General & Others STORYTELLING - Gear 5 is amazing

[Reborn]

In my opinion, both Oda and the readers made some mistakes regarding Gear Fifth.

First and foremost, the readers have been taking a wrong approach to it because of the whole "god" label. Most if not all users here have been probably raised in a culture more or less influenced by Abrahamic myths where deities are all mighty, but Nika has been portrayed like a tulpa-like entity, in my opinion; this also fits recent statements on devil fruit origin by Vegapunk. I think readers may have gotten defensive against "Sun God Nika" because they understand "god" as an extremely powerful entity by default and assume it diminishes the supposed weakness of the Gomu Gomu as a fruit, but for all we know Nika's divinity may have nothing to do with anything powerful. Personally, I don't see any significant difference between the Nika model and what I expected from the Gomu Gomu awakening. I'm not sure to what extent Oda sees the change as a sublimation of a previously average power instead of just a renaming to magnify the bigger picture of his story; proof is that he had already referred to the Gomu Gomu as a ridiculous power in an SBS, if I recall correctly.

It's also the readers's fault that they don't want One Piece to be how it's supposed to. Let's face it, manga and anime fans aren't usually the most mature and cultured out there and what's mainly popular among them, especially shonen fans, are edgier approaches; if you doubt it, try counting how many AMVs so far have used that Bring me to life song from Evanescence, it's crazy. One Piece does something quite unique as a piece of work which in my opinion sets it apart, and that's the focus on joy and laughter. Authors tend to seek depth in sorrow, suffering, darkness —but very few can craft their work around happiness, yet that's exactly what One Piece is: characters with distinctive laughs, a main character based on a kid who's the new Joy Boy, the Pirate King laughing at the most mysterious treasure and Laugh Tale as final destination. Not only that, but the core themes fit perfectly and the combination of laughter, joy, bouncing, freedom... It's an incredibly warming and funny reading once you get past the "edgy teenage" phase and it's pretty clear Oda wanted to take that feeling back, a feeling that was lost for quite a while in my perspective, with a cartoonish Gear that, funnily enough, remind us of the rubber hose style.

But I don't think Oda did it well enough. Part of why the readers reacted negatively to Gear Fifth and the Nika reveal was how superficially the author prepared the scenario. The name "Nika" wasn't a thing until Who's Who, Who's Who himself wasn't a thing until Onigashima (in spite of linking to CP9) and no serious doubt about the Gomu Gomu's true nature had been truly built in the reader. Connecting small things better (e.g. turning that unnamed CP9 agent during Ohara into young Who's Who), making a more explicit usage of the "nika" smirk (e.g. having important people using it in their significant moments; Oda vaguely did something similar since, for example, Roger smirks a "niya" during his execution, but that's not exactly "nika"); putting more focus on the importance of the Gomu Gomu (wasn't treated nor remarked as anything special until its awakening); stressing Kaidou as a failed Joy Boy who fell into depression (which is more or less what his character is about, but since Oda didn't work it enough many found out of place that Kaidou's fight turned into a "Having fun?" dynamic even though it made total sense); etc.

It's obvious Oda has some main themes more or less thought of; it's no coincidence that "don" (which people like Tom defended) sounds like "dawn" and is the sound drums make (e.g. during the Skypiea party), or how the sun is a symbol used by pretty much every oppresed people in this story, is directly related to freedom (Sun Pirates) and revered by the Shandians and Elbaf giants, or how the yet-to-be-explained quote by this Willie Gallon guy (which Oda put in a chapter with no apparent reason) totally sounds like Vegapunk's explanation on how devil fruit came to exist. Just too many of these themes perfectly fit the figure of Joyboy from real African folklore and it seems obvious Oda made some research on it to build the foundations of his work.

So, to summarize, could Gear Fifth plus Nika have been handled better? I think so. Is it a good idea still? I think so too.

C4N should takes notes from you.

Well said

 

[Aldarion]

I actually agree with the OP that it was prepared from the beginning, but thing is, a lot of the things surrounding the awakening itself still felt kinda forced. Such as Luffy dying and then getting resurrected... that part wasn't planted/indicated/foreshadowed anywhere, unless I am forgetting something.

 

[Celestial D. Dragon]

I can agree with this POV. It does make sense.

However

Having already bloated the story way beyond its original scope, Oda should've done a better job at at least hinting at the true nature of Luffy's Devil Fruit.
And by that, I mainly mean from the WG's point of view and their 800 year quest to capture said fruit.

