Sanji

Sanji is the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Appearance
Sanji's left eye is rarely seen, always covered by his hair, in the Manga it is never seen (leading many to write to Oda asking if he has one). Sanji's left eye was shown in anime episodes 21, 27, 82, and 128 (although extremely briefly in 128, only 1 frame, 09:18). It can also be seen in the Doctor Stop card in the One Piece CCG Set 2, Passage to the Grand Line. Just recently, in Chapter 419, Sanji was seen holding a spyglass to his left eye.

Personality
Sanji is the crew's chef and and as such he looks out for the health of his teammates. His goal in life is to find the All Blue, a legendary ocean which contains all the fish in the world, and as such would be paradise for any cook with as much love for his work as Sanji, who holds great respect for the tools, ingredients, and art of cooking. So great is his devotion to his calling, that Sanji will not let any person or creature starve, regardless of them being friend or foe. He is very amorous, constantly flirting with any attractive woman he sees (especially Nami),earning him the nickname ero-cook, or perverted cook. However, he has sworn to never let insult or injury happen to any woman while he can still stand, regardless of how attractive they are. This is often problematic in his fighting as he can't attack female opponents; he would rather die than hurt them. All this is apparently the result of a "strict upbringing". One exception happened during the Alabasta Arc when Luffy hit Vivi in front of Sanji and the others, although Sanji complained, he allowed it because he understood Luffy's purpose. However, also as a result, his fighting skills greatly increase when he is protecting a woman. Sanji also likes to swear a lot and is overall a bit of trash talker, insulting his opponents while fighting - especially if they insult him or his friends first.

Sanji respects Luffy as a captain, but often gets angry at him for eating too much and showing disrespect for the aesthetics of cooking. He is constantly in verbal fights with Zoro (sometimes calling him Marimo-san) over each others' traits and they have developed a bit of a rivalry (almost like a sibling rivalry). He is very protective of the female crewmembers and Nami likes to take advantage of him, exploiting his extreme servility. Sanji originally wanted to cook Chopper, and continues to refer to him as their "emergency food supply" to tease him. However, he does consider Chopper a friend. He's also good friends with Usopp; they team up and interact often, and Sanji understands him quite well. In short, he cares as much for the crew as any Straw hat should, but unlike Zoro, Sanji shows these feelings more. For example, he cried when Mr. 2 sacrificed himself for the Straw Hats.

Although Sanji never uses his hands in battle, on rare occasion, Sanji will use items like guns or kitchen knives to fight. At one occasion, Sanji points a gun at Miss All-Sunday (Nico Robin) during the escape from Whiskey Peak (One of the first of seven islands upon entering the Grand Line). Another occasion, when Sanji fought a CP7 chef, Sanji used kitchen knives to remove Wanze's battle suit but did not cut him. As he was in a a kitchen as well as fighting food, he had an excuse for using knives. Instead of letting the ramen fall to the floor he put them onto plates and stacked them on the kitchen counters.

Sanji likes to give himself nicknames in battles (such as Mr. Prince or Hunter) to hide his identity and overall likes to act in the background. However, he is also upset that he didn't earn a bounty yet, which gives him a bit of a disadvantage in his arguments with Zoro because Zoro has a very high bounty. The fact that he wants a bounty, but never gets one has become a running gag in the series.

Abilities and Powers
Sanji has mastered the martial art of Red Leg that the pirate Zeff apparently taught him. All of his maneuvers come from his legs and feet. His legs and feet are extremely powerful, able to smash boulders and defeat creatures much larger than himself (like bananawani and Momoo). His legs also imbue him with superior speed and agility, able to leap and run much farther than normal humans. He has stated that the reason he fights with his feet is that he doesn't want to risk damaging his hands as he needs them to cook. This fictional martial art seemingly takes some inspiration from the Brazilian martial art Capoeira and the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do and may have took some from the Chinese art Tan Tui and bears an almost identical line, in name and in style, to the extremely powerful and dangerous (to both user and opponent) style Blood Leg.

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

Common attacks are Mouton 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.)

In the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji reveals a new ability - Diable Jambe, the power to heat his lower legs to a temperature so high they glow bright red, by spinning rapidly in place. Diable means devil in French and it's also a type of dish, Jambe means leg, but the kanji reads diable's wind. The afore mentioned attacks also have the word Diable Jambe preceding it (ex. Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot). The heat is so high that in less than a second of contact would set a person aflame. Sanji used this ability during his fight with Jyabura, in which his attacks weren't so effective due to his active usage of tekkai. With the heat of his new ability, Sanji overcame his inability to smash through tekkai by burning through it instead.


 * See Attack List for detailed descrptions of Sanji's attacks.

Although Sanji fights with his legs, his arms also possess some strength, enabling him to use an array of handstands, making him more versatile in certain situations. He is also able to use one-handed handstands, proving that his arms are also quite strong.

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.

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

Despite their good fortune, there was little food for them: a few rations had washed onto the rock with them, but there was no vegetation, no animals, and no way to reach the water to fish. Splitting up what little rations remained, Zeff ordered Sanji to sit at the other end of the island, and look for a ship. Sanji protested that Zeff was keeping a large sack for himself, but Zeff brushed him off, saying that as an adult, his stomach was bigger. Days passed. Sanji had no more food, but there was still no sign of a ship. Many weeks afterward (the exact amount of time differs between the manga and anime), an emaciated Sanji decided to take a chance, and kill the old man for his food. He did not kill Zeff, however: when he slashed open the old man's sack in a fit of rage, he discovered that there was no food inside, only treasure. To his horror, he realized that Zeff had eaten his own leg to survive (in the anime, he lost it while saving Sanji after becoming entangled in one of the wrecked ships, and simply ate nothing). Wracked with guilt, Sanji agreed that if they were rescued, he would help Zeff build a restaurant on the water, so that those at sea would not have to go hungry. Soon after, a ship appeared, and they were spared from death. Because of this ordeal, Sanji pledges to never refuse food to a starving individual, no matter how evil or poor they may be.

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

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

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

Sanji was last see, as of Chapter 438, defending the Thousand Sunny from Garp's attack.

Major Battles

 * Sanji vs. Pearl
 * Sanji vs. Gin
 * Sanji vs. Kuroobi
 * Sanji vs. The Unluckies
 * Sanji vs. Mr. 2 Bon Clay
 * Sanji, Luffy, and Usopp vs. Satori
 * Sanji & Zoro vs. Hamburg, Pickles, and Big Pan
 * with Luffy, Zoro, and Chopper vs Franky Family
 * Sanji vs. CP9 (Sea Train)
 * Sanji vs. Jyabura (Enies Lobby)

Filler Battles

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

Related Articles

 * Straw Hat Pirates