Sanji/History

Early Childhood
Sanji was born in North Blue into the Vinsmoke Family, the reigning royal family of the Germa Kingdom. He and his three brothers were all born on the same day, with Sanji being the third son of the family, thereby making him the kingdom's third prince. Before Sanji and his brothers' birth, their mother, Sora, took a drug that would ensure they would grow as humans, but it only affected Sanji.

While Sora was still alive, Sanji once prepared a meal for her. Even though the meal was ruined while Sanji was delivering it to her in some hospital, it made her smile and she decided that she would only eat what he had made for her, sparking an interest in cooking for Sanji.

Sanji's father, Vinsmoke Judge, revealed to his children at a young age that he had endowed their bodies with genetic enhancements, giving them the potential to develop superhuman abilities. He further revealed his ambition for Sanji and his four siblings to lead their kingdom's military arm, Germa 66, in the future, and began training them to capitalize on their genetic potential. While Sanji's siblings excelled at their exercises and their bodies evolved, Sanji continually lagged behind due to his body remaining human thanks to the drug Sora took prior to his birth. This made him an easy target for his brothers, who bullied him regularly, and Judge did not intervene due to his disdain for Sanji's weakness. One day, Judge caught him serving food to a rat in his room and shouted that Sanji would need to stop cooking and train even harder if he wanted to catch up with his siblings. He then threw the food and the rat out of the palace, causing Sanji to cry. Sanji continued to be beaten up by his brothers regularly, with Reiju occasionally tending to his injuries.

Eventually, Judge became convinced that Sanji would never develop superhuman abilities and decided to erase his son's existence from his future plans by putting an iron mask on him and locking him in a Vinsmoke castle dungeon. At the same time, he staged a state funeral for his son, informing the onlooking Germa 66 soldiers that Sanji had died in a tragic accident.

During the next six months of Sanji's imprisonment, his mask was only removed when receiving meals from the guards. At some point, he read about the All Blue from a cookbook he received. His brothers eventually discovered he was still alive and occasionally visited the dungeon just to continue bullying him. Reiju came to the dungeon to treat her brother's wounds but told him that she was not on his side. After the Germa Kingdom crossed the Red Line into the East Blue, Sanji declared to Reiju that he wanted to run away and become a chef. Reiju broke open Sanji's cell, allowing him to escape. As Sanji was fleeing, he ran into his father. Judge decided to allow Sanji to go on the condition that he never tell anyone about their relationship. While Germa 66 was attacking the island of Cozia in the East Blue, Reiju directed him to a cruise ship called the Orbit and told him to never come back to the Germa Kingdom. Having escaped the kingdom, Sanji cut all ties with his family and renounced his title as a prince.

The Dream of Two Fools
Two years after he left the Vinsmoke Family, a ten year-old Sanji was working as a ship's cook on the Orbit. One day, "Red Leg" Zeff, a pirate, 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. Before the storm tore the boats apart, Sanji had cried out his dream to find the All Blue, which was why he was saved by Zeff afterwards. After the storm, 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 to 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, an emaciated Sanji decided to take a chance to kill Zeff for his food. He did not kill the old man, but 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 save Sanji.

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 pledged 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, only for Sanji to reply "Now, I am a man!". Sanji subsequently spent the next nine years working aboard the Baratie as its sous-chef, during which time he vastly improved his cooking under Zeff's tutelage while also developing tremendous physical abilities and his signature kicked-based martial arts style with the latter's guidance.

Meeting Luffy and Gin


While doubling as a waiter one day since the rest had jumped ship, Sanji served a particular couple of guests to the Baratie, Marine Lieutenant Fullbody and his lady friend, Moodie. Though, Sanji served them as a good chef, his slight actions and responses towards Fullbody made the Marine lose face in front of the other customers. Angered, Fullbody dared to pick a fight with Sanji. Sanji on the other hand, upon seeing Fullbody waste the food prepared for him out of frustration, beat the Marine up. As the situation intensified with Patty coming, Sanji was suddenly confronted by Zeff who was at the moment dealing with some trouble. Luffy, seeing the mess that Sanji stirred up, Zeff immediately got into the argument as well.



Just as things were going crazy as usual in the Baratie, a new development arrived. The prisoner that Fullbody and his men captured, Gin, had escaped and was then demanding food from the restaurant. Though dangerous, the starving pirate however was denied food from the other chefs and was kicked out of the restaurant. While his fellow chefs denied the pirate food, Sanji however gave the starving man food for which he gratefully ate. Luffy, who was witnessing Sanji at the time, was impressed by such a kind act and decided to invite Sanji to join his crew.

Despite Luffy's offer, Sanji refused due to his own personal debt to Zeff. After seeing Gin off, Sanji went back to work and glanced upon one of Luffy's crew members, Nami. Seeing such a beauty, he declared his willingness to become a pirate as long as he was with her. Though the declaration was mere flirtation, the scene however intensified when Zeff butted in. After a brief argument between the two chefs, Sanji continued his flirting with Nami and gave a bad impression to Usopp with his womanizing nature.

Two days after the incident with Gin, Sanji and the rest of Baratie witnessed a fearful sight before them. Though wrecked, the ship, the Dreadnaught Sabre, came before them. The ship belonged to Don Krieg, the pirate captain that Gin served under. With the knowledge of Baratie being a floating restaurant, Gin brought a starving Don Krieg and his crew before Sanji and the other chefs. As before all the chefs but Sanji refused to give food to such a dangerous person. However, no sooner had Krieg finished the food that Sanji gave him and regained his strength, the pirate showed his true colors. Demanding food for his men, Sanji complied with Krieg's request. However because Krieg also demanded the Baratie, Sanji's efforts were hindered by the other chefs. Though Sanji's efforts to give food were hindered, Zeff instead gave food for Krieg's men.

Defending the Baratie
After a lengthy discussion, Sanji and the rest of the chefs of Baratie prepared for upcoming battle. Luffy, spurred by the turn of events, decided to join Sanji in defending the restaurant. However, before anything could happen, Don Krieg's ship was suddenly sliced up before the eyes of Sanji and the rest. Finding out that these new turn of events was caused by Mihawk of the Shichibukai, Sanji and the rest then witnessed momentarily a battle between this legend and one of Luffy's crewmembers, Roronoa Zoro. Though Zoro was skillful, Sanji and the rest witness Luffy's companion fall to the master swordsman. As the battle ended and they witnessed Luffy's Devil Fruit powers, Sanji and rest heard Zoro's vow to Luffy. With that finished, Sanji and the rest were able to concentrate on the battle with Krieg's forces.



With his fighting skills learned from Zeff, Sanji was able to defeat a great deal of Krieg's men. One amongst them however was different from the rest. Pearl, the so called invincible wall, was significantly stronger than them. Made fiercer by a blunder by Luffy, Pearl proved to be a real threat to Sanji. Despite this, Sanji was still able to handle his own against this tough opponent. Though Sanji was getting the upper hand against this opponent, in the midst of their battle however, a new surprise developed. As Sanji and the others were fighting, Gin snuck up on Zeff and took the old man hostage. With this, Sanji was asked to surrender.

Gin continued to hold Zeff hostage. He negotiated with Sanji and Don Krieg to let the chefs leave the Baratie. However, Sanji is unable to accept the terms due to the honor debt he felt he owed to Zeff for saving his life as a small boy. Sanji refused to let Zeff give up another one of his treasures. Seeing this behavior, the other chefs asked Sanji what he meant by this. As he was being attacked by Pearl who took the opportunity for some payback, Sanji explained to them that in the past, Zeff sacrificed everything, including his own leg, so that he could live. Sanji explained to them all that it was his obligation to Zeff. With this, Sanji stood still and took all of Pearl's attacks, ready to die for the Baratie. As Sanji was being attacked however, Luffy did something unexpected. Luffy broke part of the Baratie much to everyone's surprise.

Angered by this sudden action, Sanji asked why. In response, Luffy told him that since the ship was the goal of Krieg and his men, destroying it would be the solution to the problem. Luffy also explained to him that Zeff did not save Sanji's life so that he could throw it away for the ship. As they were talking about all this, Pearl decided to attack once more. However before Pearl could strike Sanji and Luffy, Gin suddenly defeated him. Explaining himself to Krieg, Gin stated that he will be the one to finish off Sanji.

Told that this was a special honor for the food that he gave Gin, Sanji battled with the pirate. Despite his skill, Sanji was unfortunately overpowered by Gin due to being hindered from his earlier injuries. However just as Gin was about to land the final blow, Sanji found himself before a supposedly heartless pirate unable to kill. Because of Sanji's previous kindness, his opponent was not able to bring himself to finish the job. While this saved Sanji from being bludgeoned by Gin, it angered Don Krieg. Krieg fired his MH5 bomb at them and Luffy threw Sanji and Gin two masks to protect themselves from the poison. Luffy also finds a mask for himself at the last second. When the smoke clears, they realize Gin was poisoned to save Luffy and had thrown Luffy his mask.

