I don't think having it planned from the start affects this specific development. As the fruit being guarded by Who's who, Shanks stealing it, etc.. was only recently introduced. Conceptually, Luffy/Nika/Sun God/Joy Boy parallels have been there since Lougetown, skypeia, etc..
So I'm sure this's been long planned in some form, even if it realized differently to how it's been initially envisioned.
I wanna re-read the Zunesha scene again with accurate TL. Didn't they say "even us only hear about it in rumor" or something like that? I wanna look into it deeper later, maybe next weekend.
"And that's okay to admit One Piece fans"
Sure. I was calling out the Madam Shyarley plot hole like 3 years ago, and no one gave me a satisfying response yet lol If it's sloppy it's sloppy I don't care. I just wanna wait to have the full picture first.
OP still >>>> your fave tho so don't get it twisted Mr. Thin Crust Pizza Bread