One Piece is an anime that certainly has its share of strong and powerful characters. And even though its protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, has been featured most often in our One Piece-related comparisons, this one won't focus on Luffy at all. Namely, the protagonists of this comparison will be Zoro, a member of Luffy's crew, and Dracule Mihawk, the best swordsman in the world of One Piece . In this article, we will analyze both, as we will pit Zoro against Mihawk to finally determine who is the strongest of the two.

At this point in the story, Dracule Mihawk is still stronger than Zoro and would defeat him in a fight (as he did in the beginning). Even though Zoro has definitely improved since their first encounter, Mihawk remains the best swordsman in the One Piece world, and regardless of Zoro's improvement, Mihawk is still the stronger of the two.

The rest of this article will expand on the answer given above, as we'll compare Zoro and Mihawk in more detail. Across several categories, you'll see who is stronger and why our answer is the way it is, i.e., why Mihawk was ultimately able to defeat Zoro in their fight.

Physical powers

Zoro is one of the physically strongest characters in the series. He demonstrates his strength when fighting Daz Bones, easily lifting a building despite his injuries. He is seen training on the Thousand Sunny with one-ton dumbbells. His strength is likely equal to or greater than that of a giant, as he was able to parry a direct blow from Oars with his swords.

After the time skip, Zoro's strength has increased considerably. This is evidenced by the fact that he was able to defeat a Pacifista with a single attack, whereas before the timeskip he and all his companions joined forces to defeat one. He was able to cut a pirate ship with a single blow. He was also able to defeat and seriously injure Hody Jones, a fish-man with physical strength above the average for his race while underwater and with several energy steroids consumed.

One of his greatest feats was defeating Pica in his gigantic form without a single scratch, despite having to rely on Orlumbus for increased mobility and momentum. Zoro has also shown himself to be very agile and fast. An example of this is that in the Whiskey Peak arc, he engaged a large number of Baroque Works agents, slipping through their ranks so quickly that they didn't notice him until he spoke.

Part of Mihawk's abilities as the world's most powerful swordsman is due to his immense superhuman physical strength, which he complements with his mastery of swordsmanship. Mihawk's sword attacks are executed with tremendous power, being able to easily create extremely powerful compressed air blasts or energy streams with enormous range, enough to easily split battleships and an ice mountain.

He was also able to stop Zoro, a formidable swordsman with tremendous strength, with just a dagger he held in one hand. Mihawk has extraordinary agility, being able to jump and leap enormous heights and distances. He is fast enough to counter the enhanced speed of Luffy's Gear Second. He also possesses extraordinary reflexes.

At this point, this is a category Mihawk still wins. Namely, part of his notoriety is not only due to his fencing skills, but also to his enormous strength, something Zoro cannot yet surpass.

Points: Zoro 0, Mihawk 1

Devil Fruit

Roronoa Zoro is a very powerful character. He is known as one of the most powerful characters in the series and one of the best swordsmen in the series; he will likely, by all means, surpass even Mihawk in the future. Now, Zoro's powers and exploits certainly warrant the conclusion that he consumed a Devil Fruit, but is that really true? It isn't—Roronoa Zoro has never eaten a Devil Fruit.

This makes Zoro one of the very few characters (most notably Shanks and Mihawk) who is extremely powerful, yet has not actually consumed a Devil Fruit; most other powerful characters have their individual reputations to thank for their Devil Fruits.

Like Zoro, Dracule Mihawk has never consumed any Devil Fruits in his life and owes his powers and abilities to his natural skills and training. Dracule Mihawk is a formidable fighter, and the fact that he achieved all of this without any help, simply through his training, makes him even more impressive. There's a reason Mihawk is considered the best swordsman in the One Piece world, and we can only confirm it from this perspective.

This is going to be weird: we're not going to award any points to anyone. The result will be the same, but the difference from our usual approach is that we're not going to share the points, but rather not award them at all. Since neither of them has Devil Fruit powers, they don't deserve any points here.

Points: Zoro 0, Mihawk 1

Haikyuu Figure

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RIGHT

Zoro is one of the few people to possess all three forms of Haki. Zoro possesses Royal Haki, the rarest form of Haki, whose users possess the qualities of a king. He is first mentioned as possessing this power by Kaido after Zoro's nine-sword attack. During his fight with King, he uses Royal Haki to coat his swords, a highly advanced form, and at the same time, members of the Beasts crew faint.

He didn't use Haki offensively against Monet, but he still managed to defeat her because she thought he was going to use Haki and that she would die. Monet's fear at that moment completely destabilizes her. He has learned to imbue his swords with Haki to make them more effective against Haki or Devil Fruit users.

He also used Armament Haki on Pica to slice him, meaning his Haki is more advanced than Pica's. Using Haki also allows him to counter Devil Fruit powers, as he did to temporarily stop the Birdcage.

