#the biggest difference would be with nami and how she perceives the other two. finding out that (unfortunately?) she's too gone for them

[beaulesbian]

i've been thinking about some gender swap romance dawn trio - zoluna headcanons, specifically with he/him butch aro/lesbian zoro, agender & demi luffy, and lesbian nami

and in my mind they look like this:

[sanjiafsincedayone]

Sanji and Purin - My view

So chapter 876 happened and I just wanted to update my thoughts on Sanji and Purin after what was shown in the chapter. I’ll also talk a little about what my thoughts are regarding where Oda might take the story with these characters. Or at least what my personal hope for it is.

Now, I don't want to come off as rude to anyone who likes Sanji and Purin together, but if you're sensitive just avoid my post.

First, looking briefly at chapter 876, I want to just mention the strawhats’ reactions to meeting Purin again.

I must say even though we did get a reaction from Luffy and the line “Then piss off!” was hilarious I think he forgave Purin rather easily… Or not forgave, but his reaction wasn’t that big. I assume Chiffon made it better? And it seems like there is this “We have only one option” vibe about making the cake… Which I suppose is ok, but isn’t really explained well. But anyways, back to Purin. I found it interesting that not even Sanji seemed all that interested in Purin except for his normal cute girl reaction he had at first. Which I understand, I mean it’s still Sanji. If he had even worse reactions when he knew she wanted to kill him this is very understandable in comparison even if she is clearly crazy. But I definitely don't see it as a sign for future romance or true love. Just a few chapters ago we saw Sanji going heart eyes over Nami and saying he wanted to be her slave. So how does this moments indicate anything deeper than Sanji's other love-cook moments? The only real differance is that Purin is seemingly attracted to him too, but we’ll get back to that.

Personally I find Purin’s character interesting as she goes between extreme yandere and tsundere… But I do wonder how Oda is going to handle this… I feel like he might go the “Sanji’s kindness changes Purin” by the end, meaning Purin’s evil side might disappear completely. Which would be a very simple solution in my opinion. If she really has some psychological problems, like a split personality it’s a little odd to just “make it go away” by something like that. But it’s a shonen, so I guess it’s to be expected if that happens.

Either way, despite finding her quite funny and interesting I’m not sure I like how Oda has treated Purin in general, making the readers confused more than anything… Which I assume is mostly for shock-value. But not knowing who the real Purin is makes it harder to understand and thus also perceive her as a character. For me as a reader this has meant I haven’t been able to form a proper relation with or feeling towards Purin, except for confusion. So I don’t like her for being a bad character and I don’t like her for being a nice character. I don’t hate her either, I don’t really feel much about her at all. She was rather funny the last time we saw her, so that’s an improvement, and there is some time left of the arc, so I guess Oda still has time to present her in a less confusing manner now that we know why she seems to switch personality. But either way since not even the strawhats know if they can trust her I still can’t trust her fully either.

And that is a big problem. If Oda really want Purin to be a love interest he has to make it clear that she’s someone trustworthy. Oda can’t just give Sanji a pretty girl and expect people to be happy with it. It takes a lot more than that to develop a genuine relationship, not even a romantic one but just one of friendship or less needs to be shown clearly. Which is difficult when we don’t even know if we can truly trust Purin. You get my point? Oda needs to make things much clearer regarding Purin before anything else.

Anyways, I guess we won’t get to spend that much time with Sanji, Purin and Chiffon… Baking a cake shouldn’t be all that interesting to watch, so we’ll probably just get a few updates here and there until they are on their way back and things can go wrong again.

Now, when it comes to Sanji x Purin, I can see a few options on how the story might evolve, but I can’t see them actually becoming a canon couple by the end of this arc. I know many seems to ship them now, and I kind of get it but at the same time I don't. I’ll state my reasons why Sanji and Purin doesn't work for me if we speak about canon romance.

First there is no reason for Sanji to get a love interest now. I personally think Sanji strives to find true love and that he’s not the playboy type so many fans seem to think. So by the end of the series, yes I'd love for Sanji to have changed enough to have a real romance. But adding a love interest now would mean that Sanji’s personality would be altered from now on out.

It would change the dynamics of the crew and I don’t think Oda would get rid of Sanji’s perverted side (even though I personally would love to see it toned down a lot), but if Sanji stays the same even after getting together with someone he will get a bad (even worse) image. Which is why I think Sanji needs to gradually change for him to end up with a love interest.

That being said, rejecting Purin despite a mutual attraction would be a perfect way to show that Sanji is not shallow and that to him love isn’t just about attraction. Especially since he’s already said himself that he doesn’t want to marry a girl he just met and barely know. Imagine him going back on that statement?

This panel sums up the ship’s shallowness for me, because the only thing that has happened after this is that Purin has hurt and tried to kill Sanji and his close ones while also proving to be crazy.

Also imagine what a message it sends out. “If a girl is pretty it doesn’t matter what she does, she’ll still get prince charming.” I’m all for Purin getting some sort of redemption, but not through romance.  I’m actually pretty sure her redepmtion will happen in some way, but it doesn’t change how much evil she has done and it doesn’t change the fact that she and Sanji barely know each other.

