The Truth behind why Mihawk is a Warlord and why WG is friendly with Shanks

Why is Mihawk a Warlord?

While this question may seem simple at first, it really doesn’t make any sense at all. From the perspective of the World Government, the Warlords are beneficial because they defeat other pirates and provide extra military might in times of need.
From the perspective of the pirates, the reason to become a Warlord is either to gain protection from the World Government (as opposed to being a wanted criminal) or to use the status to later betray them for personal gain.

Currently, we have seen a total of 11 Warlords throughout the series. It seems that all of them joined for protection and/or eventually betrayed the Government except Mihawk:

Crocodile and Doflamingo both aimed to become tyrannical dictators of their respective kingdoms. Doflamingo has ties to the Celestial Dragons and has information on the “National Treasure” of Mary Geoise that he is using as a form of blackmail. Crocodile was trying to revive the Ancient Weapon Pluton.

Jinbe originally joined to strengthen the relationship between the humans and the fishmen. He refused to join fight against Whitebeard and was imprisoned as a result. Later, he broke out alongside Luffy and directly opposed the Marines during the War of the Best.

Boa Hancock became a Warlord to provide protection for her people. She helped Luffy infiltrate Impel Down and later gave him the key to Ace’s handcuffs, and even attacked Marines and the Pacifista.

Blackbeard used his status to effortlessly infiltrate Impel Down to recruit dangerous criminals, then later came to Marineford and attacked Sengoku to test his power.

Trafalgar Law intentionally made an effort to become a Warlord. While the reason is never explicitly stated, it was most likely to gain information for his future plans and to avoid being sought out by the Marines. He later inhabited Punk Hazard, where even government officials weren’t allowed to go, and later allied with the Straw Hats.

Even Bartholomew Kuma, known to be extremely loyal to the World Government, saved Luffy’s entire crew during the incident on Sabaody, and attacked the Pacificta. He is later revealed to be a Revolutionary.

The new Warlords, Buggy the Clown and Edward Weevil haven’t been shown often enough to show their true motives. It’s clear that Buggy fears the Marines and he most likely used this title to gain protection. Weevil was seen defeating countless allies of Whitebeard, so it makes sense for the World Government to employ him.

Of all the Warlords listed above, Gekko Moriah is the only one never shown to oppose the World Government. He was employed to boost military power, but they ordered Doflamingo to assassinate him since they deemed Moriah to be too weak.

No matter how you look at it, Mihawk doesn’t fit into any of these categories. He doesn’t need protection from the Government and he hasn’t ever betrayed them, so it doesn’t seem like he is there for personal reasons.
The World Government doesn’t seem to have any reason to employ him, either. He has no interest in killing other pirates; the only pirates he is known to have killed are Don Kreig’s men, and even that was out of sheer boredom. In terms of participating in warfare, he joins the fight so rarely that his fellow Warlords and even the Admirals were extremely surprised when he swung his sword during the Marineford War. He is also known to not attend most of the meetings unless he has a personal interest in the matter.

So what reason could he possibly have to be a Warlord, and why would the World Government want him there? My answer: SHANKS. Like many other people have speculated, I believe Mihawk and Shanks were once crewmates.

If you look back at all the information we have about Mihawk, the only person he is shown to possibly have a connection to (prior to becoming a Warlord, at least) is Shanks.
After Luffy got his first bounty, Mihawk knew exactly where to find him. Not only that, but he refers to a story that Shanks once told him about “a boy in some little village”, in which he is referring to Luffy. I know Shanks and Mihawk were rivals, but that doesn’t mean they directly opposed each other. I doubt that Shanks would casually tell him this story if they were enemies. After that, Shanks decides to celebrate Luffy’s first bounty and insists that Mihawk joins them. They clearly interact in a friendly manner.

During the Marineford War, Mihawk “apologizes” to Shanks before he attacks Luffy. Towards the end of the war, he refuses to fight Shanks and leaves.
Also, it is clearly stated that Warlords are pirates. Despite this, Mihawk is the only “pirate” that is seen to have no captain, no jolly roger, and no crew. His frozen bounty has also remained undisclosed for seemingly no reason. The obvious conclusion is that he was previously part of a different pirate crew.

The connection between Mihawk and Shanks is at least somewhat apparent. The confusing part is their vague relationship with the World Government.

Shanks has had some very interesting interactions with the World Government. He ended the Marineford War, and was shown to be remarkably esteemed by the Fleet Admiral. More recently, he was revealed to be highly respected even by the Gorosei, to the point where they don’t even seem to be enemies.

I believe they respect him for his genuine desire to maintain the peace of the world. He doesn’t seek out violence like many of the other pirates in the new world; in fact, he actively tries to prevent unnecessary battles time and time again.

1-He went to Whitebeard to try and prevent Ace from going after Blackbeard. He was ignored, and this led to a full-scale war.
2-He stopped Kaido from interfering with the Marineford War, which surely would have resulted in needless casualties otherwise.
3-He went to Marineford himself and ended the war. He wasn’t biased towards either side; his only goal was to prevent more unnecessary deaths.
4-Although the specifics are currently unknown, he issued a warning to the Goroseiabout a certain pirate.

While I’m not sure what his overall goal is, it’s clear that Shanks values a balance of power. My guess is that he sent Mihawk, his former crewmate, to become a Warlord to help maintain this balance. Whether this is just part of a big masquerade or not, this would explain why Mihawk chooses to maintain his Warlord status and why Shanks has a friendly relationship with the World Government.

*Theory by Su Long Bepo