Dracule Mihawk


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

Dracule "Hawk-Eyes" Mihawk is a member of the Shichibukai and the current holder of the title, "Greatest Swordsman in the World". Mihawk serves as Roronoa Zoro's swordsmanship teacher during the two-year timeskip.

Appearance
Mihawk is a tall and lean man with a short beard and sideburns that point upwards. His nickname comes from his strangely colored yellow eyes, which resemble a hawk's eyes.

His attire consists of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume; an open shirt with a red-violet collar and sleeves decorated with flower patterns, leaving his neck and chest bare; a black vest and cape, colored red-violet on the inside; and white (light purple in the anime) pants held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside large boots. He wears a kogatana around his neck, appearing as a golden cross-shaped necklace, and carries Yoru on his back.

At his home in Kuraigana Island's castle, he sports different pants and an open white shirt with a ruffled neck. When he met up with Zoro outside, he had a plain dark cloak draped over his shoulders.

In Volume 63 SBS, Oda drew the Shichibukai as children. Mihawk is shown with many scratches and bruises from training. He used a bokken as his weapon. He dressed in a dark-colored open jacket, short pants, shoes and a light-colored belt.

Personality
Like many other characters he has a unique laugh, or uniquely to himself bearing two: "Wahhahhahha" and/or "Kukukukuku".

Dracule Mihawk is possibly one of the most serious characters in One Piece; very little seems to surprise him, he rarely smiles, and he has only been seen laughing once in the series so far. He takes the revelation about Luffy being Dragon's son in stride, despite the surprise of those around him. 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 the former Shichibukai Jinbe.

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.

Though he is the swordsman above all the world's swordsmen, Mihawk remains grounded. While 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 will and determination after their battle. When he speaks to Zoro, he states he will wait for Zoro, no matter how long it takes and notes that he will continue to be the world's greatest swordsman, showing great confidence in his own skills and abilities.

Mihawk also shows some curiosity for the people he decides to attack. He attempted to strike Whitebeard just to see what the power distance between himself and Whitebeard was and he attacked Luffy just to see if fate is on Luffy's side or not.

He also appears to have a sense of hospitality, having tolerated (somewhat) Perona and Zoro's presence upon his return to Kuraigana Island right after the Whitebeard War; he even went as far as relay to Zoro the events that occurred concerning his captain, Monkey D. Luffy. In addition, he offered a boat to help the Straw Hat swordsman leave the island.

Friends
Although it seems as if he has no friends whatsoever, Mihawk appears to build a level of respect for those he finds interesting enough to battle with, and those who survive. Such an example is when Zoro challenged him to fight at Baratie, and even though he lost, Mihawk was impressed enough to spare him and declare his respect (although indirectly). Despite that, however, he doesn't seem to have anyone who he is particularly fond of.

Shanks
In the past, Mihawk was a rival to one of the most powerful pirates in One Piece, Shanks. However, Mihawk lost interest in him after Shanks lost his left arm. He retains a neutral, though somewhat friendly relationship with Shanks, and is able to track him down if the need arises. 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 back 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 the World Government's agreement.

Roronoa Zoro
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 watches Zoro's progression and is delighted when Zoro gains his first bounty. Even though they are enemies, Mihawk is willing to train Zoro because he is laying down his pride for the sake of someone else.

Don Krieg
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
True to his epithet, "Hawk Eyes," Dracule Mihawk has exceptional eyesight, able to easily track Luffy's high speed Gear Second movements, and strike with extreme precision, releasing a long-range slash at him while there was a chaotic battlefront of New World pirates and Marine officers between them.

In addition, he is also a talented teacher: after training Zoro for two years, he accomplished more than the dojo had achieved in the many years Zoro had trained there. Mihawk's strength is so great that Don Krieg accuses him of having the power of a Devil Fruit; however, in the Databooks, his abilities appear to be simply brute skill and power. Dracule Mihawk is the only Shichibukai whose strength is based totally on natural human skill, being completely human (Jinbe being a Fishman and Bartholomew Kuma being a Pacifista), and possessing no Devil Fruit powers.

His first demonstration of power was defeating all but one of Don Krieg's fleet of 50 ships and 5,000 men by himself just before a storm struck. Perhaps the most accurate and evident demonstration of his incredible power is the fact that he has remained unharmed during the whole series (just like his fellow Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo and Boa Hancock).

It is especially worth noting that, during the Battle of Marineford, while the Whitebeard Pirates (one of the strongest pirate crews in the world, with top members Whitebeard and Ace being killed, Jozu losing his right arm and Marco being heavily wounded), the Marines' elite forces (with Aokiji and Kuma being harmed for the first time in the whole series and Akainu being defeated) and the Shichibukai (with Moria, Crocodile (former) and Teach heavily wounded) had very difficult battles, Mihawk remained truly unscathed through the whole conflict. Also, in the anime he was able to easily dispatch Jinbe, one of his fellow Shichibukai.

