Juracule Mihawk


 * The subject of this article is sometimes called "Juraquille Mihawk" or "Dracule Mihawk".

Juracule "Hawk-Eyes" Mihawk (ジュラキュール・ミホーク, Jurakyūru Mihōku) is a member of the Shichibukai and the greatest swordsman in the world.

Appearance
Mihawk wears ornate clothing of black and red, with a crucifix, giving him the appearance of a Spanish swordsman. He wears a wide-brimmed hat decorated with a large plume, and a long, open black cloak. His large sword is black, and also in the shape of a crucifix.

His nickname comes from his strangely colored eyes, which resemble a hawk's eyes.

Personality
Mihawk is possibly one of the most serious characters in One Piece; very little seems to surprise him, and he rarely smiles. He takes the revelation about Luffy being Dragon's son in stride, despite the surprise of those around him. Though he is the "swordsman above all the world's swordsmen", Mihawk remains grounded. Though he has obviously become jaded regarding the abilities of other swordsmen, he's able to recognize talent. In fact, he has a desire to see Roronoa Zoro surpass him after having witnessed Zoro's incredible determination and will after their battle. He displays a sense of honor which other Shichibukai seem to lack, with the exception of Bartholomew Kuma (before his final modification into PX-0) and Jinbei.

Mihawk is selective when it comes to fulfilling his "duties" as a Shichibukai, as evidenced by his history of poor attendance at Shichibukai summons, as well as his decision to hunt and harass some pirates over others. Zeff speculated that the reason Mihawk attacked Don Krieg and his men might have simply been because they disturbed his nap. Mihawk admitted that the only reason he followed them all the way back to East Blue from the Grand Line was to kill time.

Mihawk also shows some curiosity for the people he decides to attack. He attempted to strike Whitebeard just to see how strong he is and he attacked Luffy just to see if fate is on Luffy's side or not.

Enemies
In the past, Mihawk was also a rival to one of the most powerful pirates in One Piece, Red-Haired Shanks, which says a lot about his power, but ceased their rivalry after losing interest in fighting a one-armed man like him. He still has a neutral relationship with Shanks and seems to know how to track him down if he has business with his old rival. He and Shanks do manage to get along, regardless of the fact that the two are opposites in personalities. Shanks is also able to get Mihawk to join in when he threw a party to celebrate Luffy's coming, even when moments beforehand Mihawk had scorned how laid-back Shanks was. Mihawk even mused out an apology to Shanks during the battle at Marineford, where he declares that he won't be holding anything against Luffy right before going after him. When Shanks showed up during the Whitebeard War, Mihawk left the battle, stating that fighting Shanks was beyond the scope of their agreement.

Having lost one rival in Shanks, he now shares a rivalry with Zoro, and is prepared to wait as long as it takes for Zoro to become strong enough to beat him. To this end, Mihawk seems to be watching out for Roronoa's progression and is delighted when Zoro gains his first bounty.

Mihawk also made an enemy of Don Krieg, destroying Krieg's entire fleet when he attempted to conquer the Grand Line. Mihawk, for his part, does not even consider Krieg a threat. Upon sighting Mihawk, Krieg's anger led him to attack Mihawk, despite having witnessed Zoro's defeat and his own ship having been sliced apart. Mihawk did not even bother to retaliate, instead merely slashing Krieg's ship again and departing during the distraction.

Abilities and Powers
Juracule Mihawk is the strongest swordsman in the world; a monster superior to monsters, as one character calls him. Because of his status and power, defeating him is Roronoa Zoro's ultimate goal.

In fact, Mihawk's strength is such that Don Krieg accuses him of having the power of a Devil Fruit; however, in the Databooks, his abilities appear to be simply pure skill and power.

Befitting his epithet, he has exceptional eye sight, able to easily follow Luffy's Gear Second movements, and strike with extreme precision, releasing a long-ranged slash at him while going around the other people in between.

Mihawk also seems to have Super-Human Strength, as he was able to stop Zoro, a formidable swordsman with great mastery and enormous strength even to launch entire buildings and destroy them with powerful slashes, with only a dagger, and handling it with just one hand.

