At the end of the day are we really comparing letting a woman die because your father figure said he'd kill himself, something he has no way of realistically finding out and is about as credible a threat as saying "oh, i'll kill myself i i ever resort to trying heroine". We didn't get this huge chapter of Zeff explaining the significance of how he feels about a man hitting a woman, we got a few panels mixed in the overall plot of Sanji's backstory.
I understand where you're coming from RomanceDawn. The whole point of us getting these flashbacks of Sanji being mentored by Zeff is to show the bond between them. He IS his "real" father, he's the one that raised him. And Sanji lives his life by Zeff's teaching on many levels including being how he is to women, not denying a starving person a meal, using his fighting style to protect his hands, and finally trying to find the All Blue. So yes, there absolutely is the chance that this traumatized boy who has been abused for years is taking Zeff's word at complete face value, or at the least wants to live by those teachings even if it kills him
That being said I don't think it's fair to compare this aspect of Sanji to Fisher Tiger's decision. He died knowing he could be saved, but he would be living the rest of his life with the blood of a race of people that captured him and enslaved him. We had been exposed to the tension between Fishman and humans since Arlong Park. We knew of the reality and seriousness slavery was presented in back to Saboady. Now we learn that this great Fishman who freed the slaves experienced this awful thing we've read about for hundreds of chapters firsthand, and despite caring for a human child, still could not live his life knowing human blood was in him.
With Sanji the "trauma" in that is linked to his father. His "dumb decision" though is to let a woman/friend die because his father figure made a remark about killing himself if he heard that Sanji hurt a woman.
With Tiger, the trauma is a result of his direct interactions with humans who enslaved him. It's hatred that has been seeded and grown from years earlier. The worst thing that happened when he stuck by his decision was that he died. He could have lived, and he could have accepted it and moved on, maybe even accept and love humans. However he had so much turmoil over what was done to him that he chose death instead of being "saved" by human blood.
With Sanji the worse thing that happens is his friend dies. A woman. The issue is that instead of showing Sanji figure out another option to respect Zeff and save his friend, or even straight up running away to find another way to be useful like helping Usopp, he sat down, had tea, blocked some kicks, announced he wouldn't fight her, and then was attacked by her using her Devil fruit.
FolhaS the only one going in circles with this is you who keeps persisting that Sanji's actions, even if you disagree, are justified because his principle's are his priority over his dreams and friends. I don't think that's how Oda intended to represent Sanji. I don't think he decided "Hmm I'm gonna have Sanji choose to put Robin's life in danger and possibly die to make a point about his principles and how they're more important than his friends and dreams". I think he starting lining up fights for the arc, wanted to have Nami come to Sanji's rescue and fight the woman with her new weapon. It only becomes and issue in hindsight. Now that we know that the reason he was willing to let Robin die was simply because Zeff made a remark about killing himself is just dumb. I'm sorry but to to make it into a point about principle is just trying to justify it.
We can sit all day and analyze Sanji's emotional trauma all day to see how it effects his current actions. But I simply don't agree or understand the point of justifying a dumb move on Sanji's part with a line his father figure said a decade earlier, and something that wouldn't even be a real issue. Robin dying was a real and immediate threat. Zeff claimed he would kill himself and to think that Sanji, the strategist who has proven his intelligence is going to take this word from Zeff as an absolute, and a reason to let a woman and friend die is just dumb.
@FolhaS:
Sanji's selfish actions put the whole crew at a bigger risk, I know and acknowledge this.
The same way I acknowledge that he has a very big flaw, be it in the form that he's really useless against woman because of a personal belief or in the form that he lacks a breaking point to that belief and is uncapable of taking the heat by himself.
Yes, but you're acting as if this is alright, because it's been established that Sanji honors Zeff's principles. Everything shown with Sanji including him offering his life to Kuma in Thriller Bark would suggest that he loves his friends and would die for them. You're taking a bad piece of writing and dumb moment of Sanji's character and turning it into it being this holy thing that he values above his friends lives. Even if it's hypocritical to this belief, as he's letting a woman he knows get hurt.
A good example of how you seem to view this is how Goku treats the villains in Dragon Ball. He'll give them Senzu's, and Ki even if it can mean they end to millions of people, but it's because he likes to fights. It's very clearly established that Goku is an idiot that will endanger lives for a great fight, but he's still a kind person. This is in a series where demon kings have changed sides, evil aliens that sell off planets can become good guys, etc. Nobody is really a saint, so while it's dumb you can accept it because Goku's character is consistent.
Sanji has shown to consistently care about his friends lives and willing to give his up….except for this one time we're talking about which is why it's a big deal. We can try and justify it but at the end of the day it just sticks out like a sore thumb on Sanji's character as an awful moment that isn't treated with significance. So to point at it and say that it's justified because Sanji values principles more than his friends is just a weak argument when the only time that's been showcased is in Enies Lobby.
It has not been established that Sanji values Zeff's word SO much that he'll let his friends die for it, except for the time it almost DID happen, and still is very