@Daz:
I agree that a lot of stuff is being set up for Zou, but at 6 chapters into the arc, what I'm missing most is the indication of some kind of active conflict, or objective on the crews behalf. 5 chapters after arriving at Water 7 CP9 have whisked Robin away, Merry has a death sentence, and the franky family is doing shenanigans. In Skypea the crazy-aggro "terrorist" Wiper has been set up as well as "Gods punishment", and the crew has been labeled criminals. In Drum, Luffy is already on his way up the mountains and Wapol is re-invading etc. At Zou, the crew have already accomplished their objective of reuniting with their comrades, and Jack is not present. After spending the first chapter after arriving at Zou on more World Updates the arc is currently spending its time explaining the last two weeks of events on Zou, as well as some more events from Dressrosa (is this a record for fastest seguing into flashbacks in an arc?) - the current thrust of the narrative is to get everyone fully updated. Beyond that horizon, Zou is a completely blank slate, and that makes it hard for me to get invested; The main hook for readers is just getting more info - more "whats the minkpeoples beef with Wano and why did Jack want Raizou", less "we're gonna go to X and do Y" or "We're gonna look around and gradually let the islands mysteries unfold". Regarding the last part, I'll also personally argue that the Info is not given entirely organically, because a lot of it is being told to us in hefty chunks of dialogue…but I can see how showcasing Mink Culture is harder due to the circumstances. There are of course exceptions, like Carrot attacking Zoro, the eruption rain or Luffy wandering into whale forest, but I'll get back to that in a bit.
Currently I'm just waiting for a Zou plot to hook me, and in the meantime, theres not really any new character to instantly draw me in yet. The closest we have is Wanda, who has been saddled with the thankless job of looking serious, worried, being teary eyed, and being an exposition vector. Yes, she has a few cute dog-quirks, but her personality nor introduction isn't really setting my world on fire. To bring up an old old point, I just think more extended scenes with narrower focus could've gone a long way; By far my favourite Zou moment 'till now has been Ryunosuke, because quite a few pages were spent on his ascent and sacrifice. In comparison, the showcasing of the Guardians was quite minimal, with them only getting a few actual panels and fewer lines. The floating object and bananas were funny, but after that they almost literally vanish in a kinda clunkily presented transition.
Like I said, its not that things are bad or theres' no potential, quite the contrary; its kind of hard to articulate exactly what it is, but all i can say is that Odas current presentation and ordering ofevents isn't that gripping for me.
Honestly this arc interests me because it's different. It's not the standard go somewhere, find/seek conflict, defeat enemy. This New World has seemed very formulaic, with a lot of similarities to Paradise with each new island.
Already going to an island where they're treated as saviors, given a feast?. Even the other strawhats point it out.
Things seem to be laid out, Jack will return, and their will still be a battle. In the mean time We get some more world building and a pretext towards a final showdown woth Kaidou.