Marineford was overhyped for me. Enjoyable but I had numerous people tell me in person it was one of the best manga arcs. Probably didn't help was I heard Ace and Whitebeard died around the time anime was out.
Ace died because he got triggered by a 'yo daddy' joke and forgot twice that Captain's word is law.
Thankfully Water 7-Enies Lobby-Return totally lived up to the hype. I started re-reading One Piece about 2022 after stopping around Drum Island in 2010 I think. Anyway I was so glad I had no idea what Blackbeard looked like because I was shocked when I learned who that fat grumpy guy was who did that big speech about dreams. Doubly shocked when I first saw what Whitebeard looked like.
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8513/guyversfightmc1.gif
Snesman64 and I are brothers stop being surprised.