Glad the ship hasn’t already sailed before I could jump on

Well, technically the ship has been sailing since One Piece came out back in 1997, but how did I not know about this gem?? I’m currently in Thriller Bark and love this anime for the following reasons *spoiler warning for pre-Thriller Bark :

• Most of the characters are simply loveable, each for their own unique reasons. (I feel like this characteristic is hard to find in most anime)

• I’m emotionally invested: when the Going Merry was burning, I cried, when Nami found Usopp beaten and broken on the street after losing the money to the Franky Family, I cried. Simply put, if a character in One Piece is crying, I’m crying too. Well except for maybe Franky. :D

• Just when I start to think the story is mostly linear, the plot loops in connections from one event to another. For example, when we realize that Laboon is waiting for Brook… I’m not crying, you’re crying!

For those of you that are up-to-date or much farther ahead than I am, please tell me that it stays this good??