One Piece Chapter 1195: WEAKNESS

While this chapter contains A LOT, I’d like to start with the most thematically rich part of the chapter, and discuss Sanji, and his relationship with gender, and how gender expression is tied with freedom in the series. Killingham is able to sense Sanji’s self doubt, his self hatred. He knows Supreme King Haki is the only way to defeat a Holy Knight. Gaban let Sanji know that he had the potential, but his unsure identity is preventing him from unlocking his true potential. I’m so happy to see Oda properly acknowledge how much of a death wish Sanji has, he thinks the only way he can deserve to live is by dying for someone else. His abusive childhood at the hand of his father and his chauvinism. Sanji has always had a complex relationship with masculinity, his childhood instilled into him that men were cruel, the only light in life being his mother, and to a lesser extent his sister. Despite finding kindness with Zeff, Zeff was not the gentle presence that Sanji perhaps needed in order to nurture that side of himself.

For many people, especially queer One Piece fans, Sanji reads incredibly well as a trans allegory, not just including his time spent with Ivankov (we’ll get to that later) but with his relationship to masculinity. Sanji’s childhood was spent being told he was born wrong, the way he displayed emotion did not fit with the path set out for him, being soft, kind, wanting to cook and care for others and spend time with his mother. He did not fit with the hypermasculine ideal his father intended, and his brother excelled at (culminating in their physical abuse of the female staff during the Whole Cake Island arc), his sister, while born normal, was forced to shed her human emotions as she grew up, for the sake of fitting in. During the Land of Wano storyline, Sanji’s body began to change, becoming indestructible like his brothers’, causing him immense distress, much like a gendered puberty for a trans individual, he could feel himself changing into something entirely alien, in that dysphoric way. It may be a reach, but I would suggest that Sanji’s body being hard like steel is an indictment of masculinity, the machismo not allowing one to feel the breadth of human emotion, stopping us from being who we can be at our best.

It’s easy to read Sanji’s love of women not only as the only place he feels safe, but also aspirational. While acting the bluster and bravado, Sanji is an insecure person, with a drive to sacrifice his own life in order to vindicate his own existence. In order to unlock his Supreme King Haki, he needs to work out, or make peace with who he really is. While that probably doesn’t mean Sanji is transgender, it will definitely hammer home the allegory. It’s not impossible Sanji is trans, especially when Ivankov is involved. One of the most prominent HRT-fueled, genderqueer characters in the series, and spent two years with Sanji during the timeskip, and by the looks of things, knows exactly what his mental block is, and whatever was pointed out to him, he wanted to forget!

The rest of the chapter has a few key points worth pointing out, Zoro now confidently has the upper hand against Sommers. We see a glimpse of Shuri’s past, seemingly exchanging her free will in order to keep living. The two sides of Shuri are at war, her body crying while her mind fights back, this ties in nicely with Sanji’s themes in this chapter too. Another interesting thing, Nefertari D Lily lived on Elbaph for a time… Whatever that could imply.

This was a really special chapter, Oda acknowledging Sanji’s inner torment again is great, and it seems like we’re gonna get to see what exactly happened to Sanji on Kamabakka, and what it is about him that Kuma thought it’d be the right place. Of course, an army of openly queer revolutionaries would be the perfect people to help Sanji find his true self.