i was thinking about it a long time,wouldn't be great if the crew split for a while?
for example let's say when the crew reaches elbaf luffy,zoro and sanji stay to train with the giants (imagine sanji or luffy or zoro fighting many giants in the same time) and robin stays to do a research about the island
the rest could go back to sky island (from the other way ganfoll mentioned) to take the huge pillar of gold.also franky could upgrade the ship and himself with dials and usopp could take more weapons too.imagine him having all the "hand size" dials,burn bazooka,light pistols,jet dials and reject and maybe what's left from ohm's sword. chopper could take lots of medical books to read and nami just babysitting and navigating
then we have a time gap,franky is done with the ship and himself,usopp has made lots of new gadgets along with mastering his new weapons,sanji,zoro and luffy have gone a lot stronger,chopper and robin gained more knowledge and chopper maybe made different rumble balls and then they reunite in elbaf and go to the next island
(maybe a small story could take place in that time also,for example luffy could find the musician and we could watch his flashback and two or three small battles (like chopper))
their appearance could change too,sanji could be more like a rockstar or good old mr prince or like in the forth movie,zoro could have a bit more long hair and a tattoo,nami could have longer hair too,usopp could be like usopp in the sixth movie or like teen wiper (with a bandana) or like yassopp (cooler hair with usopp written in his forehead) and franky should definatelly change his sunglasses,as for the others different clothes or they could remain the same
and for once we could be suprised in their fights,imagne them showing new techniques and then explaining them (like most manga do)
but wouldn't it be great to have a time gap for once? well not on a regular base like dragon ball did but just for once,refreshed characters that carry suprises and then the things could go on like good old one piece style