Vinsmoke Family

The Vinsmoke Family is a powerful and infamous family of Underworld killers, and the family from which Sanji hails. They are also the reigning royal family of the Germa Kingdom, as well as the former dynastic conquerors and rulers of North Blue. As an adjunct to their rule over the Germa Kingdom, they are also the commanders of the Kingdom's Underworld army, Germa 66.

Due to their actions, alongside their organization and the Big Mom Pirates, they form the main antagonist groups of the Totto Land Arc and among the central antagonist groups of the Yonko Saga.

Overview
In the past, the Vinsmoke Family managed to conquer the entire North Blue with their military might. They continue to rule over the ocean-going Germa Kingdom, and still possess the authority and privileges of royalty, including the right to attend Reverie. Furthermore, their patriarch is powerful enough to directly influence the bounty system, by both increasing bounties and changing their conditions of capture.

Activities and Abilities
The Family currently conducts its primary operations within the Underworld, including leading Germa 66 in mercenary activities against other military forces. Among known royal families, the Vinsmokes are unusual in that they command their kingdom's military forces directly in combat (a responsibility that only the Gorgon Sisters share); they are also unique in engaging in constant warfare with other nations, in order to reestablish their former dominion over North Blue. This has led them to develop a prominent and infamous reputation throughout the Underworld; however, their notoriety seems to extend beyond these boundaries, with Brook and Robin both recognizing the Vinsmoke name.

The Vinsmokes are also known to possess advanced combat technology, which they use adeptly in battle, and which is so advanced that even the Yonko Big Mom is interested in them. They have also developed cloning technology, which they have used to create a virtually inexhaustible army, as well as other genetic modification technologies which have endowed the children of the family with superhuman abilities. Despite the illegality of cloning, Judge nevertheless managed to remain in the trust of the World Government, showing either a high favor or powerful secrecy.

The Vinsmokes' many subjects behave with absolute loyalty and obedience. They will always be willing to sacrifice their lives for their sovereigns without aforethought. When called upon to do so through the command of "Wall" (壁), they will shield the royal in "danger" from any attack by merely positioning themselves in front of the Vinsmoke.

Sora, Warrior of the Sea
In their capacity as the commanders of Germa 66, the Vinsmoke Family are also the villains of the World Economic Journal comic strip, Sora, Warrior of the Sea. As Marine propaganda, the comic's premise centers on fictionalized accounts of their conflict with the equally fictional Marine hero, Sora; it is later explained that they were chosen as the model for the comic's villain group because the Vinsmoke name was once considered synonymous with evil.

Furthermore, in Vito's brief thoughts on the comic, there are several featured Germa 66 agents that resemble members of the family. Specifically, the two figures wearing cloaks that bear the numbers "1" and "2" are likely references to Ichiji and Niji, while the helmeted figure towering above them is a likely reference to Judge.

Members
The family is currently known to consist of a father (the family patriarch), one daughter, and four sons; furthermore, the sons of the family were all born on the same day. The patriarch is infamous throughout the Underworld. The family matriarch, who was in contrast a kindhearted soul, is deceased. She was fraught with a chronic illness, which eventually claimed her life. The children of the Vinsmoke Family were genetically enhanced by Judge, specifically for the purpose of creating elite military commanders who would lead Germa 66 to achieve Judge's ambitions. However, Sanji was labelled a 'failure' early in his childhood, after exhibiting behaviors undesirable to Judge, and consistently being outperformed by his siblings in physical tests.

The family's most distinct physical feature is the curly eyebrows common to all the children.

Past
Sometime in the past, the Vinsmoke Family ruled all of North Blue with their military might. Presently, while they no longer rule over any land, they remain the reigning royals of the Germa Kingdom. However, their patriarch retains the ambition to reestablish the family's dominion over North Blue; to realize that ambition, the family participated in the infamous event known as the Conquest of Four Nations, during which they assassinated the kings of four North Blue nations all at once.