In a 1000+ chapter long story, getting a concept like that with virtually zero build up, tied closely to the MC and the main storyline feels cheap

I can agree, because making people have to dig that deep to find the loose thread connections when you had ample time to at least make it way more obvious, is definitely perplexing. Things like that work much better in shorter stories like books and movies. The general audience is not going to go "OK, let me re-read 1000+ from the beginning, so I can piece it all together."

When you're dealing with something this long, there should and could have been more connections made, even if they were only subtle.

 

[Gauntlet]

The fact that Gear 5 single-handily breaks the story as a whole makes it one of the worse power ups in fiction regardless of whether or not it was "foreshadowed" OP.

 

[sanjikun]

Oda really said that Luffy won't defeat Kaido because his punch was stronger yet that's exactly what happened.

Stop repeating debunked horseshit. He said I don't want Luffy defeating Kaido just because his punch is so strong.

I.E. Luffy needs more reasons than just a strong punch. Enter ACoC.

 

[L57]

Stop repeating debunked horseshit. He said I don't want Luffy defeating Kaido just because his punch is so strong.

I.E. Luffy needs more reasons than just a strong punch. Enter ACoC.

He defeated him because his punch stronger cope

 

[Logiko]

I already shared the comparison of Luffy with Tom & Jerry.

Yes and this only helped my argument by showing how inspired by the toon world Oda was from the beginning.

Plus, imaginative powers, especially the way Luffy uses them, are exactly the same as in The Mask movie.

Exactly

Cliche is still a cliche no matter how you use it.

Nop cliche + creativity = New something.

It is too extreme to be called a simple diversion.

Its not that extreme really

Others also awaken, but their fruits dont change.

The fruit of Luffy didn't changed. Only the knowledge you had of the fruit evolved.

Their fruits dont allow them to get back to life by faster heart beat.

Who knows, perhaps awakening permits to go beyond death. But Like I already said previously, we already knows that Luffy has this special ability to do things unconciously. So the awakening in that specific state is not that far fetched.

They dont give them reality warping abilities.
They cant summon glasses out of thin air.

Normal, they are not the Nika model.

Here we have an author who likes adding things on the fly to the point it affects his story going forward

Only you thinks that. The reality is that its planned for a long time. You are just disliking it.

as well as admit that he switches things up on the fly if he feels it's predictable

Like a good storytelling yes.

The rubber fruit being a secret mythical zoan had absolutely no foreshadowing til the last minute, and the execution was lazy and nothing special.

There was no need for a foreshadowing on the nature of the fruit. We already had shadowing on the ability of said fruit. The revelation was the point of the plot twist.

Nothing was lazy here, you just don't understand the importance of said plot twist and the work behind it.

And no, I don't know better than Oda. But I do know a lot about One Piece and storytelling and storytelling doesn't lie.

The story is completely separate from the man that penned and drew it

Exactly. Once the author puts the story into paper. Only the story counts, not what the author says about it. Unless it is to add more story, in that case its legitimate to listen to the author

Know what's funny about this? When it became even more obvious that Carrot wasn't joining, C4N said that Oda either made a big mistake or changed his plans, but G5? Masterfully done and planned from the get go. He also had no clue that editors could affect the course of an author's story despite being such a knowledgeable storytelling scholar.

It's funny how you consider that I didn't take the editor into account. Yes, that's a possibility, but the only thing that count is the story and what in it. And yes, if Carrot stay on Zou as a Queen, this will be a storytelling mistake.

What he didn't do is foreshadowing of Luffy df being nika or mythical zoan df and didn't set it up properly or you can say executed it well

He did set it up properly. There was enough foreshadowings and shadowings.

He didn't do foreshadowing and messed up the execution

Nop

That was the moment when Luffy's reality bending power started to kick in.

It started to kick in in fishmen island.

Shanks told Luffy he ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi - I think that was the moment when Luffy instinctively formed his reality warping fruit to be rubber, thus having properties of rubber. The more Luffy started to be creative with his abilities, the less his DF started to behave like rubber.

That's a possibility but the gorosai do say that it make the body rubbery.

so the wisest move would've been to just do that if the fruit was so important to them

The fruit didn't awake for 800 year, so of course they were not worried.

Writings that shaped civilization as we know it vs condom boy on his goofy adventures

If you think One Piece is not shaping our civilisation in anyway shape or form then you are delusionnal.

I cant wait till years from now where Oda reveals he came up with G5 last minute

That wouldn't change anything. Gear 5 is properly setup with 3 foreshadowings and at least 10 shadowing in more than 15 years of story. Don't worry, its cool.

