Quote Originally Posted by Assertn
I think its safe to say that Luffy won't become the pirate king as a 17 yr old, so it'll happen sooner or later. A timeskip now might be practical, as it would allow Oda to skip the formalities that would likely pale in comparison to the action we've already has these past two arcs (ie. reuniting the strawhats back at shabondy).

Also, just imagine how badass Luffy would look when he's closer to Ace's age.
Yeah I agree that a timeskip here would be the best. Given the events that just unfolded (the deaths of Ace and Whitebeard), it will probably take Luffy a long time to recover emotionally and accept what has happened. While all this will definitely add to his character development, I am not so sure how I would feel about having to watch him go through it all. At the same time, it would be a bit ridiculous if it took him only a couple of weeks to get over it, which would probably be the case without a timeskip as the story would need to progress.

I am sure Oda will handle it well though and we will probably get to see lots of interesting flashbacks of events during the skip.