Prior to the birth of his children, Judge worked in conjunction with Vegapunk as a member of a lawless scientific research team. After the team discovered the Lineage Factor, the World Government arrested Vegapunk and forced the team to disband. Judge returned to the Germa Kingdom and resumed his research in secret, eventually developing the family's current cloning and genetic modification technologies. At some point, he met an attractive woman and married her, making her the queen of the Germa Kingdom.

Twenty-one years ago, Sanji and his three brothers were born in the Germa Kingdom, while it was in North Blue, proceeding Reiju. However, when the siblings were still young, the Vinsmoke queen was stricken with a severe illness that left her bedridden in the kingdom's hospital and she was barely able to hold down any food she was given to eat. Sanji, who loved his mother in particular, tried to learn how to cook in order to help her get better by feeding her meals that he delivered to her himself, and she affectionately ate them even though they were poorly prepared. Sadly, the queen eventually succumbed to her illness and she was buried at an ornate grave memorializing her.

After the Vinsmoke queen passed on, Judge took it upon himself to raise his offspring the way he wanted, training them to become conquerors, seeing nothing worthwhile in continuing the late queen's legacy of caring for the weak. Judge informed his children that their bodies had been enhanced with his genetic modification technologies, and that through training, they would develop the power and abilities to lead Germa 66 to new glories. During their training regime, however, it soon became apparent that Sanji had not developed the same superhuman abilities as his siblings, leading Judge to conclude that he was a failure. This, combined with Sanji's predisposition towards acting kindly to the family's servants and animals, and even feeding a pet rat, led his siblings to subject him to cruel bullying, and eventually to Judge renouncing him as his son. Judge staged a state wake for Sanji, during which he informed the kingdom that Sanji had died in an accident; at the same time, he had other soldiers place an iron mask on Sanji and lock him in the castle dungeon. While Sanji's brothers had been pitliless and relentlessly cruel to him, Reiju had actually cared about Sanji and silently hid her disapproval of his abuse, but could never show it in front of the rest of her family.

When Sanji was eight years old, the Germa Kingdom crossed the Red Line into the East Blue, preparing to mount a massive battle. Around this time, Sanji's brothers discovered he wasn't actually dead and resumed their abuse of him. Sanji was also able to request cookbooks during his time in his cell, discovering a story about the All Blue that gave him a dream he could find it one day. As the kingdom's snails climbed the Red Line, Sanji had a chance to escape, and Reiju, who had also learned where he was being held, used her superhuman strength to bend apart the bars of his cell and warned him not to mess up this only chance he would get to run away. After Reiju freed him from his cell, Sanji retrieved the key to remove his iron mask, and was spotted by Judge, pulling a knife on him in fear his father would try to stop him. However, Judge did not care that Sanji was leaving, and even approved of his choice, but told Sanji that if he did leave, he must never speak of his parentage ever again as the disgraced son.

In tears, Sanji fled from the Germa Kingdom with Judge's approval, as they began an invasion. He was met by Reiju, who finally broke down crying and showed him real, honest love, knowing she would likely never see her little brother again. She promised him that one day he would meet people who would treat him with the kindness he deserved and told him to stop crying so he could finish his escape. The Germa soldiers disregarded a cruise ship that had come into port and had nothing to do with their mission, so Sanji was able to stow away on it. After cutting ties with his family, Sanji worked on this ship and befriended its cooks, but was wasteful with the food on the ship, at the behest of the cooks who warned him out on the sea it was vital to conserve as much of the food one had as possible.

When he was ten years old, the cruise ship he was working on was attacked by the Cook Pirates and then sunk in a storm, which also sank the attacking pirate ship, with all occupants aboard ship each presumed lost at sea. Sanji and the pirate captain, Zeff, were marooned on an island, where they almost starved to death waiting to be rescued. Zeff made sure the two of them kept a perpetual lookout and said next to nothing to each other unless they spotted a ship that could rescue them, as he did not want them to waste their energy on idle chatter given their desperate situation.

