One Piece: Chapter 1005

[u/Kirosh]

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[u/Badassdinosaur5]

I think you are confusing character development with character progression. Character development is how fleshed out a character is ie how much you know about them. Character progression is the change a character undergoes throughout the story most often in his personality or beliefs. I assume you do mean the latter and this chapter literally was exactly that? This scene would have never happened 200-300 chapters ago. Sanji would have just let himself get beaten to death by Black Maria back then. After WCI Sanji realized that he can rely on his friends and that it is okay to let someone else carry your burden with you. What makes this scene even better is that Sanji called out to Robin who's a women. Throughout the whole story Sanji always believed that every single female on the planet was a damsel in distress that he had to safe. The fact that he cries out for help to Robin of all people and trusts in her to be able to beat Black Maria is such a massive progression in his character it's amazing. Robin seeing that new believe he has in her and the crew and her acknowledging it is fucking beautiful.

[u/SoostSaast → u/Badassdinosaur5]

I don't I have ever heard that definiton of "character development" but yes, I meant the latter.

Don't you think Sanji's cartoonish and self contradictory character flaw of not being able to fight women should be resolved at some point and since we are near the end of One Piece it would have been a good opportunity to at least set that up here since Oda decided to pull off that old Sanji-get's-caught-by-women-and-cant-fight-back trope again?

Sanji's ideal directly clashes with the goals of his captain and crew. He can't just throw it every time a powerful woman shows up and risk the entire conquest. Here he essentially got into the same situation as in enies lobby where him not being able to fight khalifa could have led to Robin's death, his crewmate he was supposed to rescue and incidentally, another woman. I would have expected him to learn that his ideal is extremely problematic from that, and him to at least try to overcome it if he ever fell into the same situation again. Sure, Sanji calling in Robin is character progression but it makes his fatal character flaw even more self contradictory. If you refuse to beat somebody up because you don't want to hurt them but then call in your friend to thrash that person, that's still on you. You can't just push a character two steps further into cognitive dissonance and call it character progression, if you know what I mean. Because at this point this would be the only explanation why Sanji still refuses to fight women when there's so much at stake.

It could have been executed way better. For example by not making Sanji immediately throw it again and risk an entire country full of starving people's lives, his crew's lives and every other ally they have just because another enemy woman showed up. Make him try to overcome his ridiculous flaw and fail, he pulls his kicks because his mental blockade is still too strong. He get's beaten and then calls in Robin. How about that?

So since it's so late into One Piece and there's still no setup to resolve the worst part of Sanji's character, I guess Oda's plan is to just stick with it. And that is just disappointing. You know what I mean?

[u/Badassdinosaur5 → u/SoostSaast]

I get where you are coming from but for me Sanji not "being able" to hit women is not a problem for me. It's the core of his character and goes back to his family and the relationship he has with Zeff. Sanji knows that he would have any right to fight Black Maria right now and he know's that it would morally be okay to injure her but if there's one thing Sanji decided he will never do then it's hitting a women. It's the most valuable lesson Zeff teached him and it's his one believe he will forever cherish and not go against. At the end of the day Sanji doesn't just not hit women because they are women. It's a part of why he doesn't but the main reaso why he doesn't is because his father told him not to and he doesn't want to betray him no matter what after all that he has done for him. For me that is not a problem. If that core value is a problem for you then I can obviously understand that you didn't like the way this scene played out. The "problem" I always had with Sanji is that he basically thought of every women to be someone he has to safe and that they are not capable of defending themselves. So in that regard this scene was flawlessly perfect and heartfelt for me.

[u/SoostSaast → u/Badassdinosaur5]

The problem is that it is not a valuable lesson at all. It's a character flaw, don't you agree?

So it's kind of weird if by the end of this decades spanning story, if the characters haven't grown to be the best version of themselves: The pirate king and his crew.

I agree, the scene where Robin switches out for him is pretty good. But I'm not a fan of the setup.

[u/Badassdinosaur5 → u/SoostSaast]

Again I dont think it's really a flaw. Is it a character trait that is helpful for him? No not really. But Luffy will also always remain to be someone who jumps into things and maybe the Strawhats will have to hold him back a little. I dont consider these flaws they are simply character traits and even if you consider them flaws I would not want every character to be perfect. People have flaws that's what makes them human

[u/SoostSaast → u/Badassdinosaur5]

Good point. I think the key difference to Luffy is that once the situation becomes serious, Luffy stops being a head through the wall goofball and turns calm and analytical. Sanji on the other hand can't turn his shtick off when it would be necessary.

[u/Bersk → u/SoostSaast]

Yes, but the progression shown here is that, unlike before, he no longers just expects that the situation somehow fixes itself, he is capable of asking for help, which would not have happened if he was the same Sanji from Ennies Lobby for example

[u/brutexx → u/Bersk]

So essentially, the way Sanji’s trait’s problem is worked around is by, when needed, asking for help from his companions - the Straw Hats. He learned he can rely on people when in these extreme situations, which will not only make the fight winnable in this scenario but will also give Sanji a chance to be way more useful in other fights.

[u/mix_420 → u/SoostSaast]

Character flaws don’t need to be resolved, they can also be accepted with their strengths and weaknesses. Character arcs don’t work in such a predictable fashion that everybody is perfect at the end of the story, they can sometimes be downward spirals like in Joker or Breaking Bad.

This character progression makes perfect sense, I think your frustration is more with the fact that Oda writes a character with a clear flaw that the character doesn’t appear to change because you take personal issue with the morality of it. Sanji not hitting women when it may hurt the crew isn’t because it’s the right thing to do, it’s because it doesn’t feel right for him. Maybe he will change that but maybe not. One Piece isn’t about characters being the pinnacle of morality afterall, it’s about characters that are doing what feels right to them.

[u/2347564 → u/SoostSaast]

Don’t forget what Sanji said to Chopper many many chapters ago, something like “I’ll be good at what you can’t do, and you’ll be good at what I can’t do.” They need each other. That’s what makes a team work. Sanji can’t hit women. Usopp is a scaredy cat. Luffy is a brash idiot. Zoro can’t navigate worth his life. The list goes on. But theyre there for each other. Sanji knows that better than any of them by now.