Sanji

Sanji is a pirate and the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Appearance
Sanji is a tall, slim young man with blond hair, often well-dressed, and keeps his hair brushed over his left eye. Indeed, Sanji's left eye is so rarely seen that many fans have questioned the assumption that he has one at all. In the Manga it is never seen, but is seen in the anime (episodes 21, 27, 82, 128 and Movie 6 although usually very briefly and most likely due to animator's errors). . He almost always wears a black, double-breasted suit with tie and a long-sleeved, buttoned shirt of varying colors with or without pinstripes. His fashion has changed at times, like in the Water 7 Arc where he had no suit jacket, but a black vest over an orange, pinstriped shirt. He also wears dress shoes, mostly for his Red Leg martial arts. These shoes are extremely durable, and were designed to increase the power of his attacks. Though he could very well attack without them as he did with Kuroobi.

According to Oda, Sanji most resembles a duck. , is identified by the color blue, and smells of seafood and cigarettes. In the 4Kids version of the English anime, Sanji speaks with a nasally Brooklyn accented voice (Voice actor: David Moo).

Sanji's right eyebrow forms a spiral, and he gets very upset if somebody (usually Zoro) chooses to point it out.

Personality
Like Zoro, he is more perceptive than he seems, and often tells people what they need to hear instead of what they want. Unlike Zoro however, he is not afraid to show his emotions when the moment calls for it, and is entirely capable of crying or losing his temper. He is very amorous, constantly flirting with any attractive woman he sees, earning him the nickname ero-cook, or perverted. He even has a tendency to court women despite knowing that they are already married, though this practice seems to be focused more on the filler arcs rather than in the manga itself. He has sworn to never let insult or injury happen to any woman while he can still stand, regardless of how attractive (or unattractive) they are. This is often problematic in his fighting as he can't attack female opponents; he would rather die than hurt them. All this is apparently the result of a "strict upbringing". Also,while most cannot see it, he has a deep respect towards his mentor, Zeff, who selflessly gave all his food to the young Sanji back when they were stranded. As a result, during his time on the Baratie, he exhibits little to no hesitation in beating customers who spoke ill of Zeff's former status as a pirate. Sanji considers himself handsome and charming, often comparing himself to a fairytale prince. So far, he has found nobody who agrees with him, and tends to be brought sharply back to earth by the more cynical people around him (such as being called the "prince of Retardia/Dumbass Kingdom" by Zoro prompting Sanji to attack him). Sanji also likes to swear a lot and is overall a bit of trash talker, insulting his opponents while fighting - especially if they insult him or his friends first. One of Sanji's most prominent characteristics is a strong respect towards food and preparation of food in the kitchen; since food and sustenance play a crucial role in maintaing life, he strongly believes that a chef's work must be treated as though it were sacred. As a result, he has a strong tendency to become hostile towards those who waste food, or regarding it in any way that is less than the way he does, thus he has a habit of beating up anyone who steals food from the fridge (mainly Luffy). This is precisely why Sanji, in his first appearance, proceeded to make quick work of Fullbody

Crew
Sanji respects Luffy as a captain, but often gets angry at him for eating too much and showing disrespect for the aesthetics of cooking, he also dislikes Luffy imitating him. He is constantly in physical and verbal fights with Zoro (Who he refers to as 'marimo' (moss ball) because of his green hair) over their differences, but regardless, the two clearly respect each other for their figthing skills and they have developed a bit of a rivalry, almost like that of two brothers.

He is rather protective of the female crewmembers and Nami likes to take advantage of him, exploiting his extreme servility. Strangely Sanji calls Nami, Nami-san, and Robin, Robin-chan, while san is for someone older, and chan is younger. He's also good friends with Usopp; Sanji understands him quite well. Despite this, he occasionally beats up him and Luffy when they do something immature, like eat too much food or goof off in serious situations. Sanji originally wanted to cook Chopper, and continues to refer to him as their "emergency food supply" to tease him. However, he does consider Chopper a friend, and will give him or Usopp advice when they need it. In short, he cares as much for the crew as any Straw hat should.

Friends
Sanji had a habit of getting on everyone's nerves while at the Baratie. However, he parted with everyone on good terms despite this. The entire cooking staff were upset by his departure. They have kept an eye on him ever since and used him to promote their restaurant (but mostly to poke fun at him because of his bad photograph) when his bounty was released.

