# Mihawk Upscale
Mihawk Upscale is a powerscaling meme that jokingly ranks One Piece swordsman Dracule Mihawk above every fictional character shown holding a sword. The visual template pastes a crudely drawn Mihawk over a smiling panel of Kure Raian from Kengan Ashura, and the format went viral across Reddit, TikTok, and X through the first half of 2025.
## Overview
Mihawk Upscale is a debate-turned-meme that ranks One Piece swordsman Dracule Mihawk above any fictional character shown carrying a blade[1]. The joke leans on the in-universe title Mihawk holds, 'World's Strongest Swordsman,' which powerscalers stretch to mean he beats literally anyone with a katana, saber, or knife regardless of series[5]. The visual half of the meme is an image of Mihawk crudely drawn over a smiling Kure Raian panel from Kengan Ashura, with a speech bubble reading 'ARE THOSE SWORDSMAN FEATS I SEE??!!'[2].
The image works as an exploitable reaction, dropped into comment threads whenever a character (even one who isn't actually a swordsman) so much as touches a sword[7]. Powerscaling communities on Reddit, TikTok, and X ran the format into the ground through the first half of 2025, with variations swapping out both the character being 'scaled' and the caption[3].
## How It Spread
On January 1st, 2025, Redditor Special-Remove-3294 dropped the same image in a comment captioned 'Live Migawk reaction,' pulling over 120 upvotes on /r/OnePiecePowerScaling and pushing the format back into circulation[1]. Weeks later, on February 25th, TikToker @phangito posted a reaction video about Mihawk-vs-Shanks powerscaling arguments that pulled over 22,400 likes[3].
The format jumped platforms in April 2025 when X user @DRXCUL3 quote-tweeted a One Piece Chapter 1145 post with the Mihawk image, joking about Rocks D. Xebec holding a sword, and picked up over 2,600 likes[4]. TikTok kept feeding it: @tamirsverse's May 29th video hit 17,800 likes[6], and on June 6th @akceoalt's slideshow about Dragon Ball's Trunks holding a sword pulled 37,100 likes in under two weeks[7].
By June 16th, 2025, X user @swissboss876 posted four variations at once, layering different One Piece characters over the Raian panel, captioned 'Please stop making these'[8]. That post pulled over 8,900 likes in two days, showing the format was still active heading into mid-2025.
## How to Use
The typical Mihawk Upscale post pastes the smiling Mihawk-over-Raian image into any thread where a character is shown with a sword, implying that character now 'upscales' every non-swordsman ever written[2]. Common variations swap the character drawn over the Raian panel or add a caption riffing on the 'ARE THOSE SWORDSMAN FEATS I SEE??!!' line, often paired with a screenshot of the character in question[8].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Mihawk Upscale?
It is a powerscaling meme that jokingly ranks Dracule Mihawk above every fictional character shown holding a sword, using a crudely drawn image of Mihawk over a Kengan Ashura panel[1].
### Where did Mihawk Upscale come from?
The debate began on Reddit's /r/OnePiecePowerScaling in June 2022, but the exploitable image was posted by Redditor Zoteku on May 23rd, 2024[2].
### What does Mihawk Upscale mean?
It means treating Mihawk's 'World's Strongest Swordsman' title as literal proof that any sword-wielding character, even from other series, loses to him[5].
### How do you use Mihawk Upscale?
Drop the smiling Mihawk-over-Raian image into comment threads whenever a non-swordsman character is shown with a blade, often with a caption about their 'swordsman feats'[8].
### Is Mihawk Upscale still popular?
As of mid-2025, the format was still active, with TikTok slideshows and X threads pulling tens of thousands of likes[7].
## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiecePowerScaling/]()
2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiecePowerScaling/comments/1cyzr48/]()
3. [https://www.tiktok.com/@phangito/video/7475533141965278507]()
4. [https://twitter.com/DRXCUL3]()
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mihawk-upscale]()
6. [https://www.tiktok.com/@tamirsverse]()
7. [https://www.tiktok.com/@akceoalt]()
8. [https://twitter.com/swissboss876]()
9. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Piratefolk/]()
---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/mihawk-upscale
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library