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As Don Krieg is about to be defeated, he commands his crew to shoot Luffy down, showing yet again how little he cares for honour. Sanji steps in (literally!) and prevents the crew from interfering, which is a nice parallel to Luffy preventing Johnny and Yosaku from interfering with Zoro’s fight against Mihawk. I think this illustrates not only something of Sanji’s own values/morals, but also that he respects Luffy and believes in him and his ability for finish this battle victorious. )9

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In the final stages of Luffy’s fight against Krieg, Sanji’s completely amazed, enraptured even. At this point, Luffy has dealt with the exploding spear, the stakes, the spiked cape, poison gas, a flamethrower, and bombs, and he is now caught in a weighted net, but is still fighting and has declared that as long as he can get his arms and legs out, the fight is his. No matter what Krieg goes at him with, Luffy bounces back again and again. It is so clear that Zeff sees the same kind of “grit” or “conviction” in Sanji, but whether Sanji realizes this or not is unclear, even after Zeff says it as clearly as he ever does:

Of course, Sanji’s prevented (or saved) from responding because Luffy’s drowning, so there isn’t much to go on with regards to how he feels about Zeff’s comments.

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Zoro and Sanji at Baratie

Hello, hello, hello! Long time no analysis! Or One Piece in general…. I don’t really know if or when I’ll be picking this blog up again for regular updates, but I do know that such a day will never come if I don’t get over this last thing I need to handle before finishing up Baratie – namely Zoro and Sanji’s relationship, and what I think the Baratie arc says about/brings to it. 

The fact is, I kind of froze here, not least because their relationship seems to be a touchy subject in this fandom, with a pretty extreme variety of opinions. On top of that, Zoro is also a touchy subject. Lots of interpretations of his character out there, too. Another reason is that putting my thoughts (and feelings) into words proved much more difficult than I anticipated. In fact, I’m still not sure I can do them justice. There was also the fact that we didn’t have all the information about Sanji’s more distant past at the time, and I wanted to know if any of it would influence my opinions. But enough about reasons. Let’s get this show on the road.

The first thing that struck me as I re-read this arc was how long it takes for Zoro and Sanji to interact at all. The next was that their interactions aren’t exactly volatile. Neither picks a fight with the other, and despite Sanji calling Zoro an idiot and referring to his dream as stupid, Zoro is respectful and calm talking to Sanji. I also found it funny that the one to pick a fight with Sanji is Usopp of all people, and when he tries to enlist Zoro to fight Sanji on his behalf, Zoro’s just like, “Fight him yourself.” On the topic of Sanji’s flirtatiousness, Zoro seems totally disinterested in his side of things, instead asking Nami if she bewitched him, though that was more of a quip (probably).

Their first and only conversation during this arc happens while Don Krieg is off feeding his remaining crew, and the story of what befell them on the Grand Line – and at whose hands – has come out:

It’s just common sense at this point that those panels where a character is just going “……..” aren’t there for no reason, though obviously what that reason may be is left up to interpretation. Here, I think it basically means that what Zoro said struck Sanji in some way, and this leads to the conclusion that what Sanji says next isn’t how he really feels/what he really thinks. Bolstering this belief is what follows:

Sanji’s clearly trying to brush these kids off as idiots, maybe even trying to convince himself that he definitely doesn’t want to go with them or anything!!, but the fact that there’s a panel focused on Zeff, who knows Sanji better than anyone, leads me to believe that he, at least, already knows that Sanji wants to go. And since this moment comes after Zoro spoke (pretty eloquently and poignantly), I can’t help but believe that Luffy isn’t the only reason/inspiration for Sanji ultimately leaving the Baratie despite his dedication and supposed debt to Zeff.

Words alone wouldn’t have had a big enough impact – action was necessary, and the first part of that was absolutely Zoro fighting Mihawk. The first thing I want to comment on is Sanji’s reaction to the revelation that Zoro is the infamous “Pirate Hunter” Zoro. Is he confused? Surprised? He has reason to be, considering Luffy has already introduced Zoro as part of his crew, so the Pirate Hunter is a pirate. Has Sanji, like Coby, heard rumours about this so-called demon? I’d say that’s pretty likely, and being surprised that he’s basically a kid like him makes sense. Especially since Sanji totally saw him try to force Luffy to drink booger water. I mean, come on.

