#sanji blackleg | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

megashadowdragon · 3 months

Text

sanjis promise to kuma

Back in chapter 485, Sanji interrupted Zoro and Kuma as they were about to make a deal in exchange for letting Luffy go free. In this moment, Sanji swore that one day, he would be the one to cause the most trouble for the Navy and the World Government.

Ever since Bonney commented on Vegapunk turning Kuma in to a cyborg in chapter 1062, I have been wondering if this promise will come full circle in this arc. Oda has been slowly building on the parallels between Sanji and Kuma. But why?

Chapter 485 was titled for Zoro, and it led to the 'nothing happened' moment. Given how iconic and significant that has become, don't you think it's also significant that it's here that Sanji stepped in?

Could it be that Oda is preparing to give Sanji a moment that will parallel Zoro's 'nothing happened'? Is this how Sanji will fulfil the promise that he made to Kuma at Thriller Bark? Will his words to Zoro from Wano come around again?

Sanji has often before gone on solo missions and risked his own life in order to sabotage the enemy's plans. In Little Garden and Alabasta, he tricked Crocodile; and at Enies Lobby, he stole the cuff keys from Jabra, and sabotaged the Buster Call.

Now that Kuma has arrived at Egghead, and another Buster Call as been initiated, it seems like the perfect time for Sanji's promise from Thriller Bark to come full circle. But what role will he play? And how will it explain his parallels to Kuma?

Speaking of the parallels between Sanji and Kuma, this is a good time to mention 'the power of love.' What does Oda mean by this? And how does it connect to Kuma being able to maintain a fragment of his humanity?

This may explain why Kuma's instinct to protect his daughter was able to override or delay the process of his humanity being erased. I believe it also explains the significance of Sanji's parallels to Kuma, and how he will fulfil his promise from Thriller Bark.

The significance of the parallels between Sanji may be leading toward Sanji taking the risk of losing his humanity again. But how will we get to that? Before we get that far, how will Oda set it up?

When I was planning this thread, I wondered what moments from the past that Oda might parallel here. To start with, I believe Sanji will steal Kizaru's, just as he stole the keys from Jabra back at Enies Lobby.

Once Sanji has stolen Kizaru's intercept Transponder Snail, he will be able to listen in on and discover the enemy's plans. Sanji could even speak directly with the other Gorosei. Just as he did with Crocodile in Little Garden and Alabasta.

niji and the other vinsmokes had the ability to mimic other people's voices ( shown in wci) so sanji could mimic kizaru or saint saturns voice to obtain this info like how he pretended to be mr3

Just as Sanji sabotaged Enel's Ark Maxim in Skypiea, Sanji may also sabotage and destroy the Mother Flame power station. The parallels would even extend to Sanji addressed "God," and the theme of "a light."

Could Oda be building up to Sanji putting himself in front of a blast from the Mother Flame in oder to destroy it manually and prevent it from being fired again? It would continue the parallel of Sanji taking a direct hit from Enel after sabotaging the Ark Maxim.

How could Sanji survive such a thing? This would be where his genetic augmentations and altered Lineage Factors come back in to it. The enhanced durability and regeneration in particular would be relevant here. 'A step into the realm of Godhood.'

It's worth remembering that it was the discovery of Lineage Factors that led the World Government to arresting Vegapunk in the first place. They felt threatened by it. We've surely not yet seen the maximum potential of the Lineage Factor augmentations.

Speaking of the full potential of Sanji's power, I have spoken before about how I believe this progression and the attack names will be themed around the life cycle of a star.

I believe that this is how Sanji will fulfil his promise to Kuma from Thriller Bark, and become the one who causes the most trouble for the World Government. Sanji will risk his life and his humanity to destroy the Mother Flame power station, and sabotage the "Great Cleasing."

The key to Sanji's survival will likely be his genetic augmentations, but the key to him not losing his humanity in the effort is in the "Primal Desires." and the "Undying power of love."

