Aight I gotta be honest, these ass posts about "I was a fraud I apologize to "insert character name" gotta stop.
First off, It baffles me that any of you actually think you have an ounce of understanding on the topic of narrative, or writing. How many of you have sat down and intentionally read through an entire novel?
Why this important because, anyone who has actually bothered to come to this website to talk about One Piece, has spent an ungodly amount of time talking about this series, that's just a fact. This website doesn't attract the casuals who just watch the anime every week, this is for the tryhards.
Because of this, you should understand that fiction in fact allows for the most expression of the human condition, because there is no restraints, with a biography you have to try to keep true to the real life individual and make educated guesses, but with fiction you have the freedom to design each character and express them how you wish, which in turn allows for much more interesting stories, that unironically relate very much to "the real person".
The way One Piece itself is structured, is an Epic fantasy, it's a large world, with a large cast of characters, except there is a singular focus in the Strawhat crew. Because of this, you should not be adverse to not understanding characters outside the crew, because unlike them, we haven't seen these characters histories, like for example Kizaru, there is going to be times in the story where two individuals are conversing, and you lack the context behind their actions, but between Kizaru and Akainu for example, there is a history, that we only have a glimpse into. This is actually one of the instances I appreciate because Oda is not giving us some random flashback to explain the nuance of akainus and kizarus relationship, it's not holding your hand, and so this unexpected outburst from Kizaru, actually makes more sense to Akainu, because he knows him better than the reader does, hence why he calls him brother, and so he apologizes.
The point I'm making is, not every character decision or character has to be explained to a tea, why they did something, what were the motivations, because there simply isn't enough space for that, believe it or not, as much as people say that Oda loves elongating arcs necessarily. He chooses specific characters to focus on and give that expanding treatment, with anyone else you just have to sit back and try to understand their motives, with the context given around them, understanding that they have a role to play, like a tool in a tool box, and oda is going to use them in whatever way to progress the story, and that means you're going to get instances in which you might dislike, or find inconsequential, but they all do serve a purpose for the narrative.
I would argue Oda has a problem of actually telling too much, and not just showing, and letting the reader figure it out for themselves, like this Akainu and Kizaru moment which people enjoyed a lot. But this is the consequence of a Shonen manga, it has to be understandable to a wide audience.
So when people say "oda has bastardized everyone's character arc", you're free to have your opinion, but you just look like your brain maturity was bastardized, because if you do not take the time to reread the arc after it's over, or delve into other novels and study narrative, talking about narrative is going to make you look like a complete idiot. Maybe spend some time thinking about your initial reaction to something, and then mulling on it, you know, thinking before you type, and then make the comment you want to make.
