Mihawk has not displayed his true abilities in every translation I've read he said that he wanted to find out the true "distance" between himself and Whitebeard, he seemed to have been measuring how far away he was, logical as some of his attacks like the one he was about to use on Luffy require a certain range.
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..................それってマジで言っているの?(Are you serious bro?) Prepare for a little lesson in Japanese.
「推し量るだけだ。。。近くに見える。。。あの男と。。。われわれの。。。本当の距離を!」-ジュラキュール・ミホーク
"I simply wish to surmise it... I can see it closely... between that man... and myself... the true difference!" --Dracule Mihawk
Note: 「距離」(kyori) is most often used to mean "distance" but it has a secondary meaning of "difference", synonymic with 相違(soui) (difference between, discrepancy), or 程度の差 (difference of degree), as in 力の程度の差(the difference in our degree of power). exp: 私たちの考えには大きな距離がある (watashi tachi no kangae ni ha ooki na
kyori ga aru. There is a great difference in our opinions.)
From context, and from the "lines" thought by characters regarding Mihawk's assault on WB, it's completely obvious that Mihawk is talking about the difference in power-- the word "distance" is used symbolically, referring to the distance between them in strength.
NOT literal distance...
For reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxQN6w40tM
I couldn't be bothered to hunt down the episode, so I found this vid. I can't read German and I assume you can't either so I'll just translate the Japanese for you.
Random Marines:
ジュラキュール・ミホーク!
It's Dracule Mihawk!
王下質武海がついに--!
One of the 7 lords is finally--!
Kizaru:
珍しい事も、あるもんだね〜
Well, rare things, do happen~
Akainu:
あの気紛れな鷹の目が戦う気になっちょるようじゃのう。。。
For that capricious "Taka no Me" (Hawk's Eye) to actually feel like fighting...
(Man, I hate Akainu, but Shikoku dialect is so cool. I wonder why they randomly made him have a dialect though, especially such an obscure one. @.@)
Doflamingo:
ひん、何だ?やんのか、お前?
What? You going for it?
Mihawk:
推し量るだけだ。。。近くに見える。。。あの男と。。。われわれの。。。本当の距離を!
"I simply wish to surmise it... I can see it closely... between that man... and myself... the true difference!"
Obviously, he's just trying to measure distance for his attacks... you know, because everyone's surprised that he's attacking to begin with...