Sanji/Abilities and Powers

Abilities and Powers
Sanji is one of the crew's top three fighters (despite not having one of the top three bounties, which Robin takes). While Luffy and Zoro usually fight the strongest and second strongest enemies respectively, Sanji usually ends up fighting with the enemy considered the third strongest.

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

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

After 2 years, his body has become much stronger and faster, being able to withstand pressure at 5000 feet under water without a coating, a depth which would have crushed a submarine. Also, during the time he spent running away from the okamas on the Momoiro Island, he developed the Sky Walk, a technique similar to the Rokushiki's technique Geppou.

Though it was yet to be seen if he can use it or not, he is now knowledgeable about Haki, something that he (and the rest of the crew) had no knowledge of during the first half of the series, commenting on Luffy's Haoshoku Haki. It was then later confirmed by Luffy on Punk Hazard that Sanji is at least capable of using Busoshoku Haki.Blueno, don't underestimate that guy! He doesn't have a Bounty... But he's likely one of their main fighters!!

Fighting Style
Sanji has mastered a martial art referred to as the "Black Leg Style" that the pirate Zeff apparently taught him. His legs and feet are extremely powerful, able to smash boulders and effortlessly defeat creatures much larger than himself (like Bananawani and Mohmoo). His legs also imbue him with superior agility, and his speed is close to superhuman as he was easily capable of out-pacing the super fast CP9 member Kalifa despite ultimately being beaten by her (though he stated that he refuses to fight women). After spending two years running away from Okama, his sprinting abilities have reached a point where he can momentarily run under water, using a Geppo-like technique he calls the Blue Walk. Not only is he not slowed down by the weight of water as he was during the Arlong Arc, but he can run to a degree of incredible speed as fast as a fishman. He is also able to leap and run much farther than most humans. He has then improved this to using Geppo in a move he named the Sky Walk. He has stated that the reason he fights with his feet is that he doesn't want to risk damaging his hands as he needs them to cook, though handstands aren't prohibited.

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

Although Sanji primarily fights with his legs, his arms are nearly as strong, enabling him to use an array of handstands, making him more versatile in certain situations. He is also able to use one-handed handstands, and able to execute cosecutive back handsprings (as seen is the fight with Jabra). During the Skypeia Arc, while riding the Going Merry, he lifted a large mallet that looked to have weighed several tons (though this is unlikely, as it belonged to Usopp and as such was probably another Usopp Pound decoy) before using it to slam an Impact Dial that had been set on top of a barrel; needless to say, the impact would have busted a hole on the Going Merry's deck had it not been absorbed by the Dial. Another example is when Sanji is able hold Absalom in place by gripping onto the other's leg, despite the latter's reinforced muscular structure and being struck multiple times while doing so. His upper body is also super-humanly durable, having been known to take head-on attacks like Kuroobi's fists and half of Jabra's Gekkou Juushigan right before counter-attacking them with his kick.

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

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

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

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

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

His tolerance against fire is also astonishing, which would make sense since he is a cook. This would explain why he is able to utilize Diable Jambe without showing any signs of getting burned himself while the opponent gets incinerated at the receiving end. However, Oda has said that it doesn't damage him because while the Diable Jambe burns hot, Sanji's heart burns hotter.

After the timeskip, Sanji has gotten considerably stronger and his attacks are more powerful, as seen in his fight with a Pacifista. Before the timeskip, Sanji could only kick a Pacifista once, because another kick would break his leg, and still, it did not do much damage. After the two years of training in "hell", he can critically damage a Pacifista with a single kick, which is strong enough to break its neck; with the Diable Jambe improving to the point that his entire leg is enveloped in large flames. In addition, Sanji has also gained incredible speed, even underwater. Usopp states that Sanji's speed is on par with a fishman, who are at their physical prime under water. His Diable Jambe is now so powerful and hot that even under water, it is able to scorch one of the Kraken's tentacles, severely injuring it. His overall endurance has also increased, as he was seen being able to take direct punches from Jinbe and Luffy, from both sides simultaneously, and yet still remain conscious, albeit bleeding on the ground. He also developed a technique similar to that of CP9's, where he is able to walk on air (Sky Walk) making it look like he was actually flying. Whether or not his proficiency with the technique is on par with other CP9's members still remains a mystery. As he was airborne he executed a new move called, Frying Pan where he stomped his opponents repeatedly with high accuracy and speed, much to the amusement of Luffy and the others.

Haki
It was stated by Luffy that Sanji possesses Haki, when discussing it in the context of members of his crew who could fight Caesar Clown, a Logia user. However, Sanji did not actively display any of these abilities until Punk Hazard when searching for Kinemon's body.

Kenbunshoku Haki
When helping Kinemon recover his torso from within the lake on Punk Hazard, Sanji actively used Kenbunshoku Haki in order to locate the samurai's torso within the dark water.

Hocho Sabaki
Sanji uses kitchen knives to attack the opponent. This is the only time Sanji has made an exception to his rule of never using knives (and other kitchen tools) or his hands in a fight, but this was a very special case since his foe's armor was made of food (ramen to be exact) and they were fighting in a kitchen. Sanji has demonstrated excellent skills with the knives, as if he was a skilled swordsman. According to Sanji, the way he performs this style is a first class cook special Hocho Sabaki (包丁捌き).
 * Epluchage (皮剥作業（エプリュシャージ）): The only attack Sanji showed while fighting this style. Sanji uses a pair of kitchen knives to peel away an opponent's armor. "Epluchage" is a French cooking verb which means "to peel away skin". First seen being used against Wanze's ramen armor.

Other equipment

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

Culinary Expertise
Last but not least, Sanji is an expert cook, knowing and capable of preparing almost any kind of food with a strong sense to the aesthetics of cooking. He cooks with amazing speed and dexterity, particularly in his use of knives. His sense of taste also isn't lacking; often, he is able to deduce the qualities of aspects (i.e. ingredients, and method of cooking and preparations) involved in a prepared dish under a very short period of time. By the end of the two year timeskip, it is presumed that Sanji has already won the 99 recipes of Kamabakka Kingdom's Attack Cuisine as prizes for defeating the masters on Momoiro.