I don't see what the big deal is about 5 min you have to skip at the beginning. Most anime has a 2minute Intro song followed by a 3 minute credit song. I prefer the 5min at the beginning. Anyways I felt the same way you did about the whole pirates thing. Believe me it's worth the watch. It personally gets really good at 270. After that it stays good till about the fish man arc where it slows done but that's like 200 episodes. The fillers are very minimal and the character development is really good. If you think naruto and beach are good one piece blows them away. Give it a shot it starts off a bit slow but if you make it throught the beginning it will be hard to put down. I remember I spent my whole summer two years ago on one price and don't regret it at all.

I tear'd up when the original straw hat boat sunk into the ocean :-(

tons of filler in that show

still its one of the greatest stories ever.
just really loveable characters and great action( that you gotta wait for :P)

usopp makes me wanna punch my balls

well honestly from the responses from this thread i wanna watch one piece and give it a shot. I know first 50 eps are gonna be slow. But i have to just deal with it.

i like loveable characters and great action

do the main cast learn new abilities and stuff when fighting and get stronger?

Of course

It's the way author puts all the tiny details together as you watch more, and it simply mindfucks/blows you when it comes together .

but you dont have balls

Does it really have a lot of fillers? I don't recall it having that many. At least no where near bleach/naruto.

its kind of a well-kept secret amongst the more serious anime fans, but one piece is actually not good at all, it's just a trap - it has exactly 500 episodes so people get stuck and spend all of their free time so they don't discover better animes like sword art etc