I think One Piece still has its moments when it matters- but personally for me it definitely has lost some of its shine and magic post time skip. The biggest thing that i really missed is the adventure, ever since the Straw Hats met fucking Trafalgar Law on Punk Hazard- post-time skip has been an never ending goose chase for Kaido- the post time skip arcs all revolve around taking down Kaido. And i think what is worse is that it has taken so fucking damn long just to meet and confront kaido, not to mention all the breaks. I won't lie, kaido is a fucking cool character- but since we barely know much about his past (Oda hasn't properly revealed his backstory yet, EVEN NOW), its hard for me to feel anything for Kaido- sympathy, hate, respect or otherwise. No doubt that Oda will leave it for fucking last like he always does-which by then i would already be almost done with the arc itself and won't care anymore.
Oda spent so much time on Oden- who even at the end of his death i was just like: 'meh, whatever' Oda cockteases him for so fucking long ever since Zou, yet after his backstory i was still- meh, whatever. Its the story about a man who never listened to anybody who ended up meeting a fitting end for his recklessness. The whole thing with the Scarrabs avenging Oden isn't much different to the classical retainer avenge master you see in old samurai movies- its a as typical samurai story as it can get- just mixed in with pirates, dragons and fantasy. We still haven't learned much about Wano's history, its reasons for isolationism or even the Poneglyhs- where it was said that Wano was the place where it was made. There is little to none mystery and adventure in this arc- the thing that I loved and missed most about One Piece pre time skip.
I miss the adventure. As someone who considers Skypiea to be one of their favourite arcs, this is deeply saddening to me. Skypiea for me was when One Piece was at its best at adventure. Little Garden, Skypiea, Thriller Bark- it was full of mysteries, adventure and endless wonder. But ever since the Paramount War kicked off- i feel like One Piece kinda left that adventure in the wild to the backseat. I thought Zou was gonna finally have that but no- Jack and the Sanji rescue had to fuck it up.
So now every we week we as readers aren't anticipating what's gonna happen next, what new mysteries to find or which island they will go next. Instead, readers are constantly predicting what will happen, how the story will end, who will fight who in the match ups, and between Sanji and Zoro- whose dick measured the longest after each arc so their respective fanbases can have the bigger wank.
Its like an adventure video game with combat in it, suddenly changed genres in its sequel (the timeskip) to become a level climbing and dungeon clearing JRPG. So much shit is added but you're still walking in a straight line to beat the final boss, with distractions and NPCs you have to save and rescue along the way like side quests. Meanwhile, every now and then Oda throws us a bone with a cool cutscene (a character moment) to remind us that One Piece still has a main cast (The Straw Hats). individual character idle animations are included in this RPG in the form of Straw Hat gags that are overused to hell. (pervert Sanji, Zoro getting lost, Ussop being a wimp etc. -you get the idea). The story has become more linear, less flexible and more predictable.
Oda tries to mask and hide all this by adding new bombshell plot points along the way that are only mentioned and then left to the back seat again to create the illusion that his One Piece world is still as breathing and alive as it once used to be pre time skip. Blackbeard vs the Revolutionaries, The Reverie, what happened to Vivi's father, who is Im Sama, what happened to the Vinsmokes after WCI. Oda gives us a little cocktease and then never mentions it again. Then at some point he reveals the aftermath. I hate this the most! The one and only time this worked was Ace vs Blackbeard- because that lead to the conflict causing the Paramount War- and its consequences were followed up by the timeskip, it all felt natural. But Post time skip it feels like Oda is biting more than he can chew- he has all these different things happening at once- that never get resolved and just leave readers hanging-then he just shows the aftermath and never reveals it naturally and have it play out in real time story telling. It just feels so unfulfilling and unsatisfying to me.
So to sum up: Predictable and linear RPG like main story (FI, DR, WCI, WANO etc.)+ interesting but cock-teased and unfulfilled world building branching path side quests (Reverie, BB vs RA etc.) = a predictable, overused, ridged, mediocre experience and story.
Maybe its because I've gotten older over the years, that I realize that there are better stories out there than just hero adventure stories and goodies vs baddies (that's an exaggeration on my part- I know One Piece is more deeper and better than that, but it also doesn't do much out of its way(especially Post Time Skip), out of Oda's comfort zone to keep me heavily invested as it once did when I was much younger reading one piece- where the only thing I cared about was the straw hat beating the baddies so I can see their bounties get increased. Of course, I still want to see this tradition continue today, but i would be lying to myself to say if I didn't want something more, something different, some more adventure and mysteries.
Oh and I also miss the real character interactions and conversations between the straw hats abroad the Sunny that aren't gags or Zoro and Sanji arguing with each other all the time. Its been so long that I almost forgot to mention it. The post time skip pacing is also trash!
Rant over. Thank you for reading my essay.