With this turn of events, Sanji told the other chefs to help the poisoned Gin. As they were helping Gin, Sanji noticed an angered Luffy decide to go against Krieg. What followed next was a battle between Luffy and Krieg in which Sanji and everyone watched. As the battle raged, Sanji was told by Zeff to watch Luffy carefully. With every turn of the battle, Sanji was amazed at Luffy's determination against such odds. At the very climax of the battle, Sanji and the others witnessed Luffy do the impossible, break Don Krieg's famed impenetrable armor. Though this was a deciding blow, Sanji and the others saw that Krieg still had a few tricks.

While this did not deter Luffy from ultimately defeating Don Krieg, the outcome however caused the young pirate captain to fall into the water. Seeing this and after being told of Luffy's weakness, Sanji fortunately dove in and rescued Luffy. After a few moments with a slightly less poisoned Gin, Sanji gave the defeated crew of Don Krieg a little boat in which they can use to retreat in. With everything done, Sanji awaited an unconscious Luffy to tell all that happened. Though Sanji still refused to go with Luffy when he woke up, he however shared with him about his dream.

Leaving the Baratie
As Sanji and Luffy then decided to have a well deserved meal, they came before a surprising incident. Apparently, every chef there thought that Sanji's soup was disgusting. Though this got to Sanji, in truth, they were just making an excuse so that Sanji could go with Luffy and fulfill his dream of finding the All Blue. As Sanji was pondering about all this outside, he noticed a strange sight.



The spectacle that crashed into Sanji and into the restaurant, was one of the Luffy's traveling companions, Yosaku. Due to Nami taking the Going Merry during the battle with Don Krieg, Luffy's crew and traveling companions were forced to part midway and thus unable to fully aid Sanji and the rest. With Yosaku back, the bounty hunter asked Luffy to come with him back to the others for an urgent matter. As Luffy decided to accompany him, Sanji finally decided to become Luffy's chef.

After a few moments with the other chefs and with himself, Sanji packed his stuff and went to go with Luffy and Yosaku. As he was leaving, Sanji was met with one last surprise. Zeff, a man who usually belittled Sanji one way or another, asked Sanji to take care of himself. Completely moved by this, Sanji fell to his knees crying and thanked Zeff for everything he done for him, however he thanked while "insulting" them as he is a foul mouthed most of the time. With an emotional Baratie behind, Sanji left with Luffy and Yosaku aboard his small ship, the Shimashima Shopping.

Destruction of Arlong Park
While Johnny, Usopp and Zoro were on their own, Sanji, Luffy and Yosaku headed to meet up with the rest of the crew. Yosaku told Luffy and Sanji about Fish-people. Ignoring him, Luffy began doodling what he imagined fish-people look liked to Sanji's amusement, and what Nami would look like if she was a mermaid (though all he did was draw hair on his horrendous sketch, causing Sanji to demand Luffy to destroy it). Sanji then cooked lunch for the crew. They were interrupted by the arrival of Momoo, a Grand Line beast who was looking for food. Keeping to his oath, Sanji attempted to fed Momoo, but then swiftly kicked him when Momoo attempted to eat his hand.

Using Momoo to lead their boat toward Arlong Park, the three were flung right into Zoro. Johnny found them shortly after, claiming having seen Usopp get stabbed to death by Nami. Before he and Yosaku left, Nami shows up and Sanji upon seeing Nami again greeted her in an ecstatic manner causing Zoro to insult him, but Sanji retaliates that his "Love is a Hurricane". Nami then confirmed the facts of Usopp's death, which causes Zoro to attack her and Sanji to defend her. Still actually alive, Usopp ran to meet up with the gang, while Luffy slept and Zoro commented on his own views of Nami, which made Sanji become enraged and the two prepared to fight, only to have Usopp's face come in between the impact.

Nojiko appears, and after Sanji claims she had to be Nami's sister, because they are both so beautiful, she decides to tell the crew about Nami's past to make sure they don't make things worse for Nami, though only Sanji and Usopp agree to listen. Once Nami breaks down after Arlongs betrayal and asks Luffy for help, Sanji, Usopp and Zoro join him on the march on Arlong Park.



Hatchi summons Momoo once again to attack the pirates. However, Sanji and the pirates are inimpressed as they've already fought Momoo. Luffy grabs Momoo and spins his body at the rest of the Arlong pirates knocking most of them out. Luffy found his feet stuck in the cement due to the blow and was defenseless. The fish-men threw a boulder at Luffy and Sanji shattered it with a kick to protect his friend. The Straw Hat Pirates each squared off against one of the generals. After Usopp began his fearful run from Chew, Sanji became distracted watching Zoro fight Hachi and takes a powerful punch from Kuroobi and blown from the impact through a wall many yards away. Sanji gets back up after Zoro's fight is done claiming that Kuroobi's strength does not compare to the kicks he received from Zeff. In order to save Luffy from drowning, Sanji dives into the pool. Kuroobi follows Sanji into the water, demonstrating that Sanji's movement is slowed down underwater, while fish-people remain unaffected, if not stronger, by beating him up and preventing him from surfacing. Grabbing Sanji, Kuroobi pulls Sanji up, then down quickly so that the severe change in water pressure would crush Sanji's body. Thinking quickly, Sanji remembered that fish die when their gills are blocked. Sanji does this and escapes from his grasp.

After assuring Zoro that Luffy was alive, Sanji challenged Kuroobi to a battle on land. Kuroobi accepts but is quickly defeated by Sanji's kicks. He and Zoro then fight against Arlong, but the two were both defeated, agreeing that only Luffy could win. While Zoro kept Arlong distracted, and with minor interference by Hachi, Sanji dives back into the water and frees Luffy's body. He then watches Luffy battle Arlong with Nojiko and Genzo.

After the destruction of the park, Sanji and the Straw Hats celebrate with the locals. They take off once more for the Grand Line with Nami joining them.

Loguetown Arc
After regaining Nami, Sanji and his fellow crewmates sailed towards the Grand Line. Along the way, they decided to stop by Loguetown for last minute supplies for the journey ahead. Knowing the need of his fellow pirates, Sanji bought some food, among which was an Elephant Tuna. Though the shopping trip was relatively uneventful, something suddenly happened as the day went on. Sanji's captain had suddenly been captured.

In the midst of their trip around Loguetown, Sanji's captain had been captured by an old foe of his, Buggy. Having been caught by this old foe, Luffy was going to be executed by Buggy on the same execution platform that Gol D. Roger died on. Seeing Luffy in danger, Sanji and Zoro immediately tried to rescue their captain. Though they were not able to reach Luffy in time, Luffy was nonetheless miraculously saved by a bolt of lightning. Regardless of how it happened, Sanji regrouped with his fellow crewmates to escape fom Buggy and the Marines stationed in Loguetown.

As Sanji and his two companions were escaping, they were momentarily stopped by Captain Smoker. Despite the brief road bump and the sudden appearance of a mysterious storm, Sanji and the rest were able to regroup back on the Going Merry to begin their new journey into the Grand Line. As the Straw Hats sailed through the storm, Sanji pulled out a barrel for which he and his fellow crewmates could have a little ceremony. Swearing their dreams upon breaking the barrel, the Straw Hats sailed towards the Grand Line.

Into the Grand Line
After going through a storm and a slight detour, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats went up the Reverse Mountain to enter the Grand Line. Though they were able to successfully climb up the mountain, they unfortunately hit a snag as they entered the Grand Line, a giant whale was blocking the entrance. While Sanji and the rest of the crew were able to stop the ship just in time, Luffy's special seat however was broken in the process. Due to the ensuing reaction that came from Sanji's captain from this, Sanji and the rest of the crew except Luffy unfortunately got swallowed by the whale in retaliation.

Within the whale's stomach, Sanji and his fellow pirates found out that an old guy named Crocus had made his home within the whale. From him not only did they learn that of a way out of the whale, but also of the whale's story. The heavily scarred whale, Laboon, was bashing his head on the Red Line in hopes of being reunited with a group of pirates that left him fifty years ago. While Sanji and the rest could not do anything about this problem, Sanji's captain however gave the whale some new hope to look forward to.

After the situation with Laboon and getting some antics involving on how to travel the Grand Line, Sanji and the rest of the crew's company was soon joined by two more, the beautiful Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9. The two were suspicious looking people that tried to take Laboon's meat earlier. Through certain circumstances, they required the aid of the Straw Hats in getting back to their home at Whisky Peak. Despite the suspicious nature of the individuals, Sanji and the rest took the two aboard.

Whisky Peak Arc
Due to the unpredictable weather of the Grand Line, Sanji ended up shoveling snow on board the Going Merry. Soon afterward, he had to help control the ship upon learning that it had turned 180 degrees, and when the weather changed once more, he prepared onigiri to keep everyone's energy up. After much toil, Sanji and the rest of the crew managed to stabilize the ship, but were unable to move from sheer exhaustion. Eventually, the crew reached Whisky Peak, where he noted that there was a good chance they would encounter some monsters since they were in the Grand Line. Sanji was surprised when they encountered people cheering at the sight of pirates. Upon being told that this was a town of welcoming and celebration, Sanji Luffy, and Usopp immediately agreed to share tales of their adventures with the townsfolk.

That night, Sanji managed to flirt with 20 women at once, to the amazement of onlookers. Eventually, believing that this was a wonderful town, he passed out after drinking a large amount of alcohol.

