‘One Piece’ Finally Reunites Sanji, Luffy

One Piece‘s Whole Cake Island arc kicked off a major story between Sanji and Luffy as he abandoned the Straw Hat Pirates in order to fulfill a commitment to his Vinsmoke Family, so Sanji and Luffy have been separated for the greater part of the arc.

Briefly reuniting a few times before they were forced to go their separate ways shortly after, the latest episode finally fully reunites the two as Sanji jumps in to help Luffy escape the Charlotte Family ambush outside of the Mirror World.

After defeating Katakuri in the Mirror World, Luffy has been nearly drained of all his stamina but has been forcing himself to move as much as he can. Luckily, Pekoms arrives to help him out of the Mirror World, but upon leaving the mirror the two of them are confronted by Oven’s huge ambush. When Pekoms is attacked to the point where he accidentally drops Luffy, Luffy tries his best to escape the ambush on his own.

He dodges into the sky, but is too tired to dodge an incoming attack. Luckily, that’s when Sanji reveals himself and saves Luffy from Raisin’s attack by grabbing him out of the sky. Luffy’s all too happy to see Sanji, and Sanji asks whether or not Luffy won his fight with Katakuri. Luffy then enthusiastically responds with “Yeah!” before falling asleep instantly.

This moment showcases the trust the two have with one another as Sanji smiles knowing Luffy would be victorious, and Luffy feels so safe within Sanji’s arms that he’s willing to finally fall asleep after forcing himself to move so long after his stamina’s been drained. These two have been separated by all kinds of circumstances, but in this moment, Luffy finally reunites with Sanji and fulfills his reason for coming to the Whole Cake Island in the first place. Now they just need to escape.

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.