You guys are really salty lol

. It's a stronghold of the WG.

Not anymore lawl

If the Gorosei were competent, they would've sent an Admiral there an been done with it.

The core principle of fascist states is their incompetance and underestimation of real threat to their survival. They think they are the kings. They are not.

If he hasn't thought about it for at least 1 year, it will be very disappointing for me

That's the problem of the fanbase. They are more interested in how many year the author thought about something rather that looking at the story and seeing that it actually make sence regardless of the time put in it.

How long have you been reading OP?

23 years. Analysing it since 2007/2010

wano is Oda's biggest failure

Far from that

I dont know where you get you information, but Oda has admitted that he changed roof top fights for chapter 1000 celebration.
He introduced Shanks to promote film RED.
He forced the Tama-Ace timeline, later he said it was a mistake and corrected it

It doesn't matter as long as everything make sence in the story. It it made sence.

, then he failed big time.

He did not failed. This was an amazing arc.

Enjoy that shit if you want, but dont act like it was the best thing that happened in fiction.

Indeed, Whole cake was a bit better.

lol I don't mind if he just recently came up with the idea, it would just be hilarious to see the "foreshadow piece" fans cope

Like I said, it was setup well so the momment he came up with the idea doesn't matter the slight bit.

Oda is an unconclusive writer. I repeat, UNCONCLUSIVE WRITER

That's cute... lmao

No, it is not about expectations. It is about basic storytelling. Regardless, stans gonna stan no matter what

Dude, you don't understand basic storytelling, stop talking about it.

Like he said Luffy wont beat Kaido through a bigger punch?

So you understand now that you don't need to listen to Oda hehe

It is like going from point A to B, why use car to travel 1000 km, when you can jump to point B?

You don't understand the core of the Wano arc I think...

Pre TS > Post TS.

Another example that we shouldn't take WG seriously on that matter... sigh

yeah I found it weird too and that's another reason why I didn't like the arc

Funny.. I'm starting to notice that people who didn't like Wano also didn't like Gear 5 just as if there was something connecting the two I wonder... hehe

wano's theme was supposedly dawn right??

No, Wano's theme is inherited Will

Wano arc was not great.

It was tho

In a 1000+ chapter long story, getting a concept like that with virtually zero build up, tied closely to the MC and the main storyline feels cheap

There was a build up ! You are just ignoring it.

Plain denial.

The name "Nika" wasn't a thing until Who's Who

This is not important as Nika is only the NAME of the fruit not its ability, so 26 chapters is more than enough time for such a revelation. Noting that the Sun god is something mentionned way before in skypiea.

Such as Luffy dying and then getting resurrected... that part wasn't planted/indicated/foreshadowed anywhere, unless I am forgetting something.

This is one of the criticizim I can understand but the thing is, Luffy being unconsciously capable of using his ability was shadowed in the beginning of the arc when he uncousciously used King's haki. The ressurection is more like the ultimate twist

The fact that Gear 5 single-handily breaks the story as a whole makes it one of the worse power ups in fiction regardless of whether or not it was "foreshadowed" OP.

Gear 5 doesn't break the story

 

[Gauntlet]

Gear 5 doesn't break the story

Frankly it does as this revelation (retcon) makes the World Government (antagonists of the whole story) incompentent as they took no action of preventing the one person that destined to bring their demise from gaining so much influence and power, which puts into question how much of a threat they really are and belittles Luffy's entire journey. I understand that Luffy needs to be the victor when all said and done, but it shouldn't be at the cost of the World Government's intelligence, and the Suspense of Disbelief being utterly destroyed.

 

[SakazOuki]

If you think One Piece is not shaping our civilisation in anyway shape or form then you are delusionnal

Just because Backstreet Boys shaped civilization “in some shape or form” doesn’t make them the Iliad and Odyssey

 

[Cherry Hilk]

The core principle of fascist states is their incompetance and underestimation of real threat to their survival. They think they are the kings. They are not.


That's the problem of the fanbase. They are more interested in how many year the author thought about something rather that looking at the story and seeing that it actually make sence regardless of the time put in it.

