 Dracula Mihawk, a lone pirate with no crew to speak of, and yet still demanding enough terror to hold the title of Shichibukai, the world's strongest swordsman, the man that Zoro aspires to one day beat and surpass. Even from the beginning of the series, we've known Mihawk to be an incredibly strong individual, but just how strong is he? Hello Manakamatachi, this is Joygirl, and with the latest chapter of One Piece revealing what really is going on behind the newly formed Marines hunting organization Cross Guild, there is a lot of hype that Oda's given to the trio of former Shichibukai. But very interestingly, higher than the deemed face of the Cross Guild himself is Dracula Mihawk. Coming in with a whopping 3.59 billion berry bounty, and this is where things get interesting. On the one hand, it's a number fitting for the man known as the world's strongest swordsman, but the fact that the world government gave Mihawk a higher bounty than the face of the organization, and the man who became the Yonko, is very telling in terms of how they consider Mihawk's threat. Oda also added in a particular line, which I'm sure got fans riled up with the comparison that Mihawk has even greater sword skills than the almighty Shanks. But is this really a surprise? The chapter specifically states sword skills. Does having greater sword skills automatically mean that Mihawk is the strongest of them all? I mean, he certainly possesses greater skills in one area of combat, but this doesn't necessarily equate to him being stronger than Shanks overall. Because you could consider this point semantics at this stage, but why would he be given the title of world's strongest swordsman if he was just generally stronger? In that case, it would render these titles like the world's strongest man or the world's strongest creature meaningless. And in terms of combat abilities, it's being suggested more and more that Shanks is the ultimate Conqueror's Haki user. And with Kaido even confirming that Goldy Rogers' strength and power was owed to his mastery of Conqueror's Haki, and then indicating that it is Conqueror's Haki that will play perhaps the biggest role in terms of power going forward, or at least that it will play a very significant role, this is an ability that will have to have confirmed for Mihawk to possess. Of course, at this point, and in particular due to the trajectory of Zoro's story and his latest power-up at Wano, I would imagine that anything Zoro can do, Mihawk can do better. I mean, Mihawk is Zoro's goal after all and is speculated to be his final opponent in the series in order for Zoro to achieve his dream of becoming the world's strongest swordsman by conquering the current holder of the title. So I would expect Mihawk to have Conqueror's Haki as well. Otherwise, if he didn't, it would just be the ultimate testament to just how skilled his swordsmanship really is. The fact that he could rival Shanks in swords play even without Conqueror's Haki, that would be really impressive in its own right. But speculations aside, if we just consider this question in terms of their portrayals in the story, which is a very important category to consider when you're trying to gauge power levels in the series, apart from the very recent hype given to the swordsmen and a quick mention of their rivalry in the past, Mihawk just hasn't received the same level of portrayal as Shanks. After his initial introduction, one of the next times we saw Shanks was with Whitebeard, and Whitebeard and Shanks were shown as two of the Yonkou individuals who could stand on equal footing. Shanks even went to Whitebeard's territory alone without his crew, showing us that he is capable even when he's by himself just like Mihawk. Whereas on the other hand, Mihawk at Marineford wanted a confirmation or a test about the distance between him and Whitebeard. In fact, it wasn't even just the distance between himself and Whitebeard, because the word that Oda used was us. Perhaps even suggesting that Mihawk considered himself to be more along the ranks of Doflamingo and the other Shichibukai than the Yonkou. Although I don't say this to necessarily indicate that I don't think Mihawk is at a Yonkou level, because I absolutely think that he is. Especially if he had the desire to gain such notoriety and influence. Chapter 1058 made that pretty clear, but that he really isn't interested. And I think this is a key, very important detail that was emphasised in this chapter and confirmed what we already knew about Mihawk's character. And even more importantly, I don't know if this whole Shanks vs Mihawk question really matters, or rather more accurately, whether even Oda is trying to provide a definitive answer as to the comparative strength between Mihawk and Shanks. I certainly don't think that he was suggesting in the latest chapter that Mihawk is stronger than Shanks. And at the end of the day, it's an almost playful rivalry that Oda just seems to be maintaining and going back to to elicit some hype. And after all the recent attention that Shanks got, it's time for Mihawk to get some hype as well, especially because of where the story is now going. Cross-guild is obviously going to be involved in