I think you hit the nail on the head about the biggest problem with haki. It all mostly functions the same with every person who has it. It's either shockwaves or black skin armor where the winner in a match is decided by: "MY PAIN HAKI IS GREATER THAN YOURS!" Sure there's CoC and seeing into the future, but the first is just bigger shockwaves with lightning and the other is just Mantra.
Devil Fruits and individual fighting styles were special because each one was unique and the characters had to figure out their special weaknesses to overcome them. But when haki is the end all be all that can even cancel a power, like Law did with Doc Q, the magic is just sort of gone. Which is why I think Oda is trying to introduce more mythical fruits and real black magic into the series now, since it's the only way to raise the stakes and keep things interesting.
I highly doubt he can pull it off though because, as you said, the guy is too old now, and he really should have a larger team of dedicated editors and assistants to help him instead of only relying on two guys every few years. Oda had the perfect apprentice to continue the series for him in terms of both art and story with Yusaku Shibata, but as of now that just went nowhere as the guy's solo series didn't pan out and he only does Dragon Quest manga spin-offs now.
It also doesn't help that Oda's editors are mostly useless. The guy we were stuck with for years from Zou to Wano was a Yes Man who cried over anything Oda did, talked about how reluctant he was to speak up, and that the only thing he had the balls to do was begging Oda to put Carrot in more panels because he had a crush on her, giving many the false impression that she was a potential nakama.
Devil Fruits and individual fighting styles were special because each one was unique and the characters had to figure out their special weaknesses to overcome them. But when haki is the end all be all that can even cancel a power, like Law did with Doc Q, the magic is just sort of gone. Which is why I think Oda is trying to introduce more mythical fruits and real black magic into the series now, since it's the only way to raise the stakes and keep things interesting.
I highly doubt he can pull it off though because, as you said, the guy is too old now, and he really should have a larger team of dedicated editors and assistants to help him instead of only relying on two guys every few years. Oda had the perfect apprentice to continue the series for him in terms of both art and story with Yusaku Shibata, but as of now that just went nowhere as the guy's solo series didn't pan out and he only does Dragon Quest manga spin-offs now.
It also doesn't help that Oda's editors are mostly useless. The guy we were stuck with for years from Zou to Wano was a Yes Man who cried over anything Oda did, talked about how reluctant he was to speak up, and that the only thing he had the balls to do was begging Oda to put Carrot in more panels because he had a crush on her, giving many the false impression that she was a potential nakama.
