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Marco Polo wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 7:45 pm

The major character leap in this chapter is Sanji asking a woman for help. Even at the start of Wano, if you'd said "Sanji will ask Robin to save him 100 chapters from now", the response from most readers would be "I'll have whatever you're smoking". However, when you take into account all the information we got about him in WCI, combined with his efforts to reconcile with his past in Wano alone (for example, wearing the Raid Suit), it's not as big of a stretch as it may seem, and is a big step towards him "completing" his character arc. Let me explain:

Sanji's chivalry has always revolved around the idea of him "loving all the ladies", as he says in this chapter. When you look at his backstory, it's a combination of Zeff's principles (never kicking a lady) and the strong sense of debt he feels towards his female relatives, who were the only people to show him kindness growing up, that have fed into his "ladies man" persona. As I said earlier, Sanji, by principle, will not harm a woman, and will not allow a woman to put themselves in a position of harm for him. Sanji has always conflated "not hurting a woman" with "not allowing a woman to fight when he's present". However, in WCI, we realise that women have been fighting to protect Sanji in the most crucial moments of his life (and no, I'm not talking about Nami vs. Khalifa). Sanji's mother gives her life to ensure that he's born with human emotion. Reiju is responsible for allowing him to leave Germa and join Zeff. Nami, who Sanji has the softest spot for of any woman he's encountered, is a pivotal figure in the WCI mission and in getting him back. Even Pudding ends up deciding to work alongside him, despite originally wanting nothing more than to kill him. Being able to be in situations where he's fighting alongside women (i.e., during the Tea Party) allows Sanji to trust in women's strength more (he has been very bad at doing this in the past), and even though he still isn't comfortable with the idea of a woman getting hurt, he trusts that they can protect themselves without him needing to protect them. We saw that a little when he was okay with Nami facing off against Page One and Ulti, but directly asking Robin to fight for him is a huge sign of growth.

The other thing that Sanji has been notorious for is not seeing value in his own life. When we meet him all the way back at Baratie, he's dismissed the idea of pursuing his dreams entirely due to his feelings of debt towards Zeff. He effectively has to be kicked out of the Baratie before he accepts Luffy's invitation to join the crew (which was also very emotional). Those feelings of debt towards Zeff grow into feelings of debt towards Luffy and the other Straw Hats, and they're the catalyst for the entire WCI arc. When Sanji leaves Zou with Bege, he's effectively signed his life away to return to an abusive family, all in the name of protecting the crew. Even when Luffy comes to rescue him, Sanji turns him away. This is prior to him finding out about the assassination plot as well, so he does this without feeling obligation to his blood family. The reason he refuses Luffy's help isn't because he doesn't want to go back - it's because he doesn't believe he's worth the trouble of saving. When you see his backstory, this feeling makes complete sense, given that he was completely rejected by his father, who only saw worth in strength. The turning points for his character are firstly his conversation with Reiju, who completely re-frames his entire existence by telling him the story about his mother. From his father's perspective, he's the Vinsmoke's only failure, but from the perspective of the women in his family, he's their greatest success, and secondly his reunion with Luffy, where he's reminded who his "family" really is, and that they'll back him to the end no matter what. These two moments, along with Germa putting their lives on the line to protect him during the later stages of WCI, essentially allow Sanji to recognise the value in his own life. Even if his father still refuses to recognise his worth, he (Judge) still deems him as being worth saving - as do his brothers. And if they of all people can see that, then obviously his crew would go even further for him. It's the events of WCI that allow Sanji to even dare to think of asking someone to save him, no matter how humiliating it might seem to outsiders.

There's probably also a lot to be said about how fitting it is that it's Robin that comes to his rescue as well - it's a reverse Enies Lobby situation, and of anyone on the crew, Robin is the one who would most identify with a lot of the feelings Sanji has experienced over the course of his life.