Discussion Yonkou Discussion Thread

[HereNThere]

Name says it all. Discuss anything and everything Yonkou here, fighting styles, future roles in the story, relationships with other pirates, etc. I created this thread while I was getting ready to respond to another topic, which would have been off-topic for that discussion, so I just decided to go ahead and create an all purpose thread for the Yonkou since they are becoming more prominent in the story.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's begin!

I also firmly believe that Shanks's strength isn't totally down to his swordsmanship, but to the way he infuses Haki with his fighting style.
I think there's more to Shanks's strength than just sword fighting.

I'm the opposite, I think Shanks' strength could be solely based on swordsmanship. In fact, I would love it if that were the case. While I'm sure he is a boss in the application of Haki, I don't see how that'd change his fighting style. What would make his Haki equipment different from everyone else's? Haki is supposed to supplement the users strength, the ability itself isn't really a fighting technique. Unless of course he found a way to make a phantom limb with Haki and fight with "two" arms.

We've seen plenty of sword styles in this series, Shanks most likely has his own and it's most likely just as strong as Mihawks.

 

[Ninomiya]

I just opened this thread by chance, and... Well its me lol.

I mean, the way he stopped Akainu's magma punch was frighteningly cool, since for a magma punch, Shanks's sword was completely unaffected.

His strength is the real deal,

Remember this moment?

Spoiler

Or


So Shanks is really strong.
In terms of Swordsmanship, due to his lack of a DF, his abilities are probably based on Swordsmanship I guess.

It depends on how you view the term "Strongest Swordsman".
Mihawk is the worlds strongest Swordsmen.
But how LONG has he had this rank?
Rayleigh is a Swordsman. Is Mihawk stronger than Rayleigh? I'll tell you hell no. Well certainly not Rayleigh in his prime.

I think there needs to be many methods in which to see how they judge the "Strongest Swordsman" in the One Piece universe.

 

[DutchPhoenix]

Just because oda didnt show us enough from mihawk towards the readers, doesnt take away that oda himself stated in both sbs manga that mihawk is the strongest swordsman in the world.

Sure both Rayleigh and shanks have been hyped quite abit, and yes they are both swordsman.
But also both of them are less powerfull then mihawk in 1 vs 1.
if that wasnt the case, Mihawk wouldnt be the strongest swordsman lol.

 

[Ninomiya]

if that wasnt the case, Mihawk wouldnt be the strongest swordsman lol.

That's why I think its not as simple as that.

While its clear as day Mihawk has to be Yonkou level with Shanks, is it really easy to say Mihawk is stronger than Rayleigh?
The right-hand man of the strongest man ever?

 

[DutchPhoenix]

That's why I think its not as simple as that.

While its clear as day Mihawk has to be Yonkou level with Shanks, is it really easy to say Mihawk is stronger than Rayleigh?
The right-hand man of the strongest man ever?

an very aged man who hadn't touched his sword in years right hand man of the strongest man of his era.

 

[HereNThere]

So I was putzing about in the anime thread when I see 7pac, Razh, and llaubacher discussing the mysterious man that showed up in this photo and lately in the anime when Law gave his gears speech.

Anyway, I was looking at both the pic and the still from the episode and I noticed something. The anime depicts him as wearing a type of metal mask or something similar, which I also thought he was wearing when I first viewed it. But upon closer inspection of the above image...I don't think it's a metal mask. It looks like he's wearing some type of skin over his face. You can see the change in color when it goes from a dark tanned color to the lighter skin tone around his mouth. At first I thought the dark, thick curve was the just the underside of the metal mask, but seeing how it goes thin when it reaches where his nose should be made me think other wise. Now I'm sure what it is. It might be hair or something.

If I'm late on this sorry, but hey, props to any and everyone who noticed this.

 

[7pac]

That's why I think its not as simple as that.

While its clear as day Mihawk has to be Yonkou level with Shanks, is it really easy to say Mihawk is stronger than Rayleigh?
The right-hand man of the strongest man ever?

Sorry if this is offtopic.

But oda himself Stated Mihawk is the strongest swordsman in the world.
Rayleigh and Shanks are both Swordsman. So according to the author of the manga Mihawk is the strongest swordsman so above both shanks and Ryleigh.
Why are you still in denial?confusedconfused

 

[HereNThere]

Sorry if this is offtopic.

