If Sanji Ever Hits A Woman, His Character Is Ruined Forever

If Sanji ever hits a woman, his character is ruined forever

How I, as a woman, came to enjoy Sanji's chivalry trait even if I dislike it.

Now, notice how I said "chivalry" and not "pervet", because I actually quite enjoy his morals, but i fucking loathe his gags with the nose blood and all. This perverted size I do my best to ignore and at the very least tolerate, because I honestly believe Sanji's good character traits surpass this goddamn bad bits.

(This is going to be a long long essay, because I’ve been thinking about that Black Maria fight again and I wanted to give my two cents to his character development in detriment of my calculus exam tomorrow which I haven’t studied one bit. Also there’s going to be no images because I don’t fucking know how Tumblr works I’m new)

So, about his chivalry and the whole "won't hit a woman thing".

At first, I was very pissed about it. If it was in any other piece of media, not hitting a woman (as much as its a double standart) it's not exactly bad per se. It's not something I would applaud but rather think it's a failed flex of the writers to show themselves Oh So Manly and So Full of Outdated Morals. Regardless, not all that much of a bother. In real life, not hitting a woman is a thing and its not a bad one, since not every woman is able to GG combo a 6 foot tall jerk. And depending on how close your fictional world is to real life, this chivalry becomes more and more justified.

But One Piece is not your everyday fantastical fictional world. It's a whole ass big planet that keeps on moving with its own rules, physics and culture. A world a lot bigger than our own that expends to metaphysical standards. In One Piece, even if regular woman are shown to be a tad weaker than most regular man, its not by a lot when these randoms could die to an actual strong character to the same swing of a sword.

However, when Oda shows strong, powerful characters, they are so regardless of their gender. And One Piece has some STRONG female characters. I mean painfully strong. In a planet so big as theirs, its not a surprise woman has taken some Big Girl Pills. I don’t think it's up to discussion that woman can be seen as deadly powerful in this world as man.

But as refreshing as it is, this gender roles in One Piece come crumbling down once you add this chivalry shit.

Because when you have big women villains that can eat a whole island in two seconds, or women that can murder a whole army with one move, having a character refusing to fight feels demeaning. It’s like you are underestimating these powerful lads that can literally kill your nakama. What, you don’t think they can actually do damage to you, you fucking prick?

And it’s contradictory, to show these woman so strong and yet be seen so weakly by characters you were supposed to like. It feels demeaning to them, and it feels demeaning to you, a 12yo that was starting to really like see these woman achieving so many big things.

And Sanji is one of those characters you were supposed to like. Because he’s funny, strong, kind, a good cook, a good friend, a person you would love to know in real life. But still, he has this flaws that ick you so fucking much, flaws that get more and more evident as the story progresses.

Don’t get me wrong, I love OP, I have a tattoo of One Piece, Sanji is one of my favorite characters. However, I stopped reading for a while before WCI because, even though the story is amazing, I was getting really bothered with this whole woman situation. At some point, a trait that was exclusively Sanji’s that I was willing to ignore seemed to take this whole world by storm

Because the story portrays Sanji as dumb for not fighting woman, but at the same time, quite noble. And it pissed me off so much it took me four years to read One Piece again. Mainly because I wanted to catch the Wano arc finished, but also because I was so done that I could only pray this sexism situation got better over time and it was only a weird phase of Oda.

AND OH BOY HOW IT WAS

Recently reading WCI, I remembered everything I loved about Sanji, why I enjoyed his smile and his brains so much, and why he was one of my favorite characters ever. It wasn’t just uneducated 12yo me that was overlooking issues, Sanji is genuiely a good guy. Believe me, I’m 20, a woman in STEM that deals with sexism every single day, I’m plenty educated now.

Speaking of which, this is already very long and I really should study for that calculus exam but now I’m getting heated up.

