If I had a nickle for every time Zeff's life was being used as blackmail and someone on the crew was beaten up for refusing to fight back, I would have 2 nickles. Which is not a lot, but strang that it happened more than once.
Seriously though, Sanji keeps getting knocked back down at the Baratie, but gets back up again to protect the restaurant and Zeff. If Sanji was to fight back against Pearl, Gin will shoot Zeff.
Then we get to Whole Cake and Zeff's life is on the line again. Only this time, Sanji is fighting to push people away to safety and Luffy is refusing to fight back. I know Luffy refusing to fight back shows his growth as a captain from Water 7 against Usopp. I love that. I love how much the Straw Hats grow as people. But I am fascinated by this mirror between Sanji and Luffy.
People joke that Luffy doesn't listen to people's backstories. He listens if people need him to listen. He listened to Sanji on the Baratie, when he spoke about his past.
Sanji is a bit of a yapper in the Baratie, he keeps talking about why he needs to protect the ship, protect Zeff. I think Sanji needed someone to listen here. He needed someone to understand just how much Zeff meant to him, that he was willing to die for the man. The more Sanji talks, the more Luffy's expression changes.
Luffy snaps and decides to attack the ship. If there is no ship, then there is nothing for everyone to fight for. Of course this does not go well for Sanji and he yells at Luffy, only for Luffy to try and yell some sense into him.
This is why Luffy needed to listen. He had a similar experience to Sanji and is probably the only one in the crew that could relate to him in such a way. The only one that could try and make Sanji start to truly value his life and live for himself.
It doesn't quite stick the first time and it shouldn't do really. The amount of problems rammed into Sanji's brain, will take more than a single talking to by Luffy, to make him change his ways. If he did, that would be unrealistic. So Sanji puts his life on the line for others, again and again.
Arlong Park-Jumping in the water to save Luffy
Drum Island- Throws Luffy and Nami to safety
Skypeia- Kicks Usopp and Nami to safety and takes Enel's blast
Water 7- Boards the train full of top government agents and the men they just took out Luffy and Zoro, alone
Thriller Bark- Gets stabbed protecting Nami and tries to offer his life in place of Zoro and Luffy
Sababody- Runs back to try and help Brook, Usopp and Zoro, despite Luffy telling him to run
Punk Hazard- Runs at the back of the G5, to stop them falling behind and being killed by the toxic gas
Dressrossa- Tells the crew to leave him and escape, when Doflamingo is about to kill him
Zou- He throws Brook, Chopper and Nami to safety leaves with Bege so the Minx would not get caught in the crossfire and the people he cares about won't be sent to him as a head in a box.
Whole Cake Island- The whole arc.
Luffy punches Sanji and demands to hear what the cook wants and that is, to go home. He also says that he wants to save his relatives, that he has no debt to (except Reiju. She doesn't see it that way, but Sanji would). Luffy accepts Sanji for who he is and you see how he starts to heal. Sanji asks for help from Robin. He was doing better, until the mutations kicked in.
Relapses are expected when on journey of recovery, especially in the early stages. As long as you have a good support system around you, it's easier to not let a relapse to destroy all progress made. Sanji has one of the best support systems in One Piece, so I trust that he will get better. Eventually.
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Man this is a long post. Sorry I got carried away. I love One Piece. Luffy and Sanji are may faves and their relationship is so important to me. I like to look at it every now and then, coo over it and put it away again safely in a nice little box. This time, my cooing was this post.