No one can look away while Zoro and Mihawk fight, but we don’t get a glimpse of Sanji until Mihawk delivers the final blow and Zoro plunges into the ocean. At this point, Sanji is sweating even more than before, looking horrified, and perhaps even angry:

This is where I tend to get stuck, because I think there’s a lot going on internally with Sanji, and that’s hard to put into words. Let’s start with the easy part: he’s horrified. Easy enough to see why. The same man they all know just sliced a galleon in two without so much as breaking a sweat basically just cut this kid in two. If Mihawk can do that to a ship, killing some teenager would be simple. I also think there’s a kind of clash of values going on. As I’ve stated before, Sanji clearly has an immense will to survive. It becomes abundantly clear by the end of this arc that there is something (or rather, someone) Sanji is willing to die for, but it isn’t himself. Maybe he sees Zoro’s actions as not only foolish, because he’s obviously going to lose against Mihawk, but also selfish, since he doesn’t know Zoro’s story and could very well just see an arrogant guy with an unreachable dream rushing to his death. Either way, I think Zoro’s mentality of “I will strive for my dream with everything I have and then some, and if I die on the way, so be it” and Sanji’s “I will fight tooth and nail to live, except when the man who saved my life is threatened” are clashing here.

But what about the anger? Why would Sanji be mad?

Have you ever seen someone you care about deliberately do something really stupid and even potentially harmful, and reacted with anger? I certainly have, and while I’m not suggesting Sanji cares about Zoro with the same intensity as, say, a mother loving a child (and responding angrily to them, y’know, running across the street without looking, or getting drunk underage), I do believe Sanji cares strongly about people in general, and seeing  even a random stranger rush towards certain death set him off. I also think it’s possible he subconsciously drew some kind of vague parallel between Zoro and Judge’s soldiers, even though the situation is very different. Finally, I think part of his anger is rooted in a kind of envy, because at the end of the day, Sanji has a dream, too, but he is keeping himself from chasing it. He may even be angry at himself for doing exactly what he is now telling Zoro to do – abandoning his dream.

By the time Zoro makes his oath to Luffy, Sanji looks straight-up worried, and still a little confused:

Again, nothing odd about that, Zoro being half-dead and all. I think he’s probably somewhat overwhelmed, too. It would be easy to pin that on the fight, the near-dead moss man, and even just Mihawk’s presence. I don’t doubt that those are factors, but I also don’t think Zoro’s actions or words should be ignored.

We as readers are certainly moved by Zoro’s vow. It’s true that we have more background, both about Zoro himself, and his relationship with Luffy, but try to put yourself in Sanji’s shoes. I think he’d be moved, too, just not for all the same reasons. First, Zoro has suffered what can be seen as a humiliating defeat, yet he’s come out of it even more determined to achieve his dream. That would amaze, even inspire anyone – not least of all someone like Sanji, who is holding back and knows it, whether consciously or not. Second, in case I haven’t made it clear enough, Zoro is making this determined declaration while half-dead, bloody, and crying. Finally, he’s not only proclaiming that he will become the world’s greatest swordsman, he’s also saying that Luffy will become the Pirate King. I’m certain that sent shivers down the spines of every person present, except maybe Kreig, who clearly doesn’t value hard work and determination, but I digress.

So, what’s my point with all of this? Well, it’s obvious that scenes like the one discussed here, and Luffy’s fight against Krieg in general were instrumental in convincing Sanji to join the Straw Hats. However, I think Zoro’s clash with Mihawk and his oath to Luffy afterwards laid some solid groundwork. I also think that some kind of respect for Zoro was born in Sanji during this arc, and it has not gone away, no matter how either of them may behave. Finally, I think Sanji admires Zoro, and even strives to be more like him, though he would probably never admit it, and that began at Baratie. I doubt I can point to anything in the text to prove that last idea, feel free to take it as nothing more than my personal opinion.

EDIT: The real clincher for me was the fact that Sanji reflected on both Zoro and Luffy after the fighting was done:

Based on this, I think that if we accept that Luffy’s actions have made Sanji respect him and have an impact on Sanji’s ultimate decision to leave Baratie and join the Straw Hats, we have to accept that the same applies to Zoro.

