I Think Next Thursday Is Gonna Be The Best Day Of My Entire Life Tbh

☆☆☆ Happy New Sanji Year! ☆☆☆

Did I need it? No. Did I buy it? Yes.

me: *opens messages* guess i’ll reply later narrator: she didnt

I have been waiting all year to post this.

On Sanji’s Characterization in the Whole Cake Island Arc

Let me just say that, for starters, the Whole Cake Island arc, in my opinion, has been the most enjoyable arc in the series post time skip, and it’s definitely making its way up there with the greats like Water 7/Enies Lobby, Sabaody Archipelago, and Marineford for me.  The setting is fantastic, as are the new abilities, the new forces involved, the uncertainty with who’s on whose side, the vast array of badass females characters (REP-RE-SENT), the stakes, the suspense… every chapter is hard to wait for.  However, I want to address something a lot of people seem to consider a downside to this arc and that is Sanji’s characterization, especially in the recent chapters.  From what I’ve seen, people are not happy with his “lack of faith” in Luffy, his “sad sack” attitude, and his recent acceptance of his fate as a member of Big Mom’s family.  And this kind of unnerves me, because not only is a lot of it based on faulty fan translations, but it is also indicating a misunderstanding of a) the situation he is in and b) how he’s been characterized throughout the entire series.

(WARNING: This will be lengthy.  Brace yourselves).

First of all, I don’t really know where this claim of Sanji “not having faith in Luffy” is coming from.  Faith in Luffy’s what, exactly?  His ability to get out of this alive?  His resolve for getting him back?

For one, I don’t know how one can say that any of the Straw Hats “don’t have faith” in Luffy’s abilities and perseverance, let alone Sanji, who just last arc was expressing his belief that Luffy will become the Pirate King to Capone.  I’m finding it hard to believe that Sanji is suddenly doubting Luffy’s abilities and capability in the face of adversity here and now, especially after that.

And based on past experience, Sanji definitely knows how strong Luffy’s resolve is when it comes to getting crew members back, which is why he:

1) wrote a note on Zou saying he’d be back rather than just leaving suddenly, so they would let him handle the predicament himself until he returned (which he did believe he would do up to a point).

2) lied about his allegiance in 844 to get them to leave, because he knew if he expressed that he was in trouble or doing all this against his will, Luffy would not leave him behind.  Unfortunately, he probably overestimated his lying skills with this, because Luffy saw right through him.

3) broke down crying directly afterwards as Luffy was declaring he’d wait for him, because he knew that since Luffy had seen through his facade, there was no way he was going to leave him behind.  This put the SHs more in danger, and prompted Sanji’s complete submission to the marriage and his pleading with Big Mom to let them out alive in 845/846.

This notion of him understanding of Luffy’s resolve is also furthered by this panel, which, in the official translation (which is what people should be referencing for these kinds of arguments, but unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of it bc I’m an idiot.  If you don’t believe me, there are plenty of other posts that have addressed this) says “Please just get out of here safely, guys!” This is evidence of him knowing his crew’s tendencies so well that he is sitting on a window ledge in agony, silently pleading with them to leave safely and forget about him.  The reason he is so agonized is because he knows that there’s no way they’re going to do this, so he’s scared for them.  

Therefore, because of all this, the “Damn, does Sanji even know his own crew?” comments are ludicrous.  Of course he does.

Another thing I don’t think some people are understanding about this arc is that, while it is similar to Enies Lobby, there are some fundamental differences, one of the biggest ones being that Sanji getting out of this is not a matter of his faith in Luffy’s ability to free him or in his own ability to free himself, but a matter of circumstance.  In Water 7, Robin left to protect the SHs because she thought they would be annihilated if she didn’t.  Usopp told her on the train to “believe in Luffy”, as in to believe in his strength, and this all culminated in the “I want to live” scene, where she finally asked to be saved and put her faith in the SH’s abilities to get her out of there.  This is not the case in the current situation.

