So I think this one's actually gonna be it for me. I'm either taking a long hiatus or just leaving, not sure. But yeah, chalk this up as another one lost to the cynicism of this forum just like access timeco. Didn't post much here (due to the cynicism) anyway so not some big loss.

The disconnect between the rest of the fandom and the forum here on this chapter is profound. I'm referring to the spoilers thread. Just like access timeco didn't want his/her chapters 1000+ soured by these posts, we're late enough into the series where I don't want Luffy's possible battle with Shanks tainted by posts here going "Yeah… I want to enjoy Luffy vs Shanks but, the guy with the monkey on his shoulder was defeated too quickly... Sigh..." That just reeks of focusing on the minor over the major, to purposely try as hard as possible to not enjoy something. Another example. Say you get a new car. The seats on this car are not the design you want. It's like moping around about the seats of that car instead of the fact that you just got a new car. It's completely lopsided.

The amount of posts I had to scroll through in the spoiler thread to find someone even mentioning Luffy splitting the fucking sky is just insane. Instead where is all the focus for this forum? Jack and Perospero, because that's what can be complained about. It's just like access timeco said, this forum goes purposely scavenging for things to dislike, and either outright ignores big moments or finds a way to dislike them. It's time for some of you to just admit that you've moved on from the series. You don't want it to succeed. You've picked up other manga/anime along the way, and are rooting for them, but made sure to do it at the expense of One Piece.

In a post-Covid world, I don't really have the luxury of focusing on bitterness on a widely beloved series. My mental energy needs to be focused on survival and what's still good left in the world. I have the feeling some of you tapped out at Fishman Island and just never recovered. It's a common behavior with people, focusing on first impressions, and that was your first impression of the timeskip. Times have changed. We're not dealing with that version of One Piece anymore. Major resolutions to series-wide things are happening. If you choose to just be negative all the time while this stuff is happening, that's just not a group I want to hang around when Luffy's discovering One Piece. I have a feeling even if everything with discovering One Piece is done ideally, if someone predicted how it's done, someone would find a way to complain that it was too predictable.

So I think it's important to remember that the title is subjective, not objective. There's no need to "lay down the law" on this and treat it as indisputable truth.

Anyway. I find his treatment of Nami and Usopp obviously the worst. Things were going well for a while with them but their battle(s) were resolved in a very iffy manner.
Everyone else though, some have had their best battles ever (Robin, Jinbe), have done crucial things at some point in the arc, usually multiple times (Chopper saving Luffy's life, the Frost Oni antidote), or just got an entertaining battle that was suitably challenging.
Brook did some endgame important stuff in WCI so that's probably why he's taken a backseat.

There was a lot of side character focus in this arc for a long time. But that's toned down ever since the Scabbards were defeated by Kaido, and the Straw Hats have taken a much more central role since then. I find their portrayal and actions in this arc the best since Enies Lobby.
Everything in this post is of course my subjective opinion.

Decent chapter again. Nothing really stood out to me besides the final few pages. I feel like this chapter was restricted by the pacing, Oda wanted to end it on the "arrival" spread, but there could've been more meat to this chapter if that spread was allowed to be earlier in the chapter.

There's no reason to be secretive about Snakeman at this point, I would've liked a better view.

This should be the end of the chapters I just find decent (1024 and 1025), every piece is where it needs to be to go full thrust now.
I'll like this chapter more when I can just immediately get to the action of the next one.

Loooved this episode. Saying the One Piece anime has bad pacing is like saying "Water is wet", and not only that, saying "Water is wet" for 15 years. It's pretty obvious. Saying water is wet won't suddenly change it into a solid.

I'm really liking the relatively new style of movement where they're making tiny adjustments the whole time, reduces still shots a lot and looks more fluid. Also the lighter linewotk was nice.
9/10 episode for me, always loved the Luffy vs Ulti skirmish.

Decent chapter for me. I'm one of those who still very much needs to be sold on Yamato, so this helps. Like Yamato's neat and all, but the last chapter pretty much confirmed gods exist in One Piece so… yeah lol. I'm much more excited about that.
Besides the Void Century, Kaido's my most anticipated flashback because his character just keeps getting better and more depth by the chapter. So Yamato getting a flashback surely gets us closer to his.
"There are no easy answers in this world." Love it, it's a line I've thought many times before Kaido said it.
Last spread was as usual incredible.

