After rewatching some old arcs of One Piece, I think I can confidently say I have Pre-Timeskip >> Post-Timeskip overall. The villains are better, with a few exceptions (Doflamingo my beloved), the characters are far more lively and less one-note, the storylines were fresh, I think the creativity I fights was better without Haki being there (I like it, but it’s undeniably made fights a little less interesting), the comedy is leaps and bounds superior, etc. I don’t know, it kinda feels like Oda started developing characters less and treating it more as “Luffy’s story” instead of the Strawhats story; maybe that’s the wrong way to put it, but it just….vibes better.
Just my thoughts.
Brooks. That’s all I’ll say.