Royal Titles
I believe every member of the Straw Hat crew will ultimately be given some kind of royal title.
The ones confirmed so far are: Luffy → Pirate King, Zoro → King of Hell.
Then there are the unofficial ones hinted at through cover art and movies:
Nami: Weather Queen
Chopper: King of Rare Beasts
The ones still undecided — Sanji, Robin, Franky, and Jinbei — remain a mystery.
Right now, Sanji’s royal title is by far the most hotly debated.
Zoro’s Case
“Either Zoro or Kuina will become the world’s greatest swordsman.”
Kuina died before that promise could be fulfilled. Zoro swore he would become the greatest swordsman in the world — for her sake.
In the fight against King, Zoro unknowingly awakened Conqueror’s Haki. He wasn’t thinking about Haki at all — he was simply recalling his promise with Kuina and Luffy in order to answer King’s question.
“I see — so you have Conqueror’s Haki. Planning to become a ‘king’ or something?”
“Hah?”
Zoro’s thought process in that moment, I believe, went something like this:
Fine then — I’ll become the King of Hell.
The moment that resolve was set, his will and his own self-image aligned — and he gained command over his Conqueror’s Haki.
So Zoro’s claim to “King of Hell” wasn’t random — it was the natural result of everything converging: his dream, his promise with his captain and his late friend, and the sword he had found its way to.
With that as the template, let’s think about what kind of king Sanji will become.
The Sky That Surrounds Sanji
Sanji’s origins are deeply tragic.
Against his father Judge’s wishes, Sanji was born as an ordinary human — the genetic enhancements didn’t take. He was deemed a failure, branded useless, fitted with an iron mask, and locked away in an underground cell for his entire childhood.
But for his mother Sora — who had prayed for a son born with emotions rather than as an emotionless super-soldier — Sanji’s existence was a source of hope.
Unlike his brothers, Sanji would sneak her a bento box. Sora cherished that kindness, not the taste of the food itself — she showed it in the way she responded to him.
It was Sora’s smile in that moment that made Sanji decide to become a cook.
This is the root of who Sanji is.
So when Sanji claims a royal title, it stands to reason that this memory will be at the heart of it.
Luffy as a Mother Figure
Dropped. Crushed. Rained on. A worthless failure…
He might as well be talking about himself among the Germa.
In this scene, Luffy and Sora are unmistakably being drawn as parallels.
Sanji, suffering alone in an impossible situation. Luffy, accepting it all exactly as it is.
And then the rain stops…
The one who saved young Sanji’s heart was his mother, Sora. The one who freed Sanji from the curse of Germa was Luffy — the future god of the Sun, Nika.
Saved by the sky and the sun — and the rain stops.
And now in the latest arc, Sanji must defeat Kiringamu in order to dispel the Rain God Zaza.
To do that, he needs to resolve himself to become a king and awaken Conqueror’s Haki.
So — will Sanji claim the title of “King of the Sky“? Or “King of the Sun“? Perhaps “King of the Blue Sky” — connecting to his goal of All Blue?