Despite being enemies, Gin also considered Sanji as a friend because he showed him the only act of kindness he ever experienced. Gin was unable to bring himself to finish Sanji off and left on the vow that the pair would try and meet again on the Grand Line if was ever possible.

Duval intially hated Sanji for resembling his wanted poster. He was wounded in the back by someone who mistook him for Sanji. However after a defeat during a fight with him, Duval became friends with Sanji because Sanji reshaped his face to make him look handsome. However Duval's love for his new handsome face gets on Sanji nerves.

Enemies
Sanji supposedly has many people who bear grudges against him from his time at the Baratie. Essentially, Fullbody has a personal vendetta against him for what happened at the Baratie, however this has never been taken seriously since. Like all the Straw Hats, he is wanted by the Marines.

Abilities and Powers
Sanji has mastered the martial art of Red Leg that the pirate Zeff apparently taught him. All of his maneuvers come from his legs and feet. His legs and feet are extremely powerful, able to smash boulders and defeat creatures much larger than himself (like bananawani and Momoo). His legs also imbue him with superior speed and agility, 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 handdstands aren't prohibited. This fictional martial art seemingly takes some inspiration from the Brazilian martial art Capoeira and the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do 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.

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 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 Muton 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).

In the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji reveals a new ability - Diable Jambe, the power to heat his lower legs to a temperature so high 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 afore mentioned attacks also have the word Diable Jambe preceding it (ex. Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot). The heat is so high that in less than a second of contact 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.

Although Sanji fights with his legs, he is nearly as strong in the arms, enabling him to use an array of handstands, making him more versatile in certain situations. He is also able to use one-handed handstands, proving that his arms are also very strong. During the Skypeia Arc, while riding the Going Merry, he lifted a large mallet that must have weighted 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 Jusshigan right before counter-attacking them with his kick. His tolerance against fire and lack 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.

Though he's one of the physical powerhouses of the crew, Sanji can also be a brilliant 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. His skills in this area showed again during the Enies Lobby arc, where he first maneuvered Sogeking onto the roof, where his sniping could be used to full effect. They appeared again when he shut the gates of judgment, giving the crew the opportunity to escape the Buster Call.

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. 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, something that he, as a chef, finds unforgivable, and sees a loophole in using his knives as weapons against food.

Past Story
Sanji was Zeff's protégé and sous-chef, and the two had a long history together. Nine years earlier, when a young Sanji was working as a ship's cook on the Cruise Obit in the North Blue, the pirate Red Shoes Zeff and his crew attacked the ship. However, both ships were caught in a sudden storm, and sank. Zeff managed to save the young Sanji from drowning and the two were washed onto a rock outcropping, high above the sea.

Despite their good fortune, there was little food for them: a few rations had washed onto the rock with them, but there was no vegetation, no animals, and no way to reach the water to fish. Splitting up what little rations remained, Zeff ordered Sanji to sit at the other end of the island, and look for a ship. Sanji protested that Zeff was keeping a large sack for himself, but Zeff brushed him off, saying that as an adult, his stomach was bigger. Days passed. Sanji had no more food, but there was still no sign of a ship. Many weeks afterward (the exact amount of time differs between the manga and anime), an emaciated Sanji decided to take a chance, and kill the old man for his food. He did not kill Zeff, however: when he slashed open the old man's sack in a fit of rage, he discovered that there was no food inside, only treasure. To his horror, he realized that Zeff had eaten his own leg to survive (in the anime, he lost it while saving Sanji after becoming entangled in one of the wrecked ships, and simply ate nothing). Zeff confessed that he often lacked food on the high seas, and planned on opening a restaurant on the seas. Sanji, guilty over plotting to kill Zeff, agreed, but Zeff remarked that he was too weak to help. Soon after, a ship appeared, and they were spared from death. Because of this ordeal, Sanji pledges to never refuse food to a starving individual, no matter how evil or poor they may be. In the manga, Sanji began smoking shortly after starting to work at the Baratie in order to impress Zeff, despite Zeff's warnings that it would destroy his taste buds.

