The World’s Strongest Swordsman – Mihawk

Dracuse Mihawk is the man who fans know to be the Strongest Swordsman in the World, currently. He was introduced very early into the series and made his proper debut during the Baratie arc. In this arc, Mihawk finally showcased his incredible strength to the fans when he took on Zoro in combat for the very first time. At this point, Zoro believed that he was strong enough to take Mihawk on already and was ready to test his skill against him. However, much to his surprise, he was absolutely no match for the world’s strongest.

While Mihawk could have killed Zoro at the time, he chose not to, because he saw some potential in him. Instead, he injured him gravely and gave him a scar to remember him by and, at the same time, told him to seek him out as he learns more about himself and the whole world.

Fans got a proper taste of his skill during this fight, however, as the story progressed, Mihawk’s strength was further elaborated upon. During the Paramount War, fans could see how strong Mihawk truly is. He was able to clash on an equal footing against Vista of the Whitebeard Pirates and produce some extraordinary feats, such as chopping up a giant frozen tidal wave effortlessly. Mihawk continued to showcase his incredible might after the timeskip as well and, his strength became more apparent when the Shichibukai were finally dissolved. When that happened, fans knew that these powerful Warlords would now play a bigger role, given that they weren’t just sitting idle thanks to the Government’s protection anymore. In fact, they would even receive newer bounties and, thus, a proper glimpse of their strength would be provided. Mihawk was given a bounty of 3.590 billion berries and that in itself gave the fans a proper glimpse at how strong he currently is.

Characters Stronger Than Mihawk

Mihawk is clearly one of the strongest characters in One Piece but he certainly is not the strongest right now. In fact, he has never been the strongest character at any point in the story. Before the Great Pirate Era, Roger was clearly the strongest. In the Great Pirate Era, the title of the strongest belonged to none other than Whitebeard, even though he was old. Kaido was called the Strongest Pirate Alive until recently and, now, One Piece has seen the next generation of pirates emerge who are currently at the very top. Of course, then, there is the question of the pirate Red-haired Shanks, who is believed to be the strongest right now. Fans know that Shanks and Mihawk have shared quite an intense rivalry as well. Many believe Mihawk to be stronger than Shanks, however, that is only in terms of sword skills. In fact, even Oda himself clarified that Mihawk has sword skills that surpass those of Shanks when his bounty was revealed.

Overall, as a fighter, Shanks is still much stronger and a much better Haki user than Mihawk. This is also very well reflected in his bounty of 4.0489 billion berries which is staggering, given that he has always tried to maintain peace and is only now entering the great game, meaning that his bounty can go even higher.

Of course, Shanks isn’t the only character who is stronger than Mihawk at this point in the story. In fact, there is a particular swordsman whose true strength was recently revealed to the fans and he could very well be above Mihawk in terms of power as well as skill. This character is none other than Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro.

Why Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro Could Be Stronger Than Mihawk

For the longest time, fans believed that the Five Elders weren’t all that strong. In fact, quite a lot of fans believe that the Five Elders only held political power in the world and that their decision was just to run the daily affairs pertaining to many worldly matters and just sit around and order the Marines as their military front. While they certainly do order the Navy around, that does not mean that they are not strong by themselves. The five elders are incredibly strong and a glimpse of their power was given to the fans during Sabo’s Reverie flashback. In fact, every single user of the Five Elders was revealed to be a tremendously overpowered character, the strength of which could potentially surpass even that of the Yonko.

Among the Five Elders, the strongest is likely going to be Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, the bald elder. This member of the Five Elders is seen carrying one of the Supreme Grade Weapons, and that is the Shodai Kitetsu. Fans know for a fact that the Kitetsu line of blades is cursed and are known to bring a terrible death upon its wielder. This cursed blade being in possession of V. Nusjuro for so long only means that he has successfully bent it to his will and commands it with great excellence. As such, one can expect him to be the wielder of the most difficult sword in the entire series. On top of that, he also seems to have a powerful awakened Devil Fruit. Fans have already seen the powers of Saturn’s Devil Fruit and if that is anything to go by, Nusjuro’s Devil Fruit is going to be insanely overpowered.

Of course, fans will still wonder as to why he doesn’t have the title of the strongest Swordsman in the world if he is truly stronger than Mihawk. The answer to that question is very simple. The world isn’t supposed to know about the exact strength of the Five Elders. In fact, the Five Elders aren’t even supposed to be seen by the common folk, let alone take part in their petty games. This was proven when Saturn descended on the Blue Sea and went to Egghead Island.

He wanted to keep his existence hidden and he was only pressured to take part in the events of Egghead Island after nothing else was working for him. Even when he did step foot on the island, the lowly and the weak were told to not even look towards him. Nobody that has seen his true powers can be allowed to live and that, in itself, explains as to why the people in the One Piece do not know the true strength that he possesses. To the world, Mihawk is the strongest swordsman because they don’t know of a particular entity that has likely remained alive for around 900 years and commands the strongest cursed sword with great excellence, on top of having an awakened overpowered Devil Fruit.

The 5 Elders have completely changed the game in One Piece and introduced new levels of power that the Straw Hat Pirates, as well as others, now need to match. Luffy needs to surpass the Five Elders and match the likes of Imu, and that only means that if Zoro is to truly become the World’s Greatest Swordsman, not only does he have to defeat Mihawk but he has to fight against Nusjuro and crush him in battle as well.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. Since One Piece is going to be on break, the release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1099, is set to be November 26, 2023.