Later, after the Straw Hats were put on the hit list of Baroque Works, Sanji and Usopp were violently woken up by Luffy, who dragged them out of the building they were sleeping in all the way to their ship. Once the rest of the Straw Hats and Vivi arrived, Sanji demanded to know why they were leaving such a nice town, only to be punched by Nami to shut him up. When Nico Robin appeared on the ship as Miss All-Sunday, Sanji and Usopp confronted her, with Sanji pointing a pistol at her head, but Robin threw them away with her powers, at which point Sanji saw her face and realized she was beautiful. After Vivi explained the situation to him, Sanji noted he still had a chance to shine before promising to protect her.

Little Garden Arc
After some sailing, Sanji and the rest of the crew reached their next destination, Little Garden. Noting that they did not properly restock their food supply while in Whisky Peak, Sanji hoped that they get properly resupply in this jungle island. As most of the crew was going out to explore, Sanji asked Zoro to get some meat. The simple request however turned into a heated squabble as Zoro proclaimed that he would do so since he could retrieve more than Sanji anyways. Spurred by this, Sanji challenged Zoro to a hunting competition to see who could catch the bigger prey. With this, the both of them went into the jungle to hunt.

As Sanji ventured through the jungle, he encountered a dinosaur. Defeating it, he returned back to the Going Merry with his prize. However while waiting at the ship as time passed, Sanji noticed that something might be wrong as nobody else but him had returned. Setting out into the jungle once again, Sanji discovered, by chance, a house completely made out of wax for which he momentarily enjoyed a cup of tea in it. As he was leaving, he heard a Den Den Mushi ring. Answering it, he was surprised to find out that he was directly talking to the leader of Baroque Works, Crocodile.



Realizing that the house he was in was the base of one Baroque Works' agents, Sanji pretended to be Mr. 3 for whom Crocodile mistook him for. Talking to Crocodile in this guise, Sanji tried to convince the Shichibukai that he had accomplished his mission in eliminating Vivi and the Straw Hat pirates. As he was talking, Sanji was momentarily taken off guard as Mr. 13 and Miss Friday, the Unluckies, appeared. After defeating these two and finishing up his false report to Crocodile, Sanji took the Eternal Pose to Alabasta that was meant to be given to the real Mr. 3 by the Unluckies. Knowing that there were Baroque Works agents on the island, Sanji then rushed off in search for the rest of the crew.

Eventually, Sanji regrouped with the rest of the crew together with a pair of giants they befriended. To his joy, Sanji not only found out that both Vivi and Nami were safe, but he also got to see a nice sight from Nami without her shirt on as a result from the battle with Mr. 3 and his group. After explaining things about his talk with Crocodile to the rest of the crew, Sanji revealed to them the Eternal Pose he swiped much to their delight. With this and after a slight argument about who won the hunting competition, Sanji and the rest of the crew set sail for their next destination. With a little help from the giants in defeating a giant goldfish, they were able to finally leave Little Garden.

Adventure in a Doctorless Kingdom


Sanji was one of the most devastated upon hearing that Nami's disease could possibly be fatal. He assured the crew he did everything he could nutritionally, but they would need a doctor to truly help Nami get better. The crew agreed to head to a nearby island for help. Once he and the rest of the Straw Hats arrived on Drum Island in search for a doctor, he decided to depart with Luffy and Nami on their quest to find the witch living in the abandoned castle who could possibly save Nami's life. Along the way, he and Luffy encountered an infant Lapahn, and easily defeated it. However, this invoked the wrath of an entire herd of enormous adult Lapahn, who attempted to assault the two. During the ensuing struggle, Sanji protected Luffy and (more importantly to him) Nami, at the cost of becoming critically injured. Luffy pulled the injured Sanji out of the snow and was determined to carry them up the mountain. The Lapahns that caused an avalanche were soon helping them reach the top due to Luffy helping a buried Lapahn. The Lapahns fought of Wapol and his men so Luffy could continue to bring Sanji and Nami to the top of the mountain.

Upon regaining consciousness, Sanji attempted to capture Chopper, hoping to turn him into a stew for Nami to make her feel better. Once he witnessed Chopper's transformation, though, he expressed shock along with Luffy that the reindeer was a "monster". However, once Luffy claimed that he wanted to recruit Chopper into his crew, Sanji seemed to go along with his desire.

As Luffy continued to chase after Chopper, Sanji and Nami listened as Dr. Kureha informed them of Chopper's sad past. As she finished her story, Chopper burst into the room, informing her that Wapol had returned.

Sanji joined Luffy outside to defeat Wapol and his minions Chess and Kuromarimo. When Luffy ran inside to get Nami's jacket, though, Sanji and Chopper were left to fend for themselves. Kuromarimo launched bits of his hair onto Sanji, which clung onto his body. The hair was then lit on fire by one of Chess's flaming arrows. After Luffy and Chopper began their counter-attack, Dr. Kureha pinned Sanji to the ground, making sure that he did not battle so that he would not agitate his already wounded body. Even without his help, though, Luffy and Chopper managed to deal with the tyrant king and his two followers.

After Luffy had defeated Wapol and the rest of the crew joined up with Luffy and Sanji, Chopper approached Luffy and said that he declined his offer to become a pirate. Luffy however told him to shut up and come with him, which got Chopper to join the crew after all. Shortly after the recruitment of Chopper, Sanji and the rest the crew continued their journey with their newfound friend.

Alabasta Arc
Sanji was below deck when the rest of the crew rescued and met Mr. 2 Bon Kurei. When the crew landed, Sanji was apparently assigned to go get desert attire for the crew, which resulted in him buying dancers outfits for Vivi and Nami (even though they wore an outfit over those clothes in the desert to prevent sunburn). Throughout the desert, Sanji got annoyed with Luffy's losing their food (first with the Kung-Fu Dugongs, then with the Warusagi Birds). When the Straw Hats came across the Sandora Lizard, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji easily defeated it.

Upon reaching Rainbase, the crew separated to escape the Marines. He and Chopper were the only ones who were not captured by Crocodile. After they decimated the Baroque Works Millions, Sanji introduced himself as "Mr. Prince" and made it seem like he had been captured to lure Crocodile outside with a Baby Den Den Mushi. Using Chopper as a decoy, Sanji then somehow destroyed the bridge to Rain Dinners and found Vivi, who was sent to go find help. Upon entering the room in which the crew was held, Sanji fought Bananawani to get the key to the cage the rest of the crew were in. Instead, Sanji kicked Mr. 3's wax-wax ball out of one of them, whom he then 'persuaded' to make a duplicate key. The crew then raced to the Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta, on a Moving Crab. When the crew provided a distraction for the remaining Baroque Works officers agents so Vivi could get past them. Sanji and Chopper were chased by Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas. Sanji left Chopper to go check on Usopp and Eyelashes, who were followed by Bon Kurei.



Sanji set off to save Vivi from Bon Kurei. He initially had the advantage over Bon Kurei's Okama Kenpo and outright ridiculous use of his Mane Mane no Mi. Bon Kurei then turned into Nami, which he recognized as Sanji's weakness. As Nami, Sanji could not bring himself to attack Bon Kurei. Sanji then saw Bon Kurei's weakness: he could not use his Okama Kenpo in Nami's form. After Bon Kurei uses his swan slippers, the battle reached its peak where Sanji ultimately emerged as the victor over Bon Kurei, which ended the battle. As Bon Kurei was incapable of even moving, he asked Sanji to finish him of. Sanji however said that they had a good fight and did not need to finish him of, which made apparently Bon Kurei very happy. Sanji, however, did kick him and took the goggles which he had stolen from Usopp.

After he met up with Vivi and the rest of the crew, he began searching for the bomb which was set to destroy the entire city. After Vivi had found it, he and the rest of the crew assisted Vivi in climbing the tower. When Vivi reached the top of the tower, she took at Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day who were guarding the bomb. She then defused prevented the cannon from firing the bomb. However, this did not end the threat to the city, as the bomb was revealed to be a time bomb and would explode anyway. Pell, however, came and flew the bomb to a safe location, sacrificing his own life while saving his beloved kingdom.

After the bomb had fired, the struggle between the rebels and the king's army went on as if nothing had happened. Which caused Sanji and the rest of the crew to bring the battle to a halt as much as they could. But shortly after Crocodile was defeated, it began raining, which caused the war entirely. As the events unfolded at the battlefield, Sanji and his crewmates took this opportunity to find Luffy, which they later found being carried by the King himself. After the king left Luffy and went to the battlefield to sort things out. Sanji and the rest of the crew all passed out from fatigue.

Luffy woke up 3 days later in the palace alongside some of his crewmates. After Luffy and his crew had a banquet with Vivi and several others to celebrate their victory, they went to the bath, where the king properly thanked Luffy and his crewmates. After all the festivities, the crew left silently in the night to continue their journey.

