Kaizoku-ō ni ore wa naru!

[sunshinestrawhats]

[thatnikaluffy]

On the Monster Trio & Oda's favoritism

After Luffy, Oda has a favorite Straw Hat and a shocking amount of people tend to think it's Zoro. I think they're being clouded by the fact that Zoro is Toei's favorite.

But by and large, Oda's favorite Straw Hat is Sanji.

After Luffy, he is the Straw Hat with the most amount of arcs where he is the focus. His arcs have a trend of having the rest of the crew be absent from the climax so there is a moment reserved for Luffy and Sanji alone because Luffy is the only one who Sanji can truly be vulnerable with. They also have a significant amount of parallels from Shanks and Zeff both sacrificing a limb for them, having a (bio) father that is a significant world leader, their love to eat/loves to cook dynamic, etc. Sanji was the first between him and Zoro to be declared as Luffy's wing.

Of course, it would be remiss to neglect mentioning how long Oda has been begging for a Shokugeki no Sanji anime. It would also be remiss to neglect mentioning that Sanji is, to this date, the only Straw Hat Luffy has explicitly told he needs to become Pirate King.

Sanji had a three year saga dedicated to him being a prince and learning about his family.

We had to learn Zoro is lost Wano nobility in an SBS and didn't even see him visit Ryuma's grave in Wano despite the buildup dating back to Thriller Bark. And yes, I'm still mad his parents were drawn as silhouettes when even Kid and Killer's childhood friend Victoria has been drawn. In the narrative, Zoro tends to only be used for fighting and aura farming and doesn't tend to get much else beyond that which is kinda sad when he was the first to join the crew.

Zoro is a simple character, not a bad one.

I like him having a simple backstory, I like him having simple motivations and I especially like him not finding out he is the closest thing to an heir the Shimotsuki Clan has with Kuina being dead and all because Zoro would not have cared about that. (To be honest, considering Wano's traditional patriarchal values, Kuina might not have even been considered due to being a girl.) But I still think, that if you're going to have the right wing of the future King of the Pirates also be nobility that should be confirmed in the story not a Q&A (even if through, someone in Wano going "omg guys, that guy was actually a descendant of Ryuma and Ushimaru. Damn it, the Straw Hats have already left though so we couldn't tell him").

So that got me thinking that even if it isn't intentional, Oda tends to channel his favoritism through Luffy.

Luffy tends to praise Sanji the most out of his crewmates even going as far as telling Dorry back in Little Garden if he had insulted Sanji's cooking, he would've beat his ass. Luffy's canonically become more possessive of Sanji since the events of WCI (ex. getting defensive when Bonney complimented Sanji to him out of nowhere when prior to WCI, Luffy would've agreed ecstatically with her praise). You can honestly say the same for Sanji, a la his behavior with Jinbei during the early parts of the Onigashima raid.

Luffy also tends to be blinded by things he otherwise would've noticed when it involves Sanji.

For example, back in Skypiea he was able to tell immediately that something was off with Conis after she sold them out to Enel and the White Berets. He noticed she'd been trembling the entire time despite choosing not to comment on it. He usually is able to tell immediately when he is being lied to. So, if anything, he should've been able to tell that Pudding was lying through her teeth the moment they met. But she complimented Sanji and he immediately started agreeing with her. Judge insults Sanji and everyone but Luffy is able to tell that Sanji is being insulted because for Luffy he can't fathom anyone hating Sanji.

Luffy and Zoro have a bond that's really special. Zoro chose Luffy as his captain as much as Luffy chose him as his swordsman but then I think about how...

Luffy derailed a coup 20 years in the making for Sanji and was fully prepared to abandon his promise to help Wano for Sanji. I don't think enough people think about how Monkey D. "Always keeps his promises" Luffy was about to break a promise for the first time in his life with extreme intention.

He was on a deadline, he explicitly told the Wano alliance he would be there to help them. Luffy never bluffs, he would've waited for Sanji in that spot for years.

He was about to doom an entire country for one cook.

He even tells Reiju he would head straight to the East Blue to save Zeff it's what he needed to bring Sanji back to him, derailing not only his dream at large but the dreams of the other Straw Hats. It's also up in the air if that would mean leaving directly from WCI to the East Blue leaving the rest of the crew stranded in Wano or stopping by Wano to get the rest of the Straw Hats and leaving immediately depending on the severity of the situation as it would've been a race against time to save Zeff's life.

