Reading one piece fanon is always super interesting to me because there’re a few prevailing ideas that have taken root, specifically regarding Sanji, that I don’t understand as someone who reads the series:
- Sanji as a very soft-willed crybaby pillow princess with no self esteem. He’s a line cook raised by a bunch of line cooks who had probably never spoken to a child before Sanji showed up. Sanji himself threatened Zeff with a knife when he was ten and then kept scheming to kill him until he realized Zeff was working to keep him alive. He started smoking when he was like 12 with no provocation and against Zeff’s wishes. He hits on women at his job. He is also pissing off the side of the boat. He showers more than the other boys but that doesn’t make him a 2009 uke archetype. It just makes him clean. He wants to woo a woman. He’s one of the only men on the planet who knows that women don’t like men with unwashed asses (everyone say thank you Zeff). He is also very aware of what he’s capable of and what he has to offer as a crew member and a friend. He doesn’t see himself as disposable, he’s just chivalrous to a dangerous degree.
- Sanji refusing to let others come into his kitchen or help him with cooking tasks. This is like… a super common idea I see in fan content, but Sanji puts the boys to work when he needs them! In Skypeia he sends them foraging and then tells them to add their finds into their soup. Usopp’s factory was in the kitchen on the Merry. Like. Smack in the middle of it. Sanji didn’t seem to care, and people came in there to talk with him all the time. Luffy’s really the only one consistently excommunicated and even then, Sanji usually gives him treats to tide him over (I think about Luffy and Zoro eating the bread crusts as a wee snack a LOT it’s so cutie). I’ve never gotten the impression that he’s holed up in there alone cooking while everyone else is playing, and yet it’s a staple characterization in so much fan content!
- Sanji as a borderline misogynist and/or predator. He does get wrapped up in women, but most of his behavior is a bit. He claims he only protects women and then immediately turns around to save Usopp. He chases after unavailable women relentlessly and then misses cues from women that actually want him. He won’t hit women, but that’s him taking Zeff’s honor code up to eleven. He has no qualms with letting someone else beat the snot out of a lady. He respects the women on the crew and their abilities. He trusts them to hold their own. Whole Cake Island very explicitly lays out the fact that his girls only policy is a way to cover up how strongly he feels about everyone on the crew. It’s his way of trying to guard his heart.
People are obviously allowed to have their fun in fandom spaces and whatnot, but I feel like Sanji is such a dynamic and interesting character as he’s written! It’s a bummer seeing him reduced to such a flat concept.
And for the record, he’s only one centimeter shorter than Zoro and roughly the same size.