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I just wanted to say that I love your analysis ♡

Thank you so much!! ^^

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Zeff is talking about Luffy, but I think it’s safe to say he’s talking about Sanji, too. I also think these little speeches give more insight into why an infamous pirate would dive into the ocean after a kid he just met and who was trying to kill him. Back then, I’m sure he saw the same conviction in Sanji that they’re now watching in Luffy. The way Luffy keeps charging Krieg no matter how many times he gets knocked down is definitely similar to Sanji charging Zeff as a kid. I think this tied together with the shared dream of All Blue is the ultimate reason why Zeff did what he did.

But nowadays, and especially during this arc, with how willing Sanji was to die for Zeff and the Baratie, I think Zeff has noticed that Sanji is holding himself back (because of the debt he believes he owes). In telling Sanji to watch Luffy carefully, he’s probably hoping to remind Sanji that he, too, has that conviction (or “grit”) in him, and maybe this random little kid looking for a cook for his crew is a sign that the time has come for Sanji to go after his dreams, to search for All Blue.

Edit: On a personal note, I think Zeff saying he admires a man like Luffy could be seen as a roundabout way of saying he’s proud of Sanji.

Edit 2:

Well, there it is, the man said it himself.

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I feel like this one panel shows a pretty big trait of Sanji’s, that being his tendency to say one thing and mean another. Of course, putting on a cocky face during a fight against a tough opponent is probably a better idea than letting them know you’re in trouble, but I think Sanji does the same thing outside of battle a lot, too -- for example, when it comes to worrying/caring about his male crew mates or other guys in general.

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Luffy sees what Sanji, for reasons as yet unclear, cannot -- that Zeff did not save Sanji so that Sanji could one day die for him, that doing so would not repay this type of debt, that there is something far more meaningful here, that maybe, just maybe, Zeff values Sanji himself more than a goddamn ship.

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I’m just going to leave this here because it applies to so many relationships in the series that I think it’s important.

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When he first wakes up on the rock after being washed overboard during the pirate attack, Sanji blames Zeff for their situation -- but I think this is simply an emotional reaction. He’s suddenly in a completely different situation, essentially backed into a corner, and he’s lashing out. I believe that over the 85 days of being stranded he starts to blame himself. He definitely starts regretting things he did in the past, most poignantly...

...wasting food. Which obviously makes sense when one is starving and eating their last bit of bread. This also explains Sanji’s actions throughout the arc so far, from attacking Fullbody for throwing his soup on the ground to feeding Gin and trying to provide food for Krieg and the rest of his crew. It also explains Zeff’s somewhat vague statement earlier.

Why do I think Sanji starts blaming himself for the situation itself? Well, that’s what kids do. And he was a whole hell of a lot of time to think on that rock. I’m certain he’s run the events leading up to this through in his head over and over and over again. I can see him starting to think that maybe if he’d just stayed in the kitchen, Zeff would have left and both ships could have made it through the storm. At the very least, we know he blames himself for “taking everything away” from Zeff, and at this point we can assume that he his ship and crew count as at least part of that. Of course, everything comes to a head when Sanji crosses the rock to steal some of Zeff’s food...

... only to find he had none at all to begin with and ate his own leg instead. Sanji can’t fathom why Zeff would have given him all the food and done something so drastic to feed himself, and I have to wonder whether Zeff’s answer -- having the same dream -- was a convincing one to Sanji. The irony is that even though Zeff tells him that he’s sure All Blue exists, and says to go search for it when the time comes, Sanji instead dedicates his life to Zeff and Zeff’s new dream of creating an ocean-going restaurant, which brings us to the end of the flashback and back to Sanji being ready to die to keep Baratie standing for even one moment longer.

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To add some specifics to this post, Sanji’s intense determination to survive has been clear since the beginning. When the Cook Pirates attacked the Orbit, Sanji’s reaction is fear, but despite that...