Because WCI touches and highlights the best parts of Sanji, and fuck you if you disagree (... /j)

It called for my attention how Oda kept talking and hitting themes surrounding “humanity” in Whole Cake Island, and finally some things fell in place for me. 

This chivalry of Sanji is a character trait, that even if annoying sometimes, is still a character trait meant to be seen perhaps as a flaw, but also as a product of his humanity and kindness.

Because the world in One Piece doesn’t think the same way as Sanji. Luffy would kick a woman, he won’t give a single damn fuck, and we are supposed to like Luffy plenty! Even if Oda has his lows in how he deals with the perception of woman in One Piece, this double standard morality is exclusively a Sanji thing.

Not only is a Sanji thing, but also a Zeff thing.

That scene particularly stuck with me, where Zeff says that if Sanji would ever hit a woman, he would kick Sanji’s ass and then kill himself. When Sanji asked why on his good mind would he do that, Zeff responds “It’s the price a parent has to pay. Don’t become something I hate.”

And oh, OH, what a line. Because after hearing from his biological father he would be embarassed if the world ever discovered a failure was his son, it must have meant a lot for Sanji to hear Black Leg Zeff (the best person he has ever encountered besides maybe his mother) declaring so proudly he was Sanji’s parent.

It gives not only a reason for Sanji be one of the only characters with this mentality, but also justify why he is so strongly convict with this morality. He doesn’t want to be a failure again. Not to Zeff. And he doesn’t want to live in a world where he’s too ashamed to look his father in the eye.

And, in a vacuum, this scene must have felt like a cheap excuse of Oda to not change the character. But combining with the whole Whole Cake Island (ha, whole whole), this shows exactly what type of person Sanji is.

Because, as I said before, his chivalry is a product of his kindness and humanity (such a thing his brothers doesn’t have), but also is a mark Zeff left for him. Screaming without actually screaming that Vinsmoke Judge is not Sanji’s real father, because his actual dad made sure to raise well. To make him become a good person by his own ideals. Sanji has Zeff’s ideals because Zeff is his dad, and in result, everything about Sanji is a direct contrast of his biological siblings.

Also, uniting everything together, knowing damn well where his chivalry came from, it’s safe to assume that if Sanji ever loses that sense of morality, it would be a big bad thing. As in bad, bad thing.

Rather we like it or not, his morality is strong and tied directly with his humanity. If Sanji ever hits a woman, if he loses this sense of right and wrong, it means we lost Sanji as we knew him - a kind hearted boy, a strong chef, a strawhat that would die for his friends.

So in Wano, when this “happens”, it feels like Oda warning us.

If Sanji ever hits a woman, you all better be shock in terror.

I don’t know if I misjudged Oda when I was 16, or if he was indeed telling a bad story before realizing and fixing it, but Wano feels like a redemption arc. Because above all that, we also have good LGBTQ representation that felt almost surreal, and one of the best One Piece arcs ever told in terms of story, but also, good Sanji moments, reminding us all of the person he is and who he became after WCI.

And for those who says this means Sanji won’t get character development ever, I present to you: Black Maria incident.

I see a lot of people disliking strongly how Sanji screamed for Robin’s help. But to me, it felt amazing to see Sanji actually trusting his friends. Because he won’t hit a woman, but he doesn’t need to die because of that. He has plenty of strong friends that can watch his back and do what he can’t do while he does what they can’t. 

Not only that, but him screaming for Robin specifically shows that he acknowledges the women on his crew are strong. Strong enough to fight for him, strong enough to handle themselves. And also shows how he trusts them. Trusts that they won’t die, trusts their power, trusts that he won’t need to save them because it’s his time to be saved.

Not to mention the whole sacrificing thing he has going on, but that one was plently adressed on WCI.

And you have all the right to dislike this character trait as long as you realize it’s, you know, a character trait. And one that holds a lot of simbolism. I eventually came to enjoy the weight this chivalry holds, but it’s up to you.

That’s it. Thanks for reading. I’ll definitely go study for that calculus exam now