I personally think Fishman Island was the worst arc. I watched it in the anime and hated almost everything about it. The arc felt dragged out especially since the Fishman were so weak compared to the strawhats. The only thing I enjoyed about the arc was seeing Jinbei and the whole crew back together.

linear progression

Narrative arc, also called a “story arc,” a “dramatic arc,” or just an “arc,” is a literary term for the path a story follows. It provides a backbone by providing a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Universal to both fiction and nonfiction, the narrative arc (also called the “story arc”) refers to the structure and shape of a story. This arc is made up of the events in your story — the sequence of occurrences in the plot — and determines the peaks and plateaus that set the pace.

One character’s family is revealed, you are introduced to a new race, and there is something that is important to finding the one piece. The arc brings in new things that will become integral to subsequent arcs. So no, do not skip Zou.

Yes. Don’t let her skip the canon parts. If you’re reading the manga, read everything. Foxy isn’t quite as bad in the Manga, and some important stuff happens on that island.

Skip Fishman Island if you want an arc with any kind of tension. There’s not a whole lot. You could skip to Punk Hazard and not miss a whole lot. Zoro beats the arc villain before events even really begin.

Fishman culture like the Bubbly Coral or waterways aren’t implemented nearly as well as Dials or Milky Roads. All final fights are in a boring coral plaza with no variety in setting. The island could have been much more. And then most of the side characters sucked or were incredibly forgettable for One Piece standards.

It’s never safe to skip canon episodes in One Piece! You’ll never know when Oda will dig the story and characters back up. Thriller Bark isn’t that long either….One Piece: Chapter 1015.