User blog comment:Kaido King of the Beasts/Chapter 801: Another Game of Thrones/@comment-24850639-20150924162103/@comment-24850639-20150925123559

Who specifically provided the hat was irrelevant, Oda did. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that he's been hinting at references for a while to the Lvneel Kingdom, and the person they seem to connect to the most is Sanji. As far as the picture goes, not saying you're wrong about that either. In either case, I do believe it was intentional on Oda's part one way or another that a proper wasn't taken of him until now, and as soon as one is, he's wanted alive only. You're right, who the hell knows what went down between the Big Mom encounter and that island, and even between tha island scene and now. I don't recall a narrating panel saying "earlier that day" or some kind of reference to the timing. His captain's bounty went up 100 mill in that time span, Zoro's 200, why the fuck not his? But what would he have done that would cause them to not want to kill him like any other pirate? The only thing that makes logical sense to me is that he's someone important.