#i'm roughly aware that this foreshadows him being a prince & that his backstory involves certain traumas. but this is more so in relation

[fiapple]

i don't want to get too comprehensive as i'm aware that sanji is a character who is vastly expanded upon in a much later arc than the arc i'm currently reading, but i do want to say i think the invention of the mr. prince was a brilliant choice on oda's part.

seperating sanji from the crew in major ways throughout the saga immediatley following his introduction was a rather bold idea when you think about typical writing conventions, but oda does so in a way that leaves the audience free from any feeling of the character being genuinely side-lined or written thoughtlessly.

the manner in which sanji enacts his narrative role throughout the alabasta saga is a direct result of his growing up in the food service industry, (nodded at when he answers the den den mushi with "hello, welcome to the shitty restaurant." when mr. prince is first utilized as a persona). It also reinforces that he has a high level of social-cognizance even when working on a small amount of information, a trait which is previously shown in how he treated various customers & in his initial affinity for luffy. In mr. prince's first scene alone, oda focuses on depicting this to the audience through sanji's implied senstivity to the facts of: a) baroque works not knowing who he is, b) the likely additional lack of awareness of luffy's crew having more crew members than they think, c) him having enough context to pretend to be a baroque works agent, & d) enough to use that to fake their deaths & get baroque works to stop looking before they find out anything further.

the writing works especially well when you consider that the way sanji thinks would be informed by what he would've needed to succeed in a fast-paced & heavily taxing environment where he continually needs to act in service of others. like it is just a very thoughtful writing choice on the part of oda, & behaviourally very organic for sanji as a character. it allows for the seperation from the rest of the cast to feel justified on a narrative level, & ultimatley ends up adding it's own layer to the intentionally fragmented & chaotic atmosphere created in the climax-chapters of the alabasta arc- with the added bonus of the deux-ex-machina that gets the crew out of crocodile's cage not feeling in the least bit forced.

the thing i saw oda praised above all else for prior to starting one piece was his character-writing, & i can definietly see why.