he talks like he has been "freed" from the shackles of having to make serious fights, and that he doesn't have fun making those anymore
I thought so too when I made this edit.
It's really Oda himself saying this line.
Oda has stated again and again that he enjoys drawing goofy character designs and silly humor.
It's how he wants to write his story and now that One Piece is an established franchise he can afford dropping sales, he no longer has to please audiences with a kind of writing that he feels is too serious for his taste.
I'm not 100% happy with the choices he made but I have serious respect for his choice to stay more true to himself and return to his roots.
So this is inevitable
There's noting goofy about this.
This is horror clown material.
Those scary fan interpretations of gear5 completely miss the point of what Oda is actually doing here.
As a Zoro fan, i kinda feel bad lmao
Because Oda is saying this is the type of fight he likes now, the goofy stuff, and that he doesn't have fun making serious fights anymore
so maybe Oda really didn't enjoy making Zoro vs King, considering how edgy and serious it was, compared to the other fights
There was only the King pulling his head gag, that one was golden
I wonder if that's why he has been avoiding Zoro more these past few years, he got tired of the serious fighting style Zoro has
and look how he tried to get around that but having Zoro fight Pika for example, that was a complete goof

Yes. You are probably right.
But remember the time when Zoro was more goofy and could laugh? Maybe we'll get that Zoro back.