Present Story
On the Baratie, Zeff and Sanji shared an uneasy relationship, frequently getting into arguments and exchanging insults. Sanji would call Zeff an "Old Fart" or "Shitty-Geezer," ("Crap-Geezer" and "Old Geezer" in North America) and in return, Zeff would call Sanji a "stupid eggplant" ("Under-done Eggplant" or "String Bean" in North America) and tell him his cooking was awful. Yet for all that, Sanji remained faithful to his promise nine years before, and risked his life to help defend the restaurant he helped build from the clutches of Don Krieg and his pirate armada. With the help of Monkey D. Luffy, he succeeded, but was unwilling to leave his position at Baratie to become Luffy's cook. In the end, Zeff had to remind him of the dream they both shared: to find the legendary sea, All Blue. Tearfully thanking the old man for everything, Sanji departed with Luffy to retrieve Nami, who had stolen the Going Merry and was making her way to the stronghold of the Fishman pirate, Arlong.

After Enies Lobby
Chapter 430: With the Going Merry, everyone has managed to escape Enies Lobby safely. However, after escaping, Iceburg arrives in a Galley-La just in time to pick up the Straw Hat Pirates as the Merry suddenly breaks apart. Luffy then gives the Going Merry a viking funeral by burning it as the crew tearfully says goodbye.

Sanji helped cook for the festival the Straw Hats and allies were having, which incidentally drained almost all of their remaining Belli. In Chapter 435 he received his first bounty of 77 Million Belli and is nicknamed "Black Leg", in contrast to his old mentor Zeff, who was known as "Red Leg". However, Sanji is horrified to see his picture on the bounty poster. The marines weren't able to obtain a photo of him(someone left the lens cap on the camera) and thus used a horrendous composite sketch.

Sanji was then seen defending the Thousand Sunny from Garp's attack.

Adventure on Thriller Bark
After sailing for some time on the Thousand Sunny, Sanji and the rest of the crew came across a mysterious barrel floating on the ocean. Upon opening it, a flash shot up from it. After braving a storm that mysteriously came afterwards thanks to Nami and Franky, Sanji and the rest of the crew found themselves in the presence of a ghost ship.

Making sure that nothing would happen to Nami who decided to tag along Luffy in exploring the ship, Sanji climbed aboard along with them. There they met a skeleton named Brook whose being made Sanji ask a lot of questions. Luffy instead asked Brook to join his crew which in turn the skeleton accepted. This shocked both Sanji and Nami. After climbing back down to the Thousand Sunny, Sanji decided to cook some dinner for which Brook decided to also join. Over dinner, Sanji was deeply appalled by Brook's bad manners as the skeleton explained his past. Just as Brook was about to perform before Sanji and the rest of the crew after dinner, a ghost appeared and some clanking sounds were heard. These sounds were caused by the gates of the island that suddenly appeared, Thriller Bark, closing. These events prompted Brook to head to the island before Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats' eyes.

After witnessing Franky's present to the Straw Hats that the cyborg decided to show them, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats decided to look for Nami, Usopp, and Chopper who had not returned. However before Sanji and the rest could go to the island, they were stopped by an invisible thing. The thing grabbed Sanji's as he was jumping overboard and slammed the cook to the side of the ship. The thing later left Sanji and the rest baffled.

After the Thousand Sunny got caught in what was apparently a spider web, Sanji and the rest descended to the island. There they met the Cerberus which didn't intimidate Sanji. After Luffy tamed the beast, Sanji and the rest met two more of the island's creatures. Luffy caught the "Geezer Tree" while Franky caught the unicorn. Sanji, along with Zoro, then stopped Luffy before he could allow the "Geezer Tree" to join the group.

Later as Sanji was scolding him for asking Luffy, he and the rest then came across some ghosts whose strange abilities affected some of his companions. After those who also affected by the ghosts recovered, they pressed forward. Sanji and the rest later met with some Zombies which with some Zombies and defeated them with a combo technique(600 Million Belli Jackpot). The group then met with a old man who looked like a Zombie. The old man asked them to defeat Gecko Moria who had stolen his shadow. Eventually the Strawhats launch an attack against Thriller Bark. During the battle Sanji's shadow is stolen. The rest of the crew later find him on the Thousand Sunny along with Zoro and Luffy. After finding out what had happened Sanji is more then determined to stop Nami's wedding with Absalom. Then Sanji engaged Absalom in battle during Absalom's intended wedding to Nami, he defeated him with ease due to his rage, but got hit a few times even being stabbed through the heart to protect Nami.

