Sanji serves as the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates and the fourth recruit of the crew inOne Piece’sEast Blue Saga, making him one of the five core members of the story. Along with being an incredible cook on the high seas, Sanji is also extremely powerful as he is regarded to be one of the three monsters of the crew, along with Luffy and Zoro. Together, the three are often referred to as the “Monster Trio,” a term that goes to show that they’re superior to the rest of the crew in terms of combat skills.
When it comes to the Monster Trio, the three have very distinct fighting styles.Luffy primarily uses his Gomu Gomu no Miwhile Zoro relies on the famous Three-Sword Style. Sanji, on the other hand, doesn’t use any weapons or Devil Fruit. Instead, he uses his feet in combat because as a cook, his hands are way too precious to him and only exist to serve food to those he loves. Sanji’s unique fighting style that he developed under Red-Leg Zeff, called Black-Leg Style, has received several power-ups over the years inOne Piece. In the Enies Lobby, Sanji was able to strengthen his leg by using Diable Jambe. Now, in the Wano Country arc, he’s turned the heat up a notch and developed an even stronger technique, called Ifrit Jambe.
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Where Sanji’s Ifrit Jambe Power-Up Comes From
To understand Ifrit Jambe, fans first need to understand where Diable Jambe comes from. During the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji took on Jabra in a fight to recover one of the many keys that could’ve belonged to Robin’s cuffs. However, defeating Jabra was no easy task, given that he was a Rokushiki master and, above all, the only member of the CP9 who could use Tekkai while moving. To overcome his powerful Tekkai, Sanji needed stronger kicks,which is where Diable Jambe comes in. By spinning at an extremely fast speed, Sanji was able to set his foot aflame and according to him, this increased the speed of his kicks much more. At the same time, this also meant that his kicks would be much heavier due to the higher speed, which was proven when he easily managed to burn Jabra.
With merely two kicks, Sanji was able to defeat Jabra, an accomplished CP9 member whose strength was next to only Lucci and Kaku. Sanji has, since then, continued using Diable Jambe and strengthening it over time but the biggest of all power-ups came against Queen in Wano Country. Before the two began their fiery duel, Sanji noted that his body felt weird after having put on the Raid Suit for the third time. Although fans didn’t think much about it at the moment, it was soon established thatSanji was actually developing the genetic augmentationsof the Vinsmoke Family that were suppressed within him for quite a long time. With time, Sanji’s genetic modification got stronger and not even Queen’s attacks that were powerful enough to crush Haki masters were able to hurt him anymore.
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The Wano Country arc has been huge for Sanji and his biggest power-up has certainly been the genetic augmentations. So far, Sanji has received the power of a tough exoskeleton, extra muscle, a rapid healing factor and all this means that he’s much faster and stronger than he was before. Sanji’s physical speed has been enhanced to the point where even a 1.32 billion berri man and a good user of Haki can’t even see or track him.
Taking all things into consideration, this very power-up forms the basis for Ifrit Jambe. The power of Ifrit Jambe was always within Sanji and if he wanted to, he could’ve tried using it but would’ve failed to do so as his leg wouldn’t have been able to sustain the pressure. According to Sanji, his passion is infinite, meaning the temperature of his flames has no limit. The only limiter that Sanji has is the durability of his body. Thanks to the exoskeleton, the added muscle, andhis extremely powerful Color of Armament Haki, Sanji becomes able to sustain much hotter flames, giving rise to Ifrit Jambe.
How Strong Is Sanji With Ifrit Jambe?
The naming for Ifrit Jambe is quite interesting, as “Ifrit” is known to be an incredibly powerful demon in Islamic mythology. Often, they are associated with the underworld and even the spirits of the dead, which perfectly fits Sanji’s theme of becoming a “demon,” something that he has kept on repeating since he joined the crew. Ifrit Jambe being related to the underworld implies that Sanji’s foot is the literal manifestation of the Devil’s powers. In fact, when Sanji developed Diable Jambe, he called its power “demonic,” and it would only make sense for Ifrit Jambe to be even more demonic in nature. Interestingly, this implies that Sanji might even have someconnections to the “D” clan inOne Piece, who are often associated with demons as well.
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When it comes to power, Ifrit Jambe is lethal as it makes Sanji’s legs much hotter, meaning his kicks are much faster than before. This would also mean that his kicks are much heavier than before as speed does increase weight, after all. With the power of Ifrit Jambe, Sanji was able to defeat Queen in just two techniques, similar to how he defeated Jabra in Enies Lobby. The first technique, called Collier Coup, has been used with Diable Jambe as well. The second one, however, saw him barrage Queen with several kicks and finish off the move with a new technique called Boeuf Burst. Essentially, with his new powers, Sanji was able to take Queen down without any trouble whatsoever and is now strong enough to fight well against the first Yonko Commanders such as Katakuri, King, and the others in the same bracket.
Without a doubt, Ifrit Jambe has made Sanji a monstrous fighter who can fight almost anyone in the story. What’s more, Sanji’s best is yet to come as he is far from unlocking his full potential as a fighter, meaning he is only going to get better with time. Until then, fans can finally sit back and enjoy the demonic flames of Ifrit Jambe consuming all of Sanji’s enemies.
