Predictions Mihawk's Fate

[kkck]

So... What do you guys think Mihawk will do now that the Shichibukai were disbanded? His next move will be specially important considering it plays into Zoro's dream of being the world's strongest swordsman. The short of it is that Mihawk will probably end up in a position where he will eventually stand as an enemy to Zoro and the Strawhats. Now, here are a few possibilities:

1.- He remains a lone wolf. Mihawk accepted the shichibukai title basically so that the marines do not annoy him.... So I don't think this scenario is as likely as it would initially appear. Mihawk appears to value his peace and being alone isn't exactly going to help him.

2.- He will join a pirate crew. This is a real possibility but most scenarios are weird. He could join the red hair pirates... But it would be strange if he ends up an enemy to the Strawhats in this scenario. It's not an impossible scenario of course but it's hard to imagine how or why they could come to blows. In a final war that is coming you'd think the strawhats would fight on the same side as shanks. I suppose if its the final stretch so to speak and the strawhat and redhair pirates duke it out to make it first to laugh tale then it'd make some sense, though it'd take quite the developments to make this feel like a real war between crews rather than something like the lighthearted conflict the roger and whitebeard pirates had in oden's flashback. He could also be recruited by the BB pirates but this would at least look strange since Mihawk does not appear to be comically evil or prone to needless bloodshed.

3.- This is actually the scenario that I think is most likely (although just barely more than 2): Mihawk will join the marines. Hear me out on this one... Mihawk has been one of the more effective, and plausibly even the most powerful, shichibukai. He wasn't prone to attending meetings of course but otherwise spent his time hunting pirates, which is more than was even required of him, and didn't fuck over the marines. Compare that to He did train zoro but the marines probably don't know that.

For context look at previous shichibukai. Crocodile and doflamingo abused their titles to take over countries. Moria didn't actually break his contract so to speak but he was building an evil army of the undead. He was definitely using his title to improve his odds of becoming pirate king which is something the world government should take issue with. BB used his title to make himself a yonko worthy crew. The marines were never aware of hancock helping luffy at impel down and marineford but she was massively disagreeable and would have given up her title over the most insignificant of things. She was basically utterly unhelpful. Kuma was more a slave than a shichibukai. Jinbe probably was a pretty good shichibukai though his last act basically screwed over the world government right in the pride. Buggy IMO is in a bit of a grey area. He uses his title to enrich himself and collect bounties which should be good for the world government but odds are they don't look too fondly on him growing in power and numbers. Law used and abused his title to his own convenience as well. Hard to say about weevil.

So everything considered.... It would actually make sense for the marines to not want mihawk of all shichibukai to become an enemy. Mihawk is an absurdly powerful individual who as a shichibukai was somewhere between benign and effective. He doesn't have a crew so the marines wouldn't be recruited 10 other criminals alongside him. And the marines are aware that mihawk is a solo agent. And probably also that mihawk is relatively friendly with shanks... So once Mihawk is fired from the Shichibukai it really is in their best interest that he either remains a solo agent or that he doesn't join another crew. Mihawk joining any of the yonko is almost as bad an scenario as big mom and kaido joining forces.

The marine's best strategy with mihawk would be to rescind his Shichibukai title... And offer him a job. It'd give them at least a chance at keeping Mihawk in check while preventing a development as massive as him joining literally anyone else or even starting his own crew. Mihawk is a one man world power and it is in the marine's best interest that Mihawk does not flex on it.

 

[Nie Li]

There's too much we don't know about Mihawk so I'll vote #1 for now.

The most important pieces of information we're missing are "What was his bounty prior to becoming a Shichibukai, how did he earn it, and why did everybody else's get revealed"? We got the former bounty of every single Shichibukai, even of Roger and the Yonkous, and we're still missing this guy's. His bounty is bound to be either surprisingly big or surprisingly low, but we already got the trope of "a shichibukai without former bounty" covered, so I'm guessing surprisingly big.

Either way, how much he's worth isn't the most important, it's the "How did he earn it?", he must have done great things to get offered the Shichibukai position despite not even having a crew. We have confirmation that he was already infamous in his youth, prior to the great age of piracy, and unlike other shichibukais like Moria and Crocodile, former losers who gave up on his dreams and accepted the deal, we know that Mihawk is someone who achieved a world title and decided to chill out.