But oda himself Stated Mihawk is the strongest swordsman in the world.
Rayleigh and Shanks are both Swordsman. So according to the author of the manga Mihawk is the strongest swordsman so above both shanks and Ryleigh.
Why are you still in denial?confusedconfused

Mihawk doesn't even want to fight with Shanks because he lost his arm. Shanks could still potentially be as strong as Mihawk, but since Mihawk probably sees fighting a one armed man as dishonorable, we will never see them fight. As for Rayleigh, that dude is trying to live his life without trouble. He isn't going around looking for fights. He doesn't have anything to prove. He could probably match Mihawk in fight to if the need arose though. However, if the crack theory that he was the former World's Greatest Swordsman is true and Mihawk beat him in a sword fight then you have something.

Also it looks like Airgrimes was talking about strength in general. He could still be a better swordsman than Rayleigh, but still be weaker overall. I'm sure Zoro is a better swordsman than Garp, but it doesn't make him stronger overall.

 

[7pac]

Well because Zoro and Garp have completely different fighting styles?

 

[HereNThere]

Well because Zoro and Garp have completely different fighting styles?

It was just an example(maybe a poor one), but I'm talking about strength in general. Mihawk could be the better swordsman than Rayleigh when it comes to skill, but overall Rayleigh is most likely stronger.

 

[7pac]

Yes, I don't mean to offend you, but you, Airgrimes, and a lot of one piece fans tend to assume things out out of hype.
What makes you think that Rayleigh is most likely stronger? Don't get me confused I love Shanks as much as Rayleigh, they are both extremely powerful individuals. But let's be honest it's just hype.
Furthermore, In a battle, Shanks vs Mihawk or Rayleigh vs Mihawk, how would this "stronger" attribute come into play?

 

[HereNThere]

You're right. It's all hype and titles. But you are doing the same, assuming Mihawk is stronger than Rayleigh or Shanks. We've seen no evidence of the matter. All we know is that Mihawk refuses to fight Shanks. Is it because Mihawk believes Shanks lost power? We don't know. He just doesn't want to fight him. And Rayleigh and Mihawk haven't said one word about the other so they have nothing in common except teaching a Strawhat, being a swordsman, and knowing Shanks. We only have the manga to go off of and that is where the assumption come from. And we make these assumptions because of what other people say about them and the reputation they've gained in the seas. We get hyped, because people in the manga hype them up. Unless we see them in action, that is all we get to go by.

Mihawk is called the Strongest Swordsman in the World by everyone who talks about him. Hype.

Rayleigh was the former right hand man to the Late Pirate King, whose known rivals were Garp and Whitebeard "The Strongest Man in the World". Hype.

Shanks is a Yonkou, one of the four most powerful pirates on the sea. Hype.

We've seen these people do a couple of things, but in the end we still don't know their full capabilities. So we fill in the blanks ourselves until a point comes where we can see it in the manga.

As for the last question, I don't know. Rayleigh could be a better haki user. He could be physically stronger. It could be any number of things. The key word here being could. We just don't know how they compare. I just personally think that Rayleigh is stronger.

 

[ish3]

Luffy's dream is harder then Zoro's so just put two and two together. Doesn't mean Mihawk is a pushover I doubt overall he's stronger than Shanks period. To be honest I wonder when the last time Mihawk even fought a decent opponent.

 

[yieps]

Rayleigh didn't fight really vigorously against Borsalino who striked me as weaker than Kuzan and Sakazuki. So to assume that Rayleigh has become significantly weaker is possible. In addition, WB was also describe as weaker than in his best times if I remember it right. Rayleigh also doesn't carry his sword at all times which isn't particularly showy so he isn't necessarily a pure swordsman. Then again, Rayleigh's fight didn't take that long and when Kuma stepped in, he warned him first and Garp called him a legend on a similar scale to WB, though partly the reason he said it was to not shift the focus from the actual threat.

Shanks usually carries his sword and it doesn't seem notably outstanding, it is still recognizable. Although announcing Mihawk as the strongest swordsman may imply that Shanks wasn't a pure swordsman, why would the former be interested in him otherwise, aside from maybe sharing a long history. Although Mihawk lost interest in his former rival implying either his superiority after Shanks' incident it doesn't make much sense as 10 years have already past and it could be just simple mocking since he visited for another reason anyway. Furthermore, Shanks also changed quite a bit when we saw him at the end of the war again so we know even less about his current state. We also don't know how often Mihawk and Shanks met during those years, during WB's and Shanks' meeting at least it seemed as if they've almost never met, just as Vista apparently fought Mihawk the first time. That said, how the did he actually get that title then?!

