Could you explain to me why you think Odens whole story was bad? Im seriously curious.
The short version is that Oden's character wasn't sufficient for what the story intended.
One quick example among many is this.
The scabbards aren't characterised at all and are intentionally made to be somewhat worthless in the backstory so that it can highlight that they are regretful in current day due to their uselessness in the past. -> This is the intention of the story.
Oden on the other hand has to carry the story as the primary source of movement in the plot and the only person who can literally and metaphorically carry everyone else and the story on his back. The problem comes in that Oden is stupid (with the whole Orochi business), and gets over shadowed by other people as the primary driver of the story (Roger and whitebeard) and is intentionally vague in his reasoning for things (supposedly the 20 year prophecy changed his character OFF SCREEN in a vague way that when he returns he's willing to let himself and his men die for this 20 year prophecy) -> This is Oden’s character.
So you combine a story intention such as this and Oden's character that is actively stupid, gets over shadowed by others and has poorly defined motivations and you have the whole thing crambling Down.
I was supposed to feel the scabbards frustration at being useless during the Oden times since they feel they let down a great man but Oden was himself stupid so why should feel bad for the scabbards for letting down a stupid man? And then this results into me hating the fact that The scabbards are barely characters in the flashback since that was intentional yet the intended effect of me caring for them DIDN'T WORKS.
And I can go on and on with such type of examples about how Oda had a point or goal to make with certain parts of the Oden story but oden as a character just didn't work well with his point and it all just fell down.