They made a deal and made him Shichibukai, but he was a hunted man. We know what the marines and the WG think of pirates and criminals, even more so the new Fleet Admiral, Akainu, with his absolute views of justice. I don't see a scenario in which Akainu would be okay with offering a job to a pirate.


In any case, they abolished the Shichibukai system because they have supposedly perfected a new weapon, right? The one the Pacifistas were a prototype for. Marines are confident they don't need the Shichibukai anymore and will try to take care of them because they feel they don't need them anymore to balance the Yonkous power. They're serious about wanting blood, so I believe the most likely options are definitely either Mihawk remains alone or he joins hands with Shanks (joins hands, but not a crew), but he's likely about to get chased off of his island.

I have no idea how the plot will turn Mihawk into an enemy that must be defeated, nor do I know that's how it will go down (he can fight Zoro all out without being "enemies", Mihawk is that kind of man and he's eager for someone strong enough for him, friend or foe. Zoro must reach that level before they meet again), but I'm sure Mihawk will have his own story arc eventually where we learn everything we're missing about him, and he will get more involved in the story, just like it's happened to every single Shichibukai one after the other. Mihawk is the most popular of them and Oda won't let us down.




PD: There are also those theories that he's related to Im and that his involvement might become much bigger than expected in the end. Because of the hawk eyes.

 

[M3J]

I hope he joins Shanks

 

[kkck]

There's too much we don't know about Mihawk so I'll vote #1 for now.

The most important pieces of information we're missing are "What was his bounty prior to becoming a Shichibukai, how did he earn it, and why did everybody else's get revealed"? We got the former bounty of every single Shichibukai, even of Roger and the Yonkous, and we're still missing this guy's. His bounty is bound to be either surprisingly big or surprisingly low, but we already got the trope of "a shichibukai without former bounty" covered, so I'm guessing surprisingly big.

Either way, how much he's worth isn't the most important, it's the "How did he earn it?", he must have done great things to get offered the Shichibukai position despite not even having a crew. We have confirmation that he was already infamous in his youth, prior to the great age of piracy, and unlike other shichibukais like Moria and Crocodile, former losers who gave up on his dreams and accepted the deal, we know that Mihawk is someone who achieved a world title and decided to chill out.

They made a deal and made him Shichibukai, but he was a hunted man. We know what the marines and the WG think of pirates and criminals, even more so the new Fleet Admiral, Akainu, with his absolute views of justice. I don't see a scenario in which Akainu would be okay with offering a job to a pirate.

In any case, they abolished the Shichibukai system because they have supposedly perfected a new weapon, right? The one the Pacifistas were a prototype for. Marines are confident they don't need the Shichibukai anymore and will try to take care of them because they feel they don't need them anymore to balance the Yonkous power. They're serious about wanting blood, so I believe the most likely options are definitely either Mihawk remains alone or he joins hands with Shanks (joins hands, but not a crew), but he's likely about to get chased off of his island.

I have no idea how the plot will turn Mihawk into an enemy that must be defeated, nor do I know that's how it will go down (he can fight Zoro all out without being "enemies", Mihawk is that kind of man and he's eager for someone strong enough for him, friend or foe. Zoro must reach that level before they meet again), but I'm sure Mihawk will have his own story arc eventually where we learn everything we're missing about him, and he will get more involved in the story, just like it's happened to every single Shichibukai one after the other. Mihawk is the most popular of them and Oda won't let us down.

PD: There are also those theories that he's related to Im and that his involvement might become much bigger than expected in the end. Because of the hawk eyes. If he went around defeating strong pirates and marines in his earlier days then it's not a stretch for him to have gotten anything below 800 mil.

I wouldn't place too much weight on his former bounty. It will without a doubt be outdated though I suppose anything above, say, 800 mil would be relatively surprising for a solo agent. In the new world 300 mil bounties are not THAT uncommon so mihawk making a point of fighting people like that would make sense for a pretty large bounty. Assuming he just went around picking fights. Ah, I should have mentioned in my post that the solo scenario specifically keeps him away from an actual reason to engage with the strawhats.

