One Piece: Shanks & Mihawk's Rivalry, Explained

gamerant.com:

Shanks and Mihawk are certainly two of the most important characters in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece. The former was introduced to the fans in the very first chapter and ended up becoming the key reason why Luffy set sail 10 years later. Entrusting his beloved Straw Hat to Luffy and asking him to return it one day, Shanks established himself as one of the most important characters in the world of One Piece.

Although not nearly as important, Mihawk was introduced to the fans during the Baratie arc where he was challenged by Roronoa Zoro, Luffy's number two. With the goal of wanting to surpass Mihawk, Zoro left his village years, and just as Shanks became a goal for Luffy, Mihawk did the same for Zoro. Interestingly enough, Shanks and Mihawk also have a history with each other, as was revealed when the story moved forward and their rivalry could potentially be one of the greatest ones ever seen in history.

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Both Shanks and Mihawk seem to have had humble beginnings in the One Piece world and weren't nearly as strong as they are today. Shanks was an apprentice on Gol D. Roger's ship and went on to learn a great deal from the likes of Roger himself. By the time that Roger disbanded the crew, Shanks had already been entrusted with the legendary Straw Hat, and eventually, he went on to start the Red Hair Pirates. As for Mihawk, fans don't know much about his past just yet, only that he trained ridiculously hard and beat quite a lot of powerful swordsmen to reach the pinnacle of the art. Even in the Great Pirate Era, Mihawk was quite a famous swordsman. Eventually, he ended up becoming the World's Strongest Swordsman – a title that he carries even now and Zoro chases to this day.

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