I feel like post skip OP has an issue of side characters taking up too much space and overburdening the main story. And because of that, I feel like it would have been really beneficial if Oda let some new talented artists write a one piece spin off with his supervision.
A great example of this would be the MCU. The MCU movies are the main story. But there are also minor side characters, for example, Scarlett Witch or the guy with metal wings, that can't fully be explored in the movies. So disney created shows featuring them on disney+. While the shows tie into the movies, they aren't essential for you to understand the movies.
A more relevant example would be My hero academia: vigilantes. Vigilantes is a spin off that is overviewed by Horikoshi, yet not directly written/drawn by him. Yet there are some very important bits of canon information in this spin off. Ex. we get a backstory for EraserHead which is then referenced in the manga.
I believe that if Oda did something like this, he could greatly improve pacing by having arcs focus solely on the most important characters. For example, I feel like the WCI arc was largely filler that didn't need to be in the story. Yes, important things happen in WCI, but they weren't important enough to justify the arc existing.
If Kid and Law were the ones to take down big mom, what is even the point of WCI? Its an entire arc building up to the defeat of big mom by two side characters who were barely explored in wano. If Oda was going to do this, instead of Luffy going to WCI, couldn't Oda have had Law go to WCI instead?
Wano begins 100 chapters earlier and Oda has more time to develop Kaido, yamato, and other characters. Off-screen, Law picks a fight with BM, defeats a commander, saves sanji, brings along jinbei, and takes the poneglyph. Are the events of WCI important? Yeah, I guess. But when OP is running over 1000 chapters, don't you think it would be better for Oda to prioritize what we do and don't see?
If OP is the story of Luffy finding the One Piece and becoming pirate king, then it needs to focus on that and not get too carried away with side plots and side characters, like it seems to have the habit of doing. What about everything else? Well those things can still be important, but that's what spin offs are for. If there was a spin off for sanji's backstory, or law in WCI, or the scabbards, fans would eat it up.
But there is a real danger of forcing this material into the main story, and that danger is that actual important plots end up getting sidelined. For example, Sanji's dream is to find the all blue. When was the last time we heard about the all blue? Chopper wants to find a cure to all diseases, when was the last time we heard anything about that? When was the last time we heard about Nami's map? When was the last time we heard about the brave warrior of the sea? Monkey D Dragon was introduced 20 years ago in the manga, and he barely has any panel time. Shanks was introduced 20 years ago, and he barely has any panel time. Teach and Akainu are literally the main antagonists of One Piece and they have barely had any panel time post skip.
This is why OP is 1000+ chapters long. This is why people are hesitant to pick up one piece. This is why OP's sales are falling and why newer, shorter serious like Demon Slayer and JJK are beating it.
The pre-skip focused on Luffy building the SH crew, I think Oda had the ability to take his time with things back then. Especially since the cast wasn't nearly as big. But post skip seems to be crammed with filler characters and filler plots that does nothing but extend an already long and complicated series.
A great example of this would be the MCU. The MCU movies are the main story. But there are also minor side characters, for example, Scarlett Witch or the guy with metal wings, that can't fully be explored in the movies. So disney created shows featuring them on disney+. While the shows tie into the movies, they aren't essential for you to understand the movies.
A more relevant example would be My hero academia: vigilantes. Vigilantes is a spin off that is overviewed by Horikoshi, yet not directly written/drawn by him. Yet there are some very important bits of canon information in this spin off. Ex. we get a backstory for EraserHead which is then referenced in the manga.
I believe that if Oda did something like this, he could greatly improve pacing by having arcs focus solely on the most important characters. For example, I feel like the WCI arc was largely filler that didn't need to be in the story. Yes, important things happen in WCI, but they weren't important enough to justify the arc existing.
If Kid and Law were the ones to take down big mom, what is even the point of WCI? Its an entire arc building up to the defeat of big mom by two side characters who were barely explored in wano. If Oda was going to do this, instead of Luffy going to WCI, couldn't Oda have had Law go to WCI instead?
Wano begins 100 chapters earlier and Oda has more time to develop Kaido, yamato, and other characters. Off-screen, Law picks a fight with BM, defeats a commander, saves sanji, brings along jinbei, and takes the poneglyph. Are the events of WCI important? Yeah, I guess. But when OP is running over 1000 chapters, don't you think it would be better for Oda to prioritize what we do and don't see?
If OP is the story of Luffy finding the One Piece and becoming pirate king, then it needs to focus on that and not get too carried away with side plots and side characters, like it seems to have the habit of doing. What about everything else? Well those things can still be important, but that's what spin offs are for. If there was a spin off for sanji's backstory, or law in WCI, or the scabbards, fans would eat it up.
But there is a real danger of forcing this material into the main story, and that danger is that actual important plots end up getting sidelined. For example, Sanji's dream is to find the all blue. When was the last time we heard about the all blue? Chopper wants to find a cure to all diseases, when was the last time we heard anything about that? When was the last time we heard about Nami's map? When was the last time we heard about the brave warrior of the sea? Monkey D Dragon was introduced 20 years ago in the manga, and he barely has any panel time. Shanks was introduced 20 years ago, and he barely has any panel time. Teach and Akainu are literally the main antagonists of One Piece and they have barely had any panel time post skip.
This is why OP is 1000+ chapters long. This is why people are hesitant to pick up one piece. This is why OP's sales are falling and why newer, shorter serious like Demon Slayer and JJK are beating it.
The pre-skip focused on Luffy building the SH crew, I think Oda had the ability to take his time with things back then. Especially since the cast wasn't nearly as big. But post skip seems to be crammed with filler characters and filler plots that does nothing but extend an already long and complicated series.