Sanji/Abilities and Powers

Abilities and Powers
Blueno, don't underestimate that guy! He doesn't have a bounty... But he's likely one of their main fighters!

Sanji is considered to be one of the crew's top three fighters (despite not having one of the top three bounties, which Robin takes). While Luffy always fights the strongest enemy, and Zoro fights the second strongest, Sanji always ends up doing battle with the enemy considered third strongest.

Though he's one of the physical powerhouses of the crew, Sanji can also be a skilled tactician if need be. This was particularly evident in the Baroque Works saga, where he was responsible for both disguising himself as Mr. 3 and fooling Crocodile into believing that the Straw Hats were dead on Little Garden and posing as "Mr. Prince" to get the Straw Hats out of Rain Dinners at Arabasta. In the Skypiea Arc, when he and Usopp snuck onto the Maxim to save Nami, Sanji took a detour and destroyed the main engine, not knowing of the back up engines. During the Water 7 arc, he went on his own and waited patiently at the train station in case Robin were to leave. With his instincts confirmed of her departure, Sanji left Nami a Baby Den Den Mushi and a letter of his intentions, though half the letter was babble of his love for her. Even worse however the hiding place of the letter was very obvious marked with red paint, with large hearts for Nami and a threat for anyone else not to read it. During the Enies Lobby arc, he took over the fight with Jyabura and reminded Usopp, that he is better suited for being clever and finding a way to help Robin, while he himself was better suited for front line fighting. He later shut the Gate of Justice, giving the crew the opportunity to escape the Buster Call.

Sanji also had a fondness for reading books when he was younger and knows of many legends, albeit they are mostly "fairy-tale" like in nature opposed to Robin's "historic" recollection of legends. He had already heard of the legendary ingredient the Blue-Finned elephant Tuna before he saw it. He had also been familiar with the tale of Montblanc Noland through the book King of Liars, Noland. Through a book on Devil Fruits he learns of the Suke Suke no Mi, although since he had interest in only that particular fruit what else he knows on Devil Fruits is unclear.

After 2 years, his body has become much stronger, being able to withstand pressure at 5000 feet under water without a coating, a depth wich would have crushed a submarine.

Fighting Style
Sanji has mastered a martial art refered to as the Black Leg Style(黒足の技, Kuroashi no Waza) that the pirate Zeff apparently taught him. All of his maneuvers come from his legs and feet (although in episode 67 he is holding a pistol when he tries to stop "Miss All Sunday"). His legs and feet are extremely powerful, able to smash boulders and defeat creatures much larger than himself (like Bananawani and Mohmoo). His legs also imbue him with superior agility, and his speed is close to superhuman as he was easily capable of out-pacing the super fast CP9 member Kalifa despite ultimately being beaten by her. After spending two years running away from Okama, his sprinting abilities have reached a point where he can momentarily run under water, using a Geppou-like technique he calls the Blue Walk. Not only is he not slowed down by the weight of water as he was during the Arlong Arc, but he can run to a degree of incredible speed as fast as a fishman. He is also able to leap and run much farther than most humans. He has stated that the reason he fights with his feet is that he doesn't want to risk damaging his hands as he needs them to cook, though handstands aren't prohibited.

This fictional martial art seemingly takes some inspiration from the Brazilian martial art Capoeira and the Korean martial art Taekwondo and may have took some from the Chinese art Tan Tui and bears an almost identical line, in name and in style, to the extremely powerful and dangerous (to both user and opponent) style Blood Leg. Inspirations may also point to a French fighting style now known as Savate. Originally developed by French sailors, Savate employs similar techniques that utilize the hands to support the body and give added power to kicks, and is especially useful on a swaying ship. And the French law at this time considered hands as lethal weapons, which could lead to death if hands were used to kill someone. Possibly for this reason, Sanji's main opponents throughout the series so far were all martial artists with their own unique style (such as Kuroobi's "Fishman Karate" Bon Kurei's "Okama Kenpo", Wanze's "Ramen Kenpo" and Jyabura's "Tekkai Kenpo").

As for his actual "attacks", Sanji has a very large number of specific kicks and techniques he uses to fight with. It should be noted that he doesn't call out an attack name whenever he kicks someone or something, but for important events and fights he usually will. Most of his attacks are said in French and are usually cooking/food terms related in some way to the specific portion of the opponent's body that he's targeting or to the nature of the attack itself. In the 4Kids English anime, the attacks are changed to be funny sounding, non-existent food items that have something to do with the target area of the attack.

Common attacks are Mutton Shot (Sanji jumps and flips, and kicks with all his might into the foe's mid-region or head) and Anti-Manner Kick Course (One of Sanji's most powerful kicks where he delivers a 180 degree vertical kick upward into a giant foe's torso or back, which is usually used on those he sees as having no manners, e.g. those that attack women; a typical finishing move).

