One Piece, Chapter 1196-1197
Chapter 1196: The Love of the Suicidal is Worthless
And Sanji's story is an actual character development that builds up on stuff we already know about him, on character threads that has been explored in previous chapters, nay, arcs. And it's a rarity in One Piece that this is the case. But it does absolutely make sense that Sanji's self-image problem is something that wouldn't just be handwaved in a single 'shonen talk-no-jutsu' moment in Whole Cake Island. I don't think anyone would have complained as it would be per the norm for the shonen manga format, but it is also something that is quite welcome to see be properly built up on.
Sanji flashes back to his traumatic experiences in Kamabakka Queendom, and Sanji is in a little mental war as he tries to keep Ivankov down. But of course, Ivankov's massive head appears in Sanji's mind nonetheless. I do really like this. While we, the audience, know and love Ivankov by the time the timeskip was about to happen, it was one of those things that felt random and made just to make some 'Sanji is surrounded by okama' jokes as compared to the more serious training arcs. The 'combat cuisine' or whatever only really showed up once in Punk Hazard, and the only ability attributed to Ivankov's training, 'Hell's Memories' was treated more like a joke.
As Sanji is yelling at the apparition of Ivankov in his head, Killingham stabs him with his lance and makes a whole villain monologue about how he's going to take away his arms that he needs for cooking and then the legs he needs for fighting... and Sanji angrily does another Diable/Ifrit Jambe kick on Killingham. He's talking to the imaginary Iva in his head! But I do think that Killingham's taunts does really help to prompt the next, upcoming argument.
We get a couple more scenes of Sanji and Killingham trading blows, and I really don't want to spend too much time describing it. It looks cool, and we've gotten a couple of nice shots of Sanji kicking and demolishing Killingham. Killingham continues to taunt Sanji, asking him that maybe he needs to beg Luffy for help.
This is the one line that triggers Sanji, getting him to flash back to Whole Cake Island, and he begins unleashing more and more kicks. He can't tell Luffy that he was helpless. Killingham distracts Sanji when something he says about expectations brings up a mental image of Judge in his head. Killingham then does the 'bring your nightmares to life' thing. Smoke billows... but instead of Judge, the thing that is brought out of Sanji's dreams is a dream-cryptid version of Ivankov.
Even Sanji is surprised that it's Ivankov instead of the Germa bastards. Killingham doesn't recognize Ivankov and doesn't know who he is, just that he's what Sanji is afraid of. He jumps into the air and does a literal fusion dance with the sleeptid Iva, transforming into a fused form where we've got Ivankov's giant head on Killingham's Kirin neck. The fused form even has the fishnets!
Sanji then thinks to himself that the reason he fears Ivankov isn't because that Ivankov himself is scary. Jokes aside, he is Sanji's ally. But because Ivankov can see right through to his weakness. As Killingham-kov kicks the shit out of Sanji, he flashes back to Ivankov telling him the title: "the love of the suicidal is worthless".
And we get a flashback to Sanji's training in the Queendom, where Sanji is in the middle of his trials, beating up Ivankov's minions to get their recipes. Ivankov then puts Sanji in a two-week break, however, which Sanji protests because he can still fight. Ivankov counters, however, telling Sanji that even though he beat Clara, he was more injured than his opponent. All of Sanji's victories were won with him taking injuries. And despite his victories, Ivankov tells Sanji that there were many hits that he could have avoided.
Ivankov gives some really good lines. Even tiny raindrops can wear down stone, and all the little injuries will break Sanji at some point. Sanji gets defensive, of course, telling Ivankov off when he starts talking to Sanji about how little he values himself. Ivankov then points at his little okama gang and asks Sanji what they have that Sanji lacks...
And the answer is self-love. One of the random lines in the background is "I love myself more than anyone in the world does". And that is why Ivankov and company dresses up like what might be caricatures, but that's what those characters want to look like.
Sanji counters, of course, with the argument that all the love he has is reserved for the ladies; or for Nami and Robin. But Ivankov gets angry at this. "If you don't love yourself, you can't love another!" Two things can be true at the same time. Sanji wanting to protect ladies is a good quality for sure. But he also needs to love himself, otherwise that love of someone who's not even protecting himself is completely worthless.
A string of flashbacks to Germa 66 lines go across Sanji's mind, and Ivankov tells Sanji that while he doesn't want to pry into Sanji's past, it doesn't take a genius to know that Sanji's got some familial trauma. Ivankov walks off, telling Sanji that these 'sacrificial victories' will eventually catch up to him, and if he doesn't take care of himself and care for himself, at one point he's going to fail to protect those he cares about. Ivankov tells Sanji that he understands -- there's a man that he'll do everything to protect, and give his life if needed, but not before exhausting every other possible method.
And, well, arguably this might be a flashback that works better in the Whole Cake Island arc, but it also works nicely here because present-day Sanji thinks that he's moved past Germa 66, right? He had the confrontation, and even validation from Luffy and the crew. Sanji thinks to himself that he's about to hit a wall, and what he needs is power, and thinks to himself 'say, Iva, I think I'm gonna...'
And then the sleeptid Ivankov disappears. And this is a new thing we just learned about Killingham's dream-dream fruit, I suppose! If the fear disappears, so do the creations.
Sanji stands on top of a roof, looking down at Killingham, boasts that he's not going to take a single attack from Killingham, tells him off for invading Elbaph, and in the original Japanese, he tells Killingham to 'lower his head' with a very badass pose and expression. .
Killingham continues to mock Sanji, saying that he's secretly coveting the station of the Celestial Dragons. Sanji doesn't give a shit, though, and just takes a long drag from his cigarette. Killingham attacks when Sanji doesn't respond to his taunts, but Sanji keeps thinking now about defense.
