Which Straw Hat was ruined most by the timeskip?

[Captain Cadaver]

There's no denying that after the timeskip, most of the main cast have become pretty bland, underutilised or disappointing compared to their past selves. That said, which would you say has been the most egregious?

I'd say Luffy without a doubt takes the cake. Having been completely defeated on Sabaody, unable to defend his friends and watching his brother die should have been the turning point that lead to his character development occurring and having him take the threat of the New World far more seriously. Instead, we had him continuing to make the same dumb decisions on leadership and having his stupidity amplified far above what he'd shown prior (eg. immediately trusting Caribou had changed for no valid reason). It's clear what potential his defeat by Kaidou and capture by his crew could have had was immediately squandered too.

Sanji comes as a definite second with how his perverted or lovestruck aspects have been overused to the point of annoyance, as well as how much of a jobber he was in Punk Hazard and Dressrosa. Whole Cake Island didn't help either, with the arc that should have been his time to shine lead to him being treat as a prisoner for the most part and his backstory using cheap victimisation for sympathy points.

 

[ahill1]

I'd say Luffy without a doubt takes the cake. Having been completely defeated on Sabaody, unable to defend his friends and watching his brother die should have been the turning point that lead to his character development occurring and having him take the threat of the New World far more seriously.

Well, to be fair, those losses didn't occur due to Luffy's silly nature... Luffy simply didn't have the strength to protect them, which is what he should work on. He was as serious as ever when his friends' life were at stake. While I'd like to see a more mature and less flamboyant Luffy, I think this would stand more if Luffy's silly demeanor affected his defeat at Sabaody and Marineford.


I would pick Sanji for the same reasons you listed. His backstory wasn't the least touching to me, with memories of Robin's one completely coming to my head once I first saw Sanji's.

 

[SSJ2]

Honestly all of them. I guess Zoro has done he least to regress his character at this point, but give it time. Nami is now purely a slut, and Robin is a milf. Luffy definitely didn’t advance as a character, but there wasn’t much to work with to begin. He has taken steps back but it feels less offensive to me than Sanji and Nami’s massacre of character.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Well, to be fair, those losses didn't occur due to Luffy's silly nature... Luffy simply didn't have the strength to protect them, which is what he should work on. He was as serious as ever when his friends' life were at stake. While I'd like to see a more mature and less flamboyant Luffy, I think this would stand more if Luffy's silly demeanor affected his defeat at Sabaody and Marineford.

The whole incident happened because Luffy was reckless enough to punch a Tenryubito instead of remaining composed as a leader should have.

 

[sei'taer]

Why are you guys still reading one piece again?

 

[Papasmurf]

I dropped it at Fagrosa :elmo

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Why are you guys still reading one piece again?

Let me ask you this - If you invested enough time in a series to read several hundred chapters whilst having been invested in it for a long time, would you really make it apparent all that time was wasted by dropping it just because of a large drop in quality?

Just because a series has diminished from what it used to be doesn't mean that those who disdain the later material aren't interested in seeing how it unfolds or ends, be it in a good or bad manner. Same reason people kept watching Game of Thrones up until the end, despite how terrible it became in Season 5 and onward. Even those that find heavy fault in a franchise can find entertainment in viewing such things in the same manner many will go out of their way to watch bad movies or, in other cases, take it into consideration as an example of how to take a good premise and how not to execute it, something especially important for any with aspirations for writing in any medium of fiction.