What it means to be a swordsmen.

[Future Warrior]

When King punched Zoro in the face like a brawler in 1023, it's implied that goes against the code of swordsmanship. I don't think I have ever seen Zoro punch or kick his opponent in a serious fight, which seems to support that. Rayliegh also seems to incorporate hand to hand combat in his battles as well.

Would I expect Mihawk or Zoro ever doing something like this? Probably not.

So it seems like this kind of solves the whole Mihawk vs Shanks somewhat. If Shanks respected the code of swordsmanship and fought Mihawk, he would lose that fight. However, if Shanks is allowed to fight in a way that is natural for himself, then he would win. If Shanks and Mihawk were clashing their blades, and all of a sudden Shanks takes out his fist coated in advanced Haoshoku Haki and punches Mihawk square in the jaw, it would be an automatic disqualification in the duel.

I guess that doesn't really prove that Shanks is overall stronger than Mihawk though, because everyone uses their own style of fighting. Mihawk is simply at his strongest when he fights purely with the blade. Still, I think it helps give us context that WSS doesn't necessarily mean beating anybody that wields a sword. Roger is the biggest example of this.

 

[SSJ2]

Has Shanks ever been seen using anything other than a sword?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

on the back is a swordsman's shame.

 

[Future Warrior]

Has Shanks ever been seen using anything other than a sword?

We never seen him fight.

 

[SSJ2]

Well we've seen him clash with WB and Akainu and he used a sword both times. Those clashes are similar to Rayleigh and Kizaru. I'm inclined to consider him a swordsman as he clearly did have a rivalry with Mihawk whose goal was to become the WSS. I doubt Mihawk would have been fixated on Shanks if he wasn't a true swordsman.

I do agree with your premise overall though.

 

[Future Warrior]

Two clashes says everything about how a character fights?

 

[SSJ2]

Nah, I’m just saying that we don’t have reason to believe he fights in any other way as of now. If we see him fight as a brawler then I’ll agree with this line of thinking.

 

[Future Warrior]

Yeah I'm not making assumptions on the way Shanks fights, I'm basically just saying that we should keep an open mind that Mihawk > Shanks isn't a guarantee. Personally, I will assume Shanks is stronger based on what I read from the story, but I'm aware that it's not factual.

 

[SSJ2]

That’s fair, though I think the Vivre card leans toward Mihawk being the strongest.

 

[Symbiote]

Live by the sword die by the sword.