User blog comment:AYET/One Piece - A New Dawn/@comment-183.90.37.126-20141024223520/@comment-4754162-20141025141839

Happy you enjoyed it.

Below are my considerations for giving Sanji Shanks' role:

- Shanks role was one who have a clear voice of conscience and needs to sacrifice something (a limb) when saving protagonist, which will affect the protag mentally

- Luffy is not the type for the required voice, and he can't swim to help Jack

- Zoro is made the first mate so strike him out

- Sanji is known for voice of conscience, he can swim, and he can sacrifice his leg for Jack and with the peg leg, reminiscence of his highly respected mentor, Zeff and in a sense repaid a debt (Zeff sacrificed his leg for him, so he returns a favor for sacrificing his leg for Jack)

- Witnessing Sanji saving Jack and the sacrifice he made, Luffy can truly appreciate what Shanks did for him in the past

Hope it made some sense to you ^_^