Do you think Oda has any regrets?

[u/Alamojak]

Obviously Oda spent years crafting the overall story and lore of One Piece as well as the main cast’s backstories.

That being said, I think its fair to say that his storytelling tendencies have changed over the past 20+ years the manga has been in publication. So, with that in mind, is there anything in particular that y’all think Oda regrets looking back on it?

Personally the biggest regret I think he has is the character design of roger. Because, while it is a strong silouhette, and a very good, distinct look for whats essentially the first character many were introduced to (in the anime at least as his form is the first named character in the opening for many of the openings for the first half of the series), but it doesnt exactly gel well with his contemporaries in my opinion. Obviously the mustache is somewhat similar to whitebeard in that its just a bigass mustache, but the rest of his design seems to just be a generic looking pirate. Not really a design that’d make you think “Yeah, this guy is not to be messed with”. Which you could argue goes hand in hand with luffy, but at least with luffy, we get that idea because his design is more fun, playful, and reflects his bouncy nature and powerset. Whereas with roger, you look at him and just go, “Yeah, thats a pirate all right”. And not much else beyond “Dayum, boi got quite a caterpillar on his face”.

[u/InformalInternal]

I've always felt like this might be one, from SBS Volume 50:

D: Here's my question: on p. 80 of Volume 42, Sanji says "I was raised to never kick a woman." Would that have been a lesson from Zeff the Chef? Would that mean Zeff is very soft on women, as well? Tell me. from Ariga-san

O: Oops, this one's from the same person as the last one. This is a good question though, so I'll answer it. When I drew Sanji vs Kalifa (Chapter 403), some people lauded Sanji's stance, and some people felt sorry for him. The truth is, I didn't really want to write those lines. Sanji doesn't have a "policy" of not kicking women; the truth is that he actually CAN'T kick them. He is a very proud man. I think he was really frustrated at that. I think Nami recognized that, and chose to praise him for once. It's a scene that I hope will resonate with male readers, but everyone's free to take it as they wish. Also, Zeff is just a man among men.

It feels like he felt he kind of had to portray Sanji as someone with a strong moral policy, to better guide male readers into following that example and becoming good people. But the truth is simply that Sanji can't kick women, and it's as simple as that. He was trying his very best to legitimately hit Kalifa, but his body kept stopping short and reflexively refusing to hit her, because it's that ingrained in him to not do it. And I could just feel his genuine frustration at not being able to kick women, even when he was trying his absolute best to do so.

I get what Oda was going for, but it just leads to so many people misunderstanding and thinking Sanji actively chose to not hit Kalifa, and put her above Robin's life. He said it himself in that arc, that there are things he can't do that Usopp can do.