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In general, One Piece avoids that trope pretty well. On a superficial read you could say they are facing stronger antagonists as they go, but they are also facing against "realities" of their idealized values. Racism, sexism, colonialism, the true meaning of treasure, what it means to be free, what it means to be good/evil, the very right to exist - these are all themes that entire arcs delve into.
Not only that, but the mechanism to beat the baddies aren't just "train and remember friendship and you can defeat anything", there are specific paths that each character takes to achieve the next level of their martial strength. In the One Piece world, willpower is quite literally the greatest power and you see it in our lowly Straw Hats from the very beginning.
In terms of the tropes - One Piece only actually has one training arc, everything else is just a natural consequence of the plot. Oda weaves together mythology from dozens of cultures to make it happen.
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