u/HAMURAIxciv

What if Mihawk acquired his title "Strongest Swordsmen" by being able to break Imu's possession. He actually doesn't want to fight one arm Shanks not because of power loss but because he couldn't break Imu mentally and had to cop for a physical way to break the bond, losing Mihawk's respect in the process. "World" I believe is being used the same as Doflamingo used it (he was referring to Imu). At some point I believe Mihawk was the spear for Imu but for some reason or another Mihawk decided to leave his side and live a life alone, maybe as some form of self atonement for something that caused the riff between him and Imu.