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 first one to be revealed in the series. He is also the current holder of the title, "Greatest Swordsman in the World". Mihawk served as Roronoa Zoro's swordsmanship master during the two-year timeskip.

He is also a major antagonist in the Marineford Arc where he took part in the Battle of Marineford and sided with the Marines, along with most of the other Shichibukai.

Appearance
Mihawk is a tall lean man with black hair, a short beard, mustache and sideburns that point upwards. His nickname comes from his strangely colored red eyes (yellow in the anime), which resemble a hawk's eyes.

He wears black and red ornate clothing with a crucifix pendant that hides a little dagger, which gives him the appearance of a Spanish swordsman. His attire consists of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, and a long, open black coat with no shirt underneath, with red, flower-patterned sleeves and collar. He wears white (light purple in the anime) pants held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside overly large boots in comparison to his leg size.

He wears a kogatana around his neck, appearing as a golden cross-shaped necklace, and carries his sword Yoru on his back when he is not using it.

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.

After the timeskip, he shows some more wrinkles near the eyes. While reading about the Straw Hats' actions on Dressrosa and resulting new bounties, he was seen in his casual outfit along with a dark scarf draped over his shoulders and a wide brimmed straw hat.

Twenty four years ago, during Gol D. Roger's execution, Mihawk did not have his beard, nor did he wear his hat, and his hair was scruffier and shorter. He already had his crucifix pendant, and sported what looked like a flower-patterned jacket. Although it cannot be directly seen, he did not seem to be in possession of Yoru at that time.

As a child, Mihawk had 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, unusually bearing two: "Wahhahhahha/Kukukuku."

Mihawk is mostly very serious; he rarely smiles, and he has only been seen laughing twice so far. He took the revelation about Luffy being Dragon's son in stride, despite the surprise of those around him. He never unnecessarily reveals emotions on the battlefield, even when something unexpected happens (such as Jozu intercepting his flying slash aimed at Whitebeard, or Luffy surviving his onslaught).

He displays a sense of honor like some other Shichibukai, such as Boa Hancock, Bartholomew Kuma (before his final modification into PX-0), and Jinbe. He recognizes and respects the swordsman's code and he even permitted Roronoa Zoro the luxury of training at his hand for his dedication and selflessness. He is also unafraid to reference his title of "Greatest Swordsman in the World" in relation to himself, indicating a high level of confidence in his own abilities. He takes pride in his swordsmanship, believing that a nick on his sword is a blemish to his pride. Though he is confident in his strength, Mihawk remains grounded. While he has become jaded regarding the abilities of other swordsmen, due to facing numerous weaker opponents, he is able to recognize talent. In fact, he has a desire to see 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 is selective and whimsical 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.

Although Mihawk spends most of his time alone, he is fine with making company with people, such as Shanks and Perona. He also appears to have a sense of hospitality, having (somewhat) tolerated 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, Luffy. In addition, he offered a boat to help the Straw Hat's swordsman leave the island.

Mihawk also shows 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. He also attacked Luffy just to see if fate is on Luffy's side or not. As a result, Mihawk is very analytical about others' abilities, and can recognize strengths that others may not, such as when he understood that Luffy's natural charisma and quick amassing of comrades is his most dangerous attribute.

Despite his serious demeanor, he is shown to be capable of engaging in peaceful activities such as tilling the land of Kuraigana Island.

Friends
Although he spends most of his time alone, 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 does not seem to have anyone whom he is particularly fond of.

Shanks
In the past, Mihawk was a rival to one of the most powerful pirates in the world, 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 was 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 will not 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 battling Shanks was beyond the scope of the World Government's agreement.

Perona
Perona stayed on Kuraigana Island with Mihawk and Zoro during the latter's two year long training. After accompanying Zoro to the Sabaody Archipelago and going back to Thriller Bark to pick up Kumashi's body, she went back to Kuraigana and is now living with Mihawk.

