One Piece: Episodes 689, 690 and 691 are now available! (Patreon)

Depending on how the Dressrosa arc continues in the new few episodes, I might just take a break from One Piece. For some reason, I just can’t get into it. After how much I enjoyed pre-timeskip One Piece, I was sure I was going to be just as satisfied (if not more) with the post-timeskip arcs, but they’ve been so underwhelming for me. Aside from Luffy, it feels like no one has truly progressed or grown in a notable way. If it weren’t for the new character designs that came with those “2 years of training,” I wouldn’t think any time had passed at all, and it doesn’t feel like any of them have grown except Luffy.

Maybe the goal of the past 170+ post-timeskip episodes has been to show how strong only Luffy has gotten in ridiculously small doses, but it just feels so wasteful when we know the intention of the timeskip for the Straw Hats as a whole. The arc isn’t over yet, so maybe other Straw Hats still have the opportunity to shine, but right now, my expectations are so low that I only expect to see anything from Luffy and Zoro (if he doesn’t manage to do something dumb like get lost for the rest of the arc after fighting Pica). I'll stop there before I go full rant mode.