As they arrived at the ship, they met up with the previously defeated Bon Kurei, who apparently had protected their ship from being taken away. After the crew told him about their objectives, Bon Kurei offered to go along with them. Shortly after they arrived at the meeting spot they had arranged with Vivi, Hina along with some marines came to capture the Straw Hat Pirates. Bon Kurei pleaded that they should escape as soon as possible, the crew refused however and said that they would wait for their friend. After hearing this, Bon Kurei was touched by their sense of friendship, and offered himself as bait to lure the marines away from the crew, which ultimately got him captured.

After Vivi had arrived and told them she would not accompany them on their next journey, she asked them if they would still consider her as one of them to which the entire crew replied by raising their left arms in the air and showed the 'X' mark, which symbolized their friendship. This brought Vivi to tears and she raised her left arm as well. After this, the crew sailed of to continue their journey.

Rumble in Jaya
Though depressed at not having the beautiful Vivi join the crew, Sanji and the rest of his crewmates came across a new development. Another beauty, Nico Robin, a.k.a. Miss All-Sunday from Baroque Works, had stowed away on the Going Merry and to Sanji's delight asked Luffy to let her join his crew. To his joy, Sanji's captain agreed and thus Sanji wasted no time in making Robin feel right at home. Not long afterwards, a massive ship fell from the sky. From a brief search of the sinking ship by his captain and an explanation from Robin, Sanji and the rest of his crewmates learned that the ship fell from an island in the sky called Skypiea.



Needing more information on the matter, Sanji joined the expedition team consisting of himself, Luffy, and Zoro. Using special diving suits made by Usopp, they explored the sunken ship. As they were exploring the ship, their search was suddenly cut short as the ship was suddenly clamped and filled with air, and a bunch of other people appeared. After taking care of the intruders within the newly created air pocket, Sanji and his companions encountered a monkey-like person bursting in. Although his captain initially got along with the person, they unfortunately got on bad terms with Masira when they found out they were after the same thing.

Fortunately, Sanji and his two crewmates were able to escape from Masira as well as from a giant turtle that ate the ship. As Sanji and the others were about to deal with Masira and his crew, they all suddenly found themselves in the presence of shadowy silhouettes of creatures much larger than normal giants. After apparently escaping from the creatures and getting rid of a little stow away, Sanji and the rest learned of Jaya from an Eternal Pose that Robin stole. Needing more info on Skypiea, Sanji and the rest sailed to the island.

Arriving at Jaya at the port of Mock Town, Sanji and the others learned that they had landed at a lawless town filled with pirates. Unable to join either Nami's group or Robin in exploring the place due to Usopp and Chopper's begging, Sanji stayed behind to guard the Going Merry. After the rather uneventful wait, Sanji and his two companions were surprised to find that Luffy and Zoro were heavily wounded. Although Nami's group proved unsuccessful in getting any information, Robin was. Learning that a man by the name of Mont Blanc Cricket might know something, Sanji and the others headed off to the other side of Jaya.

After encountering and escaping from a brief encounter with Masira's brother, Shoujou, Sanji and his fellow crewmates came upon Cricket's home. There they had a little misunderstanding with Cricket and Sanji had a brief battle with him. However in the middle of the battle, Sanji and the rest found out that the old man suffered from decompression sickness. Taking care of the old man, Sanji and the rest were able to clear things up with him and his two proteges, Masira and Shoujou.

As Sanji and his fellow crewmates explained their problem on how to get to Skypiea, they learned that Cricket was a descendant of Mont Blanc Noland, a guy known for being a liar in Sanji's home seas. Showing interest in the story and Cricket's dream, they convinced him to help them out. Later as the Saruyama Alliance and the Straw Hats were dining on Sanji's cooking, they realized that they needed something important to aid them, the South Bird. This bird as explained to them by Cricket, was needed to find a Knock Up Stream needed to help them get to Skypiea. Having been told this, Sanji and his fellow pirates quickly went in search for the bird.



Teaming up with Nami and Usopp, Sanji and his fellow companions found that searching for the bird was harder than expected. It was also revealed in a gag scene that Sanji is terrified of spiders. Despite the antics, Sanji and his fellow pirates were able to catch a South Bird thanks to Robin. With the bird, they headed back to Cricket's. Upon returning however, they discovered that while they were away Cricket and his proteges were robbed by some pirates that Luffy encountered in Mock Town earlier. As Luffy went off to get Cricket's gold back, Sanji and the rest stayed behind to heal the Saruyama Alliance's wounds and prepare the Going Merry.

After a long wait for Luffy's return, Sanji and his fellow pirates were able to set sail on the newly modified Going Merry escorted by Masira and Shoujou's ships. Arriving at the designated place for a Knock Up Stream, they waited until the conditions were just. As they maneuvered the Going Merry through the waves into the right position, the Straw Hats encountered a certain pirate and his crew that Luffy met at Mock Town. The pirate and his crew had come to claim the new bounties issued on Luffy and Zoro during Alabasta. To Sanji's disappointment, he did not get one despite his efforts. This encounter with this pirate however was short as the Knock Up Stream suddenly started to burst. Riding on the propelled Going Merry, Sanji alongside his fellow pirates went up into the sky as well inadvertently escaping from the pursuing pirate.

Arrival at Angel Island
After surviving an intense trip up into the sky, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats arrived in an ocean of clouds. Experiencing their new surroundings for the first time, Sanji and the rest soon encountered hostilities. Due to the lack of oxygen in such a high altitude environment, Sanji, Luffy, and Zoro were easily beaten by a masked assailant. Fortunately, the Straw Hats were saved by the sky knight, Gan Fall and his pet bird, Pierre. After being saved by this strange knight, Sanji and the rest maneuvered the Going Merry across the White Sea until they reached Heaven's Gate. Upon entering, they were allowed to be transported to Skypiea by a sky shrimp without paying the gate watcher, not knowing that they would be entering illegally.

Arriving at Angel Beach, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats soon befriended two locales, Conis and her father Pagaya. The former of the two entranced Sanji with her beauty. As the Straw Hats were entertained and informed of local stuff by the two, Sanji noticed that Nami, who had decided to try out a dial powered device known as a waver earlier, had gone out of sight. It was then that the pirates learned of the forbidden place called Upper Yard. Fearing that Nami may have gone there, Sanji immediately wanted the rest of them to look for her. However before the pirates could do anything, they were intercepted by the White Berets.

Having been accused of entering illegally, the Straw Hats were forced to pay the fine. Despite their initial cooperation, they were put into a dire situation when a recently returned Nami unintentionally knocked down the White Beret leader with the waver, McKinley. Seeing the situation, Sanji along with Zoro and Luffy immediately subdued the hostile White Berets. Though they defeated them, they unfortunately got a higher penalty than what they started out with. Realizing the situation they were in, the Straw Hats decided to set sail so as to not bring any trouble to their hosts.

As Sanji was preparing for the journey ahead at Conis' house, he along with Luffy and Usopp learned of a new development. Aside from the fact that Nami had put on a shirt over her bikini top, Sanji and his two crewmates saw the Going Merry and the rest of the crew on it being taken by a large sky shrimp. From their hosts, Sanji and the remaining two pirates learned that the rest of the crew were being taken to a sacrificial altar in Upper Yard to receive judgment from the priests. They on the other hand, were to be tested as they attempted to rescue their captured crewmates at Upper Yard. Having no other choice, Sanji and his two companions decided to head to Upper Yard to rescue the rest of crew.



Lead by Conis to a dock for gondolas, Sanji and his two companions were instructed how to get to Upper Yard and given a gondola, the Karasumaru, to use. As they were lead by her, they noticed that she and everyone else they met along the way were acting very strange. To their surprise, Conis revealed to Sanji and his two companions that not only was it her that called the shrimp that took the Going Merry, but she was also helping them so selflessly as it was her forced duty to Skypiea's god, Enel. Despite this revelation though, the pirates were more concerned that Conis was now going to be target for telling them such things. It however was too late, Enel exacted his judgment on Conis for telling them the truth in the form of a gigantic lightning volt.

Fortunately, Conis was saved at that moment by Gan Fall. With the knight promising to take care of Conis, Sanji and his two companions headed out to Upper Yard.

The Upper Yard Forest


As Sanji and his fellow pirates sailed through the Upper Yard Forest in search of their kidnapped crewmates, they eventually came upon one of the so called trials. Entering a part of the forest filled with lots of balls made from island clouds, they soon encountered one of Enel's priests, Satori. Upon encountering the priest, not only did Sanji and his companions found out that Satori had some form of technique that allowed him predict where their attacks would come from, they also found out that the guy had some sort of trick that allowed him to deliver massive blows with a simple touch. Adding to that fact that the priest had also hidden all sorts of surprises in the clouds found throughout the area, Sanji and his two companions found the priest to be very challenging as he knocked them off the Karasumaru and set their boat adrift.

As they struggled fighting with the priest, Sanji and Luffy were able to get a chance to hit a clean blow when Luffy messed up one of Satori's attack. In the smoke of the explosion, Luffy was able to capture the priest, and said that the ability to predict attacks is useless if the attacks could not be dodged. Restrained, he began begging for mercy, claiming the odds of two versus one was "unfair". Sanji became enraged reminded Satori about the kidnapping of Nami and Robin (Zoro and Chopper as well), that Satori had no right to talk of fairness, and told Satori of his own challenge...of "love". With Luffy still restraining Satori, Sanji compared his attack to tenderizing meat and was able to K-O Satori with a single attack. Having defeated the priest, Sanji and Luffy pressed forward after Usopp relocated the lost Karasumaru. With this, they continued their search not knowing of the consequences their actions had caused.

