Timeskip Predictions

AGOG

Once again, it's not a confirmed fact yet, so put the "??????" stuff inside it.

JERK DISEASE

Once again, it's not a confirmed fact yet, so put the "??????" stuff inside it.

ahahahaha, you've been getting a lot more belligerent lately, I think you're starting to freak over the incoming death you'll receive.

Bucephalus

AGOG, you must have have a lot of trouble with cooking.

yadayada

@omy785:

Anyway, Rayleigh in chap 591 means: timeskip!

deffinatly i think, he was implying that luffy was not yet strong enough to go back SA and since it doesn't seem to be odas style to do training montages, it'll probably just skip ahead to him returning
and it leaves everyone wondering what he learned and how he improved which will build suspence for luffys next match quite nicely

so ya, i vote timeskip of maybe a month

Dan Dangerously

I don't think so at all. Rayleigh is almost certainly about to get into Haki and finally clearly explain it. That is a HUGE development. Not something you skip over. Besides, it won't be long now before the SHs reunite now that they are on the way back. Maybe two weeks? three? That's not a timeskip…

omy785

@Dan:

I don't think so at all. Rayleigh is almost certainly about to get into Haki and finally clearly explain it. That is a HUGE development. Not something you skip over. Besides, it won't be long now before the SHs reunite now that they are on the way back. Maybe two weeks? three? That's not a timeskip…

I disagree…I agree with yadax2 (lol), this could be a good time for a timeskip. Once we know what happened to the rest of the crew we could find Luffy on SA, maybe already fighting with someone and using the haki. What happend on AL would be explained via Flashback...Of course that's a big IMO, but I would find it better this way.
And for the rest, a timeskip is when time...skips..

JERK DISEASE

I think we'll see the start of the training, like a formal explanation of what Haki is, and Luffy will be doing.
Followed by a skip.

Kind of like Goku at Kami's palace right at the end of the Piccolo Daimou arc.

mr.french

Pretty much agree with a time skip coming up soon. Looks like Rayleigh needs to have Luffy agree on some terms before he trains. But I think Oda will show us first what the SH's are doing as an update. Then off we go.

Just out of curiosity, for those that believe in a time-skip. How much do you think his body will change? He may get taller, but will he remain largely lanky in terms of his neck size and upper body? I could see for instance Zoro having a body similar to Rayleigh's, with the thick neck and all.

Nekketsu

Didn't Ivankov state the vigorous hormones he injected on Luffy would alter his body structure?

It's more due to the fact he took 10 years of his life.

I survived the buster call

@Nekketsu:

Didn't Ivankov state the vigorous hormones he injected on Luffy would alter his body structure?

It's more due to the fact he took 10 years of his life.

no–the vigour hormones just have some side effects the next day--nothing about changing his body at all
that's on this page: http://www.onemanga.com/One_Piece/539/13/
the healing hormones had the effect of changing his internal body structure, but its unclear if it changes the outer
that's on this page: http://www.onemanga.com/One_Piece/538/05/

However, given that it was not changed when he was fighting in ID, it doesn't seem as though he'll be physically affected in a way that is clear visually now either. As you say, the effect is simply that he will die 10 years sooner–or at least that is what the average person would have happen. Luffy has been anything but average thus far though.

CupidKirby

As long as the timeskip isn't as 'WTF' as the one in A Series of Unfortunate Events and Luffy doesn't sprout a mustauche, then I'm good.

Nia

@CupidKirby:

As long as the timeskip isn't as 'WTF' as the one in A Series of Unfortunate Events and Luffy doesn't sprout a mustauche, then I'm good.

But a mustache wouldn't be that bad… :ninja:

yadayada

This post is deleted!

toiim

I think there'll be a timeskip and it'll be a few centuries and the whole crew is dead. And there will be new characters and butterflies and no WG or pirates and everyone's happy.

Just my guess.

Snaku

Screw lengthy time skips when the story/characters don't call for one. It's not like Luffy is 10, and they want him to become an adult. Skipping a year or more to change the location, strengths, and motivations of a character(s) is just piss poor storytelling, and I think Oda is above that.