When they ran out of food and became heavily emaciated, Sanji grew desperate. Like his father, he took a knife and tried to attack Zeff, thinking he still had food in the bags he kept with him and had skimped on him from the beginning, but learned all they contained was treasure from his ship that served him no use now. Sanji, who initially hated Zeff for beating him up during their initial encounter, came to realize Zeff had cared for his survival, having given him all of the already scarce food that was washed up by the storm and even sacrificing a leg on his behalf. Zeff shared his dream of finding the All Blue, and upon hearing Sanji declare his own wish to find it, it caused him to take a liking to the boy. Knowning his days of piracy were at an end and he would not be able to find the All Blue, Zeff had decided if they got off the godforsaken island, he would build a floating restaurant so that no one else would have to face starvation out on the sea like they did. As Zeff passed out from near total exhaustion, a ship finally came near the island and Sanji was able to flag it down, ending over two months of torture. After their rescue, Sanji worked under Zeff as they built the Baratie, using the treasure in Zeff's possession to finance it, with Sanji becoming the sous chef. Ever since Sanji left the family, Judge started searching for him, once it became clear Sanji still had some use to him to fulfill his ambitions.

Ten years later, Sanji left Baratie to join the Straw Hat Pirates, taking part in their pirate activities and earning the attention of the World Government. When he received his first bounty, there was no photograph of Sanji's face, so a crude drawing was substituted; as a result of the misleading image, the Marines that Judge sent after Sanji went after Duval instead. However, when Sanji received his second bounty two years later, it contained a picture of his real face, leading Judge to order both an increase in the bounty amount and a change of bounty condition (from "Dead or Alive" to "Only Alive").

Zou Arc
Some time between the Curly Hat Pirates' encounter with the Big Mom Pirates off the coast of Dressrosa, and the Big Mom Pirates' arrival on Zou, the Vinsmoke and Charlotte Families entered into a political alliance that was to be sealed with an arranged wedding between the third Vinsmoke son, Sanji, and the 35th Charlotte daughter, Pudding. Sanji, shocked that his past had been brought up again, deduced that his father was also responsible for the changes to his bounty. Intent on tying up all loose ends from his past, Sanji reluctantly left Zou to confront his family at Whole Cake Island.

Totto Land Arc
Luffy and the Sanji retrieval team first encountered Germa 66's ship as they entered Big Mom's territory. Upon seeing him aboard the ship, the team initially mistook Vinsmoke Yonji for Sanji, due to the similarities in their appearance, but Yonji introduced himself while claiming that his relationship to Sanji was a secret (although the Straw Hats immediately deduced his identity). When Yonji refused to hand over an antidote for the dying Luffy's poisoning, Vinsmoke Reiju intervened and saved Luffy by absorbing the toxin. After a brief discussion of the Vinsmoke Family's history with Brook, she and Yonji returned to their ship and agreed not to report the team's presence, out of concern that it might jeopardize the wedding.

Three days before the wedding, Germa 66, led by Vinsmoke Ichiji and Vinsmoke Niji, ended a two-year civil war on Broc Coli Island on behalf of one of the sides. After confirming receipt of their payment, they were informed that Sanji had arrived on Whole Cake Island and promised an unseen individual, via Den Den Mushi, that they would arrive on the island the day before the wedding.

As the Germa Kingdom began to assemble at Whole Cake Island, Sanji reunited with his younger brother, sister, and father, Vinsmoke Judge, for the first time in thirteen years. The meeting proved to be hostile on Sanji's part, as he rejected Reiju's efforts to convince him to accept the marriage, overpowered his brother, and argued with his father, who then told him to settle things with a fight.

While Yonji received treatment for the wounds he received from Sanji, Sanji and Judge began their duel in a courtyard outside the Germa castle. They exchanged blows, until Judge eventually gained the upper hand and surprised Sanji with the "Wall" move, in which his lightning spear pierced one of the Germa 66 agents and shocked Sanji. After returning to the Germa castle, Judge explained to Sanji that the purpose of the Vinsmokes' alliance with the "deranged" Big Mom: to secure the forces necessary to retake North Blue. The only reason Judge had sought Sanji out after all their time apart was to meet Big Mom's condition for an alliance: to have one of the Vinsmoke sons marry one of the Charlotte daughters. Judge continued by stating that, since he did not want to give over one of his other "valuable" sons to Big Mom's demands, Sanji was his logical choice. Judge concluded by telling Sanji that he never truly considered Sanji one of his sons, and, while Sanji was distracted by their conversation, he had Reiju strap two exploding bracelets on his wrists (the keys to which are in Big Mom's possession), in order to ensure his cooperation with the wedding.

