Semifinal 2: Mihawk vs. Shanks

[astute_azure]

I don't think Shanks nor Mihawk shown anything that can suggest who is stronger. This is where most "characters need to show things" camp have a hole, an easy to attack loophole.

There just is not enough evidence(shown abilities in the manga for you to base on) thus you will still end up to complete the missing link. I doubt Mihawk fought at full strength already, more obvious with other characters. It is fairly unfair to judge on things when you haven't seen the entirety of it, ie. (fighting ability). Thus "characters need to show things" camp will always have that hole. Only a few characters could arguably be said to have shown what they were capable of, most of whom are defeated characters. This is the reason that I don't fully judge on what was shown rather than a complete evaluation on feel and what was mentioned, though not shown. If you're an in depth reader youd get that feel.

For that I'd say this is tied, and could go either way.

[eefrit]

I'm pretty sure he and Shanks were equal in strength before Shanks lost his arm. Remember, it was said that Mihawk had stopped pursuing Shanks. Meaning Shanks was someone Mihawk felt he had to either prove his superiority to or he was the only one who he could take on while not holding back. Either way he apparently went out of his way to find Shanks whenever he wanted to fight. As for now, I'm certain they are still on the same level, as a databook stated Shanks was not weakened in anyway and when Mihawk found Shanks to tell him about Luffy, Shanks seemed pretty comfortable with the idea of fighting him, although Mihawk lost interest.

This is what I said in another topic and I still stand by it. Mihawk is a swordsman and want fair and honorable fights. What honor is there in fighting a one armed man? Shanks hasn't lost any skill or power, but Mihawk just isn't interested.

As for this fight, it might go either way, but I have a feeling that Mihawk might take it in the end. Not in a real fight, but in the amount of votes in this topic.

[Fixit]

Im voting for ginger-boy, simply becuase I like him more than mihawk

[RichardMNixon]

The manga itself states the two of them were always tied, and had very intense fights (not "friendly fencing matches").

Where? Whitebeard just fondly recalls them fighting. Where is it indicated that they were trying to kill each other?

So contrary to your opinion, the *manga* itself says neither was a better fighter than the other.

According to the "Mihawk is the Greatest Swordsman, therefore /thread" people, yes, the manga does say that. I'm moving on from there. It's my opinion that Mihawk's title refers to his skill with a sword, not his ability to kill everyone else in the world who uses one. Is that skill important? Yes. Is that skill the only thing that matters in a fight? No.

About Shanks missing an arm? Whitebeard said his strength didn't decrease from it, but if Shanks and Mihawk's fights were always dead-even, then even with the same level of strength, just a slight difference of an arm could easily be the deciding factor.

So now you're just going to ignore what the manga says and use your opinion instead? Make up your mind.

(And Shanks has super powers? Since when did he eat a devil fruit, haha. Both Shanks and Mihawk have haki. Who do you think taught it to Zoro?)

It's an example, I didn't say he ate a devil fruit. I'm saying that swordsmanship isn't the only factor in a real fight, one that counts. Yes, Mihawk has haki. No, we haven't seen the weather change or inanimate objects get damaged simply by being near him.

[Cyrs]

Im voting for ginger-boy, simply becuase I like him more than mihawk

Hahaha, see, I don't mind that! I just like people to own up to it.

---------- Post added at 07:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 PM ----------

@RichardMNixon

Hoooo boy... well, I'll bite this time.
I dislike posts that have excessive line-by-line quotes because they get super combative and usually get way off track. So I'll just itemize a few points here.

(1) The manga describes the duels between SHanks and Mihawk as "having shook the whole of the Grand Line." That sounds pretty intense to me. Did I say they were trying to kill each other? No. Who knows. The *point* I was making is that the manga says neither ever won their intense duels. So you can make up all sorts of things why you *personally* think Shanks should be "the better fighter" but reality is they were always tied.

(2) Whitebeard said Shanks didn't lose any power after losing his arm. Cool!! So he should have the same physical strength as before, the same speed, the same agility, the same stamina, etc. etc. etc. even though he only has one arm. Did I ignore the manga?? No. The *point* I made was that, given the intense duels that were always tied, then it is *conceivable* that the fight could be decided by something as simple as missing an arm, even at the same level of strength.

(3) Mihawk is the best swordsman. Shanks is obviously pretty good too, but doesn't have the title. So *necessarily* he uses other skills as well. And what is the result of using those skills in duels with Mihawk? Hmm? Well, the manga says they were always even.


So you don't have any leg to stand on here. Even if you decide to say "maybe Shanks got stronger than Mihawk since the duels" that is your speculation, and is ruled out by the tournament rules. And the non-swordman abilities we've seen Shanks employ are Armament Haki to block Akainu's punch, and Conqueror's Haki (your referenced "super-power" if you will) which has been shown more than once not to affect Mihawk. Furthermore, when Shanks used any of these other non-swordsman skills, he tied with Mihawk.

So in conclusion, you have no argument to show that Shanks wins, besides "I think he should." Which is fine. Like I've said before. I don't have a preference in this fight, but I like to see people back up their viewpoints well. If there isn't evidence to do it, then so be it, just vote for who you like.

---

But I don't think there's going to be any "meeting of the minds" here, so I'll let this be my last comment on the thread.