He speed-blitzes Killingham and does this amazingly angled panel as he swings down with Ifrit Jambe. He goes on a bit of a monologue to himself (and Iva), saying that he did want to die. He told himself that he would rather die than risk becoming like the Germa scumbags. And deep down, he always thought that he -- his body -- was 'tainted' by them.
Sanji activates his new attack, "Collier Fortress", and does an amazing kick straight onto the speartip of Longinus, shattering it and delivering one mother of a caved-in face to Killingham. Killingham gets sent barreling through a bunch of houses, ranting about what an insult to the House of Rimoshifu.
Sanji continues his monologue, which is really the primary thing to focus on here. His body doesn't belong to Germa. It was toughened up by Zeff, by Ivankov, and by the sacrifice of his mother Sora. And as he remembers one of Sora's lines to him about a child being born with emotions, Sanji's eyebrows revert from its Germa state to its normal one. Sanji notes that his body, his legs, are all a gift from his late mother. And he needs to be able to protect his body, otherwise he can't protect anything else. And that's a beautiful thing to end on.
Sanji thinks of the foes he had defeated in the past, a nice 'greatest hits' of his most difficult foes. Mr. 2. Jabra. Absalom. Wadatsumi. Judge. Queen.
And then he swoops in, all business, onto Killingham, who's wondering why his regeneration is depleting. And Sanji kicks him in the face again. It is very painful looking. And Sanji continues to attack again, thinking that he needs a stronger defense than just Armament Haki. And Sanji just spams Collier on Killingham, kicking and kicking and kicking. Killingham gets pissed off, angry that he keeps experiencing his neck bones being snapped over and over again. He's still regenerating, but a bit slower than before. Sanji delivers a cool line that since he's still figuring out this Conqueror's Haki thing, he's going to do the next best thing and make sure that Killingham just wishes that he were dead. And we get a 'Enel shocked' expression from Killingham.
Killingham realizes, though, that Sanji is subconsciously channeling a bit of Conqueror's Haki, and is on the verge of unlocking it. So he pulls a hail mary and activates Omen, covering his centaur body in pitch-black knight armour called 'Omen Panzer'. It is so cool, actually, with the black flames flickering off of him. I really like Killingham!
The two get some banter about the 'manners' of breaking necks, and Sanji offhandedly says that when breaking a rabbit's neck, you need to do it quickly to prevent undue pain to the animal. Sanji does a kick on the Omen armour, but it's a bit too hard and Killingham boasts that the only thing that can break Omen Panzer is Conqueror's Haki. The two of them have a clash, and when the smoke clears... the tip of the reforged Longinus shatters.
Sanji, elsewhere, looks at his burning legs. He thinks to himself of Iva's advice that love should be defense, and that in the last attack, the defense is so strong that receiving a hit feels like he's the one landing it. In his mind, Sanji tells Zoro that he could be Luffy's sword, and he'll be Luffy's shield.
And as he does so, black lightning just explodes and erupts from the forest as Sanji properly and fully unleashes Conqueror's Haki...
And does an amazing spinning kick right onto Killingham's face, shattering the shaft of Longinus, his helmet, his armour, and his face. Badass! And more to the point, very well earned. The emotional journey might not be the smoothest, but Ivankov deconstructing Sanji's worldview and him slowly building up to a new application of Conqueror's Haki that we've not really seen before is amazingly well done. An amazing mini-arc for Sanji! I don't think this overtakes how much love I have for the Brook arc in Elbaph right now, but my boy Sanji is a very close contender.
Random Notes:
- Yeah, been super busy which is why even my buffer for random content have disappeared. Likely to not really change up until the next year rolls around, sorry-not-sorry.
- I've seen some people baffled that Killingham doesn't know who one of the most prolific members of the Revolutionary Army is, but I highly doubt he even knows who Dragon is. He's a Celestial Dragon! He doesn't give a shit.
- Ivankov and Killingham's fused form is most certainly a reference to that glorious and cursed art that Oda drew in one of the SBS of "what if Ivankov ate Kaidou's fruit".
- I like that during his speech to Sanji, Ivankov leaps out of the window, and leaps back in. Bless you, Iva.
- I normally don't care about translational differences, but while I appreciate the 'get off your high horse' pun, it's nowhere as strong enough as 'bow down'.
- The Irish on Zoro's shirt in the cover image of 1197 is an Irish poem called Rop tu mo bhoile, much more famous internationally as the Christian hymn "Be Thou My Vision", which has the lines "be thou my battleshield, be thou my sword".
- While it was a bit of a surprise that one of the super-duper-awesome-ultimate-grade swords just shattered in this fight, it gets reconstructed with Omen Panzer. Only to snap off again. I do think that the blades 'lent' to Killingham and Summers are Omen constructs, so this might not be the last we saw of Longinus.
- Missing from Sanji's "greatest hits" are Pearl, Gin (kind of), Kuroobi, Chessmarimo and Satori. While I could understand excluding most of them, I am surprised that Kuroobi and Gin aren't in it! Sanji certainly felt like he exerted more fighting them than freaking Absalom.
- This is one of the very rare times that Sanji calls Zoro by name! It hasn't been lost to fans that it was brought up in the SBS that Sanji and Zoro only ever refer to each other by name on really serious moments, with maybe single-digit numbers of this occurring despite their rivalry.
- If Omen Armour is an option, is it something available to all Omen users? Is Summers (who was worried about his defense) just an idiot, then? I would buy it, Summers looks way more of a fool than Sanji is.
- I like that Sanji compares Killingham to a rabbit. It's not something that he would know, but during God Valley, the Celestial Dragons really did get a lot of mileage calling the peasantry as rabbits to be hunted.
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