While Mihawk is extremely powerful, because of the versatility of Devil Fruit powers, there are those who cannot be damaged at all by his attacks, such as Diamond Jozu and Buggy.

Mihawk travels around in a coffin-shaped raft with two green-flamed candles, a single black sail, and a single seat. The fact that he can traverse the unforgiving oceans, as well as the Grand Line itself, in such a meager craft is yet another testament to his abilities. His first demonstration of power was defeating Don Krieg's fleet of 50 ships and 5,000 men by himself just before a storm struck. Also the fact that Mihawk used to be a rival of Shanks, one of the Yonkou, implies that Mihawk might be one of the strongest characters in the series.

Weapons


He wields the Black Sword Kokutou Yoru, the strongest Sword in the world.

It's an ornately decorated, man-sized (6 feet) sword shaped like a crucifix with a shiny black blade, which is curved at the end. He has the ability to expand his slashes to large distances as seen when he split Don Krieg's ship in half or when he split in half a giant iceberg in Marineford; and it also seems to generate otherworldly purple streaks as it slices, as seen when he cut down Zoro. He is also able to cut through steel with ease, as he demonstrated with the steel-bodied Mr. 1, a feat that took Zoro many years to accomplish.

Yet as well as having the ability to use it to slice up entire fleets of ships or giant mass of ice just by swinging his blade, making a powerful, long-range slice. He is graceful with the blade enough to knock bullets and change their course with little effort and at great speed.

He's able to attack enemies with powerful slashes made of a huge stream of energy or compressed air (it's unknown yet) like they were giant projectiles, like Zoro's Pound Hou techniques or the different variations of Rokushiki's Rankyaku. He has also a smaller variation of this attack where he slices the opponent with a spiral-like stream (very similar to Zoro's Sanjuuroku Pound Hou) of energy or compressed air with great speed (to even strike a moving Luffy in Gear Second mode).

The cross pendant worn on his neck is actually a small dagger. Though it appears to have no value, in the hands of Mihawk, it was able to defeat Zoro with the slightest bit of pressure, and was able to stab close to his heart.

History
Much of Mihawk's past remains a mystery. However, he once saw a strong rival in Shanks. Their battles were said to shake the whole of the Grand Line and Mihawk often sought Shanks out for duels. After Shanks lost his arm ten years ago, Mihawk ceased seeking him out for duels. At some point Mihawk earned the title of "World's Greatest Swordsman" as well as joined the ranks of the Shichibukai. He was among those present at Gold Roger's execution.

Confrontation at the Baratie
Mihawk had been responsible for single-handedly destroying Don Krieg's entire fleet, excluding Krieg's flagship, during his failed attempt at entering and conquering the Grand Line. The destruction of Krieg's fleet drove the pirate from the Grand Line. He then followed Don Krieg to East Blue, to the Baratie and destroyed their flagship as well.

While at the Baratie, he encountered the Straw Hat Pirates, and Zoro immediately challenged him. Mihawk was able to block all three of Zoro's swords with the tip of his necklace blade, finally stabbing him in the chest with it. Mihawk was so surprised by Zoro's spirit, however, that he granted him a face-off against the Black Sword. Zoro then performed his strongest technique, Sanzen Sekai, but Mihawk completely overpowered it and shattered two of Zoro's three swords in the process (all but the Wadō Ichimonji).

Zoro, admitting his total defeat, allowed himself to be cut down by Mihawk face-to-face, like a true swordsman. Mihawk accepted this offer and cleaved open a massive diagonal cut across Zoro's entire chest, but held back just enough to allow Zoro to live. Luffy had already struck out at the Shichibukai unsuccessfully when Zoro tearfully called out to him, proclaiming that no matter what, he would never lose again. Afterwards, Mihawk told Zoro his full name, and gave him a challenge.

It's still too early for you to die. My name is Juracule Mihawk! Discover your true self, the true world, become stronger! However long it may take, I shall await you at the top. Surpass this sword! Surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!!!

