Well, after two months, I read through all of One Piece. And I really suggest everyone to reread the post-timeskip part, if you only ever read it chapter by chapter, one week at a time. These long arcs post timeskip are so much better when you don't have to wait one weak every 25 pages.
Honestly, by now I think the arcs just got better and better. Punk Hazard was the only one that felt like a dud, and even that got pretty good in the second half. Elsewise, I enjoyed every arc from start to finish. Fishmen Island is great, Dressrosa is better, Zou is a nice, short arc that I still enjoy (god, I love the Minks), Wholecake is amazing and Wano (which, even this way, feels absurdly long) is fantastic. These long arcs work so, so much better this way, it's kind of incredible. Mainly, I guess, because you actually remember what happened, instead of forgetting half the details by the time a new chapter comes out.
Mainly, I want to note how much I like Big Mom. Kaido is still a bit meh for me, but I absolutely love her. And, even moreso than with Kaido, it felt incredibly epic when Law and Kid defeated her, after so much was thrown at that old bag. Oda did a really great job, at making her appear, while not invulnerable (which is important), to feel like an incredibly powerful opponent. It really felt like beating her was breaking in a new era. And the way her dream is so twisted and cruel was chilling - how she took Mother Caramels words and misinterpreted them in the worst way possible. But there is also this incredible sadness, of her just wanting to get back to the time when she celebrated with all her friends, shortly before they all were, uh, let's say gone. Her dream isn't for a future, like Luffys, it's for a past, recreating something that is long gone. And forcing everyone into her horrible version of a paradise.
It feels similar with Kaido, who can't seem to let go of Roger and Whitebeard, seemingly only being interested in an epic death, to beat them in the way he goes from this world. He, like Big Mom, is stuck very much in the past. And hurts people even worth. Wano is an incredibly chilling place, with all the ways it became hell for the people there.
Also, I didn't really understand it the first time, but Luffy just became a Looney Tune, when entering Gear 5. I guess that's why his basic power is "rubber", because he can twist it like Wily Coyote or Buggs Bunny.
So, One Piece is great. All of it (except for the specific parts that aren't, I'm sure you know them), it's a delight, and Oda gets better and better, as time goes on, at incorporating themes into the different arcs. Can't wait for the next chapter.
