It was long as fuck. 50 chapters is literally the length of Water 7. Way too long of a build up and it was boring af. Setting the stage does NOT take that long, especially when the 'main show', which is this part of this act, has been mostly average thus far (and we're probably gonna hit the climax within the next 10-20 chapters or so). Did we really need Luffy beating some random sumo fucks or irrelevant ass Wardens and other fodders in Udon after he defeated Katakuri? Dude beats a YC1, gets a 1.5B bounty, and Oda still writes the same dumb shit at the beginning of arcs to get characters hyped over Luffy as he did in pre-TS.

Never in as absurd fashion as this though.

They won't. I've been caught up for about a year, since when chapter 1000 dropped. The first 70 chapters of the arc were a hellish slog, and now that we're nearing the climax it's like, I guess this is better than like Arlong Park but THIS is what that huge buildup and all the endless hype amounted to?

Nits are meant to be picked. If we didn't nitpick, every series'd be a 10/10.