Mihawk X Shanks - Tumblr Posts
Was thinking about this lovely comment that @manofbeskar left me "(+ blackbeard thing, me and my dad were saying if bb hurts/kills shanks, there's a chance mihawk will go after him)"
And not to put on my theory glasses
but it unknowingly triggered my biggest fear that I didn't even know I had. What if blackbeard killing Shanks and Mihawk hearing about it is what triggers the flashback into his backstory. What if that happens and it actually kills me? What then?
What fresh devil's deal is this?
Because like I got what I wanted Mihawk deep dive yay! But at what cost? Aren't some prices simply too high?
And I think we can all tell that we are gearing up for a Red Hair pirated Blackbeard Pirates confrontation (also isn't it neat that all three men involved in this whitebeard, blackboard, red hair, are all memorialized by their haircolor? Pretty fucking neat) But we also know that Shanks isn't going to beat blackboard Luffy, the protagonist has to do that! So it's reasonable to think that either the red hair pirates are shattered like what happened with Law and Shanks is gravely injured or Shanks dies and the red hair pirates have to regroup and probably partner up with the strawhats or something. but yeah if Shanks' death triggers Mihawk's backstory I think I'd be legally obligated to fly to Japan and attempt to fistfight Oda.
I think Mihawk should break his arm, have to wear it in a sling the whole shebang, it's just completely useless for a little while, meaning( because I'm pretty sure Yoru is a two hand sword) he can't use Yoru at full potential.
I think it'd give him a lot to think about, once he made it past all the anger that is.
preferably his right arm because while I'd bet he's ambidextrous to some insane self taught degree I'm pretty sure he's right hand dominant
Also I don't now how he'd break it but preferably something involving doing something for/protecting he kids. (could be silly could be serious) maybe they made him climb a coconut tree who knows, not me š¤·šæāāļø
But I think he'd come out of the whole ordeal wih a little more respect for Shanks and just how hard it is to live without your dominant hand, A realization that he kind of made the whole shanks lost an arm thing about him and while Shanks' loves Mihawk's vanity that was a little too childish even for him.
And finally i think he's be angry cause how could Shanks give this up? He can't use Yoru with the extreme ease he usually can and even just this is threatening to swallow him whole, how could Shanks' so recklessly, willingly, throw away his forever?
But he looks over at where a pair of cotton candy haired idiots are arguing over nothing; whole, relatively healthy and maybe not very happy but alive and he thinks about how he had a little something to do with that.
And Maybe he's starting to get it.
The Red Hair Pirates Navigator gets sick or something while Mihawk is visiting and Mihawk, who rides around on an overgrown raft and has probably never steered an actual real ship in his life but loves a challenge, volunteers himself as a stand in while acting like they've forced his hand.
So it's just like
Absolutely No one:
Mihawk (sighing) : I guess since you've begged I'll do it š
And Shanks is so excited because Mihawk is actually taking a vested interest in his crew and this is probably the closest he will get at having him as an official rhp and of course watching Mihawk do piratey things he rarely does is very hot.
Everyone else has a couple of......questions
Benn: I've never seen Hawkeyes use a map before, I'm not even sure he own's a log pose.
Shanks (insanely whipped would let Mihawk crash them into the rocks like a sailor to a siren call) : But he get's where he needs to go and that's the important bit.
Mihawk gives directions that the helmsmen has never heard of in his life, never actually opens a map navigates soley on memory, they don't see a single Island for days and he leaves the crew wondering how exactly it is he ever gets anywhere. They still somehow arrive 3 days earlier than expected.
Look Mihawkās eyes definitely glow in the dark and this fact definitely threw Shanks of the first time he learned it which coincidently was during their *coughs* first time. But itās kind of hot and heās grown used to it nowā¦ā¦mostly.
