Sanji Vinsmoke

"Black Leg" Sanji, born as Vinsmoke Sanji, is the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates and one of the Senior Officers of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. He is the fifth member of the crew and the fourth to join, doing so at the end of the Baratie Arc.

Born as the third son and fourth child of the Vinsmoke Family (thus, making him a former prince of the Germa Kingdom), he disowned his family twice, once in his youth and again after reuniting with them as an adult. After fleeing the Vinsmokes as a child, he eventually entered the care of Zeff as the sous chef of the Baratie, where he would remain until he met Monkey D. Luffy, who convinced him to join his crew.

His dream is to find the rumored chef's paradise, All Blue, which is where the East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue meet, along with their wildlife. He is one of the top three fighters of the Straw Hats, alongside Luffy and Zoro, who are referred to as the "Monster Trio". Sanji is a tall, slim, muscular man with long legs and jaw-length blond hair which he keeps brushed over one side of his face. Before the timeskip, this was the left side. After the two-year timeskip, he switched his hairstyle so that it covers the right side. It also appears that Sanji's hair is less straight and scruffier after the timeskip.

Sanji's most distinctive physical trait is the spirals on his eyebrows: His right eyebrow forms a spiral at the outer end, while his left eyebrow forms a spiral at the inner end. His eyebrows curl in the opposite direction from his siblings, whose eyebrows curl in a counterclockwise direction Sanji's eyebrows instead curl in a clockwise direction. During his battle with Queen, when his dormant genetic modifications awakened, Sanji's eyebrows switched to curling in the same direction as his siblings'. After being unconscious for a brief period, when he awoke, his eyebrows had returned to their original shape. When fighting S-Shark, his eyebrows changed direction again, although they reverted back following the battle. After deflecting Kizaru's laser with a kick, his eyebrows have once again changed directions.

While Sanji's eyes usually seem black, he was depicted with grey-blue eyes in the anime at the beginning of Thriller Bark Arc. During the Punk Hazard Arc, when Trafalgar Law switched Sanji into Nami's body, her usual brown eyes became grey blue in color. Sanji almost always wears a black, double-breasted suit with golden buttons and a tie together with a long-sleeved buttoned shirt of varying colors, usually orange, blue, turquoise, or black, with or without pinstripes. His outfit changes on a more frequent basis than most of the crew.

As a child, Sanji wore a yellow shirt with the number "3" on it white pants, brown boots, and a light-yellow bandana around his neck. His hair was styled in the opposite manner as it is in the present.

One of Sanji's most easily noticeable characteristics is the kind, calm, cool, and collected manner in which he carries himself. He tends to speak in a very composed manner, even in dire situations, and rarely acts without thinking. His demeanor in a lot of ways can be compared to that of a secret agent. This is amplified by the fact that he very often enjoys a smoke, and in the anime, they tend to play smooth music with jazzy undertones when he speaks. He quite often makes comedic exceptions to this, such as when in the presence of beautiful women, or when angered by a crew member.

He is more perceptive than he seems, and often tells people what they need to hear instead of what they want. Hence, he is seen as one of the more hardened members of the crew. For example, when the Straw Hats first meet Laboon and learn that the whale had been waiting for 50 years for a reunion with his crew, it is Sanji who immediately (and correctly) points out that Laboon's crew is most likely dead. Sanji does possess an optimistic and idealistic side. His dream is to find a sea that even other cooks consider mythical. Furthermore, even after the abuse, he experienced from his family as a child, he held out hope that they may have changed for the better. However, this hope proves to be completely futile, but he was angrier than surprised at the revelation, showing that he maintains a healthy sense of skepticism even at his most hopeful. Sanji also showed a high degree of faith in his fiancée, Charlotte Pudding, and was horrified and downcast when he discovered her true motive.

Sanji is not afraid to show his emotions when the moment calls for it and is entirely capable of crying or losing his temper, which results in Sanji's short fuse and subsequent beatings of most villains (and Luffy). In fact, a running gag has appeared since Sanji's fight with Jabra, during which he stated that when he gets angry, he "heats up". After this fight, when Sanji gets particularly angry at a villain, he appears to burst into flames. This occurs with both Absalom and Duval, though the latter example appears only in the anime. It is also seen when Luffy states nonchalantly that he is friends with Boa Hancock, considered to be the most beautiful woman, when she appears to prevent a Marine ship from sinking the Thousand Sunny.

Despite his hardened outlook on life, Sanji does not object to acting foolishly on certain occasions, like dancing with the more immature members of the crew (Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Brook), or acting childishly excited in certain situations (like when they first visited Skypiea) and he was also the crewmember who enjoyed going to Fish-Man Island the most as he was seen partying with mermaids. He is also one of those who believes that afros give power. Sanji seems to enjoy relaxing with a cup of tea (his favorite drink) as seen when he entered Mr. 3's wax house and helped himself to Miss Golden Week's tea set. This habit came up again in Enies Lobby when Kalifa distracted Sanji by offering him tea; in another instance, Sanji angrily refused Bege when he was offered something to drink while trapped inside of Bege's body.

Since at a young age, Sanji has a habit of saying "shit" or "shitty" when describing something. While the Japanese word for feces, "kuso", is not specifically an expletive, Sanji's manner of speech makes the term sound brash. For example, he might call a person he especially does not like a "shitty bastard" or something along those lines (such as his personal nickname for Zeff, "shitty geezer"), but he also described something pleasant to him, like being alone with Nami, as "shitty fantastic" and "the shitty best". In the Funimation dub, this habit is downplayed to swearing that is less offensive.