On the day before the wedding, Ichiji and Niji received a hero's reception from Germa 66's soldiers upon their return to the Germa Kingdom. Judge expressed joy at his beloved sons' arrival and Reiju smiled at the news, while Yonji voiced his anticipation at their imminent reunion with Sanji. Sanji, however, trembled as he observed Ichiji and Niji's arrival from the castle balcony.

Later, the newly reunited family dined in the throne room of their castle. As they ate, they discussed the Broc Coli Island war, as well as the likely imminent revocation of their right to attend Reverie. Niji proceeded to provoke Sanji, stating that the siblings had often laughed over the possible ways and places in which Sanji might have died since leaving them as a child. Sanji's only response was to tell Niji to finish his food, triggering an argument between them which culminated in Niji attacking the head chef, Cosette; Sanji defended her, before eating the food that had spilled onto the ground and complimenting her on her cooking. The rest of his family, excluding Reiju, expressed disgust at his actions and Niji prepared to kick Sanji, but Judge warned Niji not to do anything to Sanji so close to the wedding. As Sanji and his family traded insults, Judge pulled out a photograph of Zeff; Judge revealed that, through Big Mom's connections, the Vinsmokes had learnt of Sanji's presence in the Baratie 2 years ago, and of the restaurant's exact present location. Judge threatened to have Zeff killed if Sanji did not cooperate with the wedding, leading Sanji to recall periods of his childhood under Zeff's tutelage.

After the meal, Sanji discovered a bloodied Cosette in the castle, likely attacked by Niji. Yonji appeared and goaded Sanji into seeking out Niji, offering to take Sanji to Niji. Sanji agreed, but Yonji instead led Sanji to a sequestered laboratory within the Vinsmoke castle, inside of which Sanji discovered (much to his shock) a multitude of Germa 66 clones, each within a liquid-filled compartment. Yonji began to explain the extent of the family's cloning and genetic modification capacities, before being stopped by Sanji. At that moment, they were interrupted by Ichiji and Niji, with the latter's arrival causing Sanji to jump up and attack Niji. A brief fight ensued before Niji overpowered Sanji, using the threat against Zeff as a reminder to Sanji to stay in line; Ichiji then "welcomed" Sanji home before reminding his younger brother of his inferior status within the family.

After Ichiji, Niji and Yonji left the laboratory, Reiju arrived and found a bloodied Sanji on the floor. She proceeded to ask him why he decided to return to the Germa Kingdom, a place he had tried so hard to forget. The two are later seen in Sanji's room in the castle, where Reiju gave Sanji a face mask which removed the swelling in his face. She warned him that this was all the help he would receive from her, before asking him where he learned his chivalrous ethic. Sanji gave Reiju a cryptic reply, before a maid arrived in the room and informed brother and sister that preparations were ready for the family to leave for the pre-wedding engagement ceremony.

A short time later, the Vinsmokes departed the Germa Kingdom in their royal carriage and headed for Whole Cake Chateau. On the way, they encountered Luffy and Nami. A shocked Sanji, in view of his watching family, coldly rejected Luffy's request to return with him and prepared for a confrontation. However, the fight was completely one-sided as no matter how many times Sanji attacked or insulted Luffy, the latter refused to fight back. After Luffy finally collapsed, Sanji returned to his family's carriage, but Luffy staggered back onto his feet and stated that he knew Sanji never meant what he said and that he would wait for Sanji to return. With the carriage continuing on to Whole Cake Chateau, Sanji broke down in tears as his brothers laughed at the events.