the storyline to come, and we're finally going to see some Mihawk action. And not to mention that as we inch closer and closer to the end of the series, that means we are now approaching the much anticipated showdown between Zoro and Mihawk. And in order for us to truly understand the massive task that Zoro faces, and the enormous achievement that he will one day claim, Mihawk needs to have this level of hype and respect to his name for Zoro's feet to be all that more satisfying. Now as to what sort of battle this will be, I am very excited. The sort of abilities and combat we've seen in One Piece has really evolved since the Baratier days, where the fight between Zoro and Mihawk was about pure swordsmanship. And Oda's development of Zoro has been no different, with the Straw Hat swordsman now able to coat his attacks with Conqueror's Haki, this being a massive boost to his finesse. So will Oda take this route when it comes to the rematch between Zoro and his goal? Or will this battle stay true to a duel between pure swordsmen, each showcasing their mastery of the art? Either way, I can't wait. As for the rest of the Cross-guild members, you could almost consider Crocodile a Shadow Yonko or a Co-Shadow Yonko now, given his role in actually being the brains behind the Cross-guild, which I have to say isn't all that surprising. I did mention in my theory video, even before we found out about the Cross-guild, that Crocodile would be coming back into the series having teamed up with Buggy, and that in that case it would be Crocodile running the show whilst Buggy is just the figurehead. But it makes sense that Crocodile is the smarts behind this alliance, because this isn't his first time forming and running an organization, having been the head of Baroque Works. In terms of bounties, Crocodile got a very respectable number, and one much more fitting of his actual threat level, because his previous 81 million berry was obviously very outdated. And I've always felt that Crocodile suffered because of the fact that he was an early series villain, so I'm really glad that we get to see the Desert King make his comeback. Buggy typically bugged himself into receiving an astronomical bounty figure, which is both funny and to be expected, especially now that he has, or seemingly has, two former Shichi Bukai serving under him. And Oda obviously added in some comedic explanation as to how this all played out, my favorite part being that Buggy's crew was just loyal to AT, and it was actually his followers that tampered with the advertisement against the wishes of the flashy bombastic clown. But what I loved the most was that in classic Oda fashion, after titling the chapter, the new emperor, both of the individuals who were recently named to join the Yonko ranks were in such pitiful states. Buggy being bullied by his supposed underlings, and Luffy similarly facing the wrath of Nami, who know I don't believe possesses Conkras Haki, but Oda is obviously raising the stakes with the straw hats on the whole based on their newly updated bounties. And the point that I made about Mihawk earlier, the fact that portrayal in the series is extremely important, and that Oda doesn't care for power scaling as some fans do, I think this is a point made particularly clear in Chapter 1058, especially because of the rest of the bounties that we were introduced to in this chapter. I think that point was made very clear when Luffy got the same bounty as the two other supernova captains, despite his obvious higher strength level now with his awakening and mastery of Conkras Haki, but then also again in this chapter with Buggy receiving a higher bounty than Luffy, and this being the result of the world government's impression of Buggy as a former member of the late pirate king's crew, associate of Shang, and now having two former Shichi Bukai serving under him. So then similarly, when it comes to the straw hats, the fact that Nami, Usa, Brooke and Frankie all got 300 million berry increases. That's quite a testament to the fact that bounties within the series has a lot to do with the impression that the one-piece world has of the individual in question, and from a storytelling standpoint, it has a lot to do with how Oda is trying to hype up and raise the level of significance of that character. And this applies to Nami, Usa, and Brooke more so than Frankie, because Frankie actually did get an important one-on-one against the tobi roppo member, but the other three basically just got massive participation points. Chopper is the only one left behind, and I really wonder how long this gag is going to let up. I'm actually now thinking maybe this will continue until the end of the story, so that when the straw hats adventure finishes, Chopper will be able to continue his journey as the world's best doctor, and because of his incredibly low bounty, he's going to be able to do so without any worries, in which case this gag is actually pretty smart. Oda made some very interesting choices with the bounties in this chapter, not necessarily just the figures themselves, but also the fact that Frankie's bounty now captures the photo of the Sunny, apart from being heart-breakingly amusing to