Not a retcon
I understand this point but you also need to understand that those type of centralized gouvernment are usually not very efficient and the fruit was non awakened for 800 years. So they just did like the other previous them, they just look at it on a side eye.
We need to understand that in good story, people make mistakes.
Yes, them. Those type of gouvernment are highgly ineficient. Them getting rid of precise target doesn mean that they don't make huge mistake and have huge blind spot.
No
Good storyteller knows that characters and strong instances make mistakes.
Of course I'm a One Piece stan, that's not an insult lmao And I also know when to criticize Oda, and yes, Wano was amazing. :)
Yup
This wouldn't have been too much. Nika is indeed more than a name, but its only the SURFACE of the revelation. Revealing clues or putting more plantings than there is wouldn't lead to readers understanding very well what the nature of the fruit is. Oda didn't take that risk, that's why he put so little time between Nika's planting and the revelation.
Because again, the reveal of the name and what it symbolically entails is just the surface of the revelation, Oda already did enough plantings to create a good revelation like I showed with the transformations and the actions of Luffy.
Author must be really careful not to give to much. Especially when you want people to be incredibly surprised.
Indeed, only when he adds things to his lore Oda must be taken seriously. Comments like "this is just a simple story" shouldn't be taken seriously looking at the reality of the story itself.
We should not care when Oda has an idea, unless you want to create an analysis about his writing process.
The job of an author is to link his future work with his past work and his past work with his future work. Connecting thing retroactively (even tho its most likely not true in that case) is not something that is bad, its something that is recommended.
You didn't watch close enough
Oda is not taking you for a moron, he is thinking that you are able to decifer that by yourself.
We know what this awakening does because of the gourosai, the awekening seems to be something that can happen unconsciously and we already know that Luffy can do thing unconciously (Luffy being dead or alive is still not sure)
Oda planted that in the beginning of the arc
Charming