#one piece #op theory #sanji theory #bartolomeo kuma #bartholomew kuma #black leg sanji #blackleg sanji #kuroashi sanji #sanji kuroashi #sanji blackleg #sanji black leg #vinsmoke sanji #sanji vinsmoke #one piece theories #op theories #one piece theory

63 notes · View notes

the-music-maniac · 6 months

Text

I haven't watched that much of One Piece yet, so feel free to disagree with me on this analysis, but there's one thing about people's general interpretation of Sanji as a character that drives me a little nuts. And I'm saying this because even though I'm not very far along, I got spoiled for his backstory (because I refused to stop reading fanfiction even though when I first started I was like, on episode 3).

So before you continue, there are spoilers for Sanji's past.

I think people tend to ignore that the differences between Sanji's demeanor towards men vs towards women likely partially stem from severe trauma. I don't believe his actions are entirely intrinsic, its not like he was born acting like this - nor is it an unchanging immutable fact of his character, despite what a lot of people seem to believe.

And for some context on what prompted this - I'm a sanzo/zosan shipper, so I tend to crawl through the depths of the internet looking for fun little videos and fanarts, and one consistent protest I see with this ship is "Sanji DESPISES men and WORSHIPS women, there's literally no way he could EVER be attracted to men or want to date a man he HATES them."

Which bothers me outside of any arguments about Sanji's sexuality or even about any ships - which I will get to in a second - because that interpretation of Sanji assumes his actions are just there for no reason. Sanji hates men, therefore he hates all men with no exceptions, and he will always hate men. Sanji loves all women, therefore he will always worship every single woman he meets. I dunno, I think it's just a very surface level understanding of who he is, and relies on setting a rule for no reason and just sticking to it, as if it's just a mere quirk of his character with no backing to it.

Sanji's first interaction with any people, was in the form of his biological family, as is the case with most of us. Specifically, his father and brothers, who abused him and didn't even treat him like a person, and his mother and sister, who were the only people that treated him with kindness and saw his humanity. Tbh, he reminds me of the way women who have experienced trauma from men act - a general dislike/disdain and distrust for them (for good reason). And I don't doubt Sanji's overall elevation of women was only hammered home by the fact that his first ever father figure - arguably the first man who's treated him with kindness - teaching him the lesson to always respect women. His very illogical need to never fight women probably partially comes from the events in his life, and because it's not just a two dimensional arbitrary rule established for his character - there can be exceptions and growth.

We already know this, because despite Sanji's general disdain of men as a whole, he is capable of caring/loving men that he personally knows. He loves Zeff, and he loves his nakama - some of whom are MEN. Like, it's right there??? In the same way a woman who has experienced violence at the hands of a man probably still has family and friends or even a significant other that they love and care about that are men.

Like if you're using his demeanor towards the different genders as an "aha got you" argument for why Sanji couldn't possibly be queer, its not as strong of an argument as you think it is.

And if we're operating under the assumption that Sanji partially acts like this because of trauma, it brings up quite a few interesting arguments about his sexuality and potential romantic partners.

Which segways into sanzo/zosan, since admittedly I got into this entire debacle because I was looking into fanart (non-shippers feel free to click away now if you wish, I get that not everyone likes the ship, which is valid).

I don't think Sanji's actions means he couldn't be bisexual. Cause I'm bisexual, and you know what would make me very very keen to ignore all my attraction to one specific gender? If I had multiple instances of that gender hurt me severely. In fact I'm not so certain I don't experience that, because while I haven't had anything super bad happen to me, I hear about things in the news, about friends and family who have been harmed, interacted with men who have talked down to me, and I definitely went through a phase in my younger years where i just refused to consider men as a possibility for a romantic partner, because I was just so so angry. And I'm not saying Sanji doesn't like women in truth, because he absolutely does. He's both attracted to them and likes them. But that doesn't eliminate the possibility that he might also be attracted to men, or other non-binary genders. In fact the more he doth protest, and puts on a show when he sees a pretty woman, the more I'm sure he's in denial. Internalized homophobia can also be a bitch. Contrary to making me think Sanji is absolutely straight, the way he acts in the show actually puts me the opposite way.