Diable Jambe
In the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji reveals a new ability - Diable Jambe, the power to heat his lower legs to a temperature so high that they glow bright red, by spinning rapidly in place. 'Diable' means "devil" in French and it's also a type of dish. 'Jambe' means "leg", but the kanji reads diable's wind. The aforementioned attacks also have the word Diable Jambe preceding it (ex. Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot). The heat of the attack is so high that contact for one second would set a person aflame. Sanji used this ability during his fight with Jyabura, in which his attacks weren't so effective due to his active usage of Tekkai. With the heat of his new ability, Sanji overcame his inability to smash through Tekkai by burning through it instead. Using the technique "Frit Assorti" in Diable Jambe against Oars, Sanji was able to deflect his direct Gomu Gomu no Bazooka to protect Robin with a single kick.

Also revealed during the Crew's battle against a Pacifista, it appears that Diable Jambe puts extreme stress upon Sanji's legs. After several uses of the technique, Sanji himself comments that if he were to use the attack one more time, his legs would break. It is unclear at this point in time whether it is Diable Jambe itself that puts stress on his legs, or the strain of kicking the extremely durable Pacifista cyborgs repeatedly. After his two-year experience in "hell," Sanji becomes strong enough to break the neck of a Pacifista with only a kick, critically damaging it, and not showing any trouble. Before the timeskip, Sanji said that he would break his legs kicking the Pacifista.

Although Sanji fights with his legs, his arms are nearly as strong, enabling him to use an array of handstands, making him more versatile in certain situations. He is also able to use one-handed handstands. During the Skypeia Arc, while riding the Going Merry, he lifted a large mallet that must have weighed several tons before using it to slam an Impact Dial that had been set on top of a barrel; needless to say, the impact would have busted a hole on the Going Merry's deck had it not been absorbed by the Dial. His upper body is also superhumanly durable, having been known to take head-on attacks like Kuroobi's fists and half of Jyabura's Gekkou Juushigan right before counter-attacking them with his kick. His tolerance against fire is also astonishing, which would make sense since he is a cook. This would explain why he is able to utilize Diable Jambe without showing any signs of getting burned himself while the opponent gets incinerated at the receiving end. However, Oda has said that it doesn't damage him because while the Diable Jambe burns hot, Sanji's heart burns hotter.

After the time skip, apparently Sanji has gotten a lot stronger, and his attacks are more powerful, as seen in his fight with the Pacifista. Before the time skip, Sanji could only kick a Pacifista once, because another kick would break his leg, and still, it wouldn't do much damage, after the two years of training, he could take out a Pacifista with a single kick, with a single slash of Zoro as well. In addition Sanji has also gained incredible speed. He is so fast, even under water his speed was said to be on par with a fishman by Usopp, who are at their physical prime under water. His Diable Jambe is now so powerful and hot that even under water it is able to scorch a large portion of the Kraken's tentacle, severely injuring it.

Sanji's comedic finishing move, Parrage Shoot, is a series of kicks directed at his opponent's face. This results in a rearrangement of the victim's facial structure, often turning them handsome or bishounen-like, as seen with Wanze and Duval.

How Sanji heats his leg is unknown but a popular theory is he unknowningly used Haki to do this.

Other equipment

 * Usopp's Special Salt Ball (ウソップ特製”塩星”(ソルトボール) Usoppu Tokusei Soruto Bōru): Sanji was given these salt balls by Usopp during the crew's adventure on Thriller Bark, for use in zombie attacks. He used them to reveal Absalom's position after the zombie commander became invisible through the powers of the Suke Suke no Mi.
 * He was seen with a pistol during the Straw Hats' first confrontation with Miss All-Sunday, but was never seen using it.

Culinary Expertise
Last but not least, Sanji is an expert cook, knowing and capable of preparing almost any kind of food with a strong sense to the aesthetics of cooking. He cooks with amazing speed and dexterity, particularly in his use of knives. His sense of taste also isn't lacking; often, he is able to deduce the qualities of aspects (i.e. ingredients, and method of cooking and preparations) involved in a prepared dish under a very short period of time. Though lacking the power and technique of Roronoa Zoro with a bladed weapon, he is able to make very accurate cuts. He rarely uses them in battle, stating that kitchen knives are not meant for that purpose, but makes an exception when Wanze uses food as a weapon (and the fight took place in a kitchen), something that he, as a chef, finds unforgivable, and sees a loophole in using his knives as weapons against food. By the end of the two year time-skip, it is presumed that Sanji has already mastered the 99 recipes of Kamabakka Kingdom's Attack Cuisine, as prizes for defeating the masters in Momoiro Island.