Definitely disappointing in a way to me, but I'm going to wait until this chapter to make the final call. I didn't hate it, I'm super stoked Oda didn't wait long to bring him back, but I just figured it'd be more dramatic than what we got. Though, people need to realize Oda kept Jinbe away for multiple reasons:
- Like Neko, the arc was already getting bloated. You might as well cut as many characters as you can until the main battle starts. Oda definitely struggled to give many characters meaningful moments in the arc. The arc was mainly about the War anyway. Its where everyone should shine.
- It was a means to have Luffy escape in that moment while making Big Mom seem competent. More ridiculous things like Luffy's entire force escaping the Buster Call at Enies Lobby have happened. Really easy to accept he escaped after.
- It was a means to branch both arcs together (WCI and Wano are essentially 1 arc at this point, considering nearly every undefeated character from WCI is here). The only difference is that Caesar and Germa may not show up (totally being saved for Vegapunk)