After hearing Zoro's goals and giving him a challenge, Mihawk asked Luffy what his goal was. When Luffy told Mihawk it was to be Pirate King, Mihawk told him that was even harder than surpassing him.

With the events against Zoro over, Mihawk decided it's time he headed back to the Grand Line for a nap. Don Krieg took offense to the Shichibukai attitude towards his men and launched an attack at him. Mihawk simply called out "You fool!" and in one final strike struck at Krieg's ship again, causing the already wrecked ship to fall further into pieces. When the dust cleared Mihawk was no where to be seen.

Shanks and Mariejois
Soon afterwards, Mihawk is seen visiting Shanks to bring news of Luffy's coming. Then later on he takes part in a meeting with the Marines and two of his fellow Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo and Bartholomew Kuma.

Whitebeard War
Apparently, he has answered to the call of Shichibukai to battle Whitebeard and is joining the war, later shown dining with the other Shichibukai, except for Jinbei and Boa Hancock.

He is next seen at Marineford, alongside Bartholomew Kuma, Donquixote Doflamingo, Gecko Moria and Boa Hancock, ready for the battle ahead.

When Aokiji froze the two tsunamis that Whitebeard caused, Mihawk was one of the first to attack, wishing to measure his strength against Whitebeard. His attack, the "world's strongest slash", was stopped by Jozu; Mihawk's attack had not damaged him at all and it is unknown as whether or not Mihawk has an attack which could cut through diamond yet.

He shows slight amusement upon Luffy's arrival at Marineford, remarking that the Straw Hat pirate never failed to make things interesting. When Sengoku reveals the fact that Dragon is Luffy's father, he only comments that such a revelation isn't really surprising. When Luffy manages to break through the line, Mihawk goes to meet him head on. He addresses an apology to Shanks, saying he won't hold back and wonders if fate will save Luffy from his black sword.

His fight with Luffy mostly consisted of various long-range sword-slash attacks, the first of which attacked Luffy from long range and damaged him, and one of which was strong enough to cut off the head of one of the frozen tsunami and send it crashing down upon the battlefield. For a brief moment of time Mihawk consistently launched slashes to Luffy, who managed to execute mostly-successful dodging, causing the Shichibukai to note that Luffy had gained experience. However Luffy could not attack, was losing distance, and was having great trouble even simply dodging. Luffy grabbed Buggy and used him as a shield against Mihawk's attacks. Buggy launched a muggy ball at Mihawk, who then deflect the ball back at Buggy. As Buggy took the hit, Luffy dashed past Mihawk. However, the Shichibukai still has his sights on Luffy. Marco ordered Vista to take over the battle. As Luffy makes his way to the execution platform once again, Mihawk concludes that Luffy's strange ability, to make allies out of anyone is the most dangerous ability in the world.

After the army of Pacifista appeared, Mihawk commented to Vista that it was time to finish their battle while the latter stated they both had a point in their favor.

After Whitebeard got stabbed Mihawk was the only one to ignore the event and didnt even gaze at him. He is later seen fighting in the Oriz plaza after the pirates managed to get through the siege wall.

When Luffy and Ivankov try again to reach Ace, Mihawk again arrives to stop them, but he's stopped by Mr. 1, whose name he's aware of. Daz Bones isn't a match for him and he's easily defeated, but Crocodile intervenes and engages in combat with Mihawk, telling him to watch out because he's in a bad mood. He is later seen standing along side Gecko Moria, seeing Whitebeard's dead, but still standing body. He later is seen leaving the battle with the arrival of Shanks stating he agreed to help in the war against Whitebeard but fighting against Shanks was not part of the agreement.

Major Battles

 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Shanks (numerous times, none seen)
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Don Krieg's Pirate Armada
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Roronoa Zoro
 * Juracule Mihawk, Shichibukai, and Marines vs. Whitebeard Pirates and their allies
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Buggy
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Vista
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Mr. 1
 * Juracule Mihawk vs. Crocodile

Translation and Dub Issues
There is some dispute as to Mihawk's name. His name has never been spelled in English by Eiichiro Oda, and many fans argue that his name is "Dracule" or "Juraquille". Viz, 4Kids, and FUNimation chose to use "Dracule" for his name.

