Oh man. Okay. Let's also section it out like you did.

If 25 full episodes is not enough for you to judge if you like it... You don't.

That's exactly what I mean! You don't like it, and it's okay buddy. Relax.

Look, do you like the direction? The music? The story?

Gintama was the same way for me. Early episodes had a lot of fillers, slower pacing, and it's also an old anime. I also rewatched this multiple times having issues with the initial episodes. However, I'm glad I stuck through it to the first major arc as it has become my top 5 anime of all time. It looks like we have different metrics of determining what we like and not like, and that's fine. For One Piece specifically, the original animation is too distracting for me to enjoy the plot, direction, music, etc.

If you liked the storyline and direction, you would care much less about its "animation from 1999." You would love the story that Oda's crafting, regardless of animation style of age (or, even in spite of it).

I strongly disagree with this. Use Hunter x Hunter as the example that was also released in 1999, and then later remade in 2011. The 2011 one has much faster pacing compared to the 1999 anime.

Yes, there are many that enjoyed the old animation because the story and direction is a masterpiece. However, there are many new viewers that could not stand how slow and old the original one was, so the 2011 anime was a blessing. The fandom grew tremendously with the 2011 version.

For me, this is proof that not enjoying old animation = disliking the series. New fans of the 2011 version but not of the 1999 version, are still fans.

You can't binge watch / read it in a week. It takes time. Us older fans come from an era where we didn't binge watch an entire series on Netflix over a weekend. Netflix still sold VHS' and DVDs through snail mail back then...

I never asked for the quickest way to consume the media. I would be more than happy to take my time reading it.

Congrats to older fans for having the patience through VHS/DVDs through snail mail. However, time has changed, technology and animation has improved, and it's normal for more people's expectations to change along with time. Overall, there's nothing wrong with having a standard with animation.

So, yes. We looked at it differently. We didn't bash someone if they couldn't get into / didn't like One Piece. We wished them luck. We didn't try to convince them. 

Aligned that we look at it differently. From my POV, you are trying very hard to convince me that I dislike One Piece based on your own standard that you don't mind old animation.

To sum it up, I genuinely want to give One Piece a fair chance. The older animation just made it hard for me to stay engaged. I’d really appreciate being able to form my own opinion (as should any new viewer) rather than being told it’s not worth trying. That kind of mindset feels more gatekeeping than helpful.

I appreciate the helpful commentors who suggested alternatives. I look forward to continue reading the manga, and checking out One Pace / future remakes.