What EVERYONE GOT WRONG About The Monster Trio

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[AB-etnj]

It's pretty impressive that Sanji is able to keep up with Zoro when Sanji's dream isn't combat related at all and his role in the crew is a cook

[milonee]

Everyone says zoro and sanji are the rivals, but the real rivals are luffy and sanji, both fighting to be paired with zoro

[Skenja]

Robin's comment about the wings of the Pirate King are spot on. Sanji's dream of finding the All Blue is a dream of discovery while Zoro's dream of being the greatest swordsman is one of conflict. To be Pirate King Luffy needs both. When Sanji looks bad its almost always because his priority at that time isn't combat. He is always thinking about what is coming around the next corner. It is just an extension of the dynamic that comes into play when Zoro and Sanji argue about who caught the bigger dinosaur on Little Garden. The answer is that it doesn't matter. Luffy already ate both, Sanji is still cooking, and Zoro is taking a nap.

[danwallace]

“If you have the BAREST level of reading comprehension…” damn morj is tight” 😂

[jaredhall]

The fact that Sanji usually gets his biggest moments during the huge arcs where everyone fights-- also informs his character. He is very kind, very caring and very willing to protect his weaker crewmates, so he always steps up when they need him most.

[blurglurg]

Every time someone questions the monster trio, the raid becomes 0.001% likelier to fail.

[MrRickyRAW]

I can’t believe people doubt Sanji. He’s the 3rd strongest, he’s number 3 in name, in iconography, it’s written in plain sight and I find it so funny

[auronchernobog]

I think the 'Monster Trio' Is exactly as Morj described...it doesn't have to be a static power scale because none of the trio fill the same roles. If you watch how Sanji typically goes through an arc, he's used as a way for Oda to scale certain enemies. Rarely does Sanji ever go out looking for a fight, unlike Luffy or Zorro but when he does encounter an enemy, he's not looking to win the fight, instead he's either stalling or fulfilling an objective. I think there can be a parallel that can be drawn from this entire Wano arc in that Luffy being the 'Emperor (emperor of the sea)', Zorro and Sanji fill the rolls of 'Shoguns' as battlefield commanders of attacking (Zorro) and defense (Sanji).

[epicpigmaster]

If anyone still doesn't get it after this video, they're a lost cause. Great video Morj, Onigashima really did end being a brilliant avenue for exploring the Monster Trio dynamic.

[KatsuImagitian]

A Female Swordsman carrying Meat is on the premises!

[vorg]

The description about Zoro being Luffy's sword and Sanji being the shield. Is quite good. Zoro beating up the 2nd most powerful guy and Sanji defending the less powerful crewmates. For example, Sanji always save one of the scared trio.

[antonioemilio]

Just remember that when Ohara interviewed a famous japanese youtuber about power-scaling, we found that Japan doesn't give two shits about the monster-trio power-scale.

[benamv]

If anyone thinks jimbei is still stronger then sanji when oda is literally screaming at us that sanji is above in rank and he is fighting stronger opponents NO ONE WILL EVER REPLACE SANJI he is been the 3 strongest since he joined 2 decades it's been 1000+ chapters it's never changing

[gazeboist]

Also important to note that Sanji's role in the crew is quite different from Zoro's or Luffy's. Zoro is the main frontline muscle and Luffy is the closer, so they're basically always going to be doing some amount of fighting. Sanji, though, consistently plays much more of an ace-in-the-hole or independent operative kind of role. The first means that he is necessarily less active than the other two in earlier parts of the arc's conflict (so that he can have his big charge of the winged hussars moment later), and the second means that he's more likely than Zoro to get caught out on his own or otherwise isolated from the main conflict. As I think I've said before, Little Garden, the casino segment of Alabasta, Skypeia, and the whole Water 7 / seatrain sequence are all great examples of Sanji doing his thing in a very prototypical way, with all of the big moments he can get that way and the potential pitfalls for him as a crew asset. Arlong Park has a similar structure for him, but it's not as obvious both because it's an early arc and because Zoro isn't quite able to fill his own typical role.

[nerea]

For how much people love the monster trio, it seems like everyone constantly wants to break it down. Luffy/Zoro/Sanji has been a thing since the very beginning and that's never gonna change. Not only are they the strongest, but they're also the voice of reason Luffy needs.

[BigroomBlitz]

Sanji's the one that carries the crew when the captain's going wild, that's why he constantly gets all the damage. Almost all the times he got the "short end of the stick" it's because Sanji tried to protect someone last minute, hell, even the same almost happened in the "nothing happened" Zoro moment. Sanji's the brain/shield, Zoro's the muscle/sword and Luffy is the leader/captain.

[jordanbollwerk]

I like the point you made about Sanji being laid back and more of a "human" character than the other two in the trio. It makes it that much cooler that Sanji is part of the trio. It's not really his goals, but his principles that makes him the strong fighter he is. Sanji is almost always exclusively fighting to protect someone or something, not necessarily push himself beyond his limits like Zoro and Luffy. And yet, he's still a Monster.

[tobak]

I think that people really forget in this whole debate is that if oda consistently portrays luffy and zoro as being equal and sanji and zoro being equal then that means that there isn't that big of a gap between luffy and sanji because if there was then the dynamics wouldn't make much sense.

[samoq]

I think what people miss with Sanji post-timeskip is that Law stole most of his spotlight. Sanji is the Straw Hat's scheming fighter. Law swallowed up all his shine in both strategy and fighting. Sanji struggled vs Vergo? Law one-shot him. Zoro took out Pica, Law took out Trebol (usually would be Sanji). Law did the entire Dressrosa plan and Sanji was sidelined. Etc. I think Oda struggled giving both characters their shine during the Dressrosa saga. That's what caused Sanji's portrayal to struggle for so long.

[joeykyle]

I always had a special place in my heart for Sanji, because growing up with One Piece I was an aspiring chef (now I am one 🙃.)
It just always felt super cool to me that even though it obviously wasn’t his entire personality to be a fighter, he could still hold his own and at sometimes even rival the 2 main fighters in the crew.

Long live Sanji! 🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳🧑‍🍳