So I've been slowly working my way through One Piece for the first time, and sharing my thoughts as time goes on. This write-up will include spoilers up to this arc, and honestly shouldn't be looked at as a review. Just my musings as I progress through the show.
My first thought on Punk Hazzard is it's a nice step up from Fishman Island. I did enjoy Fishman, but it felt needlessly long for what it was trying to do, and I felt very little tension in what was going on. Punk Hazzard is the first time since the Time Skip where the stakes felt real. Honestly, both these Arcs represent the struggle of One Piece in general, striking a balance between the comical aspects of the show and the serious nature of it. Fishman Island felt like it dragged on because it was so goofy and failed to transition into a story to take seriously, despite how hard it tried to with that final fight between Luffy and the villain whose name I forget. Contrast that with Punk Hazzard, which is only a few episodes shorter, and it flies by.
This isn't to say it gets away entirely from One Piece's ability to feel like it's wasting time. It is far from the worst offender of this, the inclusion of The Cool Brothers felt entirely pointless. That is something that could have been cut entirely from this arc and absolutely nothing about what happens needs changed. I am certainly not saying the show needs to go the route of the One Pace fan work that cuts a lot of content, I'm not a fan of how much that one trims out, but there are moments like this where One Piece does still have a bit of bloat.
I love finally getting more of a look at Trafalgar Law, a character I know was popular and haven't had a chance to find out why (I have been able to avoid almost every single One Piece Spoiler so far), and I enjoy him. It's also nice to get an explanation for how that power of his works, something I've been wondering since his first appearance back at Sabaody.
What the arc succeeded at is finally starting to pay off the results of The War of the Best. You knew it was an event that was going to make a huge difference in the world, but I liked seeing that it wasn't immediate. Just now, two years after the fact, Law finally steps forward to shake up The New World, and you also see the alliance of various Pirates that were introduced previously as the most dangerous rookies. We are starting to see things get serious here.
Punk Hazzard succeeded as the real setup for what we should expect moving forward. The world is scary and highly unpredictable, and there are multiple forces at work for The Straw Hats to have to deal with. I give Punk Hazzard a thumbs up, and I'm excited about what Dressrosa has to offer.