World Government
Being a Shichibukai, Mihawk is an ally of the World Government. However, he does not care about their goals. From his discussion with Sengoku, it is stated that Mihawk rarely attends the meetings at Mariejois. Despite those facts, the marines display an amount of respect and fear towards him. Even Fleet Admiral Sakazuki (being an Admiral at that certain time) referred to Mihawk’s strength, by focusing on his eyes. He also answered the call of the Marines to summon for the upcoming war. The only occasion that Mihawk is shown to be obedient to the World Government is when he went to Marineford to fight against Whitebeard (although he left when Shanks arrived).

Roronoa Zoro
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!!!

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. After the war Zoro is shown prostrating before Mihawk, requesting training from the Shichibukai. Mihawk initially dismisses this request as Zoro reacting to an inability to defeat the Humandrills and escape the island. He chides Zoro and expresses regret for "over-estimating" the swordsman. When Zoro explains that he has defeated the Humandrills and requires training from Mihawk to defeat him, Mihawk comments that in order to make the request Zoro must have found something more valuable than his ambition. He agrees to the request and orders Perona to patch up Zoro so that the training can begin. Mihawk has shown to be a strict teacher when he was Zoro's swordmaster during the two year timeskip as shown in a flashback when teaching Zoro how to use Haki he forbid Zoro from drinking alcohol until he fully mastered infusing his swords with Busoshoku Haki.

Monkey D. Luffy
It's not some sort of special power, but he has the ability to make allies of everyone he meets. And that is the most fearsome ability on the high seas...

Mihawk sees Luffy as a great threat. During the battle at Marineford, he expresses to himself that Luffy has the most dangerous ability in the world, which is turning anyone around him into his allies, including former enemies. He was one of the few people not to be surprised that Luffy is the son of the world's most dangerous criminal and even challenges Luffy to a duel. Even though he easily gains the upper hand, he compliments on how Luffy is clear headed in battle and not as reckless as he thought. The two continued their fight until Luffy escapes after having been saved by Whitebeard Pirate Fifth Commander, Vista. However, Mihawk seems amused when he hears about his progress throughout the series and acknowledges him as a true warrior rather than a foolish boy. He even accepted Zoro’s request when he heard that he wanted to become stronger for Luffy’s sake.

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, did 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.

Others
Mihawk seems to have made lots of enemies in the past. Especially most of the swordsmen of the world want to have a chance to challenge him, like the Fifth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Flower Sword Vista, who was thrilled to see Mihawk in the battle. He challenged him to battle with pleasure. Also, two okamas from Impel Down attacked him saying that they dueled him in the past. However, Mihawk replied that he doesn’t remember the name of every insect that he crushes. Vista expressed a desire to fight Mihawk and was happy that he got to cross blades with him, calling him the greatest swordsman in the world.

Abilities and Powers


Mihawk possesses an immense amount of skill in battle, defeating all but one of Don Krieg's fleet of 50 ships and 5,000 men by himself just before a storm struck. He has also remained unharmed thus far throughout the entire series, despite participating in the Battle of Marineford, in which many of the world's most powerful people suffered injuries. He was also a rival to one of the Yonko, further demonstrating his abilities.

True to his epithet, "Hawk Eyes", 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 (though it helped that Zoro's skills were already greatly developed by the time he became Mihawk's disciple). Zoro himself even admitted that even after training with Mihawk during the entirety of the (time-skip), while talking down to Pica, an elite officer of the former Donquixote Pirates, that he (Zoro) is still not anywhere near Mihawk's level of skill with swordsmanship, further attesting to Mihawk's combat and fighting prowess.

Mihawk's strength is so great that Don Krieg accuses him of having the power of a Devil Fruit. While it has not yet been officially confirmed that he does not, it has only been indicated that his abilities are from pure skill and power. This makes Mihawk one of the few known Shichibukai whose strength is based solely on human abilities (Jinbe being a Fishman).

