User blog comment:Kaido King of the Beasts/Dressrosa vs. Zou/@comment-24850639-20160428212451

Yeah, not exactly a fair comparison. Its like comparing Drum Island to Alabasta, or Jaya to Skypeia. Dressrosa was a "Kingdom" arc, a more fair comparison would be say Alabasta, Skypeia, Thriller Bark, or even Fishman Island. There's certain things I look for in Kingdom Arcs:

Story: I have to say, Dressrosa was definitely the most compelling story of the New World so far, and Oda did a masterful job of keeping me on the edge of my seat. Even before things really kicked off, just the setup of this arc alone gave me the chills. When you think about it, the only undertaking even slightly comparable to this that the Straw Hats endeavored was attacking Enies Lobby. They blackmailed one of the most hyped Shichibukai since the start of the series, and then marched right into his country with the intention to fuck shit up. Sure the plan fell to chaos, but even just watching the process of it fall apart was beautiful - from the unexpected allies that the inevitably stepped up precisely when they need to, to all the plot twists and turns that kept the alliance on their toes. Sure there were certain parts that drug out, like Luffy's Gear 4th cooldown, Zoro vs Pica, and pushing the birdcage back, but it doesn't seem so bad when you reread the arc altogether without 1-2 week breaks.

The Cast: Dont even know where to begin here. A Navy Admiral that controls gravity, SABO and the Revolutionary Army, Dwarves that can kick some serious ass, Jesus Burgess, the Big Mom Pirates, and most incredibly of all the Colosseum Gladiators/Future Grand Fleet Captains. The world-building that they brought alone had an immediate impact, before we heard of any of these Kingdoms we could barely count the countries we thought were going to the Reverie on 1 hand. On top of that, they finally gave Luffy the one thing he absolutely needed to be ready to at least compete with a Yonko in the New World. As much as their combat prowess kinda disappointed me, I did still enjoy the characters of the Donquixote Family. I developed an incredible amount of respect for Senor Pink, as for as little shine as he got, Dellinger was quite the badass. The Royal family of Dressrosa was a disappointment, but everyone else more than made up for it.

The Fights: This got off to a REALLY strong start, and then just fell flat in my opinion. Issho's display of power then subsequent battle with Law and Mingo, Sanji's badassery and confrontation with Mingo, Law vs Mingo 2, Luffy and the Corrida Colosseum, Zoro vs Issho, Brook beating Jora, I got SO hype for how this arc was going to continue to unfold. But then.....it becomes clear very early that Pica is no match for Zoro, Sabo vs Issho turned out to not be a "real" fight, Burgess doesn't have 1 noteworthy act, Law gets jobbed 3 times in a row, Robin has some serious badass moments and then just ends playing a support role, and most of all Doflamingo doesn't give Luffy half the trouble he was hyped to since his introduction. Yes he showed that Luffy definitely has to step his game up now above Gears 2 & 3, but aside from that Doflamingo just ended up being a conduit for us to learn about Awakening, and a ragdoll for Gear 4th. All badassery from his backstory, abilities, and speeches combined, I just expected more from a combat standpoint. The anime worked to rectify this by having him land more hits on Luffy, but we all know how that fight REALLY went down. I will say his speech on the prison ship just about made up for ALL of that, but it also only made it hurt more for me that he didn't do more. I'd say its def been the best Kingdom Arc so far, but I cant realistically compare an arc like this to the field trip that was Zou.