@joekido:

Well at this point, I don't care anymore. In fact I'm more to see this series end then to continue until Oda is 90 or something. The man is sick and aging, the series has grown tired and Oda cannot continue this any longer. If One Piece ends 10 years or more then fine. But just remember Oda has said similar things in the past and the pacing continues to be dragged out. If One Piece is at the final phase, great. Time to end the series and have it expend into othe forms of media once it is done.

Vehemently disagree, the series has felt fresher than it has in a long time to me. It felt tired when it was in Fishman Island through Dressrosa. From Zou onward it's felt like it got a breath of new life, especially in Wano. Two subversive arcs followed by a traditional mega version of the Alabasta-style arc. But yes, the man deserves his rest, the fans deserve a conclusion.

@TLC:

I think we also need to pay a visit to God Valley and Mariejois at some point. Also is Enel ever coming back from the moon?

Oh absolutely. He has to. And not just for "cover story characters come back most of the time", he's really important. (Rather his DF is).
Toei made a huge blunder when they didn't adapt that cover story. Huge implications for One Piece all the way back in 2008, and when the anime-only people see it they might think it's out of nowhere.

Okay, certainly couldn't miss commenting on this chapter even though I'm late. This is one of the best chapters of One Piece pre- or post-timeskip. The only ones that beat it are the real heavy hitters, Declaration of War, Ace's death, etc. But this has just about everything that makes One Piece what it is (nearly, we're not in the adventure portion of the arc). Intriguing lore – including both lore of a new race and the direction things have to head, towards gods -- great tagteams, mid-battle complications (from Sanji's raid suit, though some seem to think this'll work in his benefit), inventive fighting, great action, when things are so serious that both people are willing to fight dirty to come out ahead, multiple fights heading towards their climax... My lord. And then the spread at the end absolutely stealing the show. In terms of sheer variety of good content, I'm going to have to give this one a 10/10. I see no discernible flaws.

Davy Back is a controversial arc in general, I'm one of those who leans more towards liking it, but what it DID have that was for sure good was the Zoro/Sanji set their differences aside tag-team. This is that, but in a much more serious context against one of the most powerful pirate crews ever. Oda knocked it out of the park with King and Queen, before Wano I would've imagined that Kaido's top commanders would probably be just powerful beast dudes, powerful lion DF user, etc. But he added a lot more traits to them to spice it up.

This SHOULD be the finale of Wano now, or final climax. But I have a feeling it'll be much longer than most think.

Something I've seen on this forum specifically is disappointment with the Tobi Roppo from some people, and I've gotta say I can't relate.

I had Officer level expectations for them and they gave me that. They pushed our Straw Hats finally, sometimes to the extreme in Nami and Usopp's case, and got devoted 1 chapter fights and most got spread out dialogue and fights before that.
Any disappointment I had with them is greatly outweighed by them pushing the Straw Hats and letting them finally show off what they can truly do and shine.

A notable exception is Page-one, he definitely got shafted.
Ulti however was an absolute tank, getting up after many powerful attacks and a Yonkou internal damage move.
Who's Who also didn't get enough panel time before his fight.

Other than that though I am on the whole satisfied with them. Oda can only focus on Officer level characters for so long.

I really wanna have more to say than just "Great chapter" but good action chapters mostly just speak for themselves.
I wanna talk about King's fire race but there's just not much to be able to confirm there. I highly doubt they're just a "fluff" race though, they were introduced really late in the series. Pudding's three-eyed race ended up being really important (and we still haven't seen a "proper" three-eyes), so King's should be too.
I'm sure someone mentioned it but it does seem to go against the Red Line being artificially made.

Anyway. Raizo vs Fukurokuju was like, decent. I'm glad the Straw Hats took the center stage 'cause yeah most Scabbard fights have just been decent.
Besides them vs Kaido, that was awesome.
Every spread in this chapter felt very weighty and really highlighted Oda's creativity, can't wait for the penultimate fights!

It's also GREAT timing that we get no upcoming breaks for a few chapters. Really keeps the momentum going on a high.