As somebody who has always supported the idea of Sanji saving the day this arc with only his cooking, I am never going to take him when it come to action until he gets another full fight. He's pretty much a supporting fighter that can help out in close calls/short encounters and not much else. Which defines pretty much anybody who is not Luffy or Zoro at this point.
When Sanji kicks Oven before he even sees who attacked him, clashes with Daifuku's genie, knocks Yonji away, or obliterates Beast Pirates fodder with one attack, my impression is less "Wow, Sanji is so strong" but more "Wow, those opponents aren't all that strong. Pretty weak, even." Because why should I take then seriously if they aren't doing anything that threatening and the heroes aren't really struggling that much?
A character's offensive capabilities tend to only impress me if they get a new feat that looks freaking incredible "like Nami using Zeus or Chopper's Guard Point blocking Big Mom's attack", or engages in a full fight where they struggle against a difficult opponent but over come the odds through their wits and power. Sanji hasn't really gotten either of those things since Thriller Bark (I don't count Fishman Island since he teamed up with Jinbe and the New Fishman Pirates were weak as hell). He keeps getting used to either stall enemies while protecting his friends or losing to hype up a big villain.
Sanji is far from useless, but I'm not going to act like I don't see where the complaints abour his fighting portrayal is coming from. His role in the narrative and character interactions are always the most important for good storytelling, and he shines brightly in those aspects this arc. But one big reason why Sanji captivated me earlier in the series was how strong he was despite not having a profession based around fighting. How Oda interweaves cooking motifs and pride into his fighting style always looked cool to me. I always love cooking getting respect in a story.
I hope Sanji's portrayal on the action side of things improves after this arc, but I would not be surprised at all if we see him jobbing to a Calamity while somebody else like Zoro, a Supernova, or Whitebeard Pirate takes over at this point. He is still not as lackluster as Robin or Brook outside of the conveniently imbalanced Big Mom fights though, I'll give him that.
but the 2nd part got me :happy:
Sanji would certainly hate looking even tiny bit like Judge.
