The God Valley Incident has become one of the most captivating storylines in One Piece history, and many fans aren’t ready for it to end. Eiichiro Oda’s exploration of this long-mysterious event has brought together legendary figures like Rocks D. Xebec, Gol D. Roger, Monkey D. Garp, and even the enigmatic Imu — creating a flashback that feels more like a grand historical epic than a side story. The arc dives deep into the power struggles that shaped the modern world of One Piece, revealing long-hidden secrets about the Celestial Dragons and the early days of piracy. For many, it’s a rare glimpse into the “true history” of the world, something fans have been waiting for since the manga’s earliest chapters.
Fans Don’t Want to Return to the Straw Hats Yet
Surprisingly, many readers say they don’t want to go back to the Straw Hat Pirates just yet. Social media platforms are full of fans expressing that this arc feels like the most thrilling part of One Piece in years — with its dark tone, intense storytelling, and lore-heavy revelations. While Luffy and his crew are the heart of the series, the God Valley storyline offers something entirely different: a look at the legends and events that shaped everything we know. One fan summed it up best on X (formerly Twitter): “If we return to the Straw Hats now, it’ll feel like waking up from a dream.” The sentiment highlights a unique moment in the fandom, where the past has become more captivating than the present adventure.
A Testament to Oda’s Storytelling and Legacy
The enthusiasm surrounding the God Valley flashback underscores Eiichiro Oda’s enduring genius as a storyteller. After more than two decades, he continues to surprise fans by revealing layers of history that connect generations of pirates, marines, and rulers. The arc’s pacing, emotion, and scope have reminded readers of One Piece’s golden era — a blend of mystery, world-building, and drama that few series can match. Even as some fans fear that returning to the Straw Hats will slow the story’s momentum, others believe this balance between past and present is what makes One Piece timeless. Whether the flashback ends soon or continues, the God Valley saga has already cemented itself as one of the most powerful and defining chapters in the series’ history.
Growing Criticism of How Fights Are Drawn
However, alongside all this praise, a very different conversation has started to gain traction online: many fans have begun openly critiquing Oda’s recent style of drawing fights, with some even calling it “boring.” These readers argue that while the lore and emotional storytelling are stronger than ever, the visual presentation of battles has lost the clarity and impact that once defined the series. Complaints often focus on cluttered panels, off-screen conclusions, and fast-paced cuts that make it difficult to fully enjoy the choreography of major clashes.
Fans Say the Action Feels Rushed and Hard to Follow
Across forums, Reddit threads, and X, fans have been sharing side-by-side comparisons between older fights — like Luffy vs. Lucci or Zoro vs. Mr. 1 — and more recent final-saga battles. Many point out that earlier fights gave techniques more “space to breathe,” with clean panels that showcased every punch, slash, and reaction. In contrast, newer chapters sometimes jump rapidly between perspectives, mix in huge lore reveals, and rely heavily on speed lines or blacked-out panels, leaving some readers feeling like they’re “told” a fight was hype rather than fully shown it. A recurring sentiment is that One Piece fights used to feel like carefully crafted duels, whereas now they can resemble chaotic highlight reels.
Others Defend Oda’s Style and Priorities
Of course, not everyone agrees with this criticism. A sizable portion of the fandom continues to defend Oda’s approach, arguing that One Piece has never been about ultra-clean, hyper-detailed choreography in the way some modern battle series are. For these fans, the real strength of a One Piece fight lies in the emotional stakes, the character moments, and the shocking twists that unfold mid-battle. They point out that juggling a massive cast, endgame lore, and escalating powers is an enormous challenge, and that Oda’s current style reflects a deliberate choice to prioritize story over spectacle. To them, calling the fights “boring” ignores the buildup, symbolism, and payoff behind each clash.
A Fandom Split Between Lore and Action
What makes this debate so intense is that it’s happening at the same time One Piece is delivering some of its most important answers in decades. On one hand, fans are getting everything they begged for — Imu, God Valley, Rocks, the secrets of the World Government. On the other hand, some feel that the trade-off has been a decline in how visually satisfying the battles themselves are. The result is a split fandom: readers who are thrilled by every new revelation and care less about fight paneling, and readers who miss the tightly constructed, easy-to-follow battles that made earlier arcs so iconic.
Can the Final Saga Satisfy Both Sides?
As One Piece marches toward its conclusion, the question is whether Oda can strike a balance that satisfies both camps. Some fans hope that upcoming major battles — involving Imu, Blackbeard, Shanks, and the Straw Hats — will bring back the kind of memorable, clearly drawn one-on-one showdowns that defined the series’ past climaxes. Others believe the series has already evolved into something different: less about traditional shonen fights and more about delivering the grand, messy, history-spanning finale Oda has been building toward since chapter one.
Whether the criticism fades or grows louder, one thing is clear: few series are dissected as passionately as One Piece. The fact that fans can praise God Valley as peak storytelling while simultaneously calling the fights “underwhelming” says less about a failing and more about how impossibly high the expectations have become for Oda’s final act.