I've heard Sanji also has an interesting relationship with gender and may be genderqueer but I don't know as many details about that yet, so I'll skip it for now. But regardless, I look at Sanji and go "I don't think this is a traditionally cishet character."

Of course, this is by far not the only interpretation you can have of Sanji. It could be that he's traumatized and also heterosexual. That's absolutely fine. But my overall point here is that I don't think what we see in canon negates the possibility that Sanji can be queer.

As to why I like Zosan in relation to this:

1. First, a relatively minor thing, I enjoy the sheer amount of bickering/fighting. People hold that up as a reason to not like the ship and I'm like, my dude that's one of the only reasons why I'm here. My love language is annoying the people you love and occasionally having homoerotic battles. duh.

2. Zoro is one of the aforementioned men that Sanji cares about, one of the exceptions to his "men are horrible" thing. Like they argue and fight a lot, sure, but you're not convincing me that they don't love each other. In whatever capacity - platonic or romantic - is up to your interpretation. Sanji loves all of his nakama, that's not really something I see as up for debate.

3. I honestly believe that until Sanji gets a less extreme viewpoint of the different genders - he won't be able to be in a healthy romantic relationship with a woman. For one thing, I know Sanji has self worth issues for days. For another thing, his hero worship for women as a whole - his refusal to fight women, even when they're actively trying to harm him - I don't see that translating well to a relationship. Moreover, I can see it being exhausting for the woman he ends up with, to always be treated like she's made of glass or agreed with, regardless of what she says.

Essentially, he wouldn't really treat that relationship as a partnership between equals, and I think when that happens, you run the risk of the individuals hurting each other, even on accident. Of course, we can also see this as a facet of his character with exceptions and possibility for personal growth. Maybe if he gets with a girl he'll grow and learn and still end up in a good relationship. You could also just interpret his demeanor as over the top flirting that he'll reign back in for an actual serious relationship. Sky's the limit when it comes to fandom interpretations.

But because of this, regardless, I just don't see any potential between the female characters I've met and Sanji. What I do see potential in, is Zoro. Here is actually a character Sanji not only trusts to watch his back, is on equal footing with, but is also unafraid to speak his mind and fight with. He doesn't walk on eggshells or worship the ground Zoro walks on, he has no qualms about defending himself if Zoro crosses a line. That is what a relationship can be built on.

4. Zoro has a contrasting way of interacting with women that I find super interesting. He comes off as the kind of character that doesn't actually care about the gender of the person he's fighting or interacting with - he cares about their ability. Which kinda explains his reactions when he hears Kuina's thoughts about being a girl - and I think Tashigi as well if I'm remembering correctly. There could be a clash of beliefs there that might be quite interesting. I know Zoro and Sanji do fight about how they talk to women, but I meant like something not just played off for laughs. Maybe there is something like that later in the show, who knows, I'm still early on.

5. Again the entire reason why I like enemies to lovers is the need for personal growth. I heard someone say that Zoro would be fine with being in love with a boy if it wasn't Sanji, and Sanji would be fine with being in love with Zoro if he wasn't a boy, and man do I think that's accurate. And here's the crux of the matter - in order for them to get together, they need to get over their hang-ups. Sanji needs to unpack the ten million tons of trauma he keeps repressed under his curly noggin, and Zoro needs to figure out why Sanji rubs him the wrong way. That shit is INTERESTING. People forget that the reason why this trope is so popular is BECAUSE it's a fixer upper - there's work to do. Nothing is perfect. It may even be a little toxic. That's the appeal.

Anyways this is getting TOO LONG. Thanks for reading!

#sanji blackleg; trauma; and his relationship to men and women: an essay #one piece #sanji blackleg #analysis #roronoa zoro #sanzo #zosan #sanji x zoro #zoro x sanji #bisexual sanji blackleg #potentially genderqueer sanji blackleg #zoro and sanji's differing interactions with women are just quite interesting #i headcanon zoro as gay cause that man has never shown interest in a woman from what I've seen so far

208 notes · View notes