Basically there is not enough development. No time for two people to actually fall in love properly. Perhaps a crush, but nothing more. It’s too shallow. Purin falling for Sanji because of one compliment is horrible but understandable because of her past. But it’s still shallow, and doesn’t sound like a healthy way to start a relationship at all. And Sanji falling for someone as crazy as Purin just because she’s beautiful is also extremely shallow. I see no purpose of ruining both their characters like this by actually trying to show their development as a real love story. However, if Oda instead uses the opportunity of this small crush to show development in both characters, I will be more than happy. It will also be consistent with what Sanji has already claimed.

If Sanji rejects her that will be further development for his character, and Purin could also end up on a similar path as Lola, being free to search for her own true love instead of getting together with the first person that comes along and compliments her, making her basically obsessed instantly. If Sanji helps her on this road surely there will be enough to keep on shipping them happily, but having them turn canon just doesn't make sense at this point.

Also, frankly Purin is crazy and Sanji deserves better. Oda should have made Purin likeable from the start, or at least made sure to do a Violet and show she wasn’t actually evil and enjoyed taunting Sanji. Despite Purin turning good and possibly even getting rid of her “evil side” because of Sanji it doesn’t erase the fact that she tried to kill Sanji and his loved ones, just a few hours (minutes?) ago. I haven’t even forgiven Ceasar yet, how would you expect me to forgive Purin so easily? Just because half of her seem to like Sanji now?

She went too far to deserve being together with Sanji. The switch is too sudden, and even if she proves to be trustworthy by the end of the arc she’s still a crazy person who acts obsessive and just last chapter threatened to kill Sanji’s nakama. That is not a good relationship.

If so Violet was a better choice and Oda decided not to further develop that at all. In hindsight the only reasons I can see for Violet’s interactions with Sanji are

1. To remind the audience again about Sanji’s problem with fighting women in preparation for the current arc and the reveal of Sanji’s past.

2. To show that Sanji is in fact a good catch and can have women fall for him. Which is also a good set up in preparation for WCI. And also possibly show that Sanji is interested in love, not just lust.

3. Once again highlight Sanji’s ability to turn enemy into friend with his kindness.

4. To prove that Sanji’s nakama are of course more important to him than a woman he just met. Which Oda showed again when Sanji first rejected Purin.

5. Convenience for the plot.

I feel like Purin could be the next step in this development, and possibly change the view of Sanji because of what many One Piece fans consider the biggest flaws in Sanji’s character.

The chances of Purin becoming a new nakama are slim, but that is most likely the only way Oda could get enough time to develop a proper relationship between Sanji and Purin. Why I don’t think that she will become a nakama are because of a few reasons, but quickly I’ll just say I don’t think it’s likely because: Her job on the crew would be redundant. Either she would be there to bake or possibly to read poneglyphs and Sanji and Robin already perfectly fill those roles. She also doesn’t seem to be much of a fighter, and her ability with manipulating memories could in the long run be a hassle for Oda to keep track of. I don’t know, but I just don’t see her set of skills fitting with becoming a nakama.

She being on board as she is now with a double personality would of course be funny, but probably get really old in the long run since it’s not just a temporary gag. It would of course also mean that Sanji could possibly change and I am sure not many readers are interested in seeing romance being displayed on the regular. Most people who even wants romance in One Piece agrees it’s not the focus and that it would be better to wait with possible romance until the end of the series. Development towards that is of course needed, but in Purin’s case where it’s basically already confirmed she has a crush on Sanji I feel like it would be too much of a distraction. Even though Sanji actually does seem to be rather calm about her reactions.

There are also much more likable and possible choices for new nakama, like Carrot. I don’t know, I could be wrong, but personally I just don’t see Purin becoming a nakama neither a permanent love interest for Sanji.

I've also seen many talk about Purin being somthing similar what Kaya is for Usopp. But again, this is completely different. Kaya and Usopp have history together and got to know each other over a long period of time. They also fell in love/like each other for the right reasons, and there is nothing shallow about that possible ship. Sanji and Purin doesn't know each other, and what they know they don't seem to like. With the only exception being Purin's looks and Sanji's compliment. Everything else is ambiguous at best and even if there are more genuine feelings there, there is no way it's love already. Hence, I can't see Oda making it canon, at least not the way things look right now.

So, in short I does seem like Purin will be redeemed to some degree, but no matter how the story goes from now it doesn’t seem like making Sanji and Purin a canon couple is a very good idea. Also, my hope is for Oda to use this oppertunity to once and for all prove that Sanji isn’t as shallow as so many seem to think.

Thank you for reading, I know there’s a lot in here you’ve probably heard before, but I wanted to put out my own thoughts anyway. I really wanted to post this sooner, but my computer hasn’t really been on my side recently. ^^’’ And again, I’m not against shipping Sanji and Purin, I just think it’s a really bad choice for a canon romance. Let me know what you think!