第69回：Zeff & Sanji

Last chapter, we witnessed Judge ordering his son never to publically or privately reveal their familial connection and my heart still reels for poor Sanji. Let’s compare that to how Sanji’s actual father-figure, Zeff, has been handling Sanji’s rise as a pirate:

We already knew they had a strong connection but the lengths Oda-sensei has gone to in order to depict them as complete opposites should convince readers that for all intents and purposes, Zeff *is* Sanji’s father by emotional attachment if not by blood or name. It’s true that Zeff and Sanji butted heads more often than not but Sanji’s respect for Zeff and Zeff’s desire to see Sanji fulfill his dream are undeniable.

So when Zeff gives Sanji a seemingly nonsensical reason for ‘not kicking women’, you’d best bet those words are going to leave a lifelong impression on Sanji.

And let’s be clear about the *reason* Zeff gives. The line about the ‘age of dinosaurs’ comes across as delicious cigar-chomping machoism in English just as much as it does in Japanese. It makes no sense from a reasonable perspective but picture a gun-slinging Clint Eastwood delivering the line and it fits the character we know Zeff to be. Is it chivalry? Yes, *if* you want to call it that, but what’s important is that Zeff *himself* probably doesn’t consider it chivalrous. He’s too stubborn to admit he thinks in terms of ‘treating women with respect’ so instead of threatening Sanji with harm, what does he do? He threatens a symbol of Sanji’s *manhood* & *his very own life*. Should Sanji take this threat seriously? One of Zeff’s most famous lines is about conviction being a man’s greatest weapon so, yeah, I wouldn’t flinch at Sanji taking Zeff for his word.

Later, when Sanji is asked by Reiju ‘where he got that chivalry’ he responds with exactly the words Zeff imparted to him. Without that flashback it sounds like a number of Sanji’s highly quotable ‘cool’ lines:

The difference is that, this time, we see precisely where and when Sanji picked up this line. Have many of Sanji’s memorable quotes come from Zeff?

Note that the saying ‘love is always a hurricane’ doesn’t come from North Blue, according to Elder Nyon it’s an East Blue saying.

Wouldn’t it make sense that Zeff, originally from East Blue himself, would have used that phrase and Sanji picked it up from him?

If you remain unconvinced of the strength of Zeff and Sanji’s relationship and you’re looking for a specific reason why Sanji protects things when they can’t defend themselves such as: mice, turtles, his mother, Robin, Usopp, Nami, and, yes, even LUFFY, then he doesn’t need a reason like chivalry, just kindness. Hmmm…is there another individual in Sanji’s past who just might’ve imparted him with the gift of kindness in a *still undrawn flashback*?

Sanji’s ideals are the result of influential people and moments from throughout his life. Just like his father, Sanji resembles a real human with layers of intersecting emotional complexity. I never knew I wanted this much humanity in our already firmly established cast of heroes and main villains of One Piece but now that we have it, I want more. Bravo!

We’re getting to see more and more of Big Mom’s family so let’s compile a list of who’s who so far! ((This list suggests that the unrevealed former and current Sweet Commanders may be related to Linlin but that’s simply speculation as of this writing))

Smoothie:
★★Sweet Commander

Katakuri:
★★Sweet Commander

Snack:
★★(Former?) Sweet Commander
(Defeated by Urouge)

Dogstorm and Catviper. Twin pillars of the mink civilization who deliver mysterious lines at the start and finish of this episode which hint at not only the origins of the mysterious mink culture, but also the roles of Dogstorm and Catviper in the future of the world that they seem destined to play.

First, in the start of the episode, Dogstorm says that he swears, “…upon God...”, that the mink are not harboring ‘whom Jacks seeks’. What an interesting line! There are two ways to look at this line, either he’s telling the truth or he’s lying and either outcome is an interesting world-builder.

Spoilers follow for anime-only fans so please do not read any farther in this segment.

If Dogstorm is *technically telling the truth* this would mean that he’s not referring to Raizou but instead to whom he assumes Jack is ultimately looking for, Momonosuke. If this was the case, Momonosuke wasn’t in the country at the time so it’s completely true and Dogstorm hasn’t just broken an oath on a deity (ouch!).

If Dogstorm is knowingly referring to Raizou, he’s *flat-out lying to Jack* which means he may not believe in a God or gods. This brings up an interesting discussion on what the ancient races of the One Piece world may or may not consider deities to be. Although Ener is a far cry from a real deity, is it possible that at some point, godlike super humans did exist on the moon?

On the flipside, Catviper closes the episode saying that he awaits, ‘the dawning of the world.’ If Catviper is speaking literally and he carries out his life mainly at night, why would he be waiting for the dawn? It’s very likely that he’s speaking figuratively about a world-changing event. Is this related to why Pedro tells Chopper that, “…the world is waiting for them (Dogstorm and Catviper).” in the next episode?