Retsudo

And what do you base that on.

andy

After seeing the current chapters i am going with a short time skip maybe month or 2.
Which mean the SH would apart maybe 2 or 3 months.

mr.french

Should be longer than that. I'm basing this on a bit on how strong Blackbeard's crew is. It's filled with some of the worst villains in the world. Luffy's crew has to be able to step up their game a bit, and to do this, time is required to pass by. Not only that, but we have to assume that Zoro and (maybe) Sanji will be able to fight an Admiral without dying. If Rayleigh can hold his own at his age against one, then we should expect Zoro, or Sanji to do so as well during the next half of their adventure, as they are the two power-house characters under Luffy. And by the time the time-skip ends, we should also expect that Blackbeard has reached a power greater than even an Admiral, so as to give Luffy a greater challenge to overcome. Whitebeard was the strongest man in the world, so it's only fitting that this should happen. It's not only Luffy's crew that has to improve, but it is also other interesting characters like Law, Kidd, Urouge, etc.

RomanceDawn

One day Black Beard with out a doubt will be stronger then most anyone and everyone. But Mr French don't look at it like some typical story where the next major enemy is just leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. We have seen the peak of the greatest fighters in the OP world. It has been established for a long time now. I am not saying that the Black Beards wont get stronger, but its not like each one is going to eclipse White Beard. When you reach the top there is only so far you can go, and it is always the weaker guy who seems to catch up faster because there is room to grow. The weaker guy in this case are all the Straw Hats.

The Admirals themselves are as powerful as they will ever be. Yeah we will see new moves but it's not like they will be growing like crazy to reach Dragon Ball levels. I think the same can be said about Black Beard, only he has a bit more room than anyone it seems to grow from.

And maybe Sanji will be able to stand up to an Admiral? Come on man…

andy

@mr.french:

Should be longer than that. I'm basing this on a bit on how strong Blackbeard's crew is. It's filled with some of the worst villains in the world. Luffy's crew has to be able to step up their game a bit, and to do this, time is required to pass by. Not only that, but we have to assume that Zoro and (maybe) Sanji will be able to fight an Admiral without dying. If Rayleigh can hold his own at his age against one, then we should expect Zoro, or Sanji to do so as well during the next half of their adventure, as they are the two power-house characters under Luffy. And by the time the time-skip ends, we should also expect that Blackbeard has reached a power greater than even an Admiral, so as to give Luffy a greater challenge to overcome. Whitebeard was the strongest man in the world, so it's only fitting that this should happen. It's not only Luffy's crew that has to improve, but it is also other interesting characters like Law, Kidd, Urouge, etc.

The SH are not going to be able beat admirals after the time skip or BB .
The admirals are the best of the best your still going to need arcs for the SH to get there no matter how long the time skip is.
OP is half way done , you need to power up the SH so can fight in the NW while still showing them getting stronger as time goes by.

JERK DISEASE

@Snaku:

Screw lengthy time skips when the story/characters don't call for one. It's not like Luffy is 10, and they want him to become an adult. Skipping a year or more to change the location, strengths, and motivations of a character(s) is just piss poor storytelling, and I think Oda is above that.

Skipping things that make them stronger is good storytelling, because training is the most tedious shit imaginable.

Nothing about the proposed timeskip changes location or motivation so what the fuck are you even talking about.

Also 17 year olds are not adults. And no I don't mean they become them next year.

But now for something different.
An example of everything a good timeskip shouldn't be, and an example of some dingus who literally wants OP to fall directly into some of the biggest shit that Naruto did.
So yes, Naruto's timeskip is as follows.

@mr.french:

Should be longer than that. I'm basing this on a bit on how strong Blackbeard's crew is. It's filled with some of the worst villains in the world. Luffy's crew has to be able to step up their game a bit, and to do this, time is required to pass by. Not only that, but we have to assume that Zoro and (maybe) Sanji will be able to fight an Admiral without dying. If Rayleigh can hold his own at his age against one, then we should expect Zoro, or Sanji to do so as well during the next half of their adventure,

FUCK no.
They need to get stronger to be New World capable pirates. And you're asking them to become as strong as the world's strongest men?
Do you not have any goddamn sense of power scales? Or careful world building? Smooth story flow?
What a terrible terrible suggestion. Terrible.

I mean yes, you literally want Naruto's situation, where all the rookies we came to watch grow and strive suddenly after a single timeskip have grown into being able to compete with the top dogs.

Fuck that shit.

And you want this. Seriously.

Fuck that shit.

Insider2000

@JERK:

FUCK no.
They need to get stronger to be New World capable pirates. And you're asking them to become as strong as the world's strongest men?
Do you not have any goddamn sense of power scales? Or careful world building? Smooth story flow?
What a terrible terrible suggestion. Terrible.

I mean yes, you literally want Naruto's situation, where all the rookies we came to watch grow and strive suddenly after a single timeskip have grown into being able to compete with the top dogs.