As they continued their search, Sanji and his fellow pirates found the rest of the trip uneventful except a brief meeting with the guerrilla that attacked them earlier, Wiper. Eventually, they were able to reunite with the rest of the crew at the sacrificial altar. Seeing the state their ship was in, and having too many questions, Sanji and the rest of the crew decided to camp out for the night. As they discussed the events that had unfolded, Sanji and the rest learned something important from Nami, Upper Yard was the long lost part of Jaya mentioned in Mont Blanc Noland's tale. Realizing the truth to the tale, Sanji and the others decided then that as pirates they should search the fabled gold mentioned as well.



After a night of discussing things and dancing with wolves, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats went ahead with the plans they made. With the Going Merry somehow mysteriously fixed, which Usopp claimed was done by some mysterious spirit, Sanji joined the team consisting of himself, Nami, and Usopp. With the ship, they were to navigate it out of Upper Yard and dock it as close to the ruins where the gold was said to be. As they were sailing to the designated place, Gan Fall, who had joined the pirates' company through some events, explained some things about Skypiea and Upper Yard. From the former God, they learned about Skypiea's history, the use of Dials in warfare, and Mantra, which explained some of the mysteries they dealt within the sky island.

Though their trip out of the Upper Yard Forest initially appeared uneventful, Sanji and the companions with him had an unexpected meeting, Enel appeared before them. With the God before them, Sanji and Usopp were easily knocked out cold by Enel's powers. Though unconscious, they were protected by Nami and Gan Fall from Hotori and Kotori. Later their wounds were tended by Conis, who came into Upper Yard with her father and a Shandia girl.

Final Moments in the Sky


After recuperating through a series of events, Sanji awoke to find that Nami was no where in sight on the Going Merry. As he looked around, he spotted her on a flying ship hovering over Upper Yard, the Maxim. Seeing that she needed rescuing, Sanji woke up Usopp and they both attempted a rescue mission. Using Usopp's devices, Sanji and his fellow pirate were able to climb aboard the soaring ship. As the two split up in order to locate Nami faster, Sanji came across some important looking gears within the ship.

After messing with the Maxim's gears, Sanji arrived just in time at the top deck to save Usopp and Nami from Enel. Though he was shocked by Enel for doing so, Sanji's actions down below however put a wrench in the god's plan. As Sanji lay unconscious once again, Usopp, who was able to secretly stay aboard, took the electrocuted chef off the Maxim and back down to the rest of the Straw Hats. Though he had been rendered unconscious again by Enel, Sanji woke up upon hearing the legendary golden bell of Shandora ring as Luffy finally defeated Enel.

After the whole ordeal and some recuperating, Sanji and his fellow pirates decided to hold a large party with everyone on Skypiea in celebration. After several days of nonstop partying, Sanji along with the rest of the crew were woken up by Luffy to get a hold of some gold. Learning from his captain of the gold located in the belly of the giant snake, Nola, Sanji and a few of the crew journeyed into the sleeping beast's belly to gather some much sought after treasure. As Sanji and the rest were preparing to leave with their "stolen loot", they saw a bunch of Skypieans and Shandia carrying what they believe was a huge cannon. Believing the people were going to get them for stealing, Sanji and the rest immediately left in a hurry towards the Going Merry, not knowing that the cannon that the sky natives were carrying was actually a golden pillar that they were planning to give to the Straw Hats as a reward.

After escaping aboard the Going Merry, Sanji and the rest of the crew were taken to Cloud's End by Conis. There, they were transported back down to the Blue Sea by a Balloon Octopus. As they floated back down, they heard the ringing of the golden bell that was rung in honor of Straw Hats.

The Foxy Pirates
After their adventure in Skypiea, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats finally returned to the Blue Sea. After navigating through some of the Grand Line's dangers and a discussion with what to do with the gold they gathered from their previous adventure, Sanji and the rest soon came to their next destination. While Luffy and two others decided to explore this new island, Sanji and the rest decided to stay behind on the Going Merry. However as they were preparing things, they soon came to face with a new danger. A giant ship had trapped the Going Merry between its anchors and its crew, the Foxy Pirates, were itching for a fight with the Straw Hats.

Facing this new foe, Sanji and those with him soon learned that the Foxy Pirates wanted to challenge the Straw Hats to a Davy Back Fight. Knowing what a Davy Back Fight is, Sanji along with Robin explained what it was to Zoro and Nami. With this knowledge, Sanji and the rest also realized what had happened to some pirates they had met earlier. Knowing that their pride as pirates was on the line, Sanji decided to partake in the sport as his captain accepted the challenge in the distance with a gunshot. With this, Sanji and his fellow pirates entered into a Davy Back Fight with the Foxy Pirates.

After some pre-game formalities, Sanji and his fellow pirates decided on what Davy Back Fight games they would participate in. Along with Zoro and Chopper, Sanji decided to participate in the second round of the Davy Back Fight games, the Groggy Ring. As Sanji and the rest awaited for their turn and watched the first round of the games, they soon learned of the Foxy Pirate's cheating ways. The most devastating of their tricks, the Straw Hats witnessed was from their captain, Foxy, who had eaten the Noro Noro no Mi. With this Devil Fruit, Foxy caused the Straw Hats to lose the first round. Having won the round for the Foxy Pirates, the sneaky captain then took away Chopper thus taking one of Sanji's teammates for the next round. With Chopper taken away, Sanji along with Zoro were forced to not only participate in their event with one man short, but also forced to face against three of most gigantic members of the Foxy Pirates, the Groggy Monsters.



Following the rules of the game, Sanji was unfortunately made the ball of the Straw Hat team. His role was that if he was dunked into the Straw Hats' buoy, the Groggy Monsters would win. For his opponents, their ball was the biggest member of the team, Big Pan. While Sanji and Zoro were more than capable to handle the situation they were in, their team however suffered a major setback. Due to their rivalry with one another, they spent most of the match arguing with another rather than working together, a trait their gigantic opponents were masters of.

To make matters worse, the referee of the match was a member of the Foxy Pirates who would "unfortunately" look the other way at certain times thus giving the Groggy Monsters chances to use illegal weapon. This made Sanji mad however despite his protests, he was unfortunately given a yellow penalty card for attacking the referee. With Sanji and Zoro's inability to properly work together, the Groggy Monsters' teamwork, and the crooked referee, the two of them soon found themselves being hammered by their opponents. As the two of them were beaten to a bloody pulp, they however decided then to stop bickering with one another and defeat their opponents.

Standing once more to their opponents, Sanji and Zoro were then pitted against the strongest attack the Groggy Monsters could deliver, Monster Burger. However thanks to them finally deciding to work together, they were able to counter the attack successfully and turn it into their advantage. In the middle of the fray also, Sanji kicked to his delight Pickles, one of the Groggy Monsters, towards the unsuspecting referee who decided to not watch the match as the Groggy Monsters were cheating. With practically all of their opponents neutralized through their teamwork, Sanji and Zoro did one last team attack which ultimately resulted in Zoro dunking Big Pan into the Groggy Monster's buoy. Having thus won the match, Sanji and Zoro were able to win a match for the Straw Hats in the Davy Back Fight and get Chopper back.

After his and Zoro's event and getting Chopper, Sanji and the rest of the crew watched on as Luffy partook his turn in the Davy Back Fight, the main event, Combat. Despite Foxy's tricks, Luffy was able to defeat the trickster to the amazement of Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats. Having won the final round against Foxy, the Straw Hats were given the choice of picking one of the Foxy Pirates. Despite the sexy Gina, one of the Foxy shipwrights, catching Sanji's eye, Luffy instead chooses to take Foxy's Jolly Roger. After taking the symbol and giving the pirates a new one made by Luffy, the Straw Hats bid farewell to the Foxy Pirates.

Encounter with Aokiji
Having dealt with the Foxy Pirates, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats decided to go see Tonjit, a friend that Luffy and those with him made earlier. However when they arrived to Tonjit's house, an unexpected guest was also awaiting there, Marine admiral Aokiji. Though this Marine initially appeared to be non-hostile to the Straw Hats, even helping Tonjit out, it soon became clear that he was a threat to them particularly towards Nico Robin. Before they knew it, Sanji and half of the crew were fighting against the Marine. However due to Aokiji's Hie Hie no Mi Devil Fruit powers, Sanji ended up getting his leg frozen along with Luffy's arm and Zoro's sword.

As Aokiji froze Nico Robin, Sanji and the rest retreated to thaw themselves out while Luffy dealt with the Marine. After thawing out his leg, Sanji along with Zoro decided to head back to help Luffy. By the time, they got there however, Luffy was completely frozen but thankfully still in one piece for the rest of the crew to thaw out. Though the encounter with the Marine had left Sanji and the Straw Hats worn, they fortunately were able to survive it. After some time for Robin and Luffy to recover, the crew decided to continue on with their journey.

