Been trolling some other things a lot longer than that. 'Troll' is an easy word that's thrown around carelessly these days. Is he purposely misdirecting fans in some respects, yeah. But I think a large part of his audience here doesn't actually mind being wrong. Instead, they're happy to learn that they were incorrect for a number of reasons.
Fanbases today are so strange. If an author misleads it's 'trolling'. If they do something somebody called it's 'predictable'.
I get that it's not black and white and that there's a sweet spot the best authors need to hit, but today readers are too caught up in the so-called 'hype' that they create themselves and wind up disappointed if they're wrong/right. What if we just enjoyed a story (if we consider it enjoyable) and forget about whether our predictions are right or wrong? There would probably be a good deal more positive critique if readers got beyond their own notions.
Not directing that at anyone here, just something that's been percolating.
Also, largely agree with Count Mario. While I've never had a problem with Sanji's chivalry, the FI nonsense was a gross abuse of the character to reach a difficult progression of the plot. If it was a gag it would have been fine, but that turning into the origin of the arc's pivotal theme will remain one of the grossest misuses of main characters in the entire series.
The part about being too absorbed by your own hype and just enjoying the story is quite literally me. I don't know how you guys do it, but for me, trying to predict Oda's unpredictability is like attempting to cross a desert without water. People do get a kick out of guessing what'll happen next in the series and I'm aware of that, but honestly, I'm just enjoying the ride.
As for Sanji's near nosebleed death, I fully understand why people hate how he was manipulated for story reasons, but it didn't really get under my skin. Probably because I'm very lukewarm about a lot of things that other people love or hate in One Piece.