Zeff

Zeff is a former pirate known as "Red-Foot" Zeff (because of his lethal kicks bathing his shoes in his enemies' blood) and is also Sanji's mentor. He is currently head chef on the floating restaurant Baratie.

When Sanji was a kitchen boy, the ship he worked on was attacked by Zeff's pirate crew. Sanji had the guts to attack Zeff himself, claiming that he wanted to live in order to find the mythical sea "All Blue," (Great Blue in US TV version) Zeff's own dream as well. During the skirmish, a fierce storm wiped out both Sanji's ship and the pirate ship, nearly drowning Sanji. Zeff went into the water to save the boy because they shared the same dream. In the anime, Zeff's leg caught on debris during the rescue, and he had to cut it off in order to get Sanji and save them both. He does this by wrapping a chain around the trapped leg and letting the force of the ships sever it. In the manga he actually looses his leg on the island, after giving Sanji all his food he smashed his leg of with a large rock and ate it to stay alive.

After the rescue, they were washed up onto a tall, rocky island by a wave. There was no food on it, and no way to get to the sea and back to land for fish. Unknown to Sanji, Zeff gave all of the food that had washed ashore with them to the young boy and kept none for himself (In the manga, he still had both his legs but cuts off his right leg and eats it to keep himself alive). After eighty or more days with little food they were finally rescued, and Zeff swore that if he made it off the island alive, he would open a restaurant on the sea and serve anyone who was hungry, whether they be naval marine or pirate. Moments after revealing his dream, Zeff and Sanji are rescued by a passing ship.

Years later, Zeff makes good on his promise and opens Baratie, a floating restaurant shaped like a fish, famous for its amazing food and fighting cooks. Even with a peg leg, Zeff's kicks can still kill a man and he passed the art on to Sanji. When Luffy comes to the restaurant and defeats Don Krieg, Zeff encourages Sanji to leave the restaurant to pursue his dream for both their sakes. He also offers to give Luffy his log book that records the days he spent on the Grand Line, but Luffy refuses, saying he wants to create his own adventure and not recreate that of another.

In the manga Zeff has a tendency to call Sanji "Little Eggplant" and Sanji calls him "Crap Geezer" in return. In the English dub of the anime, Zeff has a tendency to call Sanji "String Bean" and in return Sanji calls him "Ol' geezer".

Zeff is a playable character in One Piece Grand Adventure.

In a recent Japanese Fan Poll, Zeff is currently ranked the 29th most popular character in One Piece.