Fuck that shit.

And you want this. Seriously.

Fuck that shit.

But JERK's right though.

These are pirates. There is no reason for them to be the world's strongest.

EDIT: To emphasis what I mean, Luffy and crew do not need to solve EVERY issue with combat. The World Government can be brought down through other means if need be.

Snaku

@JERK:

Skipping things that make them stronger is good storytelling, because training is the most tedious shit imaginable.

Good storytelling means you immediately cut from an emotionally crippled weak Luffy to a Haki adept super Luffy ready to take on the New World six months later? I know you want to move on, and get to the good shit, but that's not how good stories work.

mr.french

@RomanceDawn:

One day Black Beard with out a doubt will be stronger then most anyone and everyone. But Mr French don't look at it like some typical story where the next major enemy is just leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.

Well, I'm not necessarily doing that, but I can't forget the following. Luffy and his crew could not face one Pacifista without being entirely exhausted. Not only that, but Luffy had to use his gear techniques that rip away at his life. Generally, for character development, he'd probably need to stop using his gears and focus on a new fighting method entirely. While it's been effective up until now, we know that he's reached a limit. I don't want to presume that I know absolutely what Luffy needs. I'm not even suggesting that Luffy be incomparably stronger than he is now after a time-skip. Nor do I think his enemies will be exponentially stronger as each arc passes. But it's far too clear that Luffy is not any good the way he is, and for him to change in whatever way requires time. A month or two in my opinion is not enough. But as Luffy changes, other characters need to as well, which are crucial to the story. What about the Supernovas? Coby and Helmeppo(sp?)? Smoker and Tashigi? The Admirals can be an exception to this rule, I guess.

@RomanceDawn:

And maybe Sanji will be able to stand up to an Admiral? Come on man…

Is it really unreasonable to predict this will happen in the future? I got the feeling from Rayleigh alone when he was fighting Kizaru, that if he had been younger, he would have been able to handle more than Kizaru on his hands. While he was the 2nd mate, we can guess that Zoro will be able to do the same, and if we suppose/know that Sanji is the 3rd most powerful character, is it really that unreasonable to predict him going against an Admiral in the future? We saw Marco and Diamond Jozu(sp?) go against the Admirals, and where they failed, I believe Zoro and Sanji will succeed. I don't know. Maybe I'm having high expectations…

@JERK:

FUCK no.
They need to get stronger to be New World capable pirates. And you're asking them to become as strong as the world's strongest men?

Sorry to have been less clear, but that's not what I stated or meant. Did I say for each of them to be as strong? I meant, by the end of the story, mostly for Luffy himself to go against someone as powerful as Whitebeard, meaning Blackbeard. And that's assuming that by the end of the series, Blackbeard has reached that caliber.

@JERK:

Do you not have any goddamn sense of power scales? Or careful world building? Smooth story flow?
What a terrible terrible suggestion. Terrible.

I mean yes, you literally want Naruto's situation, where all the rookies we came to watch grow and strive suddenly after a single timeskip have grown into being able to compete with the top dogs.

Well, I kind of do. I hate Naruto as much as the next person, and I do not want some cheap power-up to occur at all. I'm suggesting only that what the crew learns, help them throughout the next part of their voyage to somehow reach the top by the end of the series. The way they are now, it's not possible. I don't understand how you understood the opposite? I may have been misleading. Basically what I stated, or meant to say was that all of this growth would take time. More than a month or two. Perhaps 6 months to a year. But that's just the way I see it. Not that they would become incredibly powerful over the time-skip. And to be more clear, when I mean growth, I don't mean brute power. Growth in the sense that for Luffy for example learn a different fighting method, learning to apply it, get used to it, etc. So far, the SH's don't even seem to be progressing in any way.

SGRaaize

@Snaku:

Good storytelling means you immediately cut from an emotionally crippled weak Luffy to a Haki adept super Luffy ready to take on the New World six months later? I know you want to move on, and get to the good shit, but that's not how good stories work.

Oda kinda did that already, at least the emotionally cripped part
The whole "I have to remember my crew" is a way to do that.
But yes, he's still gonna have the weight of Ace's death on his head, probably forever until he kills Akainu

Deicide

@SGRaaize:

Oda kinda did that already, at least the emotionally cripped part
The whole "I have to remember my crew" is a way to do that.
But yes, he's still gonna have the weight of Ace's death on his head, probably forever until he kills Akainu

Luffy's still not his usual self. Just look at him in chapter 591: he even needed Jinbei to encourage him to eat.

