Sanji

Vinsmoke Judge revealed to his children at a young age that he had endowed their bodies with genetic enhancements and his plan for Sanji and his four siblings to lead their kingdom's military arm, Germa 66, in the future, and began training them to capitalize on their genetic potential. While Sanji's siblings excelled at their exercises and their bodies evolved, Sanji continually lagged behind due to his body remaining human thanks to the drug Sora took prior to his birth. This made him an easy target for his brothers, who bullied him regularly, and Judge did not intervene due to his disdain for Sanji's weakness.[27] One day, Judge caught him serving food to a rat in his room and shouted that Sanji would need to stop cooking and train even harder if he wanted to catch up with his siblings. He then threw the food and the rat out of the palace, causing Sanji to cry. Sanji continued to be beaten up by his brothers regularly, with his sister Reiju occasionally tending to his injuries. Eventually, Judge became convinced that Sanji would never develop superhuman abilities and decided to erase his son's existence from his future plans by putting an iron mask on him and locking him in a Vinsmoke castle dungeon. At the same time, he staged a state funeral for his son, informing the onlooking Germa 66 soldiers that Sanji had died in a tragic accident.

Sanji was born 21 years ago in the North Blue[7][21] into the Vinsmoke Family, the reigning royal family of the Germa Kingdom, along with his three brothers on the same day,[22] with Sanji being the third son of the family and the fourth child overall,[23] thereby making him the kingdom's third prince.[24] Sanji's father, Vinsmoke Judge, planned to genetically enhance all of them before birth to make them have superhuman abilities and no emotions and thus turn them into perfect soldiers in the future. His mother, Vinsmoke Sora, was against this practice, and while still pregnant, she took a drug that would ensure they would grow as normal humans with emotions. This intent resulted in success only for Sanji, at the cost of severely weakening her own health beyond recuperation.[25]

While Sora was still alive, Sanji once prepared a meal for her. Even though the meal was ruined while Sanji was delivering it to her hospital, it made her smile, and she decided that she would only eat what he had made for her, sparking an interest in cooking for Sanji.

The very first meal he cooked on the Going Merry was a very simple fare on request. Though Sanji expressed some disappointment that it provided no challenge, the Straw Hats' enthusiastic appreciation of his food greatly pleased him.[citation needed]

Sanji tends to get distracted by the thought of preparing a dish in the middle of strange or dangerous circumstances. When he and Luffy first met Chopper, Sanji discussed how the meat needs to be tenderized. When Luffy was trying to eat him, Sanji told him he had to cook him first before realizing the reindeer could talk and walk like a human.[56] This happened again when the crew spotted Yokozuna, and Sanji thought about cooking him.[57] When fish was being boiled due to Oven's powers, Sanji discussed how fish is properly prepared by adding the right amount of salt. According to Tony Tony Chopper, Sanji hates foods made by artificial means since they do not have the love and dedication of a cook in them. Therefore, he absolutely despises any machines that make food, like the Food Machine on Egghead.

It has been dictated on many occasions that Sanji puts the quality of food before everything that is not vital, even his instant infatuation with any woman he sees. A strong example of this was shown in the anime-only G-8 Arc, where he snapped out of an infatuation with Jessica after she questioned his culinary skills and demonstrated his superiority (but when she recognized his skills and told him he was welcome in the kitchen, his infatuation returned).[51] This is precisely why Sanji, in his first appearance, proceeded to beat Fullbody.[48] He is also shown to fully believe that anyone who wishes for food should be given food, be it a customer or a criminal, with an example being his giving the starving Gin food in spite of the other chefs refusing to serve him.[52] When he learned from Shinobu that Orochi fed his hungry citizens with faulty SMILE fruits just to prevent them from expressing sadness, Sanji was greatly enraged by this atrocity.[53] Despite this, Sanji did end up preparing a bento box for Zoro, which contained razor blades and poison.[54] The greatest example of his adherence to his belief is that Sanji strongly opposed Bege's intention to sabotage Big Mom's substitute wedding cake with poison or explosives despite the fact that the Emperor had held Zeff hostage and tried to massacre him and his family for her own selfish ambitions.[55]

One of Sanji's most prominent characteristics is his strong respect toward food and the preparation of food in the kitchen. Since food and sustenance play a crucial role in maintaining life, he strongly believes that a chef's work must be treated as though it were sacred. This respect stems from Sanji taking after his mother and practicing his cooking (but for rats), causing outrage from Judge, who would throw away the food Sanji made, causing Sanji to cry.[45] Prior to being stranded on the rock with Zeff nine years before his introduction, Sanji thought food was dispensable and would toss out any that had gone bad. In fact, he was disgusted by how his fellow chefs would eat leftovers from customers, disregarding their lecture on the importance of conserving food on sea-based voyages.[46] However, after nearly starving to death on the rock, he came to regret his maltreatment of food, especially after finding out that Zeff had sacrificed his own leg as emergency rations in order to give Sanji all the remaining food.[47] As a result, he has a strong tendency to become hostile towards those who waste food or regard it in any way that is less than his respect for it. Thus, he has a habit of beating up anyone who steals food from the fridge (mainly Luffy).[48] When Niji wasted his food by trying to throw it at Cosette, Sanji unhesitatingly ate it off the floor, claiming it was delicious, causing the female cook to cry in happiness and Niji to become disgusted.[49] When a thug kicked his soba pot while threatening him at Wano Country, Sanji forced the wasted soba noodles into the thug's mouth after knocking him out.

When he learned that Orochi fed his impoverished citizens faulty SMILE fruits to rob them of their ability to feel sadness and anger, Sanji was silently enraged and alongside Zoro stood up against Orochi by defending Toko.

Because of his own brutal childhood, Sanji sympathizes with anyone who keeps their past hidden. This can be seen with Nami,[34][35] Robin,[36][37] Chopper,[38] Luffy,[39] Viola,[40] and even Kin'emon.[41] When Sanji's own past is brought up by his friends, he has a tendency to try and shrug it off. However, when Bege finally revealed his infamous heritage, he said he never intended to keep his past hidden from his crew, and that he must deal with his problems alone. He offered to help the Mink Tribe after a horrified glimpse of the dukes of said tribe Inuarashi and Nekomamushi mutilated after the invasion of Jack ordering Caesar Clown get rid of the gas he had invented, he was happy to see them recovered.[42]

After his Genetic Modifications were awakened, Sanji started to fear that his compassion and sympathy may have been affected, as it looked like he had seemingly attacked a woman without hesitation, similar to how his brothers attacked Cosette. During these moments of his alleged lost humanity, his memory of his actions became vague, and upon regaining his clarity, he was ridden with guilt and horror, to the point of destroying his Raid Suit and requesting Zoro to kill him should he ever lose himself again.[43] He later realizes that it was Queen who attacked her while he was invisible to get back at her for blowing him off many times, filling Sanji with rage for making him doubt his own integrity.[44]

His kindness also extends to his disdain towards cruelty. An example was towards his family's royal ethics. When Niji told Sanji that he brought shame to their family, Sanji retorted that being part of the family brought shame to him. He openly stated how Niji had no respect for food and the latter's willingness to harm a woman as well as the arrogance of royalty that compels them to see their servants as less than human, which goes against everything Sanji stands for. There are still times when Sanji is downright ruthless to enemies. In his first appearance, he brutally beat Fullbody and dangled him from the neck with one hand for wasting food; this is similar to Zoro's intimidating introduction into the series and even threatened to kill Fullbody when he said he was going to report the restaurant to the Marines. Sanji is especially brutal to any foes who attack or insult women, as he sent Kuroobi flying through Arlong Park when the latter insulted Nami, he reconstructed Wanze's face and kicked him through a door when the agent badmouthed Robin and viciously smashed Absalom into a solid stone wall due to his perverted actions towards Nami (and also for stealing his dream of invisibility). When his despicable older brother Niji threw a plate at Cosette's face, Sanji caught it inches from her face and was furious. He later became outraged when Niji brutally beat up Cosette and upon seeing Niji again, he kicked his brother's face in, forcing Niji to fix his jaw with his hands.

As stated by Brook, Luffy, his mother and his sister, Sanji is extremely kind, having a strong sense of generosity and compassion ever since he was a child, as is exemplified by his feeding food to a rat and looking after a turtle though he was brutally bullied by his brothers and punished by his father for doing so. Sanji's experiences with his family hardened him up greatly as was shown when he pulled a knife out on his father and when he nearly killed Zeff for "food". It wasn't until Zeff sacrificed his leg to save him that Sanji truly lightened up again and regained his merciful nature for the majority of the series. Due to his kindness, Sanji will even save people that he has no obligation to help such as Gin, Kin'emon, and the kids from Punk Hazard (though this was supposedly due to Nami wanting to save them). Sanji even saved his enemies as was shown when he saved Tashigi and the G-5 Marines from Vergo and Caesar's gas and later, Sanji saved an entire race when the Mink Tribe was poisoned, as was shown by his ordering Caesar to neutralize his own gas weapon. He also went out of his way to save Chiffon from being executed by Oven. The greatest sign of Sanji's kindness was shown when he confessed to Luffy that despite the immense suffering his own family has caused him, he refused to leave them behind to die and wanted to save them.[30] During the chaos caused by his crew, Sanji did not hesitate to save Charlotte Pudding despite overhearing her mockery of him as well as her intentions to kill him.[31] This side of him is shown again as when his family was in danger, Sanji ran to their aid before he succeeded in saving them from being killed by the treacherous Big Mom Pirates, much to his family's mutual shock.[32] Despite her previous deception and attempts to kill him, he thanked Pudding for being his fiancé, which caused the latter to feel guilty at his kindhearted nature.

The narration is in the third person, it is expressive, aligned with the character, and it is a detailed narration.

This is still often problematic in his fighting, as he cannot attack female opponents, as he would rather die than hurt them (though that does not mean he will not resort to blocking their attacks, and he even pointed a gun at Nico Robin when her status as a Baroque Works Officer was revealed). He even went out of his way when he sensed Tashigi crying, simply to protect her from Vergo, in spite of her being a Marine. He is shown to be protective of women of all ages, whether they are old or young, such as when he protected Kureha from Kuromarimo's attack, stopped Usopp from harming Lil, and later protected Toko while fighting X Drake. All of this is due to Zeff teaching him the "ancient laws of the universe" that men should never hurt women. Because of his chivalry towards women, he refuses to carry a grudge against any of them no matter how they offended him and even sees the deeper meanings of their actions, such as how Robin appears to betray the crew and how Viola deceived him and even violently beat him down. Even when he discovered Pudding's betrayal and how she cruelly mocked him behind his back, instead of feeling angry, Sanji only wept silently in the rain.[28] Conversely, Sanji is very abrasive and insulting to many other males throughout the series, mirroring the attitude of the men on the Baratie, though he will not hesitate to help them if they are in trouble.

Because of the chivalrous lectures he received from Zeff, Sanji has sworn to never let women be insulted or injured while he can still stand, regardless of how attractive (or unattractive) they are, even in life-or-death situations. When he found Cosette brutally beaten to the point of unconsciousness, Sanji became absolutely furious and broke Niji's jaw when he saw him again despite the threats and warnings his family issued towards him; only when Ichiji reminded him did Sanji stop the assault. However, he is not quite above insulting some women himself if they prove to be evil or hurt his crew in any way, like when he called Dr. Kureha "old hag" after she beat Luffy around and he called Kalifa "witch" after being distracted by her and her tea when he needed to rescue Robin. He was also rude to his older sister Reiju, but this was due to being forced back into the family and his arranged marriage, as he actually bears no true hatred toward her specifically.

Sanji's attitude towards fights is an interesting matter. Unlike Zoro, he does not go looking for fights and his many brawls at the Baratie can be attributed to certain customers (e.g., Fullbody) aggravating him. Unlike Zoro, who fights for the sake of getting stronger, Sanji usually engages in fights to rescue or help people in trouble (such as Jabra, Absalom, Vergo, Page One, Queen, etc.) When other people are at risk, he will not hesitate to back down, as shown during his fight with Judge, when he gave up fighting after realizing his father intended to use his soldiers as human shields. At other times, Sanji will try to avoid unnecessary confrontations, like onboard the Puffing Tom where Sanji tried to simply move past the government agents or detach their train carts instead of fighting them. On the other hand, Sanji is shown multiple times to enjoy fighting; when he kicked a piece of a building at Oars, Sanji was shown grinning in a similar manner to Zoro. Sanji also refused to back down when he was challenged during the Davy Back Fight, and in Arlong Park, he chided Luffy for bursting into Arlong Park so quickly, telling his captain to "save a little for the rest of [them]". After defeating Bon Clay in Arabasta, the former assumed Sanji would kill him, but Sanji simply thanked him, stating that it was a "good fight" (although he kicked him immediately after in order to take back Usopp's goggles). Sanji is sometimes too confident in his skills, leading him to underestimate his opponents (as noted by Zoro in Jaya). This happened with Wanze when Sanji got his legs trapped in Wanze's Ramen Armour, and later with Vergo, leading to the Vice Admiral fracturing Sanji's shin bone.

During his time on Momoiro Island, Sanji showed his resentment to putting on a dress and losing his manhood. He bluntly declared to Ivankov that he is a man among men who was born to love the ladies and not to be friends with them. To this end, Sanji resisted becoming an okama for two long years.

Sanji will often get so caught up in what he calls a "hurricane of love" that he becomes downright delusional. He often imagines himself bursting in on a horse to save Nami or Robin. At Water 7, he went overboard by not only leaving Nami a confidential letter but defeating its purpose by writing Nami a very obvious message for her and only her at the Blue Station when he went off to sneak onto the Puffing Tom, which said that whoever else read it were all idiots, managing to annoy Nami once she spotted it. Whenever he prepares a meal or a drink for his female crewmates, he dislikes it when his male crewmates start griping for not receiving any other food from him and then bickers at them to make their own food or tells them they were undeserving. If they try to sneak food, he is also quick to punish them, especially Luffy, against whom he has gone to great lengths to protect the fridge from being raided on the ship.

At Wano Country, Sanji was given the task of using his cooking to gather Kin'emon's allies, but he instead used his cooking solely to attract women, managing to irritate Nami when she saw this.[24] Later on, he was more interested in hearing Robin's opinions about the taste of his soba noodles and snarling at Franky when he was making a suggestion on how to attract samurai.[25] During the raid on Onigashima, Sanji immediately shifted his focus to finding prostitutes after coming across a brothel. However, Sanji became focused on the raid again to save Momonosuke from execution and to prevent Luffy from wasting his strength on needless fights. As an inveterate womanizer, he refused to offer submission for Black Maria screaming that he will love all women.

Despite his perverted nature, Sanji has some degree of self-control, stemming from his loyalty to his crew, as is shown by the fact that in spite of being attracted to Pudding, he sternly refused to marry her and thereby decided to let her down gently.[22] Though he is capable of self-control, Sanji can still allow his extreme lust to control him and warp his perception of a situation; in spite of his knowing about Pudding's malicious nature as well as her intention to murder him, Sanji still found himself deeply captivated by Pudding's beauty and seductive words and physically struggled with himself. However, when the moment called for it, he was stoic when Pudding tried several times to assassinate him, disregarding her feeble taunts and suggested to her that she was lying to herself. Sanji is conscious of his romantic nature but feels no shame throwing himself at beautiful women. When forced to agree with the marriage with Pudding for the sake of his loved ones, he told himself to act like his old romantic side "love cook" despite feeling the grief of being separated from his friends and the danger they were in.

Sanji considers himself handsome and charming, often comparing himself to a fairytale prince (while ironically already being a prince himself). Though this trait has not been explicitly noted by others (similar to most of the male characters), there are times where ladies are interested in the cook, like after rescuing Cocoyasi Village from the Arlong Pirates a whole group of women gathered around him (anime), the female bounty hunters at Whisky Peak and the female members of the Foxy Pirates also took an interest in him (but both of these times they were merely fooling him, making him drop his guard) and more recently, the mermaids of Fish-Man Island were very captivated with the cook and played with him in the water causing Sanji to cry with happiness. The most significant woman to become attracted to him was his ex-fiancée Charlotte Pudding, who despite having been arranged to marry him as per her mother's orders, she ended up falling genuinely in love with him because of his kind heart (interestingly, he seemed to take her lovesick attitude in stride, though this could be because he was focused on saving his crew from her mother and reuniting with them). Pudding even became the first person to kiss him on the lips (though she removed the memory with her Devil Fruit powers afterwards). At other times when Sanji is full of himself, he tends to be brought sharply back to earth by the people around him (such as being called the "Prince of Moronica" by Zoro, prompting Sanji to attack him).

He is also known to show jealousy towards others when their luck with women appears better than his, with an example of this being his reaction upon learning that Luffy spent his two years during the Timeskip on Amazon Lily and being very close to both Boa Hancock and the mermaid Shirahoshi, as well as his reaction to Momonosuke continuously being allowed to go places like the women's room that Sanji himself would be prohibited. He is also amorous toward females of different humanoid species such as mermaids, giants and minks. He became jealous of Zoro for saving Kouzuki Hiyori and getting her attention after Kaidou's defeat. In particular, he was furious at Absalom peeping at Nami bathing and Road changing Nami's clothes.

When it comes to the subject of women, Sanji is extremely amorous and a self-admitted romancer at heart; obsessively flirting with any attractive woman he sees to the point of being labeled a pervert. Even as a child, while working in Baratie, Sanji would become love struck with attractive female customers and end up making mistakes in the process, much to Zeff's irritation. Since, and a while after, this romantic nature is a hassle for the rest of the crew in times of crisis. Returning to Sabaody Archipelago after his two years on Momoiro Island, Sanji became even more perverted due to not having seen a woman in two years, making lewd faces when he so much as thought of beautiful women (primarily his crewmates, Nami and Robin) and acted strangely when he got close to 'real' women, causing others to question about his health. He is even attracted to Kaidou's son, Yamato, despite the latter identifying as a man and being addressed with masculine terms while biologically being a woman, and therefore was in favor of him joining the Straw Hat Pirates.

He does admit that he is not perfect. He convinced Usopp to let him fight Jabra, because of their differences in abilities. He admitted that he was stronger than Usopp in terms of physical strength, that they both had things they could not do and things they could do and because of that, they can help each other. This inspired Usopp to realize he was the only one who could save Robin by using his marksmanship. Sanji is a heavy smoker, having started shortly after beginning his career at Baratie. Being tired of Zeff treating him as a child, he thought smoking would make him seem more mature. He is usually shown lighting a cigarette with a lighter before taking in a few puffs of it, even amidst battles. Sanji is also able to think one step ahead in most situations, making him extremely clever compared to his other crewmates. The first example was seen during the Little Garden Arc, in which he fooled Crocodile into thinking he was Mr. 3 and lied about having killed the Straw Hats, allowing the crew to reach Arabasta without Baroque Works pursuing them. Later on, when the rest of the crew was captured by the Warlord, Sanji (with the help of Chopper) outwitted him using a Den Den Mushi despite Crocodile's reputation as a meticulous schemer. Another example is when Nico Robin was captured by the CP9, he somehow knew (or was able to deduce) that the CP9 were going to take Robin to the station. He was seen at the station hiding before the CP9 even got there. When these events go as he planned, he has a habit of saying 'Bingo!'.

When Luffy, Usopp, and Karoo were fighting Mr. 3, Miss Goldenweek, Mr.5, and Miss Valentine, Sanji got back to Going Merry and found Mr. 3's hide-out instead, fooling Crocodile to think he was Mr. 3.
When Mr. 2 Bon Kurei came on board the Going Merry, Sanji was not present, making him the only member left of the Straw Hat Pirates whose identity was not known to Crocodile. When he and Usopp were going to save Nami from Enel, he took a detour first to destroy the inside of Enel's Ark.
In Water 7, he left the group after finding Nico Robin and was not seen until the Puffing Tom's departure. When everyone else was fighting the two hundred captains at Enies Lobby, he went to close the Gates of Justice instead. In Punk Hazard, he left the group of Straw Hat Pirates in order to save Tashigi from Vergo. At Zou, Sanji left the crew to save them from the Fire Tank Pirates and to confront his family. During the raid on Onigashima, Sanji separated himself from Nami, Carrot, and Shinobu to search for prostitutes, but he later saved Kouzuki Momonosuke by using his Raid Suit.

Sanji seems to enjoy relaxing with a cup of tea (his favorite drink) as seen when he entered Mr. 3's wax house and helped himself to Miss Golden Week's tea set. This habit came up again in Enies Lobby when Kalifa distracted Sanji by offering him tea; in another instance, Sanji angrily refused Bege when he was offered something to drink while trapped inside of Bege's body. Since at a young age, Sanji has a habit of saying "shit" or "shitty" when describing something. While the Japanese word for feces, "kuso", is not specifically an expletive, Sanji's manner of speech makes the term sound brash. For example, he might call a person he especially does not like a "shitty bastard" or something along those lines (such as his personal nickname for Zeff, "shitty geezer"), but he also described something pleasant to him, like being alone with Nami, as "shitty fantastic" and "the shitty best". In the Funimation dub, this habit is downplayed to swearing that is less offensive. He has a habit of separating himself from everyone else and subsequently helping the crew and other allies survive, such as times like:

Like Franky (and unlike Zoro), Sanji is not afraid to show his emotions when the moment calls for it and is entirely capable of crying or losing his temper, which results in Sanji's short fuse and subsequent beatings of most villains (and Luffy). In fact, a running gag has appeared since Sanji's fight with Jabra, during which he stated that when he gets angry, he "heats up". After this fight, when Sanji gets particularly angry at a villain, he appears to burst into flames. This occurs with both Absalom and Duval, though the latter example appears only in the anime. It is also seen when Luffy states nonchalantly that he is friends with Boa Hancock, considered to be the most beautiful woman, when she appears to prevent a Marine ship from sinking the Thousand Sunny. Despite his hardened outlook on life, Sanji does not object to acting foolishly on certain occasions, like dancing with the more immature members of the crew (Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Brook), or acting childishly excited in certain situations (like when they first visited Skypiea) and he was also the crewmember who enjoyed going to Fish-Man Island the most as he was seen partying with mermaids. He is also one of those who believes that afros give power.

One of Sanji's most easily noticeable characteristics is the kind, calm, cool, and collected manner in which he carries himself. He tends to speak in a very composed manner, even in dire situations, and rarely acts without thinking. His demeanor in a lot of ways can be compared to that of a secret agent. This is amplified by the fact that he very often enjoys a smoke, and in the anime, they tend to play smooth music with jazzy undertones when he speaks. He quite often makes comedic exceptions to this, such as when in the presence of beautiful women, or when angered by a crew member. Like Zoro, he is more perceptive than he seems, and often tells people what they need to hear instead of what they want. Hence, he is seen as one of the more hardened members of the crew. For example, when the Straw Hats first meet Laboon and learn that the whale had been waiting for 50 years for a reunion with his crew, it is Sanji who immediately (and correctly) points out that Laboon's crew is most likely dead. Sanji does possess an optimistic and idealistic side. His dream is to find a sea that even other cooks consider mythical. Furthermore, even after the abuse, he experienced from his family as a child, he held out hope that they may have changed for the better. However, this hope proves to be completely futile, but he was angrier than surprised at the revelation, showing that he maintains a healthy sense of skepticism even at his most hopeful. Sanji also showed a high degree of faith in his fiancée, Charlotte Pudding, and was horrified and downcast when he discovered her true motive.

After being injured by Doflamingo, Sanji wore bandages around his chest and wore his shirt and suit jacket unbuttoned and over his shoulders. After arriving at Zou, Sanji sported a pair of brown sunglasses (with his hair still covering one of the glasses), an orange leather jacket, a white dress shirt with a purple polka dot pattern, yellow pants, brown shoes, and a small backpack. He also slightly trimmed his beard. Later, he wore a black fur-trimmed coat over a plain white dress shirt and a beaded necklace. During the Whole Cake Island Arc, Sanji wore a white, frilled dress shirt as well as his usual black dress pants and shoes; he kept the collar of the shirt upturned and the first few buttons undone. Later, his wrists are each fitted with a gold exploding wristlet (later revealed to be fake), and his face is discreetly covered by a transparent hi-tech mask given to him by his sister to remove the facial swelling he received during a violent confrontation with his brothers. Once he departed for Whole Cake Chateau with his family, he was also clad in a red, single-shoulder royal cape held together with a golden chain and clasp. During the Tea Party, he wore an off-white coat with a stand collar and gold lining on the outside, a white suit, a white dress shirt, an off-white ascot, and white dress shoes. After finishing the second wedding cake, Sanji disguised himself as one of the WCI 31 chefs by wearing a chef hat and a rag. During the Levely Arc, Sanji wore a dark gray dress shirt with an orange tie, black pants, and bandages wrapped around his right arm.

During the Water 7 Arc, he did not wear a suit jacket, but a black vest over an orange shirt with black pinstripes. During the Enies Lobby Arc he wore a light turquoise shirt. During the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, he wore a pink shirt with a red tie and no jacket. During the Thriller Bark Arc, he wore a more muted blue shirt with a periwinkle tie. During the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, he wore a green shirt and a white tie with purple horizontal stripes. During the Straw Hats' separation, Sanji was coerced into dressing as a typical Okama, wearing a pink dress with short puffy sleeves. He also wore a long blond curly wig, nail polish, a pair of women's undergarments, and heavy, trashy makeup. He was also seen with a pair of high heels. He later reverts to his usual outfit and appearance sometime after that. After the two-year timeskip, Sanji now covers his right eye, shows his left eye, and has grown his hair just slightly longer. He also sports dark anchor-style facial hair and stubble on his upper lip. Sanji's neck has gotten thicker as well, similar to Luffy and Zoro's. He has grown taller and therefore remains nearly the same height as Zoro. He wears a black double-breasted suit (which is sometimes depicted as dark blue) with gold buttons with a yellow dress shirt and a brown tie. In the Punk Hazard Arc, he wears a grey dress shirt with a very light grey tie. While on Punk Hazard, Kin'emon used his Fuku Fuku no Mi ability to give Sanji a double-breasted coat for the cold, as he was trapped in Nami's body because of Trafalgar Law. During the Dressrosa Arc, Sanji first wore a white dress shirt, which he wore untucked, with a black tie, black trousers, and a black pinstriped waistcoat. Upon going incognito into Acacia, he wore a black single-breasted suit and a white shirt with the top button undone. In the anime, he wears a blue tie as well. He also wore black glasses, a fake white beard, and a mustache and put a red rose in his breast pocket.

Sanji almost always wears a black, double-breasted suit with golden buttons and a tie together with a long-sleeved buttoned shirt of varying colors, sometimes with pinstripes, and a dark gray double prong belt. His outfit changes on a more frequent basis than most of the crew. He almost always wears black dress shoes, mostly for his Black Leg Style. These shoes are extremely durable and were designed to increase the power of his attacks, though he can attack sufficiently without them as shown in his fight against Kuroobi. Sanji is a chain smoker, and is rarely seen without a cigarette. As a child, Sanji wore a yellow shirt with the number "3" on it, white pants, brown boots, and a light-yellow bandana around his neck. His hair was styled oppositely as it is in the present. During the Baratie Arc, he wore a blue shirt with black pinstripes. During the Drum Island Arc, he wore a brown coat with furry outlining.
During the Arabasta Arc, he wore white desert robes under a sky blue jacket with a dark blue hood and a red sun symbol on each bicep. After making it through the desert, he switched to his regular black suit and blue striped shirt, though without a tie and with the addition of black sunglasses with yellow lenses. During the Skypiea Arc, he wore a pink short-sleeved button-up shirt with a white, magenta, and burgundy flower-like pattern along with orange goggles hanging from his neck and black knee-length pants. Later on, he changed into a dark blue shirt with light blue lines running down from the shoulders.
During the Long Ring Long Land Arc, he wore a lavender shirt and a blue tie with a cross pattern.

Sanji is a tall, muscular young man with long legs and jaw-length blond hair which he keeps brushed over one side of his face. Before the timeskip, this was the left side. After the two-year timeskip, he switched his hairstyle so that it covered the right side. It also appears that Sanji's hair is scruffier after the timeskip. Sanji's most distinctive physical trait is the spirals on his eyebrows: His right eyebrow forms a spiral at the outer end, while his left eyebrow forms a spiral at the inner end. His eyebrows curl in the opposite direction from his siblings, whose eyebrows curl in a counterclockwise direction (i.e., to the left side); Sanji's eyebrows instead curl in a clockwise direction (i.e., to the right side). During his battle with Queen, when his dormant genetic modifications awakened, Sanji's eyebrows switched to curling in the same direction as his siblings' (i.e., to the left side). After being unconscious for a brief period, when he awoke, his eyebrows had returned to their original shape. When fighting S-Shark, his eyebrows changed direction again, although they reverted following the battle. After deflecting Kizaru's laser with a kick, his eyebrows have once again changed directions. While Sanji's eyes usually seem black, he was depicted with grey-blue eyes in the anime at the beginning of Thriller Bark Arc. During the Punk Hazard Arc, when Trafalgar Law switched Sanji into Nami's body, her usual brown eyes became grey-blue.

"Black Leg" Sanji is the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates and one of the Senior Officers of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. He is the fifth member of the crew and the fourth to join, doing so at the end of the Baratie Arc. Born as Vinsmoke Sanji, the third son and fourth child of the Vinsmoke Family (thus, making him a former prince of the Germa Kingdom), he disowned his family twice, once in his youth and again after reuniting with them as an adult. After fleeing the Vinsmokes as a child, he eventually entered the care of Zeff as the sous chef of the Baratie, where he would remain until he met Luffy, who convinced him to join his crew. His dream is to find the rumored chef's paradise, the All Blue, which is where the East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue meet, along with their wildlife. He is one of the top three fighters of the Straw Hats, alongside Luffy and Zoro, who is referred to as the "Monster Trio". He first gained a bounty of Beli 77,000,000 for his role in the raid on Enies Lobby. It increased to Beli 177,000,000 after the Dressrosa Arc, but the condition of his bounty was changed to Only Alive due to his biological father's interference. After he escaped from Big Mom's territory, his bounty condition was reverted to Dead or Alive (with the Vinsmoke name despite his renouncing it), and its value increased to Beli 330,000,000.[19] Following the Raid on Onigashima, his bounty was increased to Beli 1,032,000,000.

However, Sanji's excessive chivalry tends to cloud his judgement and get him into unnecessary trouble as well as make him suffer unnecessary damage, such as letting his guard down and falling into an obvious trap in an enemy's territory, as during the raid on Onigashima when he heard Sarahebi feign being sexually harassed, Sanji chose to prioritize saving her over the crew's goal of defeating Kaidou and ended up easily trapped by Black Maria and her subordinates, not noticing until it was too late. He also willingly took the full brunt of Black Maria's brutal torture rather than use Armament Haki to defend himself for fear of hurting her. Sanji acknowledges this aspect of him as a major weakness, as he becomes a useless mess when the enemy is a woman. Sanji will not, however, stand by and allow an enemy to harm one of his loved ones even if that enemy is a woman, as evidenced by him attacking Big Mom along with Luffy in order to defend Reiju. Sanji has no objection if females fight other females. However, unless it is truly necessary, Sanji will not allow males to fight females. This has happened when Sanji did not object to Luffy challenging Big Mom. He also had no qualms with Bege's assassination plot against Big Mom, as Sanji only partook in it to save his family.