The same Dictators who are Paranoid Maniacs that often get rid even of some of their most trusted subordinate for the slightest hint of dissent? The same who make whoever express their disagreement (or even those who don’t express it passionately enough) disappear?
The same dictators who plant the seed of discord among their citizens by making neighbours mistrust neighbours and making sure that there’s always a made up enemy to whom the collective hatred is directed?
Do you really think that an adequate fictional representation of these characters would ignore a threat such as the Devil fruit of their sworn enemy until the very last moment?
Dude, you sound more delusional at each new Post…
It’s just so ridiculously obvious that Oda didn’t have a cue on how (or most likely didn’t care to) provide any kind to explanation whatsoever on the matter, and thus creating a gigantic Plot hole.
Heck, leave alone the Gorosei, if Im is really immortal then he probably dealt with Joy Boy himself during the period of the AK, he more than anyone else should know how dangerous the Nika-Nika fruit (In the hand of a D!) is, there’s literally no excuse for him not taking action.
That’s clumsy amateurish level of of writing which would be a potential career ender for any author who’s not as established as Oda is, leave alone it being anything remotely close to Homer, Dante or Dostoevsky.
One Piece is a very good Shonen Manga with some very strong points (especially in the first part) and hints of brilliance here and there. Nothing more and nothing less. These attempts to forcefully place it in a realm it doesn’t belong to are just ludicrous.

 

[notAfanboy]

Yes and this only helped my argument by showing how inspired by the toon world Oda was from the beginning.



Exactly



Nop cliche + creativity = New something.



Its not that extreme really



The fruit of Luffy didn't changed. Only the knowledge you had of the fruit evolved.



Who knows, perhaps awakening permits to go beyond death. But Like I already said previously, we already knows that Luffy has this special ability to do things unconciously. So the awakening in that specific state is not that far fetched.



Normal, they are not the Nika model.



Only you thinks that. The reality is that its planned for a long time. You are just disliking it.



Like a good storytelling yes.



There was no need for a foreshadowing on the nature of the fruit. We already had shadowing on the ability of said fruit. The revelation was the point of the plot twist.

Nothing was lazy here, you just don't understand the importance of said plot twist and the work behind it.

And no, I don't know better than Oda. But I do know a lot about One Piece and storytelling and storytelling doesn't lie.



Exactly. Once the author puts the story into paper. Only the story counts, not what the author says about it. Unless it is to add more story, in that case its legitimate to listen to the author



It's funny how you consider that I didn't take the editor into account. Yes, that's a possibility, but the only thing that count is the story and what in it. And yes, if Carrot stay on Zou as a Queen, this will be a storytelling mistake.



He did set it up properly. There was enough foreshadowings and shadowings.



Nop



It started to kick in in fishmen island.



That's a possibility but the gorosai do say that it make the body rubbery.



The fruit didn't awake for 800 year, so of course they were not worried.


If you think One Piece is not shaping our civilisation in anyway shape or form then you are delusionnal.



That wouldn't change anything. Gear 5 is properly setup with 3 foreshadowings and at least 10 shadowing in more than 15 years of story. Don't worry, its cool.

You guys are really salty lol




Not anymore lawl



The core principle of fascist states is their incompetance and underestimation of real threat to their survival. They think they are the kings. They are not.


That's the problem of the fanbase. They are more interested in how many year the author thought about something rather that looking at the story and seeing that it actually make sence regardless of the time put in it.



23 years. Analysing it since 2007/2010



Far from that


It doesn't matter as long as everything make sence in the story. It it made sence.



He did not failed. This was an amazing arc.



Indeed, Whole cake was a bit better.




Like I said, it was setup well so the momment he came up with the idea doesn't matter the slight bit.



That's cute... lmao



Dude, you don't understand basic storytelling, stop talking about it.



So you understand now that you don't need to listen to Oda hehe



You don't understand the core of the Wano arc I think...



Another example that we shouldn't take WG seriously on that matter... sigh


Funny.. I'm starting to notice that people who didn't like Wano also didn't like Gear 5 just as if there was something connecting the two I wonder... hehe



No, Wano's theme is inherited Will



It was tho



There was a build up ! You are just ignoring it.

Plain denial.


This is not important as Nika is only the NAME of the fruit not its ability, so 26 chapters is more than enough time for such a revelation. Noting that the Sun god is something mentionned way before in skypiea.


This is one of the criticizim I can understand but the thing is, Luffy being unconsciously capable of using his ability was shadowed in the beginning of the arc when he uncousciously used King's haki. The ressurection is more like the ultimate twist



Gear 5 doesn't break the story

No, wrong. Saying the same thing again and again wont change the facts.
Wano is great? One Piece stan spotted

 

[Reborn]

Yes and this only helped my argument by showing how inspired by the toon world Oda was from the beginning.



Exactly



Nop cliche + creativity = New something.



