Not a defense, but to me this a Japanese culture issue more than anything blatant about Oda's "alleged" preferences. Literally until a few years ago consent was 13 lmao. I dont think this was ever meant to be taken in a weird way, especially given the series is aimed at boys Shirahoshi's age and its not like there arent other authors doing weirder shit with even younger Characters (Boruto....).
The reason Oda still supported Wakatsuki and Toriko's Author is because Japan's work culture is toxic as hell and he's worked with both of them historically. Hell, people bootlick Tite Kubo because he didnt draw supprt art for Kenshin but he's also out there drawing 15 year olds provocatively and doing weird shit in front in Bleach BEFORE the TYBW timeskip. Casca was DEFINITELY on the young side during the Eclipse, if you know what I mean. I could go on and on about this.
Just my two cents on that. A think a worse one is S-Snake if we had to use an example though, it draws a very "real" line on attraction considering Oda had to defend that the reason Usopp or Franly turned to stone was because they thought she was a cute kid, not attractive.
I already have drawn a line in the sand personally. If it comes out that Oda himself has done anything suspect then I'm done with the series entirely. But right now its just blatant Japan culture and people need to understand that or stop reading manga entirely because this shit stinks nationally.