I love it, but the length is certainly a hurdle. It took me years to get through the anime, and there were several points where it felt like it took multiple episodes to make even the most minor progress in the story. Still, though, the story itself is great, and it seems that recently things are back to the snappy pace that the beginning of the show used to have, at least where the dub leaves off.

If you have not started, I'd recommend waiting for "the one piece", a remake of the anime that will be much shorter, it will probably be a much more reasonable commitment to see it. It should start airing in february 2027.

I was up to date on One Piece ….in 2015….
Don’t even want to know how far behind I am now

I’m guessing there’s good jumping on and off points for these types of shows. Like, if you don’t want to watch 1000 episodes, start on episode X and watch till episode Y to get a good complete(ish) story.