Is this completely unprecedented?

@tudos4 It takes time to watch a thousand episodes to catch up. Not everyone has the luxury of so much time :)

@venti98 Of course it takes time, but why does it matter again? Is there a time limit, goal(say, you want/need to catch up in 6 months)? Are you want to spend time on something else too(in witch case just spend that time on that something else, dont need to think to hard about it)?

@tudos4 because you can watch the 1000+ episodes, you'll want to, but someone with school/work can't possibly to so, that is why they opt to watch a shorter anime with 12 episodes or so, in the 12 episodes you'll start and finish a story, while if you watch one piece in 12 ep luffy is still recruiting usopp

@Baya128 Even if you only can watch 1 ep a day or every few days, you will eventually catch up. Still dont see the problem you mention. Afraid of spoilers? Afraid of becoming addicted, so you cant focus on work, school enough? If those things i mentioned not a concern, then there is really no difference watching a 12/24 ep anime or a 1000 ep one.

And btw one piece have a fan edit called One Pace, they almost completed re-editing all arc thats how i watched and caught up with one piece(im on ep 1052, because im on a break from anime since may(not time constraint reasons, because im reading mmahwas and novels instead). Its about half the runtime of the original currently.

mostly this, but more like wanting to know what happens, how will the arc end?

@Baya128 thanks for a more straigtforward answer finally, tought you can include this "but more like wanting to know what happens, how will the arc end" under becoming addicted. You became addicted, so its hard to focus other things than these.