Because you know Mihawk is definetly the type of dude to never turn on a light ever and with his propensity for staring unblinkingly and his half hazard middle of the night sleeping habits. Itās a bit of a bit of a problem .
the years Shanks has lost of his life waking up to a floating pair of shimmering golden and ringed eyes staring at him in complete darkness he will never gain back and are best not talked out.
Also imagine if Mihawk is prone to midnight snacking (making up for all the food he doesnāt eat during the day to maintain his vampiric reputation) so many a red haired pirate have woken the ship with Shrieks having stumbled into the very dark kitchen to see a pair of otherworldly eyes completely demolishing a plate of leftovers or an entire charcuterie board staring right into their soul.
Ben and Yasopp have almost shot him multiple times(with only one of those times being on purpose) Many a crew member has solicited Shanks to get his boyfriend exorcised and the ship cleansed. In 2 years the closest Zoro ever came to cutting Mihawk was while blindly flailing his swords around in the dark trying to fend of the kitchen demon that besieged him during his midnight beer run. This will happen every night, they never talk about it. Zoro never figures out itās Mihawk and is pretty sure the Kitchen is haunted. Wonāt keep him from his midnight protein shake (he is no longer allowed beer)
Perona is the only person who is even slightly normal about this (she lived on thriller bark floating pair of eyes in the dark is childās play) she just switches on the very bright white kitchen lights, effectively blinding Mihawk and leaving his terrible posture and he use of his precious kogatana to eat meatballs exposed to the light. She gets a cup of water turns off the light and leaves. The next day Mihawk buys her a new dress they never speak of this again.
Okay I feel like I need to reiterate that Red Wine Supernova is so Loguetown meeting Mishanks.
Itās literally teenage baby faced Shanks seeing an older cooler infamous Mihawk and being like what if I saw you across the bar and loved you desperately? What then? What? Youāre essentially a serial killer? Who cares.
You get the sense that this new scheming Shanks has a plan for everything meaning he probably has a plan called Operation donāt let Mihawk break up with meā¦ā¦again.
And it consists of a lot of begging and maybe some pleading mixed in with a little sobbing to really pull the whole thing together.
And it works like a charm.š
Mihawk is such a capricious dude, oh my god. The only dude you know who is always itching for a fight but only ever a specific kind of fight so he goes out of his way to take the path of least resistance for everything else.
Like he would rather leave than fight Don krieg, Sail away than decimate the marines, live in peace instead of challenging the other emperors for the one piece. And when they do heād rather follow buggyās idea of just being smarter about how they go about it instead of brute forcing it like the rest. He is constantly leaving fights but then a swordsman of mild repute and an interesting technique engages him in a battle and suddenly you have his whole attention. Like with vista it was obvious that he could have just cleared him like he did everyone else but heād never seen the flower sword techinque and by god was he going to miss this chance. And so he engages him in what is essentially a spare.
Because Mans isnāt looking for a fight, instead, like a middle aged director of a short indie film, heās chasing a feeling.
He wants to feel like his 19 year old self did when he was strong but there were people stronger. When there were still obstacles to overcome limits to exceed. When the world was large and exciting and he wasnāt just waiting for it to catch up with him. When he could look at Shanks as the person he is instead of the person he could have been.
He wants to look at Shanks and not see visions of a grinning red haired boy with 2 arms and a strawhat laughing in the dirt and asking for ājust one more round Hawky I swear Iāll beat you this timeā
But there is nowhere Mihawk can run that that boy wonāt haunt him.

Two Halves, One Whole by @mollydewinter
Reread this amazing fic by Mollydewinter. And God arenāt they so right? What a bigbrain take on the situation.
Because of course Mihawk doesnāt tolerate any insinuations that Shanks is weak. Thatās his equal the other side to his coin if heās weak then youāre calling Mihawk weak and Mihawk canāt have that. Probably reason 897 why Mihawk was so upset about left arm gate. Because Shanks went down to the East blue, the weakest of the blues, and lost his arm. It was probably months of people questioning his strenght and if they question his strength then they question Mihawkās and mihawk has worked to hard on his reputation to have it all be undone by the prophetic whims of a red head.