Sanji is not going to get out of this by simply telling Luffy he wants to be freed, because there are too many factors out of Luffy’s control at play, most notably the impending death of Zeff, who is out of the reach of protection over in East Blue (Sanji was fighting back until the moment Judge brought out Zeff’s picture in chapter 839 I believe).  At this point, he is of the knowledge that the only thing that can save Zeff is him giving in, so that’s what he’s doing.  And until circumstances change and Zeff’s life is off the line, Sanji is not going to resist the marriage.  This is not him “not having faith in the SHs”, but rather him realizing that, realistically, there is nothing that can get him out of this without resulting in Zeff dying, which, in his mind, would be worse than him leaving the SHs and abandoning his dream.  And because he knows he can’t leave for this reason, he is hoping, begging that his crew will go on without him.

Is it almost too selfless? Yeah. It might even be borderline stupid, and I’m sure if Zeff knew this was happening he would kick the little eggplant upside the head for put Zeff’s life above his own.  After all, Zeff didn’t cut off his foot and save his life so he could throw it away!  But if Sanji’s flashbacks this arc have shown us anything, it’s that his horrible treatment from his family made Zeff much more important of a figure for him than we thought, and that Sanji cares about his “saviors” (Zeff and the SHs) much, much more than himself.  This really has been part of his character since we met him.  He took the lightning for Usopp and Nami on Enel’s ark, offered his life to Kuma on Thriller Bark to save Luffy and Zoro, and sent himself over to a Yonko just to keep his crew safe on Zou.  Really, this is no different than how he’s previously been written to be. The only difference now is that we have some info on why he is this way, and I think that is what Oda meant by the “Year of Sanji” thing.  

In retrospect, him calling it “the Year of Sanji” probably wasn’t the best decision, because a lot of people took it to mean that it was going to be “the Year of Sanji Kicking Ass and Taking Names”, rather than “the Year of Sanji’s Backstory and Character Elaboration”.  Realistically, we all probably should’ve assumed the latter because of the set-up, but I, like many, wanted to believe that finally, Sanji was going to be a 10/10 badass again after being gone for most of Dressrosa.  And while I know he will do that later in the arc (come on, of course he will), I think it’s important to note that, really, he is going to come out of this so much stronger because of how he is acting now during his low point.

I already posted this elsewhere, but think about this for a second.  This whole arc has been Oda going the extra mile when putting everything in the book against Sanji, and given that he is only NOW getting desperate, that truly attests to his strength as a character.  Seriously, he had to have his crew, his father, his hands, his livelihood as a cook, and his freedom on the line (basically everything he cares about), as well as resurfacing of his devastating childhood trauma, physical beatings from his family, a fight with his captain, and the threat of a freaking Yonko’s army against his crew to get him to the point of breaking, and even now he is still doing everything to ensure the safety of the people he loves. Seriously, that is pretty much everything that can possibly be held against him, and he cracked this late in the game. That’s some beastly shit if you ask me, and it says wonders about just how good and strong of a character Oda has made him out to be.

Not to mention that his arc has, IMO, brought Sanji from the cool, quirky character that we knew before to a complex, more durable one because of the fact that he is hitting his low point.  Oda did this with Nami in Arlong Park, Usopp in Water 7, and Luffy himself right after Marineford, and this only made me appreciate and respect these characters more, because it is when a character is at their lowest that they truly can emerge stronger and better than they ever have been.  This is what Sanji’s fans want, right? And this current part of the arc, with him being sad and submissive (which is really a very realistic reaction that probably would’ve occurred for a lot of other characters much earlier on) is the first part of that development. This distressed, hopeless Sanji isn’t the most badass or controlled one, but it’s a human one and I love Oda for that.  Any author that can do this with their characters earns my respect a thousand times over, because it takes guts and really good writing to accomplish it successfully.  Oda has done it three times now, so why should we think he can’t do it a fourth?

^^ The foreshadowing is real, and at this point, it’s the waiting game.  Until then, we should probably let this arc evolve and take the events as they come, because it really is a great one.  And at this point, I’d say instead of doubting Sanji’s faith in everything, have faith in him, because he will definitely pull through and reemerge from this as a more compelling, more well-written, and more beastly character.  Until then, enjoy the ride!

[I am SO sorry for the length.  Holy nuggets.]  

George R.R. Martin is me