Either:
1) Oda has little interest in Mihawk's character plot wise.
2) Oda is going out of his way to hide how powerful Mihawk really is.
Given he is not an opponent for Luffy in the future I'm inclined to think 1.
Only way I see 2 happening is if Oda makes a twist that Mihawk has been part of the WG/Celestial Dragon all along. Something like the secret right hand to the secret ruler of the world (Im). It would both make him relevant in the final war due to him being a legit obstacle to the Strawhats and give Zoro's dream more narrative weight since beating Mihawk will help bring about the Dawn of the world, continue the trend of Zoro fighting the strongest subordinate and make Mihawk's speech to Zoro at Baratie that much more significant.
yall don't want a Zoro/Mihawk epilogue fight btw. That would be HORRIBLE. Guaranteed it would last two chapters at most and widely considered one of the most disappointing conflicts in shonen history.
1) Oda has little interest in Mihawk's character plot wise.
2) Oda is going out of his way to hide how powerful Mihawk really is.
Given he is not an opponent for Luffy in the future I'm inclined to think 1.
Only way I see 2 happening is if Oda makes a twist that Mihawk has been part of the WG/Celestial Dragon all along. Something like the secret right hand to the secret ruler of the world (Im). It would both make him relevant in the final war due to him being a legit obstacle to the Strawhats and give Zoro's dream more narrative weight since beating Mihawk will help bring about the Dawn of the world, continue the trend of Zoro fighting the strongest subordinate and make Mihawk's speech to Zoro at Baratie that much more significant.
yall don't want a Zoro/Mihawk epilogue fight btw. That would be HORRIBLE. Guaranteed it would last two chapters at most and widely considered one of the most disappointing conflicts in shonen history.