Luffy's still depressed. It's just that he's not crying anymore.

JERK DISEASE

The timeskip would ideally be launched after a newly determined Luffy promises to see everyone again in (XX time) and be ready to protect them this time, or something like that.

RomanceDawn

Mr French, there is no maybe when it comes to Sanji one day being able to handle an Admiral. To think Sanji can not or will not do anything and everything Zoro does (except have a cool wanted poster) is just ignoring everything about both of them in the entire story.

andy

@JERK:

I mean yes, you literally want Naruto's situation, where all the rookies we came to watch grow and strive suddenly after a single timeskip have grown into being able to compete with the top dogs.

Fuck that shit.

And you want this. Seriously.

Fuck that shit.

Not to go off topic but in naruto that was not a big deal since allot of the big boys were that way from young.

Hokage at age of 17
jōnin at 13.
Not mention everyone was some sort of genius , had a genius teacher, come from sort of special clan and list goes on.

Luffy still going to be fairly young when he becomes PK.
The enemies that he has to face are going to force him to get stronger faster .
He was also born in the great pirate age and he also special .
Won't shock me if luffy becomes PK before 21.

If Oda going to do long time skip of lets say over a year he got find damn good reason to delay the SH when everyone going towards luffy now.

Retsudo

@Insider2000:

But JERK's right though.

These are pirates. There is no reason for them to be the world's strongest.

EDIT: To emphasis what I mean, Luffy and crew do not need to solve EVERY issue with combat. The World Government can be brought down through other means if need be.

Luffy is basically Roger 2.0 though, so it stands to reason he'll be on the level of Roger/WB in their heyday when he reaches his peak. The same to a lesser extent goes for Zoro (possibly Rayleigh 2.0) and maybe Sanji.

pwnobi

After the previous chapter or two, it seems like there will be more of a brief "Strawhat separation arc," rather than a time skip.

Insider2000

I don't know why, but I just want the process of the crew IN PROCESS toward getting to Shabondy to be the time skip. Sure, I want to know how they get out of their islands, but I don't care what happens in between.

Just imagine all mentioning of the crew just stops. We keep focus on Shabondy a specific amount of time later, trying to get back together after the Supernova clash.

Then, BAM! Everyone starts appearing and looking for each other. Zoro appears wearing the skin of those fucking monkeys, Nami's creating hurricanes with ropes, Ussop managed to lose all the weight by swimming to Shabondy and just starts kicking ass, Chopper is using his new bird friend to eat people, and Brooke manages to break free from the assholes who are trying to sell him at the auctions in Shabondy. I can't come up with one for Franky, Robin, or Sanji, but basically everyone busts into town rushing toward the Thousand Sunny, with just a vibe of "THEY'RE BACK!!!"

Granted, I exaggerated a bit. Though Nami creating a hurricane would be awesome.

However, I'm starting to grow a feeling that there won't be a timeskip, and Oda was either trolling or just changed his mind.

JERK DISEASE

@andy:

Not to go off topic but in naruto that was not a big deal since allot of the big boys were that way from young.

Hokage at age of 17
jōnin at 13.
Not mention everyone was some sort of genius , had a genius teacher, come from sort of special clan and list goes on.

So it was alright to skip this development completely? Destroying plausibility and thematics? Don't defend that shitheap.

Deicide

@pwnobi:

After the previous chapter or two, it seems like there will be more of a brief "Strawhat separation arc," rather than a time skip.

I don't think so. I doubt Oda will spend much time showing us Zoro fighting baboons or Nami tricking weather wizards. All the crew's struggles will certainly strengthen them, but they don't make up for a lot of interesting scenes, IMO.

pwnobi

@Deicide:

I don't think so. I doubt Oda will spend much time showing us Zoro fighting baboons or Nami tricking weather wizards. All the crew's struggles will certainly strengthen them, but they don't make up for a lot of interesting scenes, IMO.

I don't think Oda will spend "that much" time on it either, hence my use of the word "brief." I think each chapter will cover a few characters, and each character will be covered in a few chapters each, then things will progress towards them meeting. At most, maybe a week time-skip, which has been done before, I wouldn't even really call it a time-skip.

Renegadesoul

Hmmmm… based on the new chapter the time gap was only in 3 weeks. So no major time skip has occurred?

Tsukishima

@Renegadesoul:

Hmmmm… based on the new chapter the time gap was only in 3 weeks. So no major time skip has occurred?