Its not that extreme really



The fruit of Luffy didn't changed. Only the knowledge you had of the fruit evolved.



Who knows, perhaps awakening permits to go beyond death. But Like I already said previously, we already knows that Luffy has this special ability to do things unconciously. So the awakening in that specific state is not that far fetched.



Normal, they are not the Nika model.



Only you thinks that. The reality is that its planned for a long time. You are just disliking it.



Like a good storytelling yes.



There was no need for a foreshadowing on the nature of the fruit. We already had shadowing on the ability of said fruit. The revelation was the point of the plot twist.

Nothing was lazy here, you just don't understand the importance of said plot twist and the work behind it.

And no, I don't know better than Oda. But I do know a lot about One Piece and storytelling and storytelling doesn't lie.



Exactly. Once the author puts the story into paper. Only the story counts, not what the author says about it. Unless it is to add more story, in that case its legitimate to listen to the author



It's funny how you consider that I didn't take the editor into account. Yes, that's a possibility, but the only thing that count is the story and what in it. And yes, if Carrot stay on Zou as a Queen, this will be a storytelling mistake.



He did set it up properly. There was enough foreshadowings and shadowings.



Nop



It started to kick in in fishmen island.



That's a possibility but the gorosai do say that it make the body rubbery.



The fruit didn't awake for 800 year, so of course they were not worried.


If you think One Piece is not shaping our civilisation in anyway shape or form then you are delusionnal.



That wouldn't change anything. Gear 5 is properly setup with 3 foreshadowings and at least 10 shadowing in more than 15 years of story. Don't worry, its cool.

You guys are really salty lol




Not anymore lawl



The core principle of fascist states is their incompetance and underestimation of real threat to their survival. They think they are the kings. They are not.


That's the problem of the fanbase. They are more interested in how many year the author thought about something rather that looking at the story and seeing that it actually make sence regardless of the time put in it.



23 years. Analysing it since 2007/2010



Far from that


It doesn't matter as long as everything make sence in the story. It it made sence.



He did not failed. This was an amazing arc.



Indeed, Whole cake was a bit better.




Like I said, it was setup well so the momment he came up with the idea doesn't matter the slight bit.



That's cute... lmao



Dude, you don't understand basic storytelling, stop talking about it.



So you understand now that you don't need to listen to Oda hehe



You don't understand the core of the Wano arc I think...



Another example that we shouldn't take WG seriously on that matter... sigh


Funny.. I'm starting to notice that people who didn't like Wano also didn't like Gear 5 just as if there was something connecting the two I wonder... hehe



No, Wano's theme is inherited Will



It was tho



There was a build up ! You are just ignoring it.

Plain denial.


This is not important as Nika is only the NAME of the fruit not its ability, so 26 chapters is more than enough time for such a revelation. Noting that the Sun god is something mentionned way before in skypiea.


This is one of the criticizim I can understand but the thing is, Luffy being unconsciously capable of using his ability was shadowed in the beginning of the arc when he uncousciously used King's haki. The ressurection is more like the ultimate twist



Gear 5 doesn't break the story

Nop

 

[Monster Luffy]

Zoro fans are the ones with the most based takes.

Yes, sure.

 

[Charlotte Horchata]

This is not important as Nika is only the NAME of the fruit not its ability, so 26 chapters is more than enough time for such a revelation. Noting that the Sun god is something mentionned way before in skypiea.

"Nika" isn't only the NAME but an important folkloric figure among the oppressed and enslaved (who pretty much are the focus of the story) and also a reference to a Japanese smiling onomatopoeia; it's not the kind of name you just ignore and introduce less than thirty chapters before the most significant revelation made about your main character. Oda had lots of opportunities to use it way before than Onigashima in order to plant actual seeds (I repeat: just have important characters who are connected to the core themes of One Piece —Roger, Hiruluk, Noland...— smirk a "nika" in their most transcendental moments, for example), but he didn't; hence why you need to cling to a vague reference to a "sun god" (in spite of such figure being revered by pretty much every ancient people). Hell, even working a bit more deeply with the connection between the sun as a symbol shared by the oppressed (which is indeed something Oda has been doing) and the "nika" smirk would have worked.

There's a reason why most of the readers you'll come across found the Nika reveal to be rushed and a bit out of place no matter how much you try to "rationalize" it into a master move of storytelling (which you aren't the only person in the world familiar with, this assuming you aren't just the umpteenth "I know a lot about writting but I'm not an acclaimed author nor even have published anything of value" I come across everyday).