Look at him, he’s sweating and obviously terrified, yet he deliberately leaves the kitchen to go out on deck and attack the pirates. It’s a foolish move, sure, especially to us as readers, since we know Zeff and his crew had no plans to kill anyone on the Orbit, but Sanji’s a kid, and it doesn’t look like he’s ever dealt with a pirate attack before. I’ve seen people speculate about some traumatic event in his past involving pirates, but I never thought his reaction was because of anything like that. More likely, his only knowledge of pirates until this point came from stories and hearsay, maybe the news if he kept up with it -- and we all know how accurate that is (not very). Sanji assumed these pirates would slaughter everyone on board, so rather than become a victim, he meets them head-on. 

He says it right there. It’s not like I want to die. I find it hard to believe that Sanji believes he has a chance to come out on top here, so here’s how I interpret the above frame: Sanji would rather die fighting than running or hiding. In his mind, this is a choice between the certain death of simply waiting for the pirates to find and kill him, OR the probably death with a slight chance of life via fighting the pirates. In this case, he’s fighting for himself (his life, future, dreams), but I think the mentality translates over to how he behaves as a young adult. The only difference that, rather than fighting just for himself, he’s fighting (and prepared to die) for someone he loves.

Of course, the pirates see a little kid, and don’t take him very seriously (they could also be giving him a chance to back off, since again, they weren’t planning on killing anyone in the first place).

Side note: I think it’s also worth noting that he’s fighting with kitchen knives. Clearly he has yet to develop the respect/sense of sacredness with regards to his tools as a chef that we’ve already seen in the fight with Krieg and his crew.

(Later in the series he also makes it clear that he is against using kitchen knives as a weapon, which is part of the reason I mention this.)

Anyway, Sanji is quickly disarmed and blasted across the deck by one of Zeff’s kicks, and yet...

He’s literally biting Zeff. He’s lost his weapons, he can obviously barely even move, and he’s still fighting with everything he’s got left. On top of that, he’s talking about his dream, which even his fellow cooks on the cruise ship laughed at earlier. Zeff’s crew laughs at him, too, but Zeff himself doesn’t, only kicks him across the deck again. At that point, Sanji really can’t seem to move at all, but he reiterates: There’s no way that I’m gonna be killed by stupid pirates like you in a place like this!

Even when he’s totally helpless, his will to live is immense. And I don’t think that should be ignored.

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We’re finally getting to the meat of things in regards to Sanji’s relationship with Zeff, as well as why he’s willing to fight and die for what Gin, Krieg, and, well, most other people see as just a ship. I’ve already talked about how clear it is that everyone living and working on the Baratie sees it as much more, but now it’s clear that for Sanji (and, at least in Sanji’s view, Zeff) there’s an even greater significance.

Two other things I find important in this moment before Sanji’s flashback begins are (1) he blames himself for what we are about to learn, and (2) he’s ridiculously good at hiding his feelings to the point where everyone else he lived and worked with apparently believed he literally hated Zeff.

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When I started this blog, one of my goals was to stay away from arguing against others’ analyses, deductions, opinions, etc. and just focus on what I see, how I perceive characters, and so on, but ... this is a special case, because what I see directly clashes with a lot of fandom perception. The topic is Sanji’s self-sacrificial nature and his apparent readiness to die.

A lot of people talk about Sanji having self-esteem and guilt issues. I don’t doubt or deny that he has (probably more than) his fair share of those. However, I disagree that those are at the core of his self-sacrificial nature. As we will soon see, Sanji has an enormous will to live. And, like many characters in One Piece, and certainly all of the Straw Hats, he has things he wants to protect at any cost. To get to the above cap, the things in question here are Baratie itself, and Zeff.

In recent chapters, we’ve learned that Sanji literally regards Zeff as one of his saviours, a revelation that was probably not at all surprising to anyone considering everything we will see in the Baratie arc. We’ve also gotten confirmation that Sanji sees Zeff as a father-figure, which is already clear as day in the Baratie arc, but wasn’t actually voiced. What this amounts to is love. Sanji loves Zeff, and therefore wants to protect him. I find that people often put too much emphasis on Sanji feeling he’s indebted to Zeff for saving his life, which in my opinion only works to minimize the importance of the years the two have spent together and the familial bond that was created. I’m not saying that the idea of paying Zeff back for saving him isn’t part of Sanji’s readiness to die, I’m just saying that I don’t think it’s the only reason, and I definitely don’t think it’s the strongest. Maybe if this had happened in the beginning of the Baratie’s existence, I would have bought that, but not now. I’m sure Sanji didn’t go into the relationship thinking “Zeff is my dad”, but he sure as hell left Baratie that way. Baratie itself is essentially an extension of Zeff. It was his idea, his newer dream, and so Sanji wants to protect it, as well.