For the moment, but Sanji being beaten that easily by Iva clearly show they need training if they don't want to be destroyed in the New World.
So a Timeskip is still possible.

Green Monkey

Does anyone else notice that this is a shounen? They are going to keep luffy as young as possible I wouldn't expect him to exceed 18 or 19 by the time he becomes PK even if it isn't good story telling.

StrawHatJedi

I don't know why people are so apprehensive about a time skip.

It's essentially NEEDED at this point.

Luffy is NOT fit to be pirate king at age 17.

Are we just skipping over context clues that reuniting now means their imminent death? Isn't that almost exactly what Rayleigh came to tell Luffy?

Why would they reunite now just for the sake of getting themselves killed? Didn't Kuma (Oda actually) send the Straw Hats to these locations for a specific purpose? For their development? To grow in ways we can't observe in a short amount of time.

We've seen the Straw Hats grow from the level of pirates like Buggy, Kuro, and Krieg, to the level of Lucci in a matter of months since the East Blue.

However, like all sports, there is a wall you hit where it takes a long time to cross over before you start to improve again. The Straw Hats have hit their wall. There is a big gap between the likes of Lucci and even a start up pirate in the New World.

For me, it's a heck of a lot worse story telling to have characters grow in strength from the level the SH's are now to the level of people like Whitebeard, Kizaru, etc. with no long jums in time.

Would it really have made Dragonball better if we had to watch Goku train? Just the same, would it have made any sense at all for him to grow from the mountain boy who could turn over cars to "ZOMG I CAN BLOW UP PLANETS!" with no time skips? No, I don't think so!

The issue is NOT Luffy recovering or his mental state, it's about being a good captain and not letting his friends get themselves killed. They're all trying to rush off their islands now, completely ignoring the potential for growth…why? Why would it be good story telling to have them just ditch these opportunites so they can get together and go die? Or rather...what do people expect...the SH's somehow picked up super new abilities within the month they spent on their island (Yeah for those who think a month is a time skip...it was 3 weeks since the war already, plus the week Luffy was on Amazon Lily, the Warship, ID, and then Marineford, plus the 3 days of flying through the air makes it already a month and it's still not considered a time skip), get back together and start just getting super powerful?

It would be bad story telling to jump ahead to the SH's pwning admirals or emperors...it's another thing to jump ahead to a time where they concievably enter the new world and not get instantly killed coughread the obvious foreshadowing of this like Kizaru and Kuma easily scattering them, the fate of Moria's crew, Rayleigh's warning, etc. cough.

This doesn't mean their growth will be halted....just reasonably spaced out

Growth from Buggy level to Lucci level
Time Skip
Growth from Rookie New World Pirate level to Emperor level

That's how it goes. They continue to progress...but they've got to clear this hurdle first. Improvement is not a seemless transition. They've obviously hit a wall after defeating CP9...it's unreasonable to expect we can just watch then grow at the same age from beginner pirate level from the East Blue to the level where Luffy could rival Shanks...it just doesn't make sense.

Also, we are NOT in the middle of a world event. The story is at the START of a major change in the balance of power in the world. This kind of thing is only significant if you actually SEE the change...which takes time.

Time skip = good story telling
Everything else = apprehensive about time skips...not good story telling

People think because the time skip was poorly handled in Naruto this somehow means it'll be bad in One Piece. Obviously, this ignores the seamless transition in time skips in Dragon Ball...making them feel like they were nothing.

An even better example would be the use of time skips in 20th Century Boys, an AMAZING manga that everyone should read. That story was not only made better by the use of time skips...the entire story was impossible without them.

pwnobi

One Piece characters can break the wall. Cool character interactions and power-ups related to their dreams, crafts, and abilities are better than Herpa Derp time skip ftw.

StrawHatJedi

One Piece being shonen doesn't matter at all about Luffy's age.

Dragon Ball: Son Goku was in his 40's during the Buu arc and in his 50's at the very end

Rurouni Kenshin: Himura Kenshin was 28 for the entire story and was in his early 30's in the last chapter

Gin Tama: Sakata Gintoki's gotta be in his 30's

KochiKame: Don't read it, but no way is the main character young

Hokuto no Ken: Kenshiro was probably in his 30's…only read a little of this manga

Black Cat: Train was in his 20's...Sven was in his 30's

Toriko: Pretty sure Toriko's older...like 20's / 30's

Death Note: Light Yagami was in his mid 20's by the end

Bakuman: Mashiro and Takagi are already 19...given that the series is ongoing, they will continue to age.