The Incidents at Water 7
As Sanji and the rest of the crew were heading to their next destination, they came into a little trouble with a giant frog and what appeared to be a train running on water. After the brief encounter, they were explained what was the deal with the frog, Yokozuna, and the train, the Puffing Tom, by the nearby train station manager, Kokoro, and her granddaughter, Chimney. They also informed that their next destination would be Water 7, a city famed for its shipwrights. Learning about this, the Straw Hats decided to venture to the city in search for a shipwright to join their crew. Sanji himself personally wanted to find a hot female shipwright to join them.

Eventually, the Straw Hats reached the fabled city of water. Some time after docking at a peninsula near Water 7, Sanji decided to go shopping upon finding that most of the crew went on ahead. As he was shopping around for supplies, he caught a glimpse of Nico Robin accompanying a masked person into an alley. However, just as he was about to catch up to her, Robin and the masked person had somehow vanished while briefly out of Sanji's sight. The mystery of what Sanji had encountered was further deepened when he met up with Chopper and learned that the masked person was not Chopper in human form. Remembering what Aokiji said about Robin before, Sanji feared the worst. With nothing else to do, he and Chopper decided to go back to the Going Merry and await for her there.

Upon arriving back on the ship, things just got worse. First, Sanji learned from Zoro that a shipwright who examined Merry deemed it incapable of being repaired. Next he learned from Nami that Usopp had been attacked by a gang of ship dismantlers called the Franky Family, while carrying two thirds of the money the Straw Hats exchanged for the gold they got from Skypiea. Together with Chopper and Zoro, Sanji went to where Nami left Usopp. Instead of Usopp, they found a trail of blood. Joined up by Luffy then, Sanji and the rest went to the hideout of the Franky Family, figuring that Usopp went there to retrieve back the money. Sure enough, they found the heavily beaten Usopp in front of the Franky House.



Enraged by what the Franky Family did to Usopp, Sanji and his fellow Straw Hats decided to take revenge. Barging into the gang's hideout, they completely pulverized the Franky Family. Unfortunately, the money was long since gone, having been taken by the gang's leader, Franky, to somewhere. With nothing else to do about it and Robin still unaccounted for, Sanji and the rest returned back to Going Merry to face the hard truth, they had to part with Merry. Though Sanji and most of the other Straw Hats accepted that this was the only decision, only Usopp went against it. With feelings raging between Usopp and Luffy over the matter, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats were powerless to prevent Usopp from deciding to leave the crew and challenge Luffy for ownership of the Going Merry.

Incited by this turn of events, Sanji could only but argue with Zoro over which one of them could've prevented such a thing. Regardless however, the duel between Luffy and Usopp came. Though Sanji and the rest witnessed Usopp put up a valiant effort against Luffy, the outcome still came in favor for Luffy. As the dust settled from the duel, Sanji prevented Chopper from helping Usopp fully. Understanding the situation how Usopp's pride would be broken if he as the loser was treated, Sanji explained to Chopper this awful truth. With the crew shaken up by this whole incident, Sanji and the rest left Usopp with the Going Merry either way and rented a room in the city.

Knowing that Robin was not around during this terrible affair, Sanji waited for her at the peninsula to tell her what happened. Despite his waiting, Robin did not come. Returning back to the hotel momentarily, he decided to look for her in the streets with Chopper aiding him. Just as the two were about to head off, they learned some troubling news from Nami. Iceburg, the mayor of Water 7 and president of the Galley-La Company, was just recently shot. The man was an important figure that the Straw Hats needed in regards to ship transactions. Apart from this, the two later learned, while searching for Robin, of more troubling news. The yearly high tide called Aqua Laguna was coming to hit Water 7 soon.

Fearing that Usopp may not know that Aqua Laguna was coming, both Sanji and Chopper warned their former crewmate indirectly about the impending danger. After their little charade, the two continued their search for Robin. As they continued searching, things got even more hectic. It was identified that Robin was involved with the Iceburg's shooting. Because of that the whole city became frantic in search for Robin or any of her associates. Fortunately, because Sanji and Chopper were not identified as being associated with her, they were able to continue searching for her without much bother. As they searched, they eventually came across with her.



Though Sanji and Chopper finally found Robin in the midst of the chaos, she told them what they've feared upon learning about her involvement with the whole incident with Iceburg. She really was responsible and now she wanted to part ways. With this turn of events, Sanji and Chopper were left questioning of Robin's "apparent betrayal". Though she stated her reason, Sanji refused to accept it. As he sent Chopper off to tell Luffy and the others of what just happened, Sanji decided to investigate further the real reason behind Robin's actions.

Figuring that Robin might leave Water 7 via the next sea train departure, he waited for her at the train station. Eventually, his wait bore fruit as she arrived at the station at the next departure accompanied by some Marines and some World Government agents. Also with her were two captives, Usopp and some guy with a punk hairstyle. Seeing that the sea train was about to depart and that the others probably would not be able to arrive in time, Sanji left a note to Nami describing his actions and stowed away on board the Puffing Tom.

On Board the Puffing Tom
Having stowed away on board the Puffing Tom in pursuit of Robin and Usopp, Sanji was soon discovered by the government agents on the car he was on. Fortunately, he was able defeat them and their leader Jerry. Battling across to the next car, Sanji was able to reunite with his former crewmate Usopp and someone quite unexpected, Franky. Despite all that happened before in Water 7, Sanji freed the two. Moving to the roof of the car to hide from the rest of the agents and Marines, Sanji then contacted Nami via a Den Den Mushi to report the situation and was then informed by her the real reason behind Robin's actions. Having learned about what really happened, Sanji was more than determined before to rescue Robin from CP9.

With this news, Sanji was joined in the rescue by Franky who was moved by their story. Usopp on the other hand, did not join Sanji due to his fight with Luffy. Instead, Sanji was joined by Usopp in his newly formed alter-ego Sogeking. Together, the three of them increased their chances of rescuing Robin by tricking most of the agents and Marines on board into the train's last two cars. With the cars filled, they detached the cars and left their would be foes behind. Continuing on, they eventually came across the dining car and the government agent guarding it, Wanze.

Deciding to fight this chef, Sanji let Sogeking and Franky go ahead to save Robin. As Sanji fought against Wanze, he came to a little trouble when Wanze donned his sticky Ramen suit. Fortunately, Sanji was able to counter this by slicing the suit up with his culinary skills. With this obstruction out of the way, Sanji presided in punishing this chef for his blasphemy against the culinary arts and his insults against Robin.

After beating Wanze and reuniting with Franky in the next car, Sanji came across the CP9 agents that took Robin. Meeting these government agents, Sanji found them despicable in their treatment of a fellow agent defeated by Franky and view in justice. Just then Sogeking and Robin came from the car ahead. While Robin refused to be rescued, Sogeking however managed to get her in the midst of the CP9 agents using a smokescreen. With Robin with them, Sanji and his companions proceeded to detach the previous cars in order to escape. Despite this however, the CP9 agents still managed to pursue them. Add to that, Robin still refused to be rescued. With all that was happening, Sanji and his former crewmates were only able to finally get some distance away from the agents thanks to Franky sacrificing himself.

Despite Franky's sacrifice, Robin was still taken back from Sanji and Sogeking via one of the agents' Devil Fruit power. Though beaten and explained furthermore why Robin left with CP9, Sanji continued to try to rescue her until the agent completely left with her. Completely separated from Robin, all that Sanji and Sogeking could do now was wait for their pursuing allies to pick them up.

Rescuing a Friend
As they arrived at Enies Lobby, the Rocket Man lands on Oimo's back. All of them, except Luffy, rode Sodom and Gommorah to the Courthouse. As they waited for the bridge to be activated, they lined up on the roof and convinced Robin to accept their request of saving her. When Kokoro heard that the bridge was only lowered halfway, she helped by using the Rocket Man. Luffy dragged them all down as he jumps onto the train and they crash-landed in the Tower of Justice.

After they landed, Fukurou appeared declaring that a key is needed to un-cuff Robin. The crew decided to fight individually and set out in search for the CP9 agents. Sanji confronted Kalifa, and requested to teach her how to make tea. Later, Kalifa attacked Sanji, who only defended himself due to his chivalry. He was later seen by Nami and Chopper, under the effect of the Awa Awa no Mi and told them "I will not kick a woman, even if I die". He recovered from the Devil Fruit's powers when the bath from Kalifa's room fell near him during Chopper's rampage after his transformation into Monster Point.

The Wolf and the Hunter


He takes over for Usopp, who had been defeated and introduced himself as "the hunter", whilst Jabra is the Wolf. He defeated Jabra after a fierce battle with his new skill called Diable Jambe and took his key. Later, he was seen with Zoro cheering for Usopp's sniper skills as he shot at Spandam and Marines. He and Zoro later carried Usopp to the tunnel to escape. They almost drowned when the tunnel flooded but were saved by Kokoro, who also ruined Sanji's dreams of beautiful mermaids because Kokoro turned out to be a mermaid, and was older then Sanji had hoped a mermaid would be.

