Sanji

Raised in the floating restaurant Baratie by the old pirate cook Zeff, Sanji fights only with his legs to keep his hands fit for cooking. He dreams of the All Blue, a sea said to hold every fish in the world. Chivalrous to the point of absurdity around women, chain-smoking and quick to bicker with Zoro, he will never let anyone go hungry, enemies included.

A tall, slim-built man with blond hair worn in a long side sweep that keeps one eye hidden, curled eyebrows that spiral at the ends, and a cigarette almost permanently at his mouth. He dresses sharply in tailored black suits, polished shoes and a loosened tie, favoring formality even in the jungle or at sea. After the time skip he grows a thin goatee for a period and his frame becomes leaner and harder. Women reliably reduce him to a swooning, heart-eyed state that overrides his usual composure.

A gentleman by conviction and a brawler by training, Sanji holds two rules above almost everything: no one goes hungry in his presence, and he will not strike a woman, even one trying to kill him. The second rule costs him dearly more than once and he keeps it anyway. He is chivalrous to the point of absurdity, collapsing into nosebleeds and declarations of love, yet coldly ruthless toward anyone who wastes food or threatens his crew. He bickers constantly with Zoro, dotes on Nami and Robin, and quietly shoulders the cooking, provisioning and medical errands no one else thinks about. Beneath the swagger sits a man convinced he is something monstrous, who chose kindness deliberately.

Born into the royal Vinsmoke line that commands the mercenary force Germa 66, Sanji lacked the engineered strength of his siblings and was despised and imprisoned by his father for it. Only his sister Reiju and the memory of his mother showed him warmth. He escaped to sea and ended up adrift with the pirate-hunting chef Zeff after a shipwreck, where the two were stranded on a barren rock; Zeff gave the boy all the food and sacrificed his own leg rather than let him die. Raised afterward in the kitchen of the floating restaurant Baratie, Sanji learned both cooking and a kicking style that spares a chef's hands.

1. Baratie

   Working as the restaurant's abrasive sous-chef, Sanji refuses Luffy's recruitment until the Krieg fleet attacks. After feeding a starving enemy who then tries to seize the ship, he fights to protect Zeff's restaurant, learns the truth of how his mentor lost his leg, and finally leaves to search for the legendary All Blue.

2. Enies Lobby and Thriller Bark

   He crosses the sea train and the government stronghold with the crew, burning through assassins with his newly developed flaming kick technique. On the ghost ship that follows, he volunteers his shadow and nearly his life in the fight against a warlord, and is among those shielded by Zoro's silent sacrifice afterward.

3. Whole Cake Island

   Blackmailed by his father into a political marriage, Sanji abandons the crew in a letter and lets himself be beaten rather than fight back. Luffy's refusal to leave the territory of the Emperor Big Mom, and the memory of Zeff's lesson, bring him back; he sabotages the wedding, rescues his family and escapes with a cake that stalls an Emperor.

4. Wano Country

   Infiltrating the isolated country, he cooks for starving villagers and briefly operates as a costumed vigilante. During the raid on Onigashima he confronts a Germa-engineered swordsman, is forced to rely on the enhanced body he despises, and fears losing his humanity even as he wins.

Zeff

Mentor and father figure

The old pirate chef who gave up his leg and his own rations to keep a stranded boy alive. Sanji's entire code, from feeding the hungry to never sinking to his father's level, traces back to him.

Zoro

Rival crewmate

The two insult each other almost every time they speak and fight side by side without needing to discuss it. Their constant competition masks an absolute confidence that the other will hold the line.

Judge

Father

The Germa monarch who branded him a failure and imprisoned him as a child. Sanji ultimately refuses both his hatred and his family name, yet still chooses to save the Vinsmokes rather than let them die.

Nami

Crewmate and object of devotion

He waits on her constantly, invents drinks in her honor and takes her abuse without complaint. She exploits it shamelessly but is among the first to go after him when he disappears.

• He feeds a starving pirate who immediately repays him by attacking the restaurant that raised him.
• He takes a prolonged beating from his own brothers without lifting a hand, to spare the chefs of the Baratie.
• He sets his leg alight for the first time against a government assassin at Enies Lobby.
• He delivers a wedding cake capable of calming an Emperor's rampage, having baked it under impossible pressure.

• His dream is to find the All Blue, a sea said to contain the fish of every ocean.
• He will not harm a woman under any circumstances, a rule that has nearly killed him.
• He trained during the crew's separation on an island of cross-dressing martial artists, fleeing them the entire time.
• He names most of his attacks in French, in keeping with culinary terminology.

• Monkey D. Luffy
• Roronoa Zoro
• Nami
• Usopp
• Nico Robin
• Franky

• Tony Tony Chopper
• Brook

Back to the One Piece guide