You are right about akainu though, he is uncompromising. He definitely would not consider this to be an option if the choice was his. The only point against this is that it just might not be his choice. The offer could come from someone above akainu in which case his options would be limited.

I had forgotten about the weapon... I suppose this would depend on whether the marines believe the weapon is not only enough to replace the shichibukai but actually take out the yonko. Otherwise even with the weapon you'd think they would specifically want to avoid any recruiting mihawk.

 

[HereNThere]

I'm going with option two.

Where I differ though is that I don't think he'll be an enemy. He knows Zoro’s goal is to take him out and after Wano, I'm fairly certain he'll be excited to see how far Zoro has come and will be salivating at the thought of a good challenge after all this time.

I think he'll ally with Shanks, which basically let's him remain in the rivalry role without being completely antagonistic. No one's lives will be on the line, nothing major will be loss. It'll just be a fight for Zoro (and Luffy and maybe Ussop) to prove that they have finally surpassed their mentors/heroes. So basically, the alliance would just for convenience sake plot wise, to keep all of that around the same period and keep within the hypothetical theme of the arc.

 

[Fox666]

From the little we know of Mihawk's personality, the last thing he would do is joining the Marines. Even as a Shichibukai, he ignored any request of the government unless it was of his interest. He probably only joined in first place because he knew how complacent the Marines would be.

I also doubt he would become Shanks' subordinate. However, he seems willing to form alliances that favor him.

Mihawk is a walking death card. Only Law has as much symbolism as him. I presume Mihawk is going to die by the hands of the likes of the Marines or Blackbeard Pirates.

 

[Nie Li]

Mihawk is a walking death card. Only Law has as much symbolism as him. I presume Mihawk is going to die by the hands of the likes of the Marines or Blackbeard Pirates.

You're not the only person I have read on this forum that sees Mihawk that way. I tried understanding where that perception cof a walking death flag comes from but I really can't see it.

Not to say you're not right just because I can't understand it, but going off by hype. popularity and story purpose alone I don't see that happening.

 

[kkck]

To me it's also weird that mihawk would be a walking death flag... Specially for a character that has not really appeared or done that much in the series.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 4, 2021, Original Post Date: Feb 4, 2021 ---

From the little we know of Mihawk's personality, the last thing he would do is joining the Marines. Even as a Shichibukai, he ignored any request of the government unless it was of his interest. He probably only joined in first place because he knew how complacent the Marines would be.

I also doubt he would become Shanks' subordinate. However, he seems willing to form alliances that favor him.

Mihawk is a walking death card. Only Law has as much symbolism as him. I presume Mihawk is going to die by the hands of the likes of the Marines or Blackbeard Pirates.

Well, from what we know his personality is not exactly one fits in a team so to speak. Now the issue is his situation change. Marines on one hand, pirate enemies on the other... In this sense it's just convenient for him to have a side.

 

[HereNThere]

You're not the only person I have read on this forum that sees Mihawk that way. I tried understanding where that perception cof a walking death flag comes from but I really can't see it.

Not to say you're not right just because I can't understand it, but going off by hype. popularity and story purpose alone I don't see that happening.

I'm not 100% of the possibility myself, but Ace shared those same qualities and it didn't exactly work out in his favor.

 

[Fox666]

You're not the only person I have read on this forum that sees Mihawk that way. I tried understanding where that perception cof a walking death flag comes from but I really can't see it.

Not to say you're not right just because I can't understand it, but going off by hype. popularity and story purpose alone I don't see that happening.

Mihawk barely appeared in the series. I don't think the author would hold back on killing him.

We don't know what purpose Mihawk exactly have. I would find it boring if he existed only to be revealed that he was defeated by Zoro in an epilogue.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 4, 2021, Original Post Date: Feb 4, 2021 ---

I'm not 100% of the possibility myself, but Ace shared those same qualities and it didn't exactly work out in his favor.

Worth mentioning, Ace's death was foreshadowed.

And I believe Mihawk, Law, Zoro and the Scabbards are also in the same category.

 

[Nie Li]

Mihawk barely appeared in the series. I don't think the author would hold back on killing him.

We don't know what purpose Mihawk exactly have. I would find it boring if he existed only to be revealed that he was defeated by Zoro in an epilogue.