I've discussed this issue with professional novelists and screenwriters, and pretty much everybody seems to agree on it except for you; but I guess that's because you know more than them because... something, I suppose.

 

[notAfanboy]

"Nika" isn't only the NAME but an important folkloric figure among the oppressed and enslaved (who pretty much are the focus of the story) and also a reference to a Japanese smiling onomatopoeia; it's not the kind of name you just ignore and introduce less than thirty chapters before the most significant revelation made about your main character. Oda had lots of opportunities to use it way before than Onigashima in order to plant actual seeds (I repeat: just have important characters who are connected to the core themes of One Piece —Roger, Hiruluk, Noland...— smirk a "nika" in their most transcendental moments, for example), but he didn't; hence why you need to cling to a vague reference to a "sun god" (in spite of such figure being revered by pretty much every ancient people). Hell, even working a bit more deeply with the connection between the sun as a symbol shared by the oppressed (which is indeed something Oda has been doing) and the "nika" smirk would have worked.

There's a reason why most of the readers you'll come across found the Nika reveal to be rushed and a bit out of place no matter how much you try to "rationalize" it into a master move of storytelling (which you aren't the only person in the world familiar with, this assuming you aren't just the umpteenth "I know a lot about writting but I'm not an acclaimed author nor even have published anything of value" I come across everyday).

I've discussed this issue with professional novelists and screenwriters, and pretty much everybody seems to agree on it except for you; but I guess that's because you know more than them because... something, I suppose.

He says Oda's comments about his own story dont matter when it comes to my analysis. He says his analysis provide actual factual evidences while Oda is just being humble when he says he created/thought of xyz character 10 chapters ago (like Super novas, roof top fight, Shanks coming to Wano for film red promotion, mismatch of Tama and Ace time line, etc).

 

[Charlotte Horchata]

He says Oda's comments about his own story dont matter when it comes to my analysis. He says his analysis provide actual factual evidences while Oda is just being humble when he says he created/thought of xyz character 10 chapters ago (like Super novas, roof top fight, Shanks coming to Wano for film red promotion, mismatch of Tama and Ace time line, etc).

I would give my opinion on this but I'm scared he will come up with the kind of Barthes-based crap that is so popular among modern students of literary theory; so I'll pass.

 

[Reborn]

"Nika" isn't only the NAME but an important folkloric figure among the oppressed and enslaved (who pretty much are the focus of the story) and also a reference to a Japanese smiling onomatopoeia; it's not the kind of name you just ignore and introduce less than thirty chapters before the most significant revelation made about your main character. Oda had lots of opportunities to use it way before than Onigashima in order to plant actual seeds (I repeat: just have important characters who are connected to the core themes of One Piece —Roger, Hiruluk, Noland...— smirk a "nika" in their most transcendental moments, for example), but he didn't; hence why you need to cling to a vague reference to a "sun god" (in spite of such figure being revered by pretty much every ancient people). Hell, even working a bit more deeply with the connection between the sun as a symbol shared by the oppressed (which is indeed something Oda has been doing) and the "nika" smirk would have worked.

There's a reason why most of the readers you'll come across found the Nika reveal to be rushed and a bit out of place no matter how much you try to "rationalize" it into a master move of storytelling (which you aren't the only person in the world familiar with, this assuming you aren't just the umpteenth "I know a lot about writting but I'm not an acclaimed author nor even have published anything of value" I come across everyday).

I've discussed this issue with professional novelists and screenwriters, and pretty much everybody seems to agree on it except for you; but I guess that's because you know more than them because... something, I suppose.

That Sun God refrence during Skypiea was related to Kami - that giant snake but one can still give it to oda for atleast putting the name.

Thing is it's not foreshadowing but oda retroactively going back to connect things with Luffy's df.

It's like call back to certain events for instance to Luffy and usopp dance during skypiea and Luffy shadow visible from the ground when he rang that bell.

Another thing is I remember that it was mentioned Gomu Gomu no mi is ordinary fruit and no hint whatsoever was dropped regarding it being special.

And, there is nothing wrong with this. Many author does it.

Oda indeed had idea because G5 is doing what Gomu Gomu no awakening was suppose to - turning things around it into rubber

However, he dropped it without explaining how he came back to life and how awakening works. ..

 

[BangOO🍅]

Oda's honest reaction to this

 

[Sheer D. Lusion]

This guy puts the anal in analyst

 

[JoNdule]

Making battles becoming comical with the villains having looney Tunes effects on them is just...wrong