Spoilers for Whole Cake Island Arc and beyond
“Black Leg” Vinsmoke Sanji is one of the fiercest members of the Straw Hat Pirates. Like his crew mates, Sanji has not only grown emotionally and mentally over the course ofOne Piece, but expanded his power levels to extremes with the introduction of Haki and Diable Jambe. However, not every one of Sanji’s powers has been showcased inOne Piece’s many video game adaptations.
With theWano Arc ofOne Pieceofficially overin both manga and anime, it wouldn’t be surprising to see aspects of Sanji’s powers from the arc finally make it into a video game adaptation. The same can be said for the Whole Cake Island Arc, which featured Sanji as one of the central protagonists. Both arcs see Sanji broadening his power set with a new dangerous power up introduced and the expansion of one of his signature moves.
While Sanji has been included in several video games outside theOne Piecefranchise, likeJump Forceand evenRoblox’s Square Piece, this article focuses on his power set within mainlineOne Piecegames.
The Enhancements of Germa 66’s Raid Suits
In the midst of the Zou and Whole Cake Island arcs, it is revealed thatSanji’s origins are not from the East Blue, but rather from the North. Born to King Vinsmoke Judge, Sanji is the third son of Judge and prince of Germa. He and his siblings were experimented on in the womb to remain cold emotionless killers. Though all members of the Vinsmoke family are immensely powerful on their own, as commanders of super group Germa 66, the family uses special suits to enhance their powers.
Raid suits in One Piecehave some general abilities: the suits are fire-resistant, the capes of the suits are bullet-proof, and the suit’s boots have accelerators on the heels and flotation devices in the soles. They’re also intended to enhance the user’s natural powers and abilities; Sanji is shown easily crushing the canister of a raid suit easily with one stomp, though it is well-known that his feet are his most powerful weapons.
Sanji’s powers were thought to have been dormant both by his family, as shown by the immense childhood abuse they inflicted upon him in response, and by himself. Despite his supposed lack of powers, a raid suit wasmade by Germa 66 for Sanji. He eventually comes across the raid suit canister and disavows using it until he reaches Wano.
What Soba Mask Offered to Sanji
Donning his black raid suit,Sanji notices that it seems to reawakenthe dormant experimentation that Judge had afflicted on him and his mother in utero. Sanji is now able to fly and strengthen his kicks with the propelled boots of the suit. Like the other suit wearers, Sanji gains a unique enhancement from the suit: invisibility.
Sanji uses his newfound invisibility to surprise attack his opponents and later to sneak out Nami, Robin, and Shinobu and to rescue Kozuki Momonosuke during the raid on Onigashima. Sanji quickly recognizes that the suit is similar to a fictionalized version of Germa 66 found in the comic series “Sora, Warrior of the Sea”. Rather than naming hisraid suit form Stealth Black, after his comic counterpart, Sanji rejects this name and calls himself 0-Soba Mask. He eventually destroys the raid suit canister, once again rejecting Germa and his birth family.
Soba Mask’s Possible Future in One Piece Games
Though the raid suit is featured as wearable DLC by Luffy inOne Piece: World Seeker, he gains no additional powers by wearing it. This seems to be consistent with mainlineOne Piecegames released after the conclusion of Whole Cake Island. It should be noted that Soba Mask is a playable character inOne Piece: Bounty Rush, a mobile 4v4 action game, but this seems to be the only appearance of him as a playable character.
Soba Mask still has yet to be featured inaOne Piecemainline gameat the same level asOne Piece: World SeekerorOne Piece Odyssey, leaving this part of Sanji’s history extremely underutilized. The raid suit’s invisibility could act as an incredible ultimate ability in combat games or could be a useful recon skill in games more closely resemblingOne Piece Odyssey.
Ifrit Jambe Burns Bright
The powers of Germa 66 aren’t the only aspects of Sanji’s power set that have yet to be adapted to video games. An expansion of one of Sanji’s signature moves has yet to be seen in video games. Though Sanji’s“Diable Jambe” is used quite frequentlyboth in mainlineOne Piecegames and in games featuring him outside the franchise, his “Ifrit Jambe” has yet to receive the same treatment.
After the raid suit awakened Sanji’s inert abilities, Sanji accepted these new abilities he had gained while destroying the suit itself. By combining his newfound powers with his old ones, Sanji developed new techniques from his Black Leg style with names that still maintain his flair. Ifrit Jambe burns brighter and hotter than Diable Jambe. By combining his exoskeleton with Armament Haki, Sanji’s legs are able to withstand the hotter blue flames of Ifrit Jambe compared to the fiery red of Diamble Jambe. His new enhanced speed and the weight behind his kicksalso increases the power of Ifrit Jambe.
Though it may not be as flashy as Germa 66’s raid suit,Ifrit Jambe should be a power setused inOne Piecemainline games going forward, not just because this power set is more powerful than Sanji’s previous, but because Sanji himself will likely use this power set more often than Diable Jambe. These newfound powers represent a shift in Sanji as a character, and video game adaptations should take note of this shift and respect it.
One Pieceremains far from over and, therefore,the growth Sanji’s power set may receivestill has yet to be seen. Nevertheless, video game adaptations of the franchise should heed these changes and adapt alongside the franchise, especially with one of its most powerful characters.