Sanji teamed up with other members of the crew to take down Oz. Sanji landed the final blow in flipping Oz over, taking out his legs with an Anti-Manner Kick Course. After this Robin's shadow is taken. Sanji is furious at Oz and Moria so he uses Diable Jambe to combat Oz, by redirecting a giant sized Gomu Gomu no Bazooka from hitting an unconscious Robin. He is later beaten down along with Chopper by a Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun from Oz. Things were looking dire as the Straw Hats could not beat Moria.

However, Luffy soon joins the battle and with his new power gained from Shadows that purposely entered him, is able to knock down Moria, who then uses his ultimate power, Shadow Asgard, to prepare a fatal counterattack. However, Luffy uses his Gears to finally defeat Moria, freeing all the captured shadows and leaving Moria in critical condition. Nami then remembers Kuma is on this island and tells everyone. Meanwhile, Kuma reports that Moria has failed to kill Luffy and is badly wounded, he is ordered to kill everyone on Thriller Bark and evacuate the wounded Moria. However, instead of outright killing everyone as his orders said he offers everyone a deal- let him kill Luffy (who cannot fight back now) and he'll leave everyone alone. The Straw Hats and everyone else on the island tell Kuma no way and he sets off a bomb made out of air that badly wounds everyone. However, before he can finish off Luffy, Zoro rises again and vows he won't let Kuma touch him, Kuma offers to just kill Zoro then and attacks him, though Zoro survives. Kuma then leaves, praising Luffy for having such good friends.

Soon after, Sanji joins everyone in a celebratory party at Thriller Bark (save for Zoro, who is still recovering from his wounds) lead by Brook and his piano. Luffy finally reveals to Brook that he is friends with his Nekama, Laboon. Brook stops partying, cries, and reveals a Tone Dial which has the last song the Rumba Pirates ever performed together on it. Brook states that since he has new friends in Luffy and the others, he no longer needs the Dial and will give it to Laboon the next time they meet. Brook then asks if the Straw Hat crew invite is still good and Luffy says it is, Sanji joins the others in a shocked response.

The Nightmare of Duval
After leaving Thriller Bark, Sanji became more upbeat on their journey to Fishman Island, particularly considering the comments made by members of the Rolling Pirates about the existance of mermaids around that area. Sure enough, the chef is in heaven when the Straw Hats rescue one after arriving at the Red Line. But Camie immediately ask for his and the other crew's help for the rescuing of her partner Hatchan from the grip of the slave trader Iron Mask Duval. Although Sanji initially believes this as a means to get on a mermaid's good side, this would turn into a personal nightmare.

Upon arriving at the Flying Fish Riders' base to free Hatchan, Sanji helped defeat the Flying Fish Riders with the other Straw Hats, before learning of Duval's grudge against him, particularly in the misidentity of his face being used for Sanji's Wanted Poster. He then proceeds to running up to Duval and kicking him in the face. However, Duval responds by having his Flying Fish riders capture Sanji in a metal net, before diving underwater, in an attempt to drown him. After Camie saves him, resulting in him getting a large nosebleed from his perversion, Sanji counters by attacking Duval with his face-rearranging kick combo Parrage Shot, in order to destroy the one thing he can't stand looking at; the face of his horrible wanted poster. The beating renders Duval's face beautiful, ending his grudge against the Straw Hats.

Current Events (Spoiler)
At this time, Sanji remains on the Thousand Sunny as the other Straw Hats go about on the Shabondy Archipelago. When he gets a call from the rest of the crew out in Sabondy Park that Camie had been kidnapped by fishman/merman hunters, he decides to call in Duval's favour and the Flying Fish Riders to help find her again.

Filler Battles

 * Sanji vs. Reik
 * Sanji and Chopper vs. Whetton
 * Sanji vs. Boo Jack
 * Sanji vs. President Snake
 * Sanji vs. Captain Honki
 * Sanji, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Robin vs. Governor
 * Sanji and Usopp vs. Salco and Arabelle

Anime and Manga Differences
A scene of Sanji starting smoking during his early days at the Baratie was not shown in the anime, possibly because it showed a child smoking and implied that smoking was a way of seeming mature.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the original Japanese manga, the Japanese anime, and the English manga, Sanji is a chain smoker. In the 4Kids anime, Sanji instead sucks on lollipops (most likely so that kids wouldn't think it's okay to smoke). For the Funimation version the cigarette was completely edited out and any scenes that show him lighting cigarettes or other such actions were carefully redrawn.

