[Head-canon/Speculation] Mihawk and Shanks are equals, but if they fought seriously, Mihawk would break Shanks’s sword. That’s why Mihawk’s bored

The reason I think this is the case is because Mihawk’s bored. He’s been fighting people at the top of the world for a while, but no one’s really able to challenge him. And almost everyone is so far beneath him that he can probably just tell off a glance.

And that’s probably the case for everyone except Shanks. Shanks is probably his one equal in the world that he either knows of, or is allowed to fight, but even Shanks is inferior to him in swordsmanship. Instead, Shanks might have to use a ton of weird means to fight evenly with Mihawk like Gryphon’s Devil Fruit, and maybe even some weird trickery like smoke bombs, guns, and some other shit.

And while I doubt Mihawk would shy away from fighting him just because of that, I think what Mihawk really wants is this super fast-paced, bloody, adrenaline pumping fight with an exceptionally skilled swordsman. Which is something Shanks can’t give Mihawk anymore.

So that’s why Mihawk bored, and why Zoro is so much more exciting for him than Shanks is. It’s because Mihawk wants to fight someone who fights as personally and viciously as him.