He is shown to have a strong will as he was able to resist Luffy's Haoshoku Haki and be one of the few to still be able fight despite others around him falling unconscious. He also has great mental strength, having not fallen for the charms of Boa Hancock while most men easily fall for the pirate empress' beauty.

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.

Physical Abilities
Although he has never been seen resorting to physical combat outside of swordplay, his fortitude suggests that he naturally possesses superhuman strength and resilience, as he applied tremendous strength behind all of his swings, enough to split battleships and a mountain of ice with ease. He was also able to stop Zoro, a formidable swordsman with enormous strength, with only a single dagger that he held with one hand. He also has extraordinary agility, being able to jump and leap enormous heights and distances. He is quick enough to counter Luffy's Gear Second enhanced speed.

Swordsmanship


In terms of combat, Mihawk is the single greatest swordsman alive in the world, naturally commenting on his immense mastery of swordsmanship: two years ago, he was capable of effortlessly defeating a three sword-wielding Zoro, who was renowned all over the East Blue, with a single dagger that he generally uses as a dinner knife. He has been known to have frequently dueled with the Yonko Shanks when they were younger.

Mihawk demonstrates immense skill in swordsmanship, especially when using his main sword, Yoru. His range of abilities are extensive, from destroying entire fleets of ships and giant icebergs with immense power to being able to deflect the course of bullets with graceful precision. He is also able to cut through steel with ease and swiftness, as demonstrated with the steel-bodied Mr. 1, whom even Zoro struggled to defeat.

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 swordsmen.

Yoru
Mihawk wields the Black Sword Yoru as his main weapon. Yoru is a curved black blade in the shape of a crucifix, with a golden crossguard decorated by red cabochons (which are blue and green in the anime), and a hilt wrapped in bandages, with a particularly big cabochon at its extremity. When he accepts challenges for his title, he only draws this blade for those with enough spirit to earn Mihawk's respect, or enough power to present a threat; otherwise his Kogatana is sufficient. Yoru is an ornately-decorated, single-edged, life-sized sword (about 7 feet) shaped like a crucifix with a shiny black blade, which is curved at the end.

Haki
Mihawk taught Zoro how to use Busoshoku Haki to protect his swords from any damage, which not only suggests that he himself can use it, but that he possesses enough mastery of it to teach other people at a high level.

Past


He was among those present at Gol D. Roger's execution. He also made the castle of Kuraigana Island his home.

Mihawk 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 twelve years ago, Mihawk ceased seeking him out for duels. At some point, he earned the title of "World's Greatest Swordsman" and joined the ranks of the Shichibukai.

Mihawk had been responsible for single-handedly destroying Don Krieg's entire fleet, excluding Krieg's flagship, during Krieg's 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.

Baratie Arc
While he is at the Baratie, he encounters the Straw Hat Pirates, and Zoro immediately recognizes and challenges him. However, Hawk Eyes claims he is not an idiot who uses all his power just to hunt mere rabbits and instead draws out a small pocket knife from the pendant around his neck. Even with his santoryu, Zoro is easily blocked by the knife which leaves him to question if the gap between the two is really that large.

Hawk Eyes pierces Zoro with his pocket knife and he questions why Zoro he did not step back. Zoro says that all the oaths, promises, and deals he made would be gone if he had stepped back and says that death would have been better. Mihawk was so impressed by Zoro's spirit, that he grants him a face-off against the Black Sword. Zoro then performs his strongest technique, Sanzen Sekkai, but Mihawk completely overpowers it and shatters two of his three swords in the process (all but the Wado Ichimonji).



Zoro, admitting his total defeat, allows himself to be cut down by Mihawk face-to-face, like a true swordsman. Mihawk accepts this offer and cleaves open a massive diagonal cut across Zoro's entire chest, but he holds back just enough to allow Zoro to live. As Luffy attacks Hawk Eyes, he reveals that Zoro is not dead and tells him to surpass himself. Zoro tearfully calls out to him, proclaiming that no matter what, he would never lose again. Afterwards, Mihawk tells Zoro his full name, and gives 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 asks Luffy what his goal is. When Luffy tells Mihawk it is to be Pirate King, Mihawk tells him that that is even harder than surpassing him.

