Ahhhh One Piece, the most loved and or hated series for being loved.

When I was little, I actually didn't like it compared to various other Shounen manga running at the time. The characters just seemed way too silly and uncool.

Wasn't until I was bored and picked up the 10 volumes of the manga from a local library that I noticed I was turning the pages like crazy. I ended up spending the whole night catching up and before you know it I got hooked.

But why?

The main characters power is literally stretching. It's goofy, it's silly, it's like... how the hell are you going to win m8? Compared to everyone elses advantages, yet it works and flows.

Enjoyment 10/10:
It's just something about the flow of One Piece.
Small spoiler: First chapter, The main character gets sucked into a typhoon, goes into a barrel and wakes up later. You'll see many more of these instances of this later on.
This opens excitement in a sense. Where will the characters land? What's going to happen? What kind of wacky place are we going to end up next?

Overall 10/10:
TL;DR : One Piece is a very silly comedic action and adventurous series that emphasizes on world building and mystery.
It's a very almost near perfect balance of wacky comedic+action that somehow still stays serious. It has a extremely CRAZY world(don't want to list out the things),
literally. It's like if a cooking series were to turn into a full blown mecha and then a steampunk.
Yet it still oddly, it fits right in. I even question it, about how a series can jam so much and still work.
Fight scenes feel more entertaining and unique because most often it's silly how the characters fight.
Most series emphasize on how serious a fight needs to be, how its violence and it shouldn't be fun but One Piece brings out the FUN in violence, similar to the fun and chaos in GTA(Grand Theft Auto).
One of the big tropes of One Piece is that it has quite the "dark/tragic" moments to balance the wackiness and show everyone that there is something going on. This makes it appeal less "edgy" and more balanced, giving you the best of both worlds.

Story 10/10:
The plot is to find the One Piece, a treasure in the Grand Line. Just establishing this alone already raises mystery.
Does it even exist? Where the hell is it? Why hasn't anyone found it?
This sets up a large expansive world alone and braces you for a long wacky adventure.
You'll see the most weirdest creatures, weirdest things yet it still magically fits.

This is all centered around Monkey D. Luffy, an ambitious boy set to find it. What's interesting about this protagonist is that he just defies logic of your expectations.
For example, normally if someone asks you out on a date and you reject, you'd expect that it would be the end of it, but Luffy would defy your logic because screw you, that's why. He'd make you want to eventually want to date him, which is quite funny when you think about it. He just does what he wants and hopes to move forward which adds to the wackiness of the series.

Of course he has the goal of wanting to be the "Pirate king" and finding the treasure "One Piece" but, what the hell is the "Pirate king"? Are all pirates going to listen to him or something? This adds sort of a mysterious deeper vibe into the series because no one knows what the One Piece is , nor what the Pirate king does.

Art 10/10:
During the bloom of the Shounen, a lot of manga followed the whole "big eyes" style(Naruto, Bleach, etc). In fact, it was mentioned that the editors/Jump were worried about Oda drifting towards this style.
One Piece has been heavily criticized for looking terrible but I see it as unique, not following set standards. Its tolerable, some backgrounds even look gorgeous. I really don't know how to rate/critique the annoying and complex topic known as "Art", so I give it a 10 for ever series because I'm if not more entrenched into the story to care about the looks.


Characters 10/10:
You will see the most weirdest characters known to man. I don't want to spoil too much but every character has their flaws, hence why a pirate crew is needed in the first place. It shows itself that no 1 person can be an OP badass and win all alone.

Shounen Powerup argument:

A lot of arguments of why people don't try One Piece is that it seems like a friendship powerup series. Looking through all the battles, only 5-10% of it was. The rest is just pirates running around wanting to push forward to their goals.

Logically speaking though, why is this trope so hated on? If a close friend of yours gets hit, you probably will get angry and upset leading to a power up as blood and adrenaline rushes through your body since you're mentally preparing for a fight or flight scenario.