#op 1005

[wurm-food]

Ok wait actually idk who Black Maria is anymore, who is she? I'm only here for Robin 💕

One Piece - #1005

[kaizokuwritings]

sorry, but all i see is 3 brothers messing around while the parents are away.

[infriga]

You know, I know Sanji is sometimes a controversial character in the fandom, but I can respect how Oda didn't take the easy route when it comes to his development and growth.

One of Sanji's major character traits is his unwillingness to hurt women. It's portrayed as both a funny quirk and a flaw depending on the context, and of course it's something that some fans have mixed feelings about. Oda could have easily had Sanji's character development involve learning to be willing to fight women, but instead Oda had Sanji's growth be more focused on Sanji's self worth, and his willingness to ask for help and rely on his friends.

So instead of Sanji attacking a woman to protect Robin to show him having grown as a person post WCI (which wouldn't really feel like a natural progression of his character at this point), he ended up showing that he has faith in Robin's abilities and is willing to ask for help and rely on her to save him. Considering that WCI happened in the first place because Sanji was being too sacrificial, and refused to ask for help from his friends, to me this feels much more true to his character and like a much more important change for him to go through. Because in WCI we saw that Sanji's unwillingness to hit women doesn't stem from thinking women are weak, it stems from him wanting to emulate and respect the principles of the man who took him in and raised him after he was abused and abandoned by his biological father, and it's one of his ways of showing that he considers Zeff to be his true father. So it wouldn't make sense for that to be what he takes from WCI, and tbh, I think learning to trust and rely on his friends instead of just sacrificing himself for them is a much more important development for him.

It even ties back to Enies Lobby where the thing that upsets Nami the most isn't that Sanji can't kick a woman, it's that he also refused to run away or get help, and was getting himself killed over it. On top of that, it's something that Robin herself also had to learn. So in a way that makes it especially meaningful imho for him to be asking for her to help him and showing his faith in her, because she knows what it's like, and would be really proud of him for overcoming that. And she brought Brook with her, showing that she's not just going to do it alone either and is also relying on others to help her as well. Plus I just like how Oda is having the crew team up to fight more in general.

Whether Sanji's chivalry can still be considered problematic or whatever is obviously something people are allowed to have differing views on. But imho not every flaw has to be fixed, and I think the way Oda has sort of recontextualized it and made it more in depth rather than just getting rid of it is quite interesting. A character's journey isn't about becoming a perfect person, so not every imperfection needs to be erased, and exploring those imperfections or elaborating on the motivation behind them is still a type of character development.

Anyways, this was a great chapter, and also Robin is great and I love her.

[aoitorix]

♥

[meteokitten]

Devil Child Nico Robin || ch. 1005

[thelittleprinceofasteroid325]

Hello this made my entire year

[eurydicesflower]

ROBIN 😭😭😭😭😭😭💜

[kazamastar]

[Woe to men who bond with women.]

[Black Maria - One Piece 1005]