With the events against Zoro over, Mihawk decides it is time to head back to the Grand Line for a nap. Don Krieg takes offense to the Shichibukai's attitude towards his men and launches an attack on him. Mihawk simply calls out "You fool!" and in one final strike he struck at Krieg's ship again, causing the already wrecked ship to fall further into pieces. When the dust clears Mihawk is nowhere to be seen.

Loguetown Arc


Soon afterwards, Mihawk is seen visiting Shanks to bring news of Luffy's coming. When he reaches the island where Shanks is, he encounters some members of the Red Hair Pirates. He asks them about their superior's whereabouts. He finds Shanks and shows him Luffy’s first wanted poster.

Shanks says that he cannot let him leave and throws another party despite already being hungover from his previous drinking session.

Jaya Arc
Mihawk later reaches Mariejois. His visit was unexpected by Sengoku as they had planned to find a replacement for the seventh Shichibukai, Crocodile. Laffitte appears and states he wishes to put forward his captain's name for nomination of Shichibukai. The name of "Teach" is put forward by Laffitte.

Amazon Lily Arc
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.

Marineford Arc
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 tsunamis that Whitebeard caused, Mihawk was one of the first Shichibukai 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.

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 is not 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 will not 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, stuck in Crocodile's Sables, and used him as a shield against Mihawk's attacks, which had no effect on Buggy due to his Devil Fruit's powers. 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 did not 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 is stopped by Daz Bones, of whose name he is aware. Daz Bones is no match for him and is easily defeated, but Crocodile intervenes and engages in combat with Mihawk, telling him to watch out because he is 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.

Post-War Arc


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 lack of hospitality. 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 is 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 losing to the baboons is just plain painful to watch and then closes the matter by telling him that he had been overestimating him, and thus that he will not be training him. However, Zoro answers Mihawk that he has already defeated them and that there is nothing left beside Mihawk's own 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 is not acting for his own benefit, and that on the contrary, Zoro found something much more important to him than his own life or dreams. Mihawk was 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. Mihawk gives in and tells Perona to heal Zoro so they can begin his training, which takes place during the next two years.

During the Timeskip
While training Zoro, Mihawk also taught him how to imbue his swords with Haki, forbidding him from having any alcohol until he had mastered doing so, much to Zoro's chagrin.

From the Decks of the World: The 500,000,000 Man Arc
After the events at Dressrosa, Mihawk and Perona read the news of the Straw Hats' new bounties while tilling the land of Kuraigana Island with the humandrills.

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 (unseen)

Filler Battles

 * Dracule Mihawk vs. Jinbe

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

Marineford Arc
During the war at Marineford, 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.

When Sengoku revealed Luffy's relationship with Dragon in the manga, Mihawk commented that he was not surprised. In the anime, Mihawk remained silent.

Post-War Arc
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. Many fans argue that his name was "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).

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.

Enemy Appearances

 * One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
 * Treasure Wars 2 Welcome to Buggyland
 * Birth of Luffy's Dream Pirate Crew!
 * Dragon Dream!
 * One Piece: Round the Land
 * One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors
 * One Piece: Unlimited World Red

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Dance Battle
 * One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece (Game Boy Advance)

Trivia

 * He and Jinbe are currently the only known Shichibukai who do not have Devil Fruit powers.
 * 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 5th Japanese Fan Poll, Mihawk ranked as the 23rd most popular character, making this the first poll where he was not ranked as the most popular Shichibukai.
 * He is the first Shichibukai shown in the series.
 * In the FUNimation dub, when he makes his speech to Zoro, he uses his epithet instead of his real surname.
 * He shares his birthday with Shanks and Franky (March 9).
 * He is the only Shichibukai with no known bounty.

Links

 * Hawk - Wikipedia article about the animal reference in Mihawk's name

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