witness the cyborg's frustrations, and also sending off alarm bells as to what this means for Frankie's future self, and whether this is Oda just playing around with the very suggestive detail of Frankie more and more turning into a battleship, but the theory-loving nutjob in me can't help but speculate deeper, and wonder whether Oda is hinting about Sunny's threat level herself, possibly along the lines of the Sunny being Pluton. But speculations aside, I was most surprised to see Robin's update, it's finally a figure that reflects Robin's true threat, double threat really, not only her physical combative abilities, but also the danger she poses as being the only individual able to read the pornoglypse. Relatively speaking, there was a lot of focus on Robin during the Onigashima raid, both with Big Mom wanting her alive and the world government emphasizing the imperative to capture the Straw Hat Archaeologists, so I imagine this is why her bounty has been raised accordingly, possibly because of where the story is going and how Oda plans on using Robin in the future, maybe because Oda plans to continue having Robin as a highly sought-after Straw Hat member in the arcs to come. As for the bounties of Luffy's top officers, what does it mean that Oda gave Jinbei a higher bounty than Sanji? Is he reshuffling the status of the monster trio? Is Sanji really only number 4 in the crew now? I've discussed this before and I stand by my position even now with the new bounty reveals, I don't think Oda is going to make any serious changes to the monster trio dynamic. Apart from the fact that the Straw Hats as a whole will now have a very welcomed addition of Jinbei, another powerhouse that can be relied upon as a dependable combatant. Luffy will still have his trusty wings as well as a sturdy figure in Jinbei that he can rely upon as we face the final saga. I don't know how many times I'm going to repeat this, but bounties really aren't necessarily indicative of strength or at least only indicative of strength. I think Oda really wanted to get that joke in and let Zoro have some payback after the triumph that Sanji was able to gloat over Zoro following Holcake Island. Although I wasn't expecting Jinbei to have a higher bounty, I do think it makes sense in retrospect because again, bounties are based off the impressions that the one piece world has of the individual. And being a former warlord now serving under a yonko, I'm sure the world government views Jinbei as a very real threat. Not to mention that Oda was again adding some puns into these bounties with Zoro and Sanji's reflecting their birthdays. Also, 3 and 2 can be read as Sanji. And even without over-reading into it like this, it's a bounty that's pretty good for someone who holds the role of cook aboard the ship. Increase wise, Sanji received a higher jump than Jinbei, and the bounties assigned to them resulted in a source of amusement that is sure to set up some future amusing crew dynamic. Overall, I'm just happy that they all received bounties over 1 billion berry. But I have to say that I'm a little disappointed that Sanji wasn't pictured in his soba mask form, and his poster seems to be just a flipped version of his pre-timeskip photo. But bounties weren't the only thing that Chapter 1058 was about, and it seems like the Revolutionary Army may be the next focus of the series. And I'm really excited about this, because I think it's about damn time that they entered the story in a more substantive manner. Oda raised a lot of hype about Sabo, the Flame Emperor recently, and then continues to add intrigue through the ending of the latest chapter. And I'm suspecting that it's not actually Sabo who called the Revolutionary Army, because it just seems strange that the second in command of a secret underground organization would be so careless to call on a line that was able to be traced by the Marines. So my first thought is that if this is an imposter, it must be Katerina Devon, because we've seen the Blackbeard Pirates use this sort of trickery before, and also Blackbeard seemed to be very interested in the movements and the actions of the Revolutionary Army recently. It was really sad to see the state that Kuma had been left in, and I'm really curious as to how this is going to be explained. Him calling Dragon as Master sets off all sorts of speculation tingly senses, and you know whether this indicates that Dragon is a Celestial Dragon, or whether this just has something to do with the way that Vega Punk has programmed him. Because of course, Vega Punk remains to be a very intriguing mystery that we've been left in the very, very dark about. So on that note, please leave your thoughts on this mystery surrounding Vega Punk and Kuma down below, as well as any other thoughts that you had about Chapter 1058 as a comment down below. Please do subscribe to the channel for more One Piece discussions, because we are entering a break week, but I would be more than happy to fill that void with One Piece content. You can also join our Joyfleet Discord server or even become a Patreon member, and I do want to thank all our Patrons for help supporting the channel. This is Joygirl, and I'll see you again soon.