As they stole their escape ship, Sanji disappeared. It was later revealed that he turned the lever to close the Gate of Justice, which in turn caused many whirlpools to appear that threw of the marines aim. Unfortunately, their escape ship exploded. Though shortly after that, they heard a voice telling them to jump over into the sea and when they realized that it was the Going Merry, they jump together and finally escaped with the help Nami's navigation skills.



With the Going Merry, everyone has managed to escape Enies Lobby safely. However, after escaping, Iceburg arrived in a Galley-La just in time to pick up the Straw Hat Pirates as the Going Merry suddenly broke apart. Luffy then gave the Going Merry a viking funeral by burning it as the crew tearfully said goodbye (though Sanji and Zoro managed to maintain their straight face).

Post-Enies Lobby Arc
Sanji helped cook for the festival the Straw Hats and allies were having, which incidentally drained almost all of their remaining Belly.



He received his first bounty of 77,000.000 and is nicknamed "Black Leg", in contrast to his old mentor Zeff, who was known as "Red Leg". However, Sanji was horrified to see his picture on the bounty poster. The marines were not able to obtain a photo of him (someone left the lens cap on the camera) and thus used a horrendous composite sketch.

In a flashback, Sanji informed Luffy about Usopp rehearsing what to say to rejoin the crew, and a delighted Luffy wanted to go get him. Zoro, however, believed that Usopp's behavior was disrespectful to Luffy's rank as captain and threatened to leave the crew if Luffy allowed himself to be pushed around. Eventually, the crew agreed with Zoro, and decided to only allow Usopp back if he acknowledged his wrongdoing and apologized.

After waiting for the Thousand Sunny to be completed, the Straw Hats (with the newly added Franky) were forced into a hasty departure, due to Garp changing his mind about capturing them, without Usopp. Luffy cried out in joy when Usopp apologized for being stubborn and asked if he can re-join the crew, of which everyone happily accepted.

Sanji was then seen defending the Thousand Sunny from Garp's attack. But they were ultimately able to escape thanks to the Coup De Burst, after their escape, they were able to continue to their next destination, Fish-Man Island.

Thriller Bark Arc
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, Brook suggested that they eat dinner, which Sanji agrees to cook. Over dinner, Sanji was deeply appalled by Brook's bad manners as the skeleton explained his past. Just as Brook was about to perform on his violin for 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.

Franky then showed the other Straw Hats his present which Nami, Usopp, and Chopper decided to test ride. After crashing into the island and hearing Nami scream, Sanji decided to go ashore and find her. However before Sanji and the rest could go to the island, they were stopped by an invisible thing. The thing grabbed Sanji's leg as he was jumping overboard and slammed the cook to the side of the ship. It then proceeded to trip up Sanji and lick Robin. The thing later left Sanji and the rest baffled.

After the Thousand Sunny got caught in what was apparently an unbreakable spider web, Sanji and the rest descended to the island. There they met the Cerberus which did not intimidate Sanji or the rest of the crew. 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 ask the "Geezer Tree" to join the group.

Later as Sanji was scolding Luffy, he and the rest came across some ghosts whose strange abilities affected Franky, Luffy, and Zoro. After they recovered, they pressed forward. Sanji and the rest encountered some Zombies and defeated them with a combo technique (600,000,000 Belly Jackpot). The group then met with an old man who looked like a Zombie and asked them to defeat Gekko Moriah who had stolen his shadow, so the group headed for the mansion.

During the first fight inside the mansion, Sanji was kidnapped and brought to Moriah to have his shadow put inside Inuppe. The rest of the crew later found him on the Thousand Sunny along with Zoro and Luffy decorated by the zombies. After finding out what had happened to Nami, Sanji was more then determined to stop her wedding with Absalom.



After the crew split up, Sanji, along with Usopp, Franky, and Zoro, ended up in Perona's room. When it was revealed that only Usopp can stand up to Perona's ghosts, Sanji made his way to the wedding chapel to save Nami. There Sanji engaged Absalom in battle to stop Absalom's intended wedding to Nami. He was able to defeat him with ease due to his rage, but got hit a few times to protect Nami.



Sanji later teamed up with other members of the crew to take down Oars. Sanji landed the final blow in flipping Oars over, taking out his legs with an Anti-Manner Kick Course. Shortly after their feat, Gekko Moriah showed up in Oars' Stomach, which increased Oars' mobility and effectiveness in battle. After Robin's shadow was taken, Sanji was furious enough at Oars and Moriah to use Diable Jambe to combat Oars. He ended up redirecting a giant sized Gomu Gomu no Bazooka from hitting the unconscious Robin. He was later beaten down after a team move with Chopper by a Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun from Oars. Things were looking dire as the Straw Hats could not defeat the combo of Moria and Oars.

Shortly after most crew members were defeated. Luffy showed up to save Usopp and Nami, after that Luffy began fighting Oars and Moria in his new form "Nightmare Luffy" .Luffy soon managed to knock down Oars in his new form, but this was still not enough to defeat Oars. Luckily, the entire Straw-Hat crew, including Brook, woke up shortly after Oars stood up once again, and started taking Oars down once and for all. Sanji contributed by kicking the rudder chain of Thriller Bark around Oars, so that they could straighten Oars' spine to the point that it would not be able to withstand Luffy's Gigant Bazooka. After Luffy defeated Moriah in his Shadow's Asgard form (which nearly cost Sanji and the other shadowless people their lives, had their shadows not returned to them) and subsequently passed out, Bartholomew Kuma appeared to kill the Straw Hats and the Thriller Bark Victim's Association.

Not even one of Sanji's kicks was able to damage Kuma (due to the fact that he is a cyborg, which no one knew at the moment), and so, Kuma decided to give the group a choice: Either die, or surrender Luffy to him. After refusing, the group was knocked out cold by Kuma's Ursus Shock. When the attack did not knock Sanji out, he began to bargain with Kuma for Luffy's life to stop Zoro who was doing the same thing, knowing that Zoro's dream was far too important for him to just give up his life. However, after he asked Zoro to tell the crew to find a new cook, Zoro knocked him out. After the rest of the crew awakened, Sanji found a heavily wounded Zoro standing in the woods.

After this, the crew and the Thriller Bark Victim's Association prepared a party to celebrate their victory over Moriah and his zombie army. Sanji learned from the Risky Brothers, who also witnessed what he and Zoro did to protect Luffy, that Zoro took in all of Luffy's pain and exhaustion from his fight with Moriah. Sanji told them not to tell any of the Straw-Hats this, even though Robin had spied on them without his knowledge.

As the feast continued, Brook told Sanji that he also saw what happened, and asked him for a song request that Brook would play on the piano. But before Sanji could say anything, Brook began playing Binks' Sake. When the Straw-Hats prepared to sail away from Thriller Bark, Sanji was ecstatic to go to Merman Island so he could see the mermaids. So much in fact, that when one of the Risky Bros told them that mermaids do not wear panties, he and Brook got massive nosebleeds.

One Piece Film: Strong World
On board the Thousand Sunny, the Straw Hats read the news of attacks on East Blue. Luffy said they would return to East Blue to protect it when Shiki's ship appeared overhead. After warning Shiki of the storm ahead, he came down to meet the Straw Hats. There he revealed that he had a Devil Fruit power to make any inanimate object and he touches ignore gravity and float. After learning it was Nami that delivered the warning and that they are headed to East Blue, Shiki offered to take them there and used his power on Sunny. Together the two ships traveled to Merveille where Shiki suddenly kidnapped Nami. Sanji, along with the others, tried to rescue her, but by controlling the Thousand Sunny using his power, Shiki escaped, as well as scattering them among the fragments of the island.



Sanji and Usopp found themselves on an island surrounded by a cherry tree forest. Sanji wailed for Nami and Robin, with Usopp urging him to keep quit. Due to Sanji's loud outbursts, the attention of many of the giant monster animals dwelling nearby was attracted. The two escaped by jumping on some nearby hanging vines that turned out to be the whiskers of a giant Toramata Tiger. Usopp was about be attacked by it but Sanji jumped in and delivers a powerful kick to its head and knocked the animal out. This, however, attracted the attention of a herd of Cowballs. The battle with them caused the ground to break and the two fell below into a lake connected to another floating island.

Sanji and Usopp went across a village where everyone appeared to have small wings on their arms, and they learned that Shiki took all the men and young women to his royal palace, leaving the village with only the very young and old with strict monitoring around the clock. They soon met up with Zoro and Chopper. When the rest of the crew showed at the village, Robin informed them of Shiki's plan. They learned that Shiki was planning to let loose the animals on the island into East Blue in a gambit to force the surrender of the World Government. They also learned that to prove the power of the animals he was planning a demonstration using a village on the floating island.



Shiki arrived sometime later and confronted the present Straw Hats. Sanji attacked with Poitrine Shoot, but Shiki caught his foot in mid-kick. Despite some initial success in the others fending him off, Sanji and the Straw Hats were defeated, and Nami was coerced into rejoining Shiki when he agreed not to harm her friends or home town. Usopp, the only remaining crew member conscious, tried to stop her, but Shiki knocked him out.

Xiao reappeared and gave them the Dial that Nami left them. Her mother, who earlier had expressed relief about the animals being sent to East Blue, apologized for saying how happy she was for Shiki leaving for East Blue. They played the message, and after hearing only the first bit of it, Luffy became angered to the point that he would not listen to the rest with the other Straw Hats.



