The anime definitely isn’t for everyone for a number of reasons, I won’t lie, I’m 700-some episodes in and I still find myself sometimes find myself questioning whether I actually enjoy it or if I’ve just sunk so much time into it that I might as well see it through (I’m pretty sure I do actually like it though)

But I will say, IMO, things do really pick up for it considerably with the arabasta arc which is about 100 or so episodes in. I thought that everything up to that point kind of feels a bit like you’re still waiting for the story to really get started. If you didn’t make it that far and ever want to give the anime another go it might be worth trying to find some recaps or fan edits or something to get you up to speed then hop into it there (or just stick to the fan edits in general, I know there’s at least one fan project out there to recut it, remove unnecessary filler, and tighten up the pacing, I haven’t watched it myself, don’t know what the current status is, nor can I even remember the name of that project to direct you to it, so I can’t really comment on it beyond that it exists, but it’s an option)