Of course not in an epilogue. We know Mihawk's main purpose even if we don't know what his exact involvement in the plot will be.

Mihawk exists to be defeated by Zoro in the series. That's his purpose. To put it in better words: Mihawk exists to be a physical manifestation of Zoro's life goal. He was only created so we know what "becoming the strongest swordsman in the world" is. Even with Mihawk having the title, it's a very ambiguos claim; that's why he exists, so Zoro fans knows exactly where Zoro's goal stops and we don't have to be left wondering "How does Zoro plan to become the WSS? Who does he have to defeat? Or how many? What does it mean to be the WSS?". We still ask some of those questions, we still don't know exactly what it means, but we know how he will prove it; defeating Mihawk.

It's one thing that's been hyped since chapter 40-50 (I don't remember exactly) of the manga. Not delivering on that would disappoint most Zoro fans, myself included, and Oda knows that. This being a lighthearted shonen, no strawhat will be denied their life goal.

Every shichibukai has had a dedicated arc in which their story has been explained and their character has had some development and something they have all had add to the plot. Before the timeskip, it would also have been impossible to predict how Doflamingo would become a main villain or just what an interesting backstory he had. Mihawk is the same, we will know a lot more about him in due time.

I can't see the future so of course this all is only an opinion, but I have no doubts about what I've said on this post. I have no idea of Mihawk's exact involvement in the plot other than that he will fight Zoro, but the plot not being entirely predictable is a good thing.

 

[Monox D. I-Fly]

I hope he joins Shanks

I hope he joins Buggy.

 

[Fox666]

It's one thing that's been hyped since chapter 40-50 (I don't remember exactly) of the manga. Not delivering on that would disappoint most Zoro fans, myself included, and Oda knows that. This being a lighthearted shonen, no strawhat will be denied their life goal.

Oh, the series will definitely disappoint Zoro's fans.

The amount of importance Zoro's goal has been given in the series is inversely proportional to how much fans talk about it.

Mihawk appeared for 3 chapter during the Baratie arc, and Zoro mentioned his dream one or another time on the series.

There's no way the series will give this the closure some want.

 

[Nie Li]

Oh, the series will definitely disappoint Zoro's fans.

The amount of importance Zoro's goal has been given in the series is inversely proportional to how much fans talk about it.

Mihawk appeared for 3 chapter during the Baratie arc, and Zoro mentioned his dream one or another time on the series.

There's no way the series will give the closure some want.

I get your perspective but, for now, I very strongly disagree.

Watch the arc and closure Doflamingo had and think about how much he had appeared before Punk Hazard, or how relevant he seemed.

 

[M3J]

How not? Zoro's main goal isn't to necessarily beat Mihawk, but to be the World's Greatest Swordsman, and the only ways that wouldn't happen is if Zoro dies or will remain too weak to take on the strongest swordsman, which I don't think will happen. I don't necessarily care for him beating Mihawk, as cool as that'd be to see, as much as I care for him becoming the world's strongest swordsman.

I still can see Mihawk being his opponent though because Mihawk just comes across as too strong to lose easily, so far.

 

[kkck]

It is unlikely that mihawk will get his own arc as enemy to the strawhats though. That's just not his role. Even what we know of during the timeskip is that he spent his time training zoro and teaching monkeys how to farm. Mihawk does not exhibit any of the ambitions or the evil strawhats proper enemies have. Mihawk is simply the summit of swordsmanship... Whose daily live appears to be going from one random ass whim to the next random ass whim. Mihawk is definitely fighting zoro at the endgame, the question is simply what puts him on collision course with zoro. It is possible that they simply meet at some point and duke it out rather randomly though I would maintain it is better if there is more than a random friendly deathmatch between them. As in, stakes beyond merely the title of WSS. But for that to happen mihawk has to take a side, for whatever random ass whim he might happen to have, and actually stand in the way of the strawhat crew's goals.