[Ninja_Pirate]

Hah.... its funny that people are trying to ask why shanks should rather giving any opinion about why not ?? ... Argument should be both ways ...

If it comes to that we can also assume Mihawk is powerful than Rayleigh ... because we have seen rayleigh using sword and thus he should also lose in sword battle to Mihawk as Mihawk is the greatest swordsman (skills and the fact that he yields the most famous black blade)..even Garp and dragon should then lose to him... If Mihawk was so capacble as to defeat or even stand at equal grounds in totality with a Yonkou I would say there was not much need of hue and cry over marineford war since Mihawlk was present there ... He should have himself turned the tides of the battle rather than passing time with the commanders or luffy ...

If title is worth anything than one of the yonkou had the title of strongest man (who should not be a better swordsman than mihawk and should fall in front of him) and other one as "the strongest creature"... So i would give it to a Yonkou if it comes to an all out battle between a yonkou and a shichibukai till death ...

Also it is a fact that when Mihawk used to duel Shanks he didnt have the title of the greatest swordsman and we dont know if shanks was a yonkou then... after the incident happened with shanks and they stopped having duels ..Mihawk got the title and obviously Shanks didnt have any duel with Mihawk(or mihawk lost the interest in having a duel with him) after that or he didnt try to claim that tile could also mean shanks is not interested in that title or he see mihawk as wrothy person to wear that tiltle... But shanks also now have the title of Yonkou ... which says a lot about him and his influence and power

[DRAGON-PEIN-SAMA]

I like how people are basing decisions on fame alone. If thats the case, then Mihawk shouldn't have beat Dragon anyways, as Dragon's name as well as his rank in the One piece world overshadow Mihawk's Undoubtedly. Shanks also has a higher rank than Mihawk. So saying Mihawk is above Shanks purely because he has the title is not very convincing!

[Josear XIII]

I'll pass in voting this one, both characters are very great to me since I like non-DF users

[RichardMNixon]

So *necessarily* [Shanks] uses other skills as well. And what is the result of using those skills in duels with Mihawk?

It is your opinion that he fought to the best of his ability. It isn't mine. If he actually wanted Mihawk dead, then I have no doubt Shanks + Beckmann, + Roux + Yasopp could take care of that. He didn't. He wanted to fight the world's greatest swordsman. That is my opinion. You're welcome to have yours, but you're not welcome to treat your opinion as fact.

Note Whitebeard didn't call it a tie either, he just said they dueled. You have something else stating explicitly that they tied since you're so opposed to speculation?

http://i14.mangapanda.com/one-piece/...iece-63470.jpg

Other notes:

Haki isn't binary. The fact that Mihawk has it doesn't make him even out Shanks in that regard, any more than Sanji's let him break Vergo's leg.
Importantly, there's also no option for a tie. I'm not staking my life on this opinion, I'm just choosing a side (because that's the only option) and arguing for it. I'm not sure what else you expected to see in these threads, calculus?

[mugiwara4343]

My vote goes for Shanks . In onepiece world titles mean something. Agreed Mihawk is the "Strongest swordsmen" but Shanks is a freaking "Yonkou". Ilts like in future Zoro becomes the strongest swordsmen in the world, it doesnot mean he can pwn Luffy. We have seen shanks feats like having a small skirmish with Kaidou before ace execution war arc and returning the next day. He stopped the war with his word, stopped Akainu's punch and not many can do this. I personally think Shanks is the strongest at present in onepiece.

[Bugzee]

I really hope we get to see a flashback fight between Mihawk and Shanks. It has got to happen! *.*

It is true that we haven't seen much of Shanks but I will have to go with him as we've seen Mihawk's ability in action and so I prefer watching the full version of when WB meets Shanks! I'm sure it won't be just the sky that'll be divided. ;P

[astute_azure]

Some may miscontrue that being a Yonkou means that you are of equal strength to WB past his prime(was THE STRONGEST MAN). While not necessarily true, Yonkou balance and power is actually viewed as a totality, meaning crew strength/influence is included. While Shanks did clash and exchanged swords with WB, this does not necessarily mean that Shanks would then be equal to WB in terms of strength. It might really be that WB was the single heavy weight of the WB pirates(though first 5 commanders were really something)

Nonetheless Shanks is fairly strong, and to put him in place, I would say he is currently in top 3-7 strongest. BB may currently be stronger than him, but remains to be seen. To put Mihawk I'd say he also currently is in 3-7 strongest. Currently meaning no ROGER/WB or unknown characters. I refuse for any of them to be rated higher by uncertainty. To vote though, I'd say Shanks. His confidence at the war of the greatest and accomplishments puts him at higher rank than Mihawk. Shanks Accomplishments(ended war, skirmish with Kaidou, clashed WB, clashed Akainu) Whereas Mihawk(tied with Red Hair, mopping the floor with fodder(Zorro included), preoccupying Vista, clashed with pre time skip Luffy, not much really).

Some also use STRONGEST SWORDSMAN TITLE to make MIHAWK win, well put it this way WB at the time was also a Yonkou but Mihawk actually questioned his own strength against WB. You can come up to conclusion that STRONGEST SWORDSMAN is a title of skills in using sword, not a gauge of overall fighting ability.

[Razh]

31 votes difference? Seriously?

Oh well, funny like most of the tournament.

[THM Nindo]

Overwhelming victory!