Look Challengers is very mishanks coded I don't know what to tell you, but it is. And you might say Kacie; Which homoerotic boy is Shanks? Who is the third person in the relationship (buggy maybe)? Would Mihawk need to have an injury? Isn't it a little more nuanced than that? All very important questions, all very valid points but all totally irrelevant.
Because Mihawk is very Tashi Duncan coded and this scene

is very young MiShanks coded.

While this scene is very after breakup but before make up coded.
And that my friends, that's what really matters
Look Challengers is very mishanks coded I don't know what to tell you, but it is. And you might say Kacie; Which homoerotic boy is Shanks? Who is the third person in the relationship (buggy maybe)? Would Mihawk need to have an injury? Isn't it a little more nuanced than that? All very important questions, all very valid points but all totally irrelevant.
Because Mihawk is very Tashi Duncan coded and this scene

is very young MiShanks coded.

While this scene is very after breakup but before make up coded.
And that my friends, that's what really matters
I don't know which is more devasting. The idea that Mihawk and Shanks didn't see each other for a decade after thier breakuptm (which giving that they dueled almos daily for years someone had to have drastically changed their habits to avoid seeing the other)
or even despite all that and not for a lack of trying they just keep running into each other. That their fates are so horrribly enterwined, their yin and yang so bound to the other that despite their best efforts to the contrary it always brings them together again. On the same island in the same know nothing town pretending the other doesn't exist. Because Shanks is a captain on the come up he has a whole crew a burgeoning fleet and territories he can't just drop everything to chase after a petulant swordsman. And if Mihawk can't fight shanks then he can't see Shanks.
And god the tragedy of that of knowing that they are there on the other side of this island because you've known from the moment they arrived. But knowing better/refusing to do anything about it.
On the other hand I do also love the idea that whenever they do run into each other they get into these intense arguments and Mihawk and Shanks have always been prone to fighting but not like this. Because at the end of the day Mihawk and Shanks are both very immature people Shanks is prone to deflecting and distracting to avoid the problem while Mihawk is prone to just completely shutting down when any strong emotions are involved or when he feels like he is not being understood, until he just bursts out in a flurry of rage filled meanness and wrath with a body trail a mile long. And so they just go at each other and the situation is too delicate to thorn filled for Beckman to mediate and so he separates them at least to preserve the integrity of the island they are all presently on.
And then Mihawk goes off and takes his anger out on a marine base cause the pirates have all learned to steer clear of him.
I just think it brings new meaning to Shanks posturing when Mihawk first pulls up on him a decade later. That "you come here for a fight" is a real question and not just playful banter because obviously Shanks doesn't like fighting with Mihawk but why else would he be here? It's why mihawk's little comment doesn't diffuse the tension until he mentions luffy's poster. He is literally and figuratively extending an Olive branch and Shanks couldn't be happier to take it
I think a big thing for the Mishanks break up is what if Mihawk is scared that he can only love Shanks if heās strong? And Mihawk isnāt the type to reflect but what kind of person would that make him if even after everything, even after losing to Zoro. Shanks still loves him anyway.
That deep down he knows that even if Shanks was never able to pick up a sword ever again heād still love him just the same. What does that say about him? Nothing good surely.
Here is me proposing that maybe not the song but the vibes of Sabrina Carpenterās āPlease Please Pleaseā music video is very Mishanks.
Just the general vibes of being super embarrassed not about the fact that your partner is a criminal but because they are so pathetic about it.
Mihawk reading the morning News Paper and seeing that the red haired pirates have ransacked an armoires navy ship and the front page is an obviously posed picture of Shanks giving what he thinks is a pretty boy smile and finger guns. And Mihawk just sighs morning cup of coffee ruined canāt believe heās attached his name to this ingrate.
made a mishanks animation
So, I Watched Challengers and I am now very obsessed with Tennis AU Mishanks.