Just before the carriage arrived at Whole Cake Chateau, the Vinsmokes noted the commotion throughout the capital, overhearing that Big Mom's army were preparing to descend on and capture Luffy. Once inside the Chateau, the family dined with Big Mom and Pudding; during the meal, Big Mom apologized for the commotion but informed them that the matter had been taken care of. She and Judge toasted to their children's upcoming wedding, with Big Mom expressing particular interest in Sanji's professional background as a chef and thus his suitability for Pudding. Pudding secretly slipped Sanji a note, asking for a private conversation.

In Pudding's room, Pudding informed Sanji of her encounter with the retrieval team. She also begged Sanji to make a run for it before it was too late, but Sanji revealed that Big Mom had already taken the final precaution of cuffing him with the exploding wristlets. A distraught Pudding apologized for her mother's actions, but a reflective Sanji confided in her that his only concern now was to ensure that the friends he had encountered after fleeing the "hell" of Germa would not become collateral damage in his family's affairs. He informed Pudding that he would attempt to strike a deal with Big Mom, trading his cooperation with the marriage arrangement for Big Mom's agreement to let the Straw Hats leave safely.

Later, in the Queen's Chamber of Whole Cake Chateau, Sanji met with Big Mom and presented her his deal. To his surprise, she accepted readily, stating that the alliance with the Vinsmokes superseded all other matters and that she would overlook the Straw Hats' past actions if they did not meddle further.

The Vinsmoke Family was then invited by Big Mom on a tour of her library, with Big Mom proudly showing them her prized collection of rare creatures. Reiju expressed surprise at the fact that the creatures were alive inside books, while Niji expressed disgust at the fact that she had even trapped humans. Judge then pointed out that he had not seen any giants since arriving in Totto Land - a significant omission, given the country's claim to being a land of all races - but an annoyed Big Mom quickly stated that he must have just missed them. Sanji remained in his guest room, hoping silently that his friends would cooperate with his deal with Big Mom.

Sometime later in the Vinsmoke Family's guest room, Judge had a private discussion with Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji. Judge told his sons that Pudding would be living with them on Germa Kingdom after the wedding so they could use her as leverage against Big Mom. Meanwhile, Reiju was shown wandering through a hallway, heavily injured.

Pudding captured Reiju and revealed that Big Mom had no loyalty towards the Vinsmokes as she planned to murder them all and steal their technology during the wedding ceremony, and that she never intended to actually give away her favorite daughter, Pudding, to the royal family. Having their kingdom parked within Big Mom's territory actually left them vulnerable to her.

Trivia

 * The children of the Vinsmoke family all share similarities in their names, epithets, and appearances. Sanji, however, has a variant in two of those three categories (epithet and appearance):
 * The names of the children of the Vinsmoke Family follow the pattern "(number) + ji" for males, and "(number) + ju" for females: Rei(0)ju, Ichi(1)ji, Ni(2)ji, San(3)ji, and Yon(4)ji.
 * All the children of the Family share the characteristic curled eyebrows:
 * Sanji's eyebrows are the only ones known to curl in a clockwise direction (i.e. to the right side of his face), as opposed to his siblings', whose eyebrows curl anti-clockwise (i.e. to the left side).
 * In both Chapter 832 and Chapter 841, the edge of Reiju's right eye is shown. It appears that her right eyebrow doesn't curl towards the left, like that of most of her siblings.
 * All the children also have a color-themed epithet: Reiju's is "Poison Pink" (ポイズンピンク), Ichiji's is "Sparking Red" (スパーキングレッド), Niji's is "Electric Blue" (デンゲキブルー), Yonji's is "Winch Green" (ウインチグリーン), and Sanji's is "Black Leg" (黒脚).
 * Sanji's epithet differs fundamentally from the others because it is written in kanji, not katakana. Additionally, the color in his epithet is the first, rather than second, word.
 * All 4 of the sons share a uniform, humorous attraction towards Nami, as all 4 of them have become lovestruck at the sight of her.

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Famiglia Vinsmoke