One Piece 841 Review: Reiju is Nice

One Piece, Chapter 841: To East Blue

We continue the flashback to see Sanji's imprisonment, where he still gets fancy meals and whatnot while a good portion of the castle still doesn't know that the third son of Judge is still alive. Meanwhile Judge is being such a loving father to his other four kids, going all "I love you all more than anything!" and stuff like, y'know, how a father should be. That was a bit of a heartbreaking scene as we cut from Judge looking like the happiest man on Earth to Sanji in a cell, with his iron mask, and eating alone while crying.

We get yet another flashback-within-a-flashback of an even younger Sanji trying to prepare food in the kitchen and injuring himself on a knife, creating a bento and going off to the Medical Ward alone, braving a storm and angry dogs to finally arrive to...the ward where his mother is. The nurse that greets Sanji notes how Sanjimama is so sick she can barely eat anything, and while she appreciates the gesture, briefly tasting Sanji's food causes her to vomit out her soul. Yeah, great chef Sanji this ain't.

Sanji and the nurse notes how the food has been dropped, crushed, and even thrown into the trash for a bit, but Sanji's mother just ignores the well-prepared fancy food that's served for her and decides to eat Sanji's horrid food. And, of course, for her, it tastes great. What a good mother! And, yeah, his sick mother asking him to make more food for her probably was why he was so happy to cook, even before he met Zeff. See, a nice little tying-up-of-loose-ends. Tragically, we see a brief shot of a grave, which meant that Sanji's mother died shortly after that. Did she die because of Sanji's soul-exhuming meal? I mean, yeah, love, good intentions and all, but disgusting food can cause a fair bit of damage to a sick person's body. That's a bit too dark for One Piece, though. Did Judge hate Sanji and blame him for his wife's death? Though dialogue from Sanji's mother does imply that Judge was already a dick even before. 

Back to in-prison-Sanji, where he asks for a cookbook and some cooking utensils and discovers about the All Blue. Ichiji, Niji and Yonji, the three twats, show up and beat Sanji up some more. Reiju later approaches Sanji and is all "I don't wanna help you! .... but I'm helping you." And last chapter she was the one treating Sanji's wounds, too. She notes how she's not on Sanji's side, but she doesn't want to be their next target, blames the three boys' lack of empathy on their modifications, and notes how they are going to reach the Red Line and East Blue.

After Sanji talks about how he wants to be a chef, and how he doesn't want to see his father's face, Reiju uses her super-strength to bend the bars to Sanji's cell, and as the war in East Blue rages, Sanji makes his escape. But Judge catches Sanji in the act, noting how he is human enough to not want to 'dispose' of Sanji with his own hands, hence keeping him alive in a cell downstairs and feeding him (like that's much better, really) but if Sanji wants to bugger off and die as a peasant, he won't stop him. Father of the year, people! He's even kind enough to give Sanji the key to his iron mask. Judge then makes it clear that Sanji is forbidden from identifying himself as Judge's son, because he's the only thing in his life he's ashamed of. Yep, Father of the Year, people.

Reiju tells a sobbing Sanji to escape to a nearby cruise ship, where he'll work as an apprentice chef before being shipwrecked, and Reiju notes how one day he'll meet people who will treat him the way he deserves to be treated.

We cut back to the present day, where Ichiji, Niji and Yonji leave Sanji beaten down. Reiju tells the doctors tending to Sanji to bugger off, as she looms over Sanji, noting how Sanji should've known what would happen if he came back here. Reiju appears to be the wild card here -- does she care about Sanji enough to risk her position in the Germa 66? Though I'm leaning more towards her helping Sanji out. 

Meanwhile, apparently it's been 11 hours since Luffy fought Cracker, and all Luffy has been doing is eating all of Cracker's biscuit soldiers, trying to exhaust his abilities... with predictable and hilarious results. Take the biscuit dude out already, Luffy! 

Overall yet another great chapter.