The animation doesnΒ΄t lock worse either or at least not far worse.
You opinion on the current episode?
1017 Top 3 or Top 5 easily. Most ambitious Action Episode of One Piece.
The cast of animators was quite diverse too.
3 Chinese, 6 Japanese, 2 germans, 4 phillipinos, 2 french, a spain and 3-4 US people
1018 is definetly going to be worse but i expect they got 2-4 guys for the "important scenes", just like for 1016.
Just how Zoros attack in 1016 was done pretty well, I expect that to be the case for 1018. Even if the content in 1018 is a lot harder to animate.
Set yourself up for a lot of Kaido CG
Edit: Maybe we can get some cool Tomita stuff... he was last on 1013, which was early march. 1018 airs in a week which is late may so there's enough time imo.