Sanji

This article is about the One Piece character. For the music video director, see Sanji (director). For the seiyū, see Sanji Hase.

Sanji
One Piece character
File:Sanji2.jpg Sanji, from the anime and manga series One Piece.
First appearance	Manga Chapter #43 Anime Episode #20
Created by	Eiichiro Oda
In-universe information
Nickname	"Black Leg" Sanji (Navy) "Love-Cook" (self) "Hunter" (self) "Little Eggplant" (Zeff: Japanese versions, English manga) "String Bean" (Zeff: 4Kids dub) "Dartboard-Eyebrow" (Zoro) "Mosquito Repellent Eyebrow" (Zoro) "Hogeh" (Zoro: EP-339) "Ero-Cook" (Zoro & Usopp) "Mister Prince" (self) "Eyebrow Freak" (Zoro: Funimation dub)
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Pirate (Straw-Hat Pirates, Chef)

Sanji (サンジ) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series One Piece, created and written by artist Eiichiro Oda. He is the fourth member to join the crew and the chef of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Character outline

Personality

Sanji is the Straw Hat crew's chain-smoking chef, whose dream is to find All Blue, a legendary ocean which contains all the fish in the world. He takes great pride in the meals he makes.

Sanji is also a very skilled fighter, who uses only kicks. He said, that this is because a chef's hands are his prized possession and should not be risked in battle. He was trained by the once infamous pirate and chef Red Leg Zeff, who had been to the Grand Line himself.

In battle, he typically manipulates things from off-panel and then appears in the front lines at a very crucial moment. This has led to a running gag in the series centering around Sanji never being recognized by the Straw Hats' enemies, a joke culminating in the release of his first wanted poster.

Sanji has a strong sense of chivalry, and he will never harm a woman, no matter what. As said by himself, he will never kick a woman even if he dies because that is how he was brought up. Sanji also seems to keep this code regardless of a woman's appearance.

Sanji and Zoro are rivals and always picking fights over silly things, and calling each other names. Even though they both make clear that they dislike each other on a daily basis, they have shown at some crucial moments that they do care for each other as friends.

Abilities

Sanji is a powerful martial artist with superhuman strength, speed, and endurance. He is considered by the Straw Hat crew to be one of their strongest fighters. Sanji has mastered Red Leg, a fictional unarmed martial art which strictly uses the lower body and legs in combat similar to capoeira. Sanji's leg strength is great enough to smash through rock and defeat monstrous beasts in a single blow. Sanji is also shown to be very acrobatic, using flips and handstands in his fighting. His fighting style's name is taken from the alias of "Red Leg" Zeff, Sanji's mentor and developer of the style.

Sanji's most powerful ability is Diable Jambe, which involves rotating at high speeds, heating his leg via friction until it glows red-hot. This powerful ability enhances his kick and literally burns his opponent when it connects. The more Sanji uses his kick, the more his legs are damaged, but the legs would heal after time. Oda states this is because Sanji's heart burns even hotter.

A unique attack to Sanji would be his beautification attack (Parage Shot!), which he demonstrated against chef Wanze. With several kicks to the face, Wanze's face changed to resemble one would expect from the protagonist of a shojou manga. This skill is shown again many chapters later on Iron Mask Duval.

As an expert chef, Sanji is capable of preparing almost any dish imaginable, while holding to a strong sense of the aesthetics of cooking. Sanji is also skilled in fighting with kitchen knives, as demonstrated against Cipher Pol chef Wanze. He is able to make very accurate cuts.

His techniques are named in French, and generally refer to the part of the body Sanji is attacking.

Plot overview

Nine years before the Straw Hats meet him, a young Sanji is working aboard a floating restaurant as a trainee chef in the North Blue. Even at this early point in his life, he dreams of finding All Blue. This makes him somewhat of an outcast among the other chefs, who regard the sea as nothing more than a legend told to small children. The cruise ship is attacked by the pirate "Red Leg" Zeff, and the ship sinks during the ensuing battle.

Sanji is surprisingly rescued by Zeff, and they both wash onto the shore of a nearby desolate island. The island was completely made of rock. Its edges were too steep to climb and they had no way of getting nutrition. With almost no food left, Zeff splits the remaining rations with Sanji, keeping a large sack for himself since, as he tells Sanji, he is an adult with a larger stomach. He tells Sanji to wait for a rescue ship on the other side of the island. Many weeks pass, and with Sanji having finished his rations much earlier, he decides to steal Zeff's food. He tells the old man not to interfere or he will kill him, and slashes the large sack of food open, only to discover that it's just a sack of treasure.

Sanji then notices Zeff's missing leg, and realizes Zeff had no food for the entire time they had been stranded and was forced to eat his own leg. Sanji tearfully asks why Zeff would do such a thing, and Zeff explains to him that they share the dream of finding All Blue. The two are rescued some time later, and Zeff uses his treasure to establish the Baratie, a floating restaurant in the East Blue with Sanji as his sous-chef. Due to this ordeal, Sanji will never refuse someone a meal and becomes angry when someone wastes food.

Appearances in other media

Along with other One Piece characters, Sanji appeared in a Shonen Jump special, where Enel attacks Tokyo and Odaiba, in Cross Epoch the short story created in cooperation by Oda and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, as well as in the video games Jump Super Stars, Jump Ultimate Stars, and Battle Stadium D.O.N.

Reception

Sanji is one of the most popular One Piece characters, as he ranked third in a recent Japanese fan poll.