Highlights

Dive deeper into Mihawk's past as the Marine Hunter, uncovering betrayals and mysteries that shaped his character.
Mihawk's ties with the Marines led to his infamous reputation as a ruthless pirate hunter, earning him a place among the Warlords.
The dissolution of the Warlord system places Mihawk in a precarious position, aligning him with Buggy and the Cross Guild in the race for One Piece.

One Piece Volume 108 is finally here, and fans are incredibly excited to dive into this volume’s edition of the SBS. As fans know already, Oda does an SBS corner with each volume of the manga that gets published, and in this corner, he answers some intriguing questions that are related to the plot of the story, or, at times, are completely random. Regardless, the SBS corner usually has quite a lot of interesting questions that Oda answers, with bits of information that fans always find interesting.

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Given that One Piece volume 108 has dropped now, it is no surprise for the fans to know that Oda has answered yet another bunch of interesting questions this time around as well, and one of them is pertaining to the World's Strongest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk.

Mihawk As The Marine Hunter

When the fans were first introduced to Mihawk, he was clearly revealed to be the strongest swordsman in the world. At that time, Mihawk's entire character was to stand at the top of the throne when it came to swordsmen of the One Piece world. He was simply a goal for Zoro to reach, and a challenge for him to take on at the end of his entire journey. Back then, Mihawk did not get enough characterization beyond this, however, with time, fans started finding out more about this mysterious and enigmatic swordsman.

Right now, One Piece is in the final saga, and this is where Mihawk will get his share of attention. Oda will most certainly dive deep into this character when the time comes, and fans will surely cherish this individual a lot. For now, Oda has already revealed bits about him, and one particular piece of information that fans found out in the final saga was that Mihawk was once known as the Marine Hunter. This piece of information came when Mihawk was revealed to be a member of the Cross Guild. It was mentioned that back in the day, Mihawk used to hunt down Marines in his spare time.

This made sense, given that the Cross Guild themselves placed high bounties on the heads of the Navy. It appears that this behavior of the Cross Guild has something to do with Mihawk as well, given that he hunted Marines himself in the past, and at the same time, it also ties to Sir Crocodile, who, just like Mihawk, does not place his trust in anyone. This was quite an interesting piece of development in the story, especially when it comes to the character of the World’s Strongest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, as a character. In One Piece volume 108, Oda has now dropped even more information pertaining to Mihawk's past, and why he specifically hunted Marines in the past.

Mihawk's Betrayal At The Hands Of The Marines

According to Oda, Mihawk had some ties with the Marines long ago. These ties were not direct, as it doesn't appear that Mihawk was ever a member of the Navy. However, Mihawk did have some sort of relationship with them. It appears that at some point, the Marines betrayed Mihawk, and this betrayal always lingered with him. Why exactly he felt betrayed and what the deal was between them isn't known. Perhaps, Mihawk always wanted to join the Navy, but was betrayed by someone from the organization. Perhaps, Mihawk wanted to fight someone, and had a deal with the Marines, but was stopped by them. Or, it could also be possible that someone very close to Mihawk ended up dying because he trusted the Marines with their protection. All these things are just conjecture at this point. Fans do not know why exactly Mihawk felt betrayed by the Marines and what exactly the betrayal was. However, it is clear that a relationship between these two existed, and the Marines betrayed him.

Given that this betrayal with the Marines lingered, Mihawk then started hunting the Navy when he became a powerful pirate. It isn't known who exactly he picked on, however, a solid guess would be those who were directly responsible for the betrayal, or were tied to it in some way. Eventually, Mihawk made a great name for himself as a Marine Hunter, and as a result, he acquired a very high bounty.

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Of course, the World Government could not simply ignore the criminal status of Mihawk, and the things that he was doing. They had to come up with some sort of a plan to stop him, and, as a result, eventually, a compromise was reached between these two. When the Warlord system was created, Mihawk was given a position, and he gladly accepted it, given that it meant that he himself was not hunted by the Navy either.

Mihawk As A Shichibukai And A Member Of The Cross Guild

Once Mihawk became infamous enough, survival on the high seas would be harder for him, given that he was a sole pirate, and at the same time, he wouldn't have it in him to take on the stronger member of the Marines at once and beat them. As a result, he decided to accept the invitation of the Government and, according to Oda, he spent his days peacefully, away from all the trouble that the Marines would've caused him otherwise. At the same time, he was also looking for a proper duel to satisfy him. That is when he eventually ran into Zoro in the East Blue, when he was chasing down Don Krieg and his men. Mihawk then decided to wait for Zoro and hoped that he could one day challenge him for his throne properly.

Ever since then, things have changed quite a bit in the One Piece world. For one, the Warlord system does not exist any longer. It was dissolved at the recent Reverie of this year. Now, Mihawk has decided to hide behind the shadow of Buggy, the newly elected Yonko of the Sea. Thanks to Buggy, Mihawk has received protection once again, and he is a core member of the Cross Guild. Together with Crocodile and Buggy, he has put bounties on the heads of the Government, and this has led to the entire world hunting down Marines just as they would hunt down pirates.

The Cross Guild are a major faction in the One Piece world at the moment, and they too are going for the One Piece. Clearly, the race for the One Piece is on, and now, Mihawk has been dragged into it as well. Undoubtedly, he's going to be heavily involved in the Final Saga of the story, and fans can only hope that Oda does his character justice before he's finally taken down by Zoro. For now, fans can simply enjoy the bits of information that they received from Oda about Mihawk, and theorize about what his betrayal was, along with waiting for further elaboration when it comes to this backstory.

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. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1109, is set to be March 3, 2024.