Does One Piece really need to be so long?

I get that it’s supposed to be all about the adventure, and the lore in every island, and that involves the entire world of One Piece coming together and everything, but did the story really need to take so many real life years to reach that point? Couldn’t the story just been 20 something years in universe, actually making the stakes of the world feel grander from the time it takes for our mc’s to traverse the world? I’m unsure if the years spent are a bi-product of Oda’s improvisation or not, but either way, I want to get more invested into One Piece, and catch up, but I’m constantly discouraged by how many chapters it is.

Would you personally say it needs to be this long?