He nearly tore off his arms twice in the same arc for Sanji and even told Nami to do it as well. Then after being freed by Jinbei, he proceded to run around Big Mom's castle screaming Sanji's name and beating up everyone in sight, especially though who insulted Sanji going as far as saying "Don't talk bad about Sanji!"

In both the Baratie and WCI arcs, there is a large focus on a family member Sanji respects (Zeff and Reiju) essentially giving Luffy their blessing to take Sanji away with him.

And crazy sidebar, what about that time Reiju sucked the life points out of Luffy and he immediately thought it was Sanji???

And partially related side bar, the translation here is incorrect. What Luffy says is 「サンジを返せよ！アイツは俺の仲間だ！」 which would be more accurately translated as "Give me Sanji back! He's my nakama!" followed by his statement of taking him back by any cost.

It's very interesting and sentimental and I think a lot of the fandom tend to overlook the bond Luffy and Sanji have with each other.

Thinking about all that, I wonder how if I was in Zoro's shoes as dedicated as I am to Luffy, how would I feel? Like, we get a glimpse of that during Zou when Zoro gets jealous when Luffy tells Dogstorm and Cat Viper Sanji is worth 1000 people. Zoro just has quiet, stalwart yearner energy and it makes me ill in the best way possible.

TLDR: I had a lot of thoughts about the Monster Trio and their Wings dynamic with their Captain and it turned into this. Also, Oda's favorite is Sanji, Toei's favorite is Zoro.

[sunshinestrawhats]

I LIVE!!!!! And I am back to share the official Elbaph designs for the anime!!!

Below the cut because I'll be nice about spoilers this time lol

ARE THEY NOT GLORIOUS

[xx-art-xx-xx]

☀️🍎

[tibli]

oda be putting luffy in the cutest little outfits like his own specialist little dress up doll and i love that for him

[pixiemusing]

Luffy is Oda's Dress-Up Darling!

[ace-no-isha]

luffy IS selfish. i need to correct myself. he does everything simply because he wants to and he doesn’t care how big of a mess he makes to get his way. but his way is always freedom and kindness and food for the hungry and water in parched lands and happiness for everyone around him. his selfishness is so inherently selfless that it feels wrong to call him selfish but he is undeniably selfish. it just so happens that he’s kind, too.

[chosisbox]

An elbaf Robin because my glorious queen was amazing in the last chapter

[idiotwithbackpain]

sorry for so little art

[onlyforsanji]

Blue is his colour

[sanji-screenshots]

a cook’s love language.png

[mooddyblkgurrl]

Straw as black artists

luffy - Tyler the Creator

Zoro - Kendrick

Nami - SZA

Sanji - Steve lacy

Ussop - Frank Ocean

Robin - Sade

Franky - Bad Brain

Brook - Prince

[salmon4dinner]

next part of my sanrio and one piece drawings! I wanted to do something halloween themed even though it’s august lol

[elbiotipo]

pro-tip: don't ever use the sentence "thousands of years" in your worldbuilding unless you really know what a thousand years is like

[elbiotipo]

Quick cheat sheet:

The middle ages were one thousand years ago

I don't know if I need you to tell you this but Jesus was alive 2 thousand years ago during the Roman Empire

3 thousand years ago the Mediterranean and Middle East were recovering from the bronze age collapse. None of the philosophers of Western philosophy (or Eastern for that matter) were born yet

Earliest writing dates roughly to 5 thousand years ago.

Agriculture started roughly 10 thousand years ago

So yes, you can write whatever you like but if you're telling me that an individual dynasty has been ruling since 8000 years ago (HOLA JORGE) I have to wonder if they even had writing back then

[imsobadatnicknames2]

To be fair you can find one guy like that in the comment section of most metal bands on youtube

[sunshinestrawhats]

[hanavbara]

strawhats on the phone 🏴‍☠️☎️💥#ONEPIECE

[salmon4dinner]

‘childhood’ prompt for Sanji week

[vimbry-moved]

got chased by a skeleton but when they caught me they just gave me a kiss and hug. turns out it was an xoskeleton.

[vimbry-moved]

this one's a big hit with the ghosts

[o0kawaii0o]

RACER NAMI 🏁