Back at Shiki's place, Nami was found to have, in fact, been attempting to blow up the plants protecting Shiki's palace, but she was overcome by the poison. Shiki trapped her near the plants and headed off to meet the pirate captain's gathering. The Straw Hats arrived at his palace and busted down the gates, making short work of the guards outside. While preparing a toast to the commencement of the operation, the Straw Hats marched into the main meeting room with various firearms and a new wardrobe.

After a short confrontation, Shiki called them a simple suicide squad, and revealed hundreds of men around them. They unloaded their firearms in the room, defeating most those gathered, much to Shiki's dismay. Then they split up to defeat the rest. Luffy chased after Shiki, with Sanji and the others helping fight off his minions and hordes of animals that began running wild in his fortress.



Sanji met up with Brook outside and helped fight off the stampeding animals in their way. Sanji then found Robin had been attacked and held captive by Shiki's man ape, Scarlet. Sanji chased down the ape, completely enraged. Before it could land a kiss on her, Sanji attacked it with Diable Jambe Venaison Shot. Scarlet was knocked through the tower it stood on and was ultimately defeated. Robin fell but Brook swooped in to catch her romantically. Robin thanked Brook, much to Sanji's irritation for doing all the work. After Shiki was defeated by Luffy, Sanji, along with the other Straw Hats, escaped using Thousand Sunny and Shiki's pirate sail as a parachute. Sanji was seen much later on the ship as Nami recovers.

The Nightmare of Duval
After leaving Thriller Bark, Sanji became more upbeat on their journey to Fish-Man Island, particularly considering the comments made by members of the Rolling Pirates about the existence of mermaids around that area. Sure enough, the chef was in heaven when the Straw Hats rescued one after arriving at the Red Line. But Camie immediately asked for the crew's help for the rescuing of her partner Hatchan from the grip of the slave trader Iron Mask Duval. Although Sanji initially believed 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 that Duval's had a grudge against him because Duval looks exactly like Sanji's highly inaccurate wanted poster and his life was ruined by Marines and bounty hunters trying to arrest him. Sanji then proceeded to run up to Duval and kick him in the face. Duval responded by having his Flying Fish riders capture Sanji in a metal net before diving underwater in an attempt to drown him. After Camie saved him, resulting in him getting a large nosebleed from his perversion, Sanji countered by attacking Duval with his face-rearranging kick combo Parrage Shot in order to destroy the one thing at which he cannot stand looking; the face of his horrible wanted poster. The beating rendered Duval's face beautiful, ending his grudge against the Straw Hats and Duval now calling himself "Handsome".

An Incident with the World Nobles
At this time, Sanji remained on the Thousand Sunny with Usopp and Franky as the other Straw Hats go about on the Sabaody Archipelago. When he got a call from Chopper out in Sabaody Park that Camie had been kidnapped by fish-man/merman hunters, knowing the only way to locate her in time was with experts in the Human Auction business because of the size of Sabaody Archipelago, Sanji decided to call in Duval's favor and the Flying Fish Riders to help find her, since they were former kidnappers themselves and would have an easier time locating the people who kidnapped Camie to find which Human Auction House she had been taken to.



With the help of Duval and his newly named Rosy Life Riders group, they found out the Human Auction House at Grove 1 had Camie. Sanji then took part in the conflict Luffy initiated by attacking a World Noble in the Human Auction House before the Straw Hats escaped on the Flying Fish. Meanwhile, Sanji berates Luffy for falling asleep in such an intense situation. He also learned the truth about Gold Roger's execution from the Silvers Rayleigh when they regrouped in Shakky's Rip-off Bar. Apparently Roger gave himself up, as opposed to the Marines' claim that Roger was captured.

Roger contracted a serious illness which could not be cured, and spent three of his last four years traveling and eventually conquering the Grand Line. After being dubbed the "Pirate King", Roger gained fame and fortune although it did not matter due to his impending death, so he disbanded his crew, and surrendered himself to the Marines. While the Marines wanted to make an example of him, his lack of fear before his execution sparked "The Great Pirate Age".

After telling his story, Rayleigh decided to coat the Thousand Sunny free of charge, but said it would take three days. To make up for this, he said he would be going to a different location, and gave everyone Vivre Cards to find him. Zoro suggested they split up, and regroup later to avoid capture due to the admiral arrival on the archipelago, while Sanji notes it's an ironic statement from him. As the Straw Hats departed, they said farewell to Shakky, Camie, Pappag and Hatchan as they decided to split up only to be confronted by a soldier who appears to be Bartholomew Kuma. The Straw Hats battled with the cyborg, who could fire beams out of his hands as well as his mouth. Sanji noted that while they last encountered Kuma when they were worn out, now they're at full strength, as Luffy activates Gear Second.

Destruction of the Straw Hat Crew


Sanji, Zoro and Luffy landed a combo called Gomu Gomu no Diable Mouton Jet 600 Pound Cannon to slow "Kuma" down momentarily. Zoro noted that their opponent may not even be the real Kuma as he did not demonstrated any of his Nikyu Nikyu no Mi abilities thus far and is instead a replica Pacifista. This presented a problem because it meant there was more than one with Kuma's level of strength. After much intense fighting, the Straw Hats finally managed to do significant damage on the Kuma clone and the Monster Trio delivered their finishing blows to it. Sanji used a 'Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot' to give it serious damage, as Zoro activated his Asura technique to use his 'Asura: Makyuusen', right before Luffy activated Gear Third and finishes it off with a 'Gomu Gomu no Gigant Rifle'. As they rested, they contemplated how such a powerful opponent could appear right so early while they were waiting for the ship to be coated.

Sanji got up and noticed the Kuma clone has "PX-4" written on its neck, but before he could work out what it meant, a broadaxe-wielding warrior named Sentomaru appeared and ordered a Pacifista entitled "PX-1" to capture them. Seeing little choice, the Straw Hats chose flight instead of fight, and Sanji, Nami and Franky ran together, however PX-1 ambushed them, as Kizaru: one of the three admirals appeared and attempted to kill Zoro, who was exhausted from the previous battle against Oars and Kuma and was still nursing injuries sustained during the events at Thriller Bark. However, Kizaru's attack was deflected by Silvers Rayleigh. After the two engaged in small talk, Luffy ordered his crew to escape as in their current state, they could not hope to match either Kizaru, Sentomaru or another Pacifista. Kizaru attempted to come after Usopp, Zoro and Brook but Rayleigh confronted him again, this time using his sword. Seeing them in danger from PX-1, Sanji ran back telling Franky to protect Nami and kicked the Pacifista as hard as he could, and narrowly avoided his laser beam. However, PX-1 made a direct hit on Sanji and left him unconscious. He awakened just as the real Kuma appeared and vanished Zoro, he was later vanished when he tried to attack the real Kuma.

Straw Hat Separation Adventure: Kamabakka Kingdom


Because of Kuma's power, Sanji landed on Momoiro Island in Kamabakka Kingdom, where the land is pink and occupied by transvestites (both animals and humans). Sanji was seen running away in horror from a group of pursuing transvestites asking him if he was 'one of them'. They chased him across the beach and through the castle.

Later, it appeared that somehow the transvestites caught up to Sanji and forced him into being "one of them". Sanji is then seen in a frilly dress, a curly wig, high-heeled shoes, and thick make-up frolicking with the transvestites. The veins on his head and arm suggested this might have been against his will.

Post War Arc
Sanji was seen again back to his old self when trying to convince Ivankov that he is part of Luffy's crew. Ivankov did not believe Sanji because of his badly-drawn wanted poster. Ivankov also declared that he would refuse to tell Sanji anything about Luffy since there was the slightest chance of him being a spy for the government and the marines. When Sanji was exhausted from his tense conversation with Ivankov, one of the okamas urged someone to put a dress on Sanji again. Sanji responded by giving the okama audience an angry glare. The okamas gave Sanji a thumbs-down when he declared that he will not put on a dress again and that he is a manly man who loves ladies. Sanji then battled Ivankov for a boat but did not prevail. Ivankov then handed Sanji a newspaper since the news of Luffy had already been made public. While Sanji read the newspaper he found something quite interesting about Luffy in the article.

Iva then asked Sanji what he found out in the article, but Sanji would not answer, much to Iva's annoyance. After Sanji realized that the "Attack Cuisine" of Kamabakka Kingdom had enhancing properties, he asked Iva to give him the recipe hoping to use it to help his crewmates. Iva bluntly said no to Sanji's request and gave the cook a challenge to earn the recipe. He said that since Sanji refused to learn the Newkama Kenpo, the cook had to travel around the island and defeat the 99 masters of the Newkama Kenpo, each time he beat one he would claim one of the ninety nine Attack Cuisine recipes. The catch was that the island's inhabitants would pursue him nonstop and try to dress him up again. If he won, Ivankov would grant all his wishes, including giving him a ship, if he lost, there was no guarantee that Sanji would keep his manhood. Knowing that he could not meet up with Luffy again with his current fighting skills, Sanji accepted the challenge saying that it would make him stronger.

The story continues two years later.