes from?
He's Shakky and Ray's son. He didn't grow up on the Oro Jackson because he was training with swordmasters as a child and wasn't interested in going with Roger. He was born on Sabaody, during the time when Gloriosa (Shakky's mother) was still in exile from Amazon Lily, so he spent his early years with his mom and grandma in the Rip-Off Bar. He picked up their habits of reading the newspaper.
Other possibilities are that he's from Wano or that he's related to Im. I'm not really on board with either of those, but if they turn out to be true, I'll take my L.
Mihawk was at Roger's execution at age 19, and he doesn't appear to have Yoru in that scene. He was a rival to Shanks in his youth (which makes sense when you consider that Shanks was Ray's student. Of course the teacher's own child would be the one to challenge the star student, see Kuina).
You can read some more here if you want my full thoughts on his parents.
- Why did he become a pirate and then shichibukai?
Because there's not really a lot else for him to do! With his skills, he could.... open a dojo? Or be a pirate!
For Mihawk, he just likes to fight. I believe that his role in the Warlords is
specifically to patrol Paradise. They didn't place Mihawk in the New World because what's the point? So he can fight Shanks? Or stir up Big Mom?
It's better to station him in Paradise as a deterrent. Let his name get out there, let his spooky eyes and weird ship freak out the normies and scrubs. Small fry will whisper his name to each other when they see him pass; a legend and a reputation will grow around him. The Marines want to discourage people from attempting the GL; keeping Mihawk based in Paradise is the best use of him, as far as the govt is concerned.
When he's dismissive of Zoro at the Baratie, it's because he's seen so many young swordfighters embarrass themselves by trying to fight him. Jesus, he's 41 years old and still having to deal with scrubs, smh.
But, being a Warlord means that he has his island to himself, he can fight who/whenever he feels like it, and generally he just wants to putter around and look for fights while enjoying a nice Cabernet.
I think he was recruited into the shichibukai as a way for the govt to keep tabs on Ray and Shakky. Ray has been lying low since Roger's execution, and Shakky was living a normal-ish life even before that. If the govt REALLY wanted to arrest Ray, they could've taken some kind of action in the years since Roger's death. Keeping Ray's son on their payroll is a way to reach a detente with the Dark King. When the Gorosei heard that the Dark King had a hotshot swordfighter son, they wanted to contain him so that he wouldn't turn on them.
- Who does he know outside of shanks? On a personal level
Doffy teases him at Marineford, "Are you really gonna do it?"
Doffy being Doffy, he might have teased Mihawk without knowing him well. But to me, this is like two kids egging each other on. "Are you really gonna do it? Are you really gonna ride your bike down that ramp? Are you really gonna flip off old man Sengoku?"
They're around the same age, and Doffy is a pretty social guy (he also seems to know Croco), so I'd say that he at least knows Mihawk in a coworker sense.
Zeff knows an awful lot about Mihawk. I think that's mostly because he must have encountered him when he did his GL trip in the old days. Mihawk would have been a young man in his 20s then. I doubt they really know each other personally, though.
Croco and Mihawk recognize each other at MF.
They might not know each other closely, but they at least know
of each other and each other's personalities/reputations.
At MF, when Buggy runs into Mihawk, he says, "You're Hawk-Eye, aren't you?" in Japanese, but he says, "You're Hawk-Eye!" in English.
To me, the Japanese suggests that Buggy has
heard of Mihawk but doesn't know him personally. This might be because of stories that young Shanks told Buggy, or descriptions of Mihawk he heard from Ray when he was on the OJ.
The anime would like you to think that Mihawk and Jinbe have some kind of history together, but that's filler. It does go along nicely with their cover page, tho. I can see why they might be friends.
Zoro and Perona probably know him well, too.
- What will he do now that the shichibukai system is gone?
IDK. Join Shanks? Take his monkeys and start a crew? I kind of want him to go save Perona and Moria, but who knows?
- When did he become the world strongest swordsmen?
In his late teens. Ray was the previous WSS, and he had a contest between Mihawk and Shanks to see who could take his place. Mihawk won. He got Yoru either just after this contest or it was the prize for the contest. (<-- total headcanon but that's what I think)
Also, I won't turn down an opportunity to plug
my giant fanfic, which has all these headcanons and more, if you're into that sort of thing and you like gratuitous swordfights and romance.