Because I think Mihawk is very Tashi coded and their whole relationship stinks of Art and Patrick, like what if your lover was also your greatest rival.
But also, and stay with me here, the hilarity that would between Mihawk's never had a day of media training ass and the hungry for even a scrap of a story Morgans magazine press.
Just imagine Mihawk's P.R team and Manager (Probably Buggy and Croc respectively) trying to put out the fires from the walking P.R nightmare that is one Dracule Mihawk? The shitstorm he would reign on all their heads when he announces that he thinks a newly limbless shanks is less of a player and he will never play him again.
Crocodile would have to resort to creating an entire crime syndicate to give Morgans more salacious news than Mihawk's latest pr fuckup. The only reason Buggy starts a circus is to distract the masses from his worst client. Mihawk gives not one single fuck.
Mihawk: Youāre being a child.
Shanks (on shot what? of gin) : You'd better watch who you're calling a child, Dracule. Because if I'm a child, you know what that makes you?
Mihawk:....
Shanks: A Pedophile.
Mihawk:ā¦ā¦
Shanks (drinking the gin bottle dry) : And I'll be damned if I'm gonna be lectured by a pervert.
Mihawk: ā¦ā¦..š
Safe to say that Shanks is no longer allowed to drink gin. Because, As it turns out, spirits turn him into a bit of a mean drunk
Itās so funny to think about but because Shanks is who he is. He probably threw a party for Mihawk the first time they met up after Mihawk was finally tall enough to wear Yoru straight down his back.
Bonus if Shanks had already had his growth spurt and Mihawk was getting genuinely worried he had hit his final height and would never complete his aesthetic. (Also Shanks already lords over the one inch he could not have handled a several inches height difference it would have actually killed him if he didnāt kill himself first)
Also of course he pulls up with the Long coat and the hat already in checks who do you think this is?
Here is me proposing that maybe not the song but the vibes of Sabrina Carpenterās āPlease Please Pleaseā music video is very Mishanks.
Just the general vibes of being super embarrassed not about the fact that your partner is a criminal but because they are so pathetic about it.
Mihawk reading the morning News Paper and seeing that the red haired pirates have ransacked an armoires navy ship and the front page is an obviously posed picture of Shanks giving what he thinks is a pretty boy smile and finger guns. And Mihawk just sighs morning cup of coffee ruined canāt believe heās attached his name to this ingrate.
Another way that Mihawkās perfectionism and obsessiveness rears its head is that he wanted Shanks to love him best.
Realistically in terms of people Shanks was probably all Mihawk had and so by default he loved him best but Shanks has so many people an ever growing list of people that he loves and where does Mihawk fall on that list? Itās easy to belive for a long time that heās at the top. After all itās him that Shanks keeps crossing oceans for. Itās him that Shanks comes back to again and again testing steel against steel, skin and skin. And things are good
But then Shanks goes to lay low in a little village in the east blue and meets a little boy.
And Mihawk doesnāt even know that heās ālostā till itās too late. Until Shanks has already sacrificed an arm and a hat for that boy and how could Mihawk ever compete with that?
And whatās the point of competing if you canāt win? If you canāt be the best?
So he leaves.
Mihawk and Shanks arguing about Shanks sacrificing his arm for a child. And Mihawk just fundamentally does not understand WHY? And shanks in a moment of pure frustration goes
āWhat if it were me? What if I was dying? Would you risk it all to save me?ā
And Mihawk goes quiet not because he wouldnāt but because he realizes that he would despite everything that he believes, everything that has been taught to him, he knows that he would, without hesitation he would risk it all if for Shanks just for Shanks.
And then where does that leave him? The foundation on which heās built decades of selves on gone, in an instant.
All because he knows that if this man right infront of him should die he might well take Mihawk with him. ,