These are not obscure shonen manga...in fact, some of them are among the highest selling and most popular series that have run in Weekly Shonen Jump. Son Goku alone is enough to shatter the idea that Shonen protagonists need to be young kids.

Just because One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Reborn!, and the other really popular titles right now have young protagonists does NOT mean this is true of all shonen manga.

StrawHatJedi

Er, not really. "Herp Derp power up because I have dreams" is more like it…unless you don't read Bleach.

JERK DISEASE

@Green:

Does anyone else notice that this is a shounen? They are going to keep luffy as young as possible I wouldn't expect him to exceed 18 or 19 by the time he becomes PK even if it isn't good story telling.

Luffy's always been older then most shonen characters.
And we have a 28 and 35 year old main cast member. Were you even thinking? Did you forget Robin and Franky? And Brooke?

And what the fuck do you mean "Does anyone else notice that this is a shounen?", yeah sherlock, ever heard of the quintessential shonen? Dragonball?
Where the main character becomes a man and a father before the end of the series? Like less then halfway through?

pwnobi

I thought Franky was 34? Unless you're referring to someone else.

JERK DISEASE

Go make another thread about rape you annoying OCD spaz.

pwnobi

I knew that one was coming eventually lol. I was actually asking genuinely. Nice talking to you again too.

Maki707

@Vongola Boss X1: You mentioned yourself that during the story we have already seen the Sh's progress from the level of fighting the east blue villains to the level of fighting the likes of CP9 simply by the SH's going on adventures and gradually becoming stronger by thier experiences and fighting slightly better opponents each arc. There is'nt much of a reason this can't happen again they enter the red line and gradually keep becoming stronger through tough experiences.
Your reasoning is based on that they can't suddenly be expected to compete with the yonkous and the admirals and the other top notch villains of the world in a short space of time. Which of course is correct. Thing is they don't have to right away, the types of these top villains are not going to show up the moment the SH's reach the red line. They will face numerous lesser opponents before this. The type of opponents you are referring to is for near the end of the story. If there was a time skip and the 'monster trio' for example became strong enough to compete with admirals where would that leave the story in terms of battling opponents such as the supernovas and level 6 ID villains for example. They would be too overpowered for tough fights to be credible.
My guess is that each SH will improve slighly but more importantly gain the means to become stronger in the future. For example Franky can gradually use the blueprints to improve himself on a bit by bit basis rather than all at once and Nami can use her increased knowledge of weather to improve her techniques bit by bit during the story. Again rather than an all at once with a hyperbolic time chamber.

JERK DISEASE

@Maki707:

@Vongola Boss X1: You mentioned yourself that during the story we have already seen the Sh's progress from the level of fighting the east blue villains to the level of fighting the likes of CP9 simply by the SH's going on adventures and gradually becoming stronger by thier experiences and fighting slightly better opponents each arc. There is'nt much of a reason this can't happen again they enter the red line and gradually keep becoming stronger through tough experiences.

That's the problem, the world isn't set up as some natural progression of ease.
They've reached a point where shit's too dangerous to just march forward.
Rayleigh himself has presented this problem for Luffy.

Your reasoning is based on that they can't suddenly be expected to compete with the yonkous and the admirals and the other top notch villains of the world in a short space of time. Which of course is correct. Thing is they don't have to right away, the types of these top villains are not going to show up the moment the SH's reach the red line. They will face numerous lesser opponents before this. The type of opponents you are referring to is for near the end of the story. If there was a time skip and the 'monster trio' for example became strong enough to compete with admirals where would that leave the story in terms of battling opponents such as the supernovas and level 6 ID villains for example. They would be too overpowered for tough fights to be credible.

Wrong. I haven't cited the Admirals and Yokou, I've cited the single Pacifista it took the entire crew to defeat using all their strongest attacks, and left them exhausted.

What I'm actually argueing is that yes, your'e right, basic adventure progression is how they shoudl eventually get to the level of fighting Yonkou and Admirals.

But we need a jump BETWEEN where we are now, and that next gradual slope.

Mugiwara_no_Ice

Luffy/Zorro/Sanji trained for xx years before they went on their adventures; they were strong enough to be able to handle the strong opponents they crossed.

Now they need to be strong enough to atleast be able to GET AWAY from an admiral; After what we saw in Saobondy, a HUGE powerup is needed for that.

JERK DISEASE

Kizaru really has little to do with it.
Two Pacifistas = dead crew.

Even if they run away it would pick off one or two, which is no option at all.