 

[Nie Li]

It is unlikely that mihawk will get his own arc as enemy to the strawhats though. That's just not his role. Even what we know of during the timeskip is that he spent his time training zoro and teaching monkeys how to farm. Mihawk does not exhibit any of the ambitions or the evil strawhats proper enemies have. Mihawk is simply the summit of swordsmanship... Whose daily live appears to be going from one random ass whim to the next random ass whim. Mihawk is definitely fighting zoro at the endgame, the question is simply what puts him on collision course with zoro. It is possible that they simply meet at some point and duke it out rather randomly though I would maintain it is better if there is more than a random friendly deathmatch between them. As in, stakes beyond merely the title of WSS. But for that to happen mihawk has to take a side, for whatever random ass whim he might happen to have, and actually stand in the way of the strawhat crew's goals.

Mihawk's backstory is still crowded in mystery. Oda can pull anything off. I don't think he will ever be the main villain of an arc, if a "villain" at all, but there are endless ways Oda can go to make him relevant plotwise in a specific arc to give him weight beyond being Zoro's end goal, as has been the case for every other, less important Shichibukais so far. It's just not his time yet.

 

[M3J]

It is unlikely that mihawk will get his own arc as enemy to the strawhats though. That's just not his role. Even what we know of during the timeskip is that he spent his time training zoro and teaching monkeys how to farm. Mihawk does not exhibit any of the ambitions or the evil strawhats proper enemies have. Mihawk is simply the summit of swordsmanship... Whose daily live appears to be going from one random ass whim to the next random ass whim. Mihawk is definitely fighting zoro at the endgame, the question is simply what puts him on collision course with zoro. It is possible that they simply meet at some point and duke it out rather randomly though I would maintain it is better if there is more than a random friendly deathmatch between them. As in, stakes beyond merely the title of WSS. But for that to happen mihawk has to take a side, for whatever random ass whim he might happen to have, and actually stand in the way of the strawhat crew's goals.

It's possible for Mihawk to be a villain, as Elessar said, but I don't see that happening as he has no makings of a villain, so far, just a bored guy who wants challenge. It's quite possible he and Zoro will come across each other, probably, somewhere, and they'll fight, or Zoro will seek him out after Raftel or right before Raftel.

 

[Monox D. I-Fly]

It is unlikely that mihawk will get his own arc as enemy to the strawhats though. That's just not his role. Even what we know of during the timeskip is that he spent his time training zoro and teaching monkeys how to farm. Mihawk does not exhibit any of the ambitions or the evil strawhats proper enemies have. Mihawk is simply the summit of swordsmanship... Whose daily live appears to be going from one random ass whim to the next random ass whim. Mihawk is definitely fighting zoro at the endgame, the question is simply what puts him on collision course with zoro. It is possible that they simply meet at some point and duke it out rather randomly though I would maintain it is better if there is more than a random friendly deathmatch between them. As in, stakes beyond merely the title of WSS. But for that to happen mihawk has to take a side, for whatever random ass whim he might happen to have, and actually stand in the way of the strawhat crew's goals.

Probably it would be like the Straw Hats' first battle against Aokiji/Kuma. The main arc enemy have been taken care of (Foxy/Moria) and then this guy who's even stronger suddenly shows up. To make it fair, though, Zoro should be prevented to join in the battle before Mihawk comes, either by making him getting lost or Nami asking him to guard the ship, so he can face Mihawk at 100% full-strength.

 

[Zmsp]

I honestly don't see a world in which he doesn't fall to the Blackbeard Pirates. I think the whole Mihawk being the endgame for Zoro was put to check when he became his mentor, or at least made way for that rivalry to go some other way. With the amount of stuff still needing to be adressed, it's obvious he won't have an arc of his own, but rather be introduced in some other plot.

It was hinted at the end of the marineford arc that Shanks and Blackbeard will clash. Blackbeard said he'd fight Shanks eventually, and he was the first guy to warn us about BB. This is obviously speculating, but Shanks visit to the 5 stars could probably indicate that their plot is to happen soon enough. I'd theorize that Mihawk would only make sense to be involved with either Shanks or Zoro, so he could very well fall in a conflict like that. It'd transfer the title of strongest to the ex-warden guy, probably with some dirty schemes, and make for a deep and personal final fight for Zoro. It'd also eliminate one other Yonkou and make way for a two headed race for PK between Luffy, who'd take out Kaidou and Big Mom, and BB, who took out Shanks. There's just so much to be adressed that I think it's gonna have to be mixed up into big conflicts from now on, and that's why BM and Kaido are already both being involved.