Oda explains why is One Piece lasting so long

[ahill1]

In a interview to the Log magazine, Oda said the Shichibukais are the ones to blame for One Piece being so long. He said he didn't intend to introducce those Warlords at first and have Luffy already facing the Yonkous, without long sagas like Alabasta and Dressrosa. He said then that OP was planned to last for about 5 years.

What do you think of this? Can you imagine OP without the Shichibukais and, consequently, without charismatics characters like Doflamingo and Crocodile? Would also there be a timeskip? 5 years seems like a rather short time even if we take the Shichibukais out of the story.

Source:
https://mobile.twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/900782874021974016

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

I don't have a problem with series lasting for so long as long the quality is good then that's enough.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Without the Shichibukai (ie. removing the Alabasta Arc), the only good arc/saga after East Blue would be the Whitebeard War, so I'm glad they were left in. It would at make power scaling more consistent (eg. Arlong being treat as a big deal by Grand Line standards in his arc, Luffy beating Crocodile, etc.), though that's nowhere near as important as story writing.

5 years seems like a rather short time even if we take the Shichibukais out of the story.

From what I've seen of the original drafts of the series, Oda originally intended for Luffy to already be the equivalent of a Yonko at the start of the series in his first or second draft, so it wouldn't be that surprising. It's most likely he also didn't intend for the world building to be so vast either, given most of the key aspects of such are linked to the Shichibukai (eg. Alabasta). 5 years doesn't sound too short to tell a story if Oda initially meant to keep things simple, considering other notable manga have been completed in such short time (eg. Hokuto no Ken).