There are two things I will always argue on behalf of when it comes to Sanji’s personality. First, he’s selfless. That is, he’s concerned with others’ wants and needs before his own. To quote Luffy in today’s chapter, it’s just how he is. Second, he cares about people in general. A lot. I’ll definitely be coming back to these in more detail later, but they’re also relevant here. Selflessness, in my opinion, is inextricably linked with love. People don’t do selfless things because they feel badly about themselves -- they do them because they love the ones for whom they’re doing the things. It’s the difference between I’m useless, I can’t do anything better, so I might as well die and I want you to live, and for that, I am willing to do everything in my power up to and including dying.

Back to the arc at hand. Sanji has been fighting Pearl to protect the Baratie, but now Gin has risen and effectively taken Zeff hostage, threatening to kill him if Sanji (and the others) continue the fight. Sanji immediately stops and tells Gin to point the gun at him instead. Why? Simply put, dying is all he can do at that point. If he keeps fighting, which he’s certainly physically still capable of, Zeff is dead. Yet he’s not willing to simply hand over Baratie to Krieg. So he’s essentially saying kill me instead. It’s not really logical, especially considering Krieg’s reputation for sinking to whatever lows he needs to in order to get what he wants -- does Sanji think they’d stop killing with him dead? -- but I think the feeling behind his words was that selfless love and determination to protect.

And that’s the main thing I believe is always behind Sanji’s self-sacrificial actions.

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So the fighting has begun and Sanji’s been showing off his strength and fighting style, which Pearl questions. In response, Sanji echoes Zeff’s comments during his chat with Krieg earlier, which increases the probability of a shared past between the two. While Sanji was fighting, Krieg was watching, and commented on “that kicking technique”, no doubt recognizing something of Zeff in Sanji.

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Since I’ve now made it to the Baratie arc, I’d like to ask that, just as with my main blog, you do not tag any of my posts with “Vinsmoke Sanji” or “Sanji Vinsmoke” if you reblog them. Thanks in advance.

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@jewsinventedcomics replied to your post “Love it”

Do some later shit i dont want 2wait a year

Sorry, but I’m going through it in order on this blog! If there’s something specific you’d like me to talk about, though, I can try to do so on my main.

´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

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Love it

Thank you!!

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With the arrival of Mihawk, Luffy & co. get their first real taste of the power of the Grand Line. Krieg’s demolished galleon, starved crew, and Gin’s terror when he talked about their experience were one thing, but seeing a man -- a pretty normal-looking man, at that -- literally slice a huge ship in two is another.

Zoro, of course, got the most personal dose of reality when he fought Mihawk one on one. We’ve seen Zoro fight several times by now, and though he sometimes had difficulties, he always came out on top. Most of his foes before now have also talked big, and Mihawk does, too -- the only difference is, Mihawk can put his money where his mouth is. He fends Zoro off with a tiny little knife. This crazy-strong swordsman we’ve been watching dole out cans of whoop-ass can’t land a single hit on Mihawk! Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji all witness the fight, of course, but it’s Zoro who gets cut practically in half.

If you’ve followed me on my main, you probably know I’m not entirely in agreement with those who say Zoro’s ‘gotten more serious’ (read: less fun/fun-loving/happy) as the series progresses. I will say this, though: I believe that as they are heading towards the Grand Line, Zoro is the one on the crew who knows best what might be in store for them, and he steps up his game with every battle -- and starts training in between. He also has an idea of the level he has to reach in order to achieve his dream (of course, Mihawk didn’t go all-out in their fight, so he doesn’t have an exact idea). So, having such an experience under his belt and being more reserved than, say, Luffy, it makes sense that he comes across as serious. But he still lets loose plenty. Pay attention!!