In the English-language manga, Sanji often uses "Crap" as an adjective while speaking (when calling Crocodile, he refers to the restaurant as "Restaurant Le Crap"). This is an attempt to convey both his extremely coarse speaking style in Japanese, as well as his use of "kuso" (roughly "feces") as an expletive; fans often translate it as "shit" because of his manner of speech. For example, he often calls Zeff "Kuso-Jiji" (roughly "shitty-geezer). In other fan translations, it is rendered as "old fart" or "old man".

In the English anime produced by 4Kids, he simply calls Zeff "old-geezer" or "old fart" (in fansubs, he is also referred to by this name), and "crap-geezer" in the English manga. In the 4Kids English dub, Sanji has a nasally Brooklyn accent, which has been a target for criticism among many fans. The accent was later removed in the Funimation version after Sanji's current english voice actor Eric Vale took over.

Cameos and Crossovers

 * Sanji appeared in an Shonen Jump special, where Enel attacks Tokyo and Odaiba.
 * Sanji and other characters also appeared in Cross Epoch.
 * Sanji has appeared in the games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS. He also appeared in Battle Stadium D.O.N on the GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Merchandise
As a main character, Sanji has been the choice character in many forms of merchandise. He has been featured in the series of models Portrait of Pirates. When the Wii game One Piece: Unlimited Adventure was released Sanji was one of the crew produced as a figure in the One Piece Locations Trading Figures series.

He also featured in the 5 piece One Piece VS Figure Gashapon set. Another Gashapon set he featured in was the One Piece Full Color R Gashapon, of what he was featured twice. He was issued alongside Zeff in a One Piece Block Figures set featuring the Straw Hats and their past mentors/loved ones. He is part of the One Piece Sky Island Mascot Keychain collection. He also featured alongside Vivi in the One Piece Desert Kingdom Mascot Keychain/Cellphone Strap collection.

Songs

 * Girls ni Kubittake (with Nami and Vivi as back up singers)
 * The Great Blue~Dessert wa Kimi
 * Sea Moon Sea You (sung by Kid Sanji)
 * Moulin Rouge
 * Respect! (With Luffy and Zoro)
 * Akuma no Mi (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji)
 * Hi! Ho! Ready Go! (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji)
 * Family (with other crew members)
 * We Are! (with other crew members)
 * Utae! Jingle Bell (with other crew members)
 * You Are the One (with other crew members)
 * Jungle Fever (with other crew members)
 * Sekai ichi not otoko to yobareru ni naru tameni (with Usopp and Zoro)

Trivia

 * Sanji owns his own Jolly Roger, as does the rest of the crew. It has Sanji's right curly eyebrow, fork and knife for cross-bones, and a chef's hat.
 * According to Oda in an SBS, Sanji "has" 930 Maerchen Ero Ero's (Note: "ero" is a way to infer something sexy or erotic)
 * Sanji's favourite food is Spicy seafood pasta and stuff that goes with black tea.
 * Sanji’s curly right eyebrow is supposedly one of the seven great mysteries of One Piece, according to what Oda sensei said in an SBS. In another SBS regarding if every Devil Fruit has swirls, Oda says and then states that he often wonders if Sanji is a devil fruit due to the swirl eyebrow.
 * The brand of cigarettes Sanji smokes is called King Ground. This is revealed when Sanji falls down during the Strawhats' descent to the Blue Sea.
 * Apparently Attachan went through much trouble to get Sanji's picture for his bounty poster. In one instance Sanji was either showing his heart face while in another he was under the influence of the Awa Awa no Mi, yet another had his face being blocked out by someone else and in another shot he was kicked in the nuts at the moment. The picture that was supposed to be his was when they got over the Enies Lobby Main Island Gate but the lens cap was on. This picture is the spitting image to Duval. This caused marines and bounty hunters to mistake him for Sanji and chase after him, prompting Duval to wear a mask and seek vengeance against Sanji.
 * In the anime, Sanji appears to undergo a transformation similar to a Super Saiyan when he gets angry enough about something concerning Robin or Nami. His entire head seems to glow with flames and his hair stands up.  He also can surround himself in an explosion of flames. (Zoro even comments on Sanji's transformation.)

Related Articles

 * Straw Hat Pirates