The concepts of family and relationships have had their fair share of prominence in the narrative of One Piece. Eiichiro Oda’s brilliance in portraying different aspects of life through familial bonds is one of the main reasons why One Piece is kept on a pedestal by its fans.
One such bond that has had quite an impact is the relationship between Vinsmoke Sanji and his father, Vinsmoke Judge. Judge’s passion for creating super soldiers and building one of the largest armies in the world has forced him to create a hateful relationship with Sanji. Judge forced his ideologies on Sanji which made him hate his father.
However, despite the way Judge treated Sanji in his childhood, Oda subtly tried to redeem him. The manga creator has shown that Judge had little care for Sanji because he didn’t kill him for trying to run away. This way, Oda tried to portray that even the most heartless characters in One Piece are redeemable.
Vinsmoke Judge’s Relationship With Sanji
The King of the Germa Kingdom and the supreme commander of the Germa 66, Vinsmoke Judge, was a brilliant scientist who specialized in engineering and genetics. Judge wanted to create the perfect soldier, as he craved power and authority more than anything else.
This is why he wanted to form an alliance with the Big Mom Pirates and, in return, offered Sanji as a groom for Big Mom’s daughter Charlotte Pudding. He believed Sanji was one of the biggest mistakes of his life, as he conducted experiments on his kids, and Sanji was the only one who came out to be unsuccessful, making him the perfect sacrifice.
During Sanji’s childhood, Judge treated him in the worst way possible and even imprisoned him. Ultimately, Sanji escaped and found a new family in Zeff and Baratie. Because of Judge’s behavior, Sanji developed a lot of hatred for his father, but considering he was family, he did save him and his siblings from the Big Mom Pirates. Judge reciprocated this by helping him escape the Whole Cake Island, but he still considered him a failure.
Vinsmoke Judge Kept Sanji Alive Because He Was Not Heartless
Considering the rudeness and arrogance that Vinsmoke Judge portrayed against Sanji for being a failure, many One Piece fans believed that ideally, he should have killed Sanji. Sanji was the manifestation of everything that he stood against, and even though Sanji tried to impress him, Judge could not lessen his hatred for his third son.
However, Eiichiro Oda wanted to portray that even though Judge was a heartless father, he still had emotions because he was human.
He couldn’t bring himself to kill his own child despite hating him from the core. But this doesn’t change the fact that he saw this emotion as a weakness.
Thus, he made sure that the rest of his children were emotionless when it came to matters like this. But Judge’s action at the end of Whole Cake Island begs the question of whether he is redeemable or not. Because if he is, there is a chance that he could be a part of the final One Piece war and aid the Straw Hat Pirates.
One Piece is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