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.

Swordsmanship
He is considered to be the strongest swordsman in the world; a monster superior to monsters, as one character calls him. He has been known to have frequently fought with Shanks when they were younger.

The fact that Mihawk used to be a rival of one of the Yonkou implies that Mihawk might be one of the strongest characters in the series. Because of his status, defeating him is Roronoa Zoro's ultimate goal. Mihawk also seems to have great 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 single dagger, and handling it with just one hand.

Yet as well as having the ability to use it to slice up entire fleets of ships or giant masses of ice just by swinging his blade, making a powerful, long-range slice, he is also graceful with the blade enough to knock bullets and change their course with little effort and at great speed. He is also able to cut through steel with ease and rapidity, as demonstrated with the steel-bodied Mr. 1, whom Zoro struggled to beat.

Weapons
Mihawk has a pendant cross knife worn on his neck. He is shown using it as a tool to eat with, but in his hands it is also a deadly weapon capable of defeating any minor or moderately skilled swordsman.

He wields the Black Sword Yoru, the strongest sword in the One Piece world. When Mihawk accepts challenges for his title, this blade is only drawn for those with enough spirit to earn Mihawk's respect, or enough power to present a threat. Kokuto Yoru an ornately-decorated, man-sized (about 7 feet) sword shaped like a crucifix with a shiny black blade, which is curved at the end.

Past
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 before the story, 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 Gol D. Roger's execution. He also made the castle of Kuraigana Island his home.

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.

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 impressed by Zoro's spirit, however, that he granted him a face-off against the Black Sword. Zoro then performed his strongest technique, Sanzen Sekkai, but Mihawk completely overpowered it and shattered two of his three swords in the process (all but the Wado 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 Dracule 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's attitude towards his men and launched an attack on 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 nowhere to be seen.

Meeting Shanks
Soon afterwards, Mihawk is seen visiting Shanks to bring news of Luffy's coming.

When he reached the island where Shanks was, he encountered some members of the Red Hair Pirates. He asked them about their superior's whereabouts. He found Shanks and showed him Luffy’s first wanted poster. Shanks says that he can't let him leave and throws another party despite already being unwell from his previous drinking session.

Meeting at Mariejois
After Montblanc Cricket's decision to help the Straw Hat Pirates reach sky island, Mihawk was seen carrying Luffy's second bounty poster as well as Zoro's first poster on his small ship traveling towards Mariejois. Mihawk was seen again after Luffy defeated Bellamy. He had been surprised to discover their new bounty since he did not anticipate on Luffy and Zoro's accomplishment under such a short time.

Mihawk afterward reaches Mariejois. His visit was unexpected by Sengoku as they had planned to find a replacement for the seventh Shichibukai, Crocodile.

War at Marineford
He answered the call to the Shichibukai to battle Whitebeard and join the war, and is later shown dining with the other Shichibukai, except for Jinbe and Boa Hancock. When the execution of Portgas D. Ace begins, he is next seen standing alongside Bartholomew Kuma, Donquixote Doflamingo, Gekko Moriah and Boa Hancock, ready for the battle ahead.



When Aokiji froze the two tsunami that Whitebeard caused, Mihawk was one of the first to attack, wishing to measure his strength against Whitebeard. His attack, "Sekai Ichi no Zangeki" (the strongest slash in the world), was stopped by Jozu. Mihawk's attack didn't damage Jozu at all and it is unknown as whether or not Mihawk has an attack that 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 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. 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, enraged, launched a Muggy Ball at Mihawk, who effortlessly deflects it back at Buggy. As Buggy took the hit, Luffy dashed past Mihawk. However, the Shichibukai still had his sights on Luffy.



Marco ordered Vista to take over the battle. As Luffy made his way to the execution platform once again, Mihawk concluded 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 didn't 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 Daz Bones, of whose name he is aware. Daz Bones isn't a match for him and is 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 alongside Gekko Moriah, seeing Whitebeard's dead, but still standing, body. After that he is seen leaving the battle with the arrival of Shanks, stating that he agreed to help in the war against Whitebeard, but fighting against Shanks was not part of the agreement.

After the War
After the battle, Mihawk shows up in the castle on Kuraigana Island. After reading about Moriah's presumed demise, Perona starts to cry. Mihawk, without any sympathy, tells Perona to go cry elsewhere. Perona then scolds Mihawk for his inhospitality. Mihawk responds by saying that Perona intruded into his house while he was gone. He also says that despite the newspaper's assertions about Moriah having died during the battle, he was alive during the whole big confrontation between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines. However, Mihawk cannot give Perona a definitive answer on whether or not Moriah is indeed alive and questions the validity of the newspaper. Mihawk is unaware of the fact that Doflamingo was ordered to kill Moriah.

