Sanji is one of the coreOne Piececharacters who joined Luffy on his journey to becoming the Pirate King back in the Baratie arc. Ever since then, Sanji has served as the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates and also remains to be one of the three main fighters of the crew, alongside Roronoa Zoro, and Monkey D. Luffy. Just like any other member of the East Blue Five, he plays an extremely important role in the story and is focused on slightly more than those who joined the crew later.
As such, Sanji has had two arcs dedicated to him in Baratie, which introduced the fans to him, and then Whole Cake Island, which added further depth to him, making him one of the very best written characters in the story. While Whole Cake Island did wonders for his character, it also helped Sanji grow stronger by facing off against the past that he ran from long ago when he was a prince of the Vinsmoke Family. Yet, ties to this very family are what could possibly have turned him into something that he detests, and that is the emotionless killing machine of the Vinsmokes, who can’t even be called humans.
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Sanji And The Vinsmoke Family
Although the fans first met Sanji on Baratie in the East Blue, he was certainly not born there, as confirmed by him during the Jaya arc ofOne Piece. With the Whole Cake Island arc, Sanji’s past was made clear to the fans and it was revealed that he belonged to a family of world-famous assassins who are sometimes even considered to be a myth, the Vinsmoke Family.Led by Judge Vinsmoke, this family sits at the top of Germa 66, a mobile Kingdom that consists of thousands of artificially created humans. In the past, Judge worked with the likes of Vegapunk and discovered what is known to be the blueprint of life, the Lineage Factor.
Although Vegapunk was taken in by the World Government, Judge managed to escape and use his scientific knowledge to build the mighty Germa Kingdom but, more importantly, his dream was to create powerful warriors of destruction who he wanted to be emotionless. To Judge, this role was reserved for his very own children. While Judge’s wife, Sora, vehemently argued against stealing their emotions, Judge wouldn’t listen and even though she took a powerful drug to stop their transformation into cold-blooded monsters, the Vinsmoke brothers were born without any emotions with one exception; Sanji.
While the rest of the Vinsmoke siblings were born without any emotions and great scientific power, Sanji kept his emotions and lacked all the genetic augmentations. Consequently,Sanji was considered weak and abusedby his father as well as his brothers but thanks to his sister, Reiju, he was able to make an escape. Even as a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, Sanji was considered to be a regular human without any special powers, however, the Enies Lobby arc did bring about a rather strange change. During his fight against Jabra, Sanji was able to ignite his leg using a technique called “Diable Jambe,” literally meaning “Devil Wind Leg.” Although Oda never explained its source or its significance to the fans, after Whole Cake Island, it was quite clear that Sanji’s powers have something to do with his genetics which had been suppressed for quite a long time.
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As expected, in the Wano Country arc,Sanji’s genetic augmentations finally awokeand gave him the exact powers that his brothers wield, from the tough exoskeleton that even bullets can’t pierce to an extremely high regeneration rate. Just as his brothers were once considered to be monsters, Sanji could very well fit in the same category now, however, he’s still human. Essentially, what Sanji’s mother, Sora, fought to protect was the emotions of her children. Unfortunately, the Vinsmoke brothers don’t possess any emotions but Sanji certainly does and that is exactly what makes him special. Not only does he keep his humanity but he also has the powers of the Germa science within him, making him the greatest creation of Judge Vinsmoke, ironic as that may be.
Sanji And The Lunarian Gods
Interestingly, questions about Sanji’s humanity don’t stop there. While it is true that Sanji isn’t an emotionless killing machine like his brothers, he appears to be something entirely different. As noted in the Wano Country arc, Sanji bears great resemblance to the strongest man in Kaido’s crew after him, King the Wildfire. Known to be from a race that no longer exists, King is an extremely powerful character who, just like Sanji,has the ability to set himself on fire. According to what the story tells the fans, this ability is unique to the Lunarian race, which is now extinct, with King being its last survivor.
That’s not all; King is also a master of combat in the air, which just so happens to be Sanji’s forte. King possesses tremendous durability that prevents him from receiving any damage, as seen in the fight against Zoro. On the other hand, Sanji just awoke a power similar to the exoskeleton of the Germa family that protected him from one of Queen’s strongest attacks with rather ease. Sanji might not be exactly as tough as King, but his powers just awoke and he’s slowly getting there. To make things even more interesting, Sanji awoke his exoskeleton and the rest of his Germa powers after a minor skirmish with King the Wildfire and felt the changes take hold immediately after the two made contact with each other.
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Queen, the second strongest member of the Beasts Pirates, questioned Sanji about how he was able to ignite himself on fire and while Sanji said it stems from his passion and anger, Queen laughed the claim off, saying no human can set themselves on fire unless they’re Lunarians. The implication here is that while Sanji might be human compared to his brothers, he may also not be human due to actually being of the Lunarian race, or carrying half of their powers somehow.
In the past, the Lunarians were known as the Gods of theOne Pieceworld and they lived atop the Red Line, just like the Celestial Dragons do right now. Queen referred to them as species that could survive in any conditions, yet somehow, their race was wiped out. It is quite incredible to see Sanji bear such a resemblance to King and what’s more, he might actually possess god’s blood by being one of the members of the race that was long ago wiped out with an unknown force. Although it isn’t clear how Sanji is linked to them, there is still a lot that the story hasn’t revealed and bythe end of the Wano Country arc, fans will certainly know more about Sanji and his connection to this near-extinct race of theOne Pieceworld.
