Oda is going for the dumbest decisions all in order to not be predicted by the fans.
Even the coverstory ended in a wet fart.
One Piece spends too much time trying to be unpredictable, rather than giving people what the series built up to.
Take Sanji in Whole Cake: just give him a fight.
Literally. Just let Sanji mid-diff Oven.
The entire arc, is completely different for the fanbase, if Oda just gives Sanji an obvious win against a strong Big Mom Pirate. I think Perospero would have been a good choice, after the Pedro business; but, Oda's saving Perospero for Carrot (could have worded that better...), so, we get... eh???
Whole Cake was so focused on surprising you, it forgot to let Sanji fight in his own arc.
The actual fuck?
Some of the setup could have been insane, too. Imagine the Big Mom Pirates realize Sanji is the one baking the cake, and are convinced he's trying to poison Big Mom?
Sanji protects the cake by himself, and beats a top Big Mom Officer.
It's clear Oda knows what the fans want, which is why it feels really shitty when he teases stuff like that, only to pull the rug out to be edgy.
"I don't want the readers to guess what the story is." THEN WHY ARE YOU LAYERING ALL OF THE FORESHADOWING, ODA???
Man wants to have his Wedding Cake, and eat it, too.
One Piece is at its worse when Oda knows what the fanbase is looking forward to, and gaslights us, instead.
Kaido vs Big Mom would have been a top 5 moment in Wano Act 2. And we get barely fucking anything.
I'm fine with Oda not forcing random fights at the end of an arc just so the Straw Hats can do stuff, the Fish-Man Islands fights were pretty forgettable. It's fucking HARD to build up 10 legitimate enemies and give the Straw Hats meaningful fights with all of them in an arc.
Payback War. Akainu vs Kuzan. You don't have to show us the whole thing, SHOW US MORE THAN PEOPLE FUCKING STARING AT EACH OTHER, ODAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA