The Straw Hat Pirates have been a threat to the whole world, and this wouldn’t have been possible if it was for the handwork of their crew members. Each member of the crew is essential, and if they had to leave because of certain conditions, then the whole group would fall downhill. Did the same thing happen to the Straw Hats when Sanji left the crew?
More than a fighter, Sanji is a Cookman of the Straw Hats ship, but even though he is a chief, his abilities and fighting skills are implacable. He is an essential member of the crew, but when he left the crew, it shocks the whole One Piece multiverse.
The reason why he left the crew was later revealed in the series, but alongside that, it covered many more mysteries of One Piece that left Its whole fanbase jaw-dropped. Let’s take a look at what those secrets were and the main reason why Sanji decided to leave the Straw Hats without even notifying his captain.
The moment when Sanji decided to leave the Straw Hats
Do you remember the Dressrosa Arc?
It was one of the most fascinating arcs of the whole franchise. We could see the new attacking styles of the Straw Hats and then the new Gear 4 o Luffy. Everything in the arc was just at its peak. More than that, the story that took place at Dressrosa was very amusing to the fans. It was the second time after Sabody Arc, the teams separated once again.
After Dressrosa Arc, half of the crew separated and went to their next destination Zou. Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Brook, and Caesar were half of those crew mates, but after they arrived at their next destination, it didn’t take quite a time for the enemies to show their faces.
When they finally arrived at Zou, they were captured by Bege’s crew, and what he announced there was astonishing to the whole crew. Bege was working for Big Mom, an emperor of the sea, and he revealed that Sanji was invited to her Tea Party.
He also revealed that as the 3rd son of the Vinsmoke Family, he has to marry the 35th daughter of Big Mom, Charlotte Pudding. And when he announced the name, Vinsmoke, the whole crew was amused because he was the son of Vinsmoke, the infamous group of the East Blue.
Sanji refused to take that order from Big Mom and tells them that he doesn’t want to marry some woman that he has no idea about. But then Vito blackmails Sanji and tells him that Big Mom has every information about Baratie.
After hearing such information, Sanji was scared about Zeff and his friends more than he was for himself and the crew.
Big Mom had stated that if Sanji refused her offer, then she would kill everyone that was in Baratie and everyone that he has never known. He knew that the Emperor of the Sea wasn’t joking about this, so he had to make a difficult situation that woulder hamper the Straw Hat journey and his life as well. He chose to leave the Straw Hats.
Big Mom invited Sanji to her Tea Party, but she wasn’t the only thing she was looking after. Sanji left the Straw Hat and took Cesear with him. Before leaving the crew, he wrote something on a piece of paper, and when they opened, he said that he would return, but even he doesn’t know when.
After some time, Saji left the crew and went with Bege into Big Mom’s territory. Luffy and the rest of the crew arrived at Zou. After arriving at the island, he found out that Sanji was leaving the Straw Hat members to marry Big Mom’s daughter, Pudding.
Luffy was in shock after finding out what had happened in his absence. He was simply not willing to accept anything at the beginning. He disagrees with everything and isn’t willing to let Sanji go because if Sanji married Pudding, then he would automatically become a member of the Big Mom pirates.
Luffy had just arrived at Zou, but after finding Sanji, he quickly started his voyage, and this time he was going to fight with an Emperor of the Sea and bring Sanji back to him, where he belonged.
Now the story gets very amusing, and secret after secret starts to unravel in the Whole Cake Island. Luffy makes his way to the Whole Cake Island and even manages to meet with Sanjo, but what he does there was beyond the fan’s expectations. Let’s take a look.
Sanji refuses to join the Straw Hats
Luffy, Nami, Brook, and Chopper make their way to Whole Cake Island to bring their top back, but each row gets harder.
Whole Cake Island is a massive island created by Big Mom, and because she is an emperor of the sea, it is one of the hardest things to sneak into. After going through many challenges and competing through every obstacle, they manage to see Luffy with his brothers once again.
Luffy is happy to see Sanji again. With a smile once again, he asks Sanji to rejoin the Straw Hats once again, but he refuses!
Sanji refuses to join the Straw Hats, and when Luffy keeps on insisting, Sanji does something no one had expected to ever happen. He attacks Luffy, and he just keeps on giving him kicks. Luffy became so miserable after all those attacks that he ate from Sanji’s kick that even Nami slapped Sanji and told Luffy to leave from there.
The former chief of the crew gets back into his ride and goes without giving a damn about Luffy. This breaks the heart of Nami, but the captain of Straw Hats still believes that he will return and tells him that he will keep on waiting for him until he comes back to save him.
Big Mom has already found out about the Straw Hat Pirates, sneaking into her island, she sends hundreds of her troops to defeat Luffy. From far sight, Nami notices something unusual, and she notices that hundreds of Big Mom’s subordinates are moving forward to attack them. Nami wants to leave from there, but Luffy keeps on insisting on waiting for Luffy there.
The troops approach in front of Luffy, and the epic battle between them begins. Luffy has already become vulnerable, yet he manages to take down hundreds of Big Mom’s crew but eventually, he loses the battle and gets captured by them.
Sanji’s refusal made everyone question his loyalty, but he was doing this for the sake of Straw Hats. Remember when Big Mom told him that if he refused the wedding, he would kill everyone he has connections with, this means that the Straw Hats would also have to face the consequences just because of his family matters.
He had respect for his captain, and he would’ve even sacrificed his life for him, but for his benefit. He attacked Luffy, so he would return to Zou and save his life.
Luffy and Nami have remained captive then Pudding makes her appearance in the scene. When she first encountered the Straw Hats, it seemed like she was a nice person, and she was willing to help them and make Sanii free, but then she showed her true colors.
She reveals her true colors and tells Luffy that she is going to kill Sanji.
This news breaks his heart, and after hearing this, he is so shocked and depressed that he was willing to tear apart his hand to break out from the cell. It almost seems like he was gonna tear his arm, but then somebody else makes their appearance in the scene again, Jimbei.
Jimbei makes his proposal to leave the Big Mom crew and when she tries to take her soul away, she becomes unsuccessful. She fails to snatch Jimbe’s soul away because he isn’t scared of the ferocious Emperor.
The former warlord of the sea then promises to help Luffy, but he even secretly makes an alliance with Bege in order to defeat Big Mom.
The final showdown begins, and they finally make a plan to save Sanji from Big Mom during her Tea Party and bring Sanji back to the Straw Hats. So, how does dis happen? Let’s take a look at the events!
When and how did Sanji rejoin the crew?
Luffy and Nami knew about the true colors of Pudding, but it didn’t take much time for Sanji to find that truth as well.
He finds out that Big Mom was planning an assassination on the Vinsmoke Family. The Wedding Day finally appears, and Big Mom makes her move to assassinate Germa 66. The day finally comes and as the commotion starts to go on through the whole Party, the Straw Hats go through their plan as well and make their grand entrance.
Brook destroys the picture of her beloved mother, Caramel which makes her go nuts and destroys the whole Tea Party.
Big Mom enters havoc mode, and nothing can control her. During that mode, she becomes unconscious and destroys everything that tries to come at her path. Everything is in chaos. They managed to take care of Big Mom, but the main threat, the second son of Big Mom, Katakuri, was still there.
With the help of Brulee’s mirror power, Luffy managed to take down Katakuri to the mirror world, where they fought with each other. And a reminder to you that Katakuri is not any ordinary villain, he is one of the strongest enemies of the whole franchise.
Luffy is taking care of Katakuri while other pirates are preparing to leave the island with Sanji. However, Big Mom is still unconscious, and after hearing that the Wedding Cake is on the ship of Straw Hat pirates, she persuades the Thousand Sunny, which is very bad news for the crew.
They had to take down Big Mom, and the only way to stop her rampage was by recreating the Wedding Cake again in a limited time. This was impossible for the chiefs of the Whole Cake Island but not for Sanji. He decides to make the Wedding Cake again and leaves the safety of Thousand Sunny Go in the hands of Bege and his crew.
Sanji starts to recreate the Cake again with Pudding. Yes! with Pudding!
We knew that Pudding had three eyes on her forehead, and even Big Mom hated her appearance, but Sanji never looked her through that way even after knowing the truth about her assassination plan. Hearing such a compliment touched her heart, and eventually, she fell in love with Sanji.
After all the hard work, Sanji recreates the Wedding Cake and manages to leave the cake on Bege’s ship.
Bege and his crew help the Straw Hat Pirates by distracting Big Mom. While Sanji was about to leave Whole Cake Island, Pudding calls Sanji and gives him kisses him then erases the memory using her devil fruit power.
Before leaving Cocoa Island, Sanji gets in touch with the Straw Hat pirates and warns them that the fleet of Big Mom is getting too close to them. He orders them to leave and not rest on the shore because he will bring Luffy back safely.
Everyone is waiting for Luffy to show up from the Mirro-World, but then Pekoms makes his appearance from there. It is a full moon night, so he used his secret ability to become Sulong, then distracts the whole Big Mom Pirates and help Luffy to escape from there.
Sanji makes the job done from there. He takes on Luffy and escapes from there using his exceptional ability to walk in the air. He gets surrounded by foes, but he makes the job done and defeats all the opponents that come his way.
He keeps on defeating the fos of Big Mom Pirates, but after each member he defeats, the next shows up. While Sanji is in the air making this escape, Oven tries to attack him and Luffy, but someone makes their appearance again to save them, the Germa 66.
Ichijji makes his entrance and pushes Oven away. Yuen then attempts to attack Sanji, but Yonji makes his appearance and stops them. Niji also controls all the snipers that were trying to attack Sanji, but while he was trying to stop all of them, one passes by and attacks Sanji.
After getting attacked, Niji comes to the rescue. He holds Luffy and Sanji and then helps them escape, defeating numerous enemies on the way. Then he launches Sanji and Luffy in the direction of Thousand Sunny Go.
They manage to make their way back to the Sunny Go, but they are still surrounded by the subordinates of Big Mom, including Charlotte Smoothie’s fleet. Then Vinsmoke Judge appears on the scene and helps out Sanji’s crew.
Even after all the help, the chances of them escaping the situation are slim because they are out of Cola, and the Big Mom Pirates crew are surrounding them. As the hopes are looking slim for the Straw hats to escape from the Whole Cake island, Jimbei and the Sun Pirates make their appearance!
Sun Pirates hold off the Bug Mom crew, and Jimbei also decides to remain with them but promises to join Straw Hat’s crew in the future.
With the help of Jimbei and the former Sun Pirates, the Straw Hats manages to escape from Whole Cake Island. In the end, Sanji returns to the crew and cooks a warm meal for everyone.
What would have happened if Sanji had left the crew?
If there was a moment when Sanji would’ve left the crew then things would’ve turned into chaos in the whole franchise.
If Sanji had left the crew permanently, and Luffy had never arrived to bring him back, then the franchise would’ve taken a different turn. Just like the plan, Big Mom would’ve been successful in assassinating Germa 66 and even Sanji.
Big Mom would’ve acquired the whole organization, and she would’ve become more dangerous than an Emperor of the sea because Germa is known for having some of the most significant scientific research. On the other hand, things wouldn’t look great for the Straw Hat Pirates.
The Straw Hat Pirates will stick to their plan and set their voyage to the Land of Wano, but after losing a prominent and strong member of their crew, they would’ve faced a straight downhill on their success. Sanji is a strong member and can also be called the left-hand man of the Straw Hat Pirates, so no one can imagine his absence.
It would’ve affected the morals of the Straw Hat members, and with a crew missing, it would make a significant effect on their mindset. The only people from the crew who would still remain strong would be Zoro and Luffy because they know the responsibility, and the burden they have to carry with it.
Without Sanji, the Straw Hats would probably get vanished into dust just like other typical pirate crews. Still, there are even chances of new members being recruited to the team, and they would grow much stronger than ever.
The answer to what would happen if Sanji had left is unsure because only Oda can decide about this. Nevertheless, the consequences would not be positive and there is a high chance of Straw Hats getting disbanded.
There are many members of Straw Hats who have left the crew, but eventually, they all come back in peace again. Even if there is the absence of one member in the group, then it will cause a huge impact on the whole pirate. Imagine if you have a dog in your family and suddenly he runs away from your house. How would you feel?
Merits of Sanji leaving the crew
Sanji left the crew, but we can be sure that affected him in positive ways and negative ways as well. Let’s take a look at all those merit points that happened after Sanji left the whole crew.
Luffy learned Observation Haki.
Luffy already had the Conqueror’s Haki, but after battling with Katakuri, his abilities got more advanced and even learned the same technique as Katakuri, the Haki that allows the user to see the future.
The captain of Straw Hats was able to learn the observation of Haki and defeat the Emperor of the sea. This would’ve never been possible if Sanji hadn’t left the crew. This was a plus point because now this haki will help him to accomplish his goal.
Brook got a copy of Poneglyph
Poneglyph is one of the most essential things in the world of One Piece, which is the true key and guidance to finding the real treasure of One Piece.
It was so stunning that Brook was able to escape alive from Big Mom and even get a copy of Poneglyph at the same time. This was a huge success for the Straw Hat pirates because, from this information, they can keep on moving forward, and with each poneglyph, they get much closer to their goal.
If Sanji wouldn’t left the crew, then they would have never grasped their hands on the Poneglyph. All thanks to Brook Sanji as well.
Sanji got Stealth Black Raider Suit
Stealth Black Radier suit has been one of the most efficient things he got his hands on from Germa 66 when he left the crew and went to Whole Cake Island.
Each member of the Germa 66 have their own special suit, and the one for Sanji was the Stealth Black. The suit allows him to have excellent endurance power and also gives him the ability to turn invincible. The list of commands just doesn’t end there. He can even fly and move at great speed using his special raider suit.
If Sanji had never left the crew, he would’ve never got his hand on this special raider suit. This suit has helped him during the Whole Cake Island arc and even during the Wano Arc, proving its worth.
Their bounties got raised
After the Whole Cake Island Arc, everything was chaos. We all know that many famous people were invited to her Tea Party, and among them was a News Coo.
The downfall of Big Mom was fresh news, and they took no time to publish it. This time Luffy was known as the Fifth Emperor of the Sea. The Government even acknowledged his power after hearing the news, so they decided to increase their bounty.
The new bounty of Sanji was 320,000. He surpassed Zoro and became the member with highest bounty after Luffy.
