I love its focus on Aokiji, who I think is a super underrated and fascinating character. Every Straw Hat gets their moment, even Nico Robin (more than I can say for Stampede)! Franky is underutilized for most of it but makes up for it and more by the end. However, the fights just aren't that exciting save for the end, and that's an issue since this is one of the more action heavy One Piece movies. There's this gag with Nami, Chopper, and Brook that just goes on for so long and doesn't really do anything it was stupid (though it leads to a very funny scene with Brook but it's still inconsequential). Always hate seeing the Straw Hat girls shafted (yeah you think I would be used to ti by now). The MacGuffin of the Dynastones is also extremely lazy and dumb. They act like these along with the three volcanos are some huge deal that even Nami knew about as a kid, but it all just comes out of left field. Having all the volcanos so close to each other was a massive missed opportunity. They show the Sea Train and I thought we'd go back to Water 7 but nope. Not interesting at all on the exploration level.
What really carries this is the villain, Zephyr. His power is simple, but still interesting, and it's refreshing to have a villain with no Devil Fruit. His arm is made of Sea Prism Stone and is meant to be the ultimate Devil Fruit User counter. It's a cool concept, but it's deflated a bit by a certain thing that happens towards the end. I won't spoil it, but it just made no sense and was a bit too much "rule of cool" for me to buy given how tight logic tends to be in One Piece.
But besides his power, Z has a super interesting dynamic with the rest of the cast, leading a corrupted version of the Marines called the Neo-Marines and even if not canon, it's still really cool seeing how he ties into the story of so many characters. One aspect of his backstory raises some seriously high questions and assumptions which are very fun to speculate even if it's ultimately meaningless. I respect how firmly Z believed in his cause and he stands out from many One Piece villains who are simply power-hungry. There's definitely shades of Ozymandias in him, that same type of radicalized self-assured savior of people who he ends up doing more harm to than good. The final battle with him and Luffy was refreshing because it's largely without gimmick, ultimately boiling down to a brutal and weighty fistfight. Everything about this climax just hit a raw emotional note I wasn't really prepared for, but it never goes as dark or hard-hitting as Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island which is still my favorite One Piece film. Overall it's a good time. Looks and sounds good as you'd expect from One Piece. I especially love the fashion in this film. Not much else to say, it's definitely worth watching as a One Piece fan with a unique and compelling villain.