He first uses Observation in his fight against Nuru, a Fishman capable of blinding his opponents thanks to the lantern on his forehead, even telling him that he only used his eyes to see and that was why he was weak; he used it again to find Caribou in the palace. He also uses it during the Dressrosa Arc, to find the whereabouts of the one who stole his saber but also to find Pica during his fight against him.

Mihawk can use at least two of the three types of Haki. Mihawk possesses great mastery of Observation Haki, being able to track Luffy while using Gear Second with great ease. Like Luffy and Otohime, Mihawk can also detect people's emotions.

It has been confirmed that he can use Armament Haki, as in Zoro's fight against Pica. This is shown in a flashback as Mihawk tells him about the power of his black sword and that he should be able to transform his katanas into swords simply. Like him. He even imposes on Zoro that he can no longer drink alcohol until he produces some. It is also possible that he can use Royal Haki, but this has not been confirmed yet.

Well, since we know for sure that Zoro can use all three types of Haki, while this hasn't been confirmed for Mihawk (although it is possible), we have to give this point to Zoro.

Points: Zoro 1, Mihawk 1

Weapons

At the beginning of his pirate journey, Zoro only mastered Santoryu, his conventional fighting style; but over time, he began to master techniques from other schools, such as Nitoryu, Ittoryu, and Mutouryu. Currently, Zoro and the rest of the crew have improved their abilities to face the New World.

Zoro is known to be able to cut a Pacifista of the caliber of those found in the Sabaody Archipelago, so it follows that Zoro can relatively easily cut materials even harder than steel without using Shishi Sonson-type moves, most likely because he has learned to use busoshoku haki.

Mihawk wears a cross knife pendant around his neck. He is shown using it as a eating tool, but combined with his swordsmanship, it is also a deadly weapon capable of defeating any lesser or average swordsman, even Zoro, a swordsman who wielded three swords during their duel. According to Mihawk, it was the smallest blade he possessed.

Mihawk uses the black sword Yoru as his primary weapon. The Yoru is a human-sized, single-edged sword with a curved, cross-shaped tip, a golden cross adorned with red cabochons (which are blue and green in the anime), a hilt wrapped in bandages, and a particularly large cabochon at its tip. When accepting challenges for his title, he only draws this sword on those with enough spirit to earn his respect, or enough power to pose a threat to him; otherwise, his Kogatana suffices.

This one was the hardest to determine since Zoro's skills have improved so much since Mihawk's and their first encounter. However, we think Mihawk is still a bit better, which is why we gave him the last point.

Points: Zoro 1, Mihawk 2

Roranoa Zoro vs. Dracule Mihawk: Who Wins?

We could actually give you a good breakdown of the things we wrote above, but that wouldn't really do the trick for what we decided to do. Namely, since Zoro and Mihawk actually fought in the manga, we thought it best to just recap those fights to confirm what we said above.

With Mihawk's appearance in Baratie, Zoro decides to challenge him, but he shows no interest in fighting as he considers Zoro a "poor kid" and his fame as a swordsman was only in the East Blue. Mihawk eventually accepts, but pulls out a small knife, shocking everyone when he says he will fight with just that.

Zoro gets angry and decides to use the Oni Giri technique, but Mihawk manages to block the attack with his knife without any difficulty. Zoro then tries to hit him, but Mihawk easily dodges and blocks all his attempts. After a while, Zoro decides to use his Tora Gari, but unfortunately for him, Mihawk takes advantage of the space Zoro leaves between their swords to plunge his knife into Zoro's chest.

Moments later, he asks Zoro why he doesn't back down for fear of piercing his heart, to which Zoro replies that he would rather die than walk away from his dream of being the greatest swordsman. Then Mihawk, surprised by his opponent's great determination, decides to use the most powerful sword in the world against Roronoa Zoro, the Kokutou Yoru, to which Zoro decides to use his best technique (at the time), the Santoryu Ougi: San Zen. Sekai.

But Mihawk defeats him, breaking his swords, except for the Wado Ichimonji. Zoro accepts his defeat and turns away, saying it would be humiliating to be attacked from behind, receiving a cut that left a peculiar scar on his chest. Eventually, Mihawk, seeing his opponent's great dedication, encourages him to surpass him one day.

Roronoa Zoro suffered very serious injuries to his chest and other parts of his body, so much so that after a while they healed, even the pain lasted a few more days, preventing him from fighting in good condition. Meanwhile, the world's best swordsman, Mihawk, was completely uninjured; winning the fight and making a good impression on the former pirate hunter.

Zoro, seeing that he was still too weak, decided to pursue his dream and not give up, even promising his captain that he would never lose again. After that moment, Zoro would try even harder, aspiring to fulfill his dream of defeating the world's greatest swordsman. Furthermore, Mihawk would become very interested in these pirates, telling Zoro to meet them again.