He's later seen in the ruins near the castle, watching Zoro's fight against the armed baboons roaming the island. He comments on how Zoro is still far away from the sea even though he was away from the castle for a long time. When Mihawk sees that the boat he provided to Zoro gets damaged, he comments that the boat is now useless, but Zoro brushes off that comment saying that he can just use part of the boat to help him swim to his destination. Mihawk then explains to Zoro the reasons behind the baboons' fighting style, and then asks him to return to the castle and leave the following morning, but Zoro refuses, saying that he needs to reach Luffy. Mihawk gives up, and allows him to do as he pleases.



Zoro later comes back and asks Mihawk to train him. Mihawk tells Zoro to go, believing such an idea to be foolish. He tells him that he should be ashamed of himself, that seeing him come back crawling for help after loosing to the baboons is just plain painful to watch and then closes the matter by telling him that he had been overestimating him, thus, that he won't be training him. However, Zoro answers Mihawk that he has already defeated them and that there's nothing left beside his head, but that he is not stupid enough to believe that he could win against him at this moment. In a rare moment of emotion, Mihawk starts laughing uncontrollably at the absurdity of his demand (training by his hand a swordsman who wants to kill him). However, he comprehends that Zoro isn't acting for his own benifice, and, that on the contrary, he found something much more important to him than his own life or dreams. Impressed by his resolve, which is to bear the mark of disgrace for his captain, despite the fact that he is a man who has a great sense of honor / has a lot pride. Mihawk gives in and tells Perona to heal Zoro so they can begin his training, which takes place during the next two years.

Major Battles

 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Shanks (numerous times, unseen)
 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Krieg Pirates
 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Roronoa Zoro
 * Shichibukai and the Marines vs. Whitebeard Pirates and their allies
 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Vista
 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Daz Bones
 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Crocodile

Filler Battles

 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Jinbe

Anime and Manga Difference
During the battle, Jinbe comes to Luffy's aid and challenges the swordsman. He uses his fishman karate to slow the oncoming cannon balls shot at him that Mihawk then cuts. The two then engage in a short clash, sending Jinbe flying back as he continues to pursue Luffy.

After Luffy's message is revealed, Mihawk and Zoro went outside the castle and Mihawk tells Zoro that the humandrills are divided in ranks and that there is a leader among them, who has imitated his (Mihawk) swordsmanship style.

Censorship
In the 4Kids dub, the bloody slash he gave Zoro was erased to him just ripping his shirt, plus the drinking scene with Shanks was edited out, too. He was also given a French-Caribbean accent, possibly linked to "Dracule" being a variation on "Dracula", though this is a mismatch against a Transylvanian accent used in popular fiction for vampires.

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 the game Unlimited Adventure, these previous edits were continued even though the right had already passed to FUNimation, who had decided not to continue this edit.

Etymology
There was some dispute as to Mihawk's name. His name had 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.

His name seems to be formed from "Dracula" (ド ラキュ ラ)..

"Dracul" was 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 similarity to the name "Dracula" in the first place and a generally acceptance amongst fans is that it 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". One note is that "ジュ" can 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 included that the name "Dracule" stems from a Latin text to Japanese error on Oda's part (also seen with Rob Lucci's name and the word "Luce"), or that it is intended to be an unusual translation in the first place.

On merchandise, it had been reported that "Dracule" existed before; however, there are many problems with relying on merchandise as there have 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 being referred to as "Chu" and "Bon Clay" until Oda provided the corrected names). "Juraquille", the other popular fan name, did 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 often avoided the argument over his name by using just "Mihawk" and miss out his surname completely as without confirmation from Oda, it was considered the most neutral take on his name. To this end, with the question on Mihawk's Latin name open for debate, he was subject to many variable degrees of false etymology.

The One Piece Green: Secret Pieces databook confirmed his name to be "Dracule" finally ending this dispute after years of fan debate.

Trivia

 * Regardless of the name debate mentioned above on this page, his name is noted to contain part of Count Dracula's 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. And another similarity is both men lived alone in castles located in hard to reach places.
 * His favorite drink seems to be wine. There was a bottle and a glass of red wine near him both when he sat with other Shichibukai at Mariejois and in his living room at Kuraigana. Wine is sometimes used in fiction to make characters seem refined and worldly. Red wine is considered more sinister than white, due to its general connotations with blood which invokes a vampiric imagery.
 * The only duel between Shanks and Mihawk that was actually seen is in the game One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 2. It was used as an intro for both of them as bosses.
 * On his character poster for Grand Battle! that appears when he is unlocked, his name is spelled "Mihark".
 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, Mihawk ranked as the 12th most popular character, making him the most popular of the Shichibukai.

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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