So we know just that the strongest pirate is dead, now it's chaotic and we can only hope that in a few yearssomeone else is able to drill Sakazuki's face into the ground like WB did.


As I mentioned in the "admiral thread" I can imagine Kaidou having a tree DF, if Green Bull has something unrelated to plants, simply because the part face we saw fits the look of an angry tree very well. Notwithstanding, the name and epitaph only occasionally corresponds with the actual DF type. For instance, the reason he's calld a creature might be because he similarly to Bepo looks like an animal. "Kaidou of the beasts" doesn't tell us much about him either, it may be related to his crew rather than him personally.
It is pretty far fetched but I still note that there are Kaido crab apple trees which are a bit popular as Bonsais as well.
Aside from that, I guess there are already a lot of Zoan theories around, like typhon, hydra, etc.

 

[7pac]

Luffy's dream is harder then Zoro's so just put two and two together. Doesn't mean Mihawk is a pushover I doubt overall he's stronger than Shanks period. To be honest I wonder when the last time Mihawk even fought a decent opponent.

Please elaborate again what stronger means, Shanks Is a swordsman, Mihawak is a swordman, Mihawk is the world strongest swordsman. Just tell me where you see shanks the strongest swordsman in the world?

 

[HereNThere]

So you think Mihawk is stronger than Shanks? Even though we have nothing stating that? And you are just going by the title that Mihawk probably didn't even give himself? Earlier you were speaking about assumptions, but you are just assuming that Mihawk is a better swordsman than Shanks just because of his title and the fact that Shanks and Rayleigh are swordsmen(maybe).

What about Vista then? He was matching Mihawk blow for blow. What does that mean? According to Vista both had a point in their favor. Mihawk apparently wasn't that above him in skill. Especially since Vista apparently got a blow in. If Vista, the 5th Commander in Whitebeard's crew, can clash with Mihawk and go toe to toe with him, I don't see why it's so hard to believe that a Yonkou, someone who should be stronger than Vista, is equal to him in strength and the man who was the second to the late Pirate King, someone who should be stronger than a good portion of the people in the manga, could be stronger, despite Mihawk's title.

 

[Sproumfch]

Stop comaring Shanks - A Yonkou who has a very strong crew - and Mihwak - a lonely Shishibukai who has no crew at all (from what we know).

Maybe Mihwak is a better swordsman than Shanks, but anyway Shanks have got more destructive power :
-with his conqueror's haki
-with his crew

 

[DutchPhoenix]

Shanks doesnt have Island size cutting skills as far we've seen

 

[HereNThere]

Stop comaring Shanks - A Yonkou who has a very strong crew - and Mihwak - a lonely Shishibukai who has no crew at all (from what we know).

Maybe Mihwak is a better swordsman than Shanks, but anyway Shanks have got more destructive power :
-with his conqueror's haki
-with his crew

While I'm getting tired of the Mihawk talk as well, Shanks is still apart of the discussion, so it's still alright. I'm would prefer we move on from it though. Besides, Shanks power can't just be reliant on his crew. He himself has to be powerful in his own right.

Shanks doesnt have Island size cutting skills as far we've seen

Neither has Mihawk as he only sliced a glacier. A large glacier mind you, but a glacier still. Shanks on the other hand clashed with Whitebeard and their power damn near made a storm. The fact that he could clash with Whitebeard alone is a feat in itself.

 

[Sproumfch]

^
Yeah but he managed to stop Akainu himself from going further in the Marineford battle.
And we never saw him fight really.
Oh wait, yes - he crossed swords with White Beard and from this, the clouds split - he has some strenght...
Mihwak & Shanks had a duel : they are both alive. Mihwak may be a little bit above Shanks alone, but Mihwak vs the Red-haired Pirates whouldn't have a chance, even if he would make some serious damages.
And if you still have a doubt : here is what Mihwak say about this.

Edit after eefrit's post :

Yeah you are right. And if Shanks is among Yonkous it state his strenght...

Also he seemed a little above Kaidou because he managed to stop him from taking WB in reverse during the Marineford Arc. Now that Kaidou has 500 smile users, the balance may have change.