Given that we have not seen an awakened Logia I dunno what the limits might be, given what we have seen of Paramecia fruits being awakened a Logia might be absurd and it would be fitting that Buggy lucked into a way to get last Poneglyph..by having Crocodile be able to clear the way to it.
Maybe back in the 2010s and prior, but that's change dramatically. Luffy was at the Macy's Day Parade in THREE times consecutively, which isn't no small feat of recognition for them to utilize as a parade geared towards Americans. I've seen everything from fairground food vendors with fan art of Luffy eating their food to window decor of One Piece at book stores. Now there's a Popeye's promo of One Piece called a "Luffy Bento Bundle" in the past month. I would say it has most certainly caught on since the covid lockdowns, especially for younger generations who didn't have their perceptions skewed by 4kids.
I think there's multiple reasons on top of it, but yes 4kids acting as the proposition value was indeed a reputation killer for many teens in 2004-07 on picking it up. I knew they edited (butchered) the hell out of it, but back then even the episode count for the subs at that stage of the anime was very daunting and by the time Funimation took over, I was in college and just too busy to shovel through it with how much was out there. I also think that there was a more interest in anime/manga that had an Eastern aesthetic for its exotic factor whether it was ninjas/samurais or martial arts with a more "serious" artstyle, which One Piece wasn't on its surface. At leasts thats how I saw from the opinions of contemporaries online or in school.
Toonami was also exiled to weekends only at that point so you couldn't watch five episodes a week like you could with, say, Naruto which had weekday slots.