However neither translate back into Japanese correctly and the closet match is "Juracule" or "Jouracule". His name seems to be formed from the middle part of "Dracula" (ドラキュラ) and the name "Jules" or "Joule" (ジュール).

"Dracul" is also seen in the Italian version, a translation that has been noted for being highly praised for its correctness of names. It can be speculated that it is because of Dracula's name being partly in Mihawk's family name and partly because his Japanese Voice Actor does not pronounce the "u". "U" is often silent in Japanese and Japanese Voice Actors will often not speak the "u" in words even when required to do so. There is currently no explanation as to why "Dracule" exists in the English version although a theory by fans is that it is because of the noted simulairity to the name "Dracula" in the first place and a generally acceptance amongst fans is that is is what Oda is aiming for. However, for the name to be "Dracule" correctly the beginning in Japanese would be "ド" instead of "ジュ". On note is that "ジュ" can also be read as "Du" as well as "Ju" which can give the variation "Duracule" and because of interchangeable "l" sound also "Duracure", "Joucurare" and "Jucurares" can exist are possible variation names. Other arguments include that the name "Dracule" is stern from an Latin text to Japanese error on Oda's part (also seen with Rob Lucci and the word "Luce"), or that it is intending to be an unusual translation in the first place.

On merchandise, it had been reported that "Dracule" exists, however there are many problems with relying on Merchandise as there has been many mistakes made in the past when a mangaka does not supply a name for a character (such as with Chew and Mr. 2 Bon Kurei being referred to as "Chu" and "Bon Clay" until Oda provided the corrected names). "Juraquille", the other popular fan name, does not transfer back into Japanese well. Its romanizaion in itself is "Jurakuyrure", which is a mismatch against the romanization of Mihawk's name ("Jurakyūru"). Fans can avoid the argument over his name altogether by using just "Mihawk" and miss out his surname completely as without confirmation from Oda, it is considered the most neutral take on his name. To this end, with the question on Mihawk's Latin name open for debate, he is subject to many variable degrees of False etymology.

All of the crosses on Mihawk are edited out in the 4Kids English dub, changing his necklace to an "I", and shortening the "arms" of his sword. This is mainly due to their religious references. In One Piece Grand Battle! amongst the unlockable art content are unedited artworks from the anime showing pictures of Mihawk without these edits. In the FUNimation dub, his sword and necklace remain unedited. However, in the English version of Unlimited Adventure game, these previous edits were continued even though the right had already passed to FUNimation, who had decided not to continue this edit. In the 4Kds version he has a French-Caribbean accent, possibly linked to "Dracule" being a variation on "Dracula", however this is a mismatch against a Transylvanian accent used in popular fiction for vampires.

The bloody slash he gave Zoro was erased to him just ripping his shirt, plus the drinking scene with Shanks was edited out.

Trivia

 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, Mihawk ranked as the 12th most popular character, making him the most popular of the Shichibukai.
 * On his character poster for Grand Battle! that appears when you unlock him, his name is spelled "Mihark".
 * Regardless of the name debate mentioned here on this page, his name is noted to contain part of Count Dracula's name. Along with his name combined with his macabre coffin-boat, his inhuman eyes and his extreme power, it seems that he may have a connection to vampires or have been inspired by them. All of the symbols on Mihawk such as his crosses and coffin-like boat are all representative of the iconic vampire of popular media and culture in some form. Furthermore, in Bram Stoker's original novel, Dracula was described as having facial features like a hawk.

Related Articles

 * Shichibukai
 * Shanks
 * Roronoa Zoro
 * Yonkou

Links

 * Hawk - Wikipedia article about the animal reference in Mihawk's name
 * Vampire - Wikipedia article about the supernatural being Mihawk relates to
 * Vampire - Monstropedia article about the supernatural being Mihawk relates to
 * Dracula - Wikipedia article about the fictional vampire tied to Mihawk

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