All those things aside.
Is it me or One Piece's quality kinda improved ? no more wasting time, characters are getting introduced one by one, it's moving fast.
Is it just an illusion ?
@Buusatan94 @Tyki_Mikk @RayanOO
A lot of people take Oda's time estimates as bad jokes, but, say Oda originally had an actual five year plan revolving the Yonkou, and the Shichibukai were a later creation.
If this is the case, the first arcs Oda worked on in concept were Yonkou based arcs; Marineford, Whole Cake Island, Wano, Elbaph, and then whatever comes next.
IMO Oda spent a ton of time in the PreTS setting up Marineford as its ending.
Before Oda started One Piece, he spent a LOT of time workshopping the series. Once we went to the New World, there was very little break on Oda's end; very little time to plan.
IMO this really hurt the start of the New World, and some arcs like Whole Cake and Wano that needed more planning. Oda got a bit ahead of himself, and added too many cooks to the kitchen, as it were.
However, by the end of Wano, Oda's physical health/other responsibilities finally allowed for significant breaks.
Between Elbaph being a core arc in the series, a Yonkou based arc (Linlin will appear here at some point, and Shanks was already seen at Elbaph), and Oda having much more time to plan for Elbaph than he did for Whole Cake and Wano, the quality is much better than what we've gotten in the rest of the New World so far.
The New World was always GOOD, it's pacing issues and focus issues that hurt it.
I think Oda learned from Wano that making an arc that big without proper pre-planning directly before the arc is fucking impossible.
Ideally this series should take a month long break before entering any major arc so Oda can fully sort shit out and attack it from the best angle possible. IMO, that's what we're seeing in Elbaph; Oda evolving to plan arcs properly, the way he used to.
Elbaph has Water 7 level writing, IMO, where each chapter has fun character moments, introduces enough to keep you going, and then leads up to big moments that actually shock you.
Compare the end of Wano with the Film Red nonsense to the writing now, it's leagues above in terms of engaging the reader.
Finally, Oda just fucking loves Vikings, and that's dripping from every bit of this arc.