One Piece chapter 1119 emphasizes the big gap in power between Luffy and Sanji

Throughout the story of One Piece, Monkey D. Luffy has always shown a clear superiority over Sanji, the Straw Hat crew’s cook and third-strongest fighter. At the beginning of the series, Luffy convincingly beat Krieg, while Sanji had no chance against the latter. After the two-year timeskip, Sanji was brutally defeated by Doflamingo, while Luffy was able to fight and eventually overwhelm the same foe.

Even before gaining Gear 5, Luffy was able to fend off Kaido with Advanced Conqueror’s Haki. As for Sanji, he fainted immediately after beating Queen, a fighter who was easily overpowered by a nerfed Big Mom. In Egghead, Luffy fought extensively against the Gorosei, while Sanji could only last a few moments against them. He was subdued by Saturn first and tossed away by Nusjuro later.

This is hardly surprising, as the captain of the Straw Hats and the main character of One Piece, Luffy, is meant to be stronger than anyone else. Even though he is no match for Luffy, Sanji remains a respectable and highly skilled fighter. Based on the spoilers for One Piece chapter 1119, however, it seems that the difference in strength between Luffy and Sanji is even greater than previously thought.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1119.

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One Piece powerscaling will never be the same again after Luffy 'no sold' Sanji’s Ifrit Jambe Hell Memories

What happened in One Piece chapter 1119?

With the official release of One Piece chapter 1119 being scheduled for July 1, 2024, fans can take a look at the new installment's spoilers and raw scans. The story picks up from where the previous chapter left off, with Luffy and Jewelry Bonney about to attack Saint Marcus Mars.

Luffy is in his Gear 5 form, while Bonney has used her Distorted Future technique to enter a Nika-like transformation. As Saint Mars unleashes a powerful fire blast, Luffy turns himself into a huge balloon to block the attack. He then remarks that nothing really seems to hurt the Gorosei, as they regenerate any damage they suffer. Thus, the best option is to send them flying as far away as possible.

Luffy thereby asks Bonney, Sanji, and Franky to strike his balloon body with their strongest attack, hitting him at full force, as if they wanted to kill him. He would then combine the power of their blows with the springiness of his body to blast Mars away.

While Luffy keeps Mars steady, Franky, Sanji, and Bonney hit the former with everything they have. Bonney uses her Nika-like powers to deliver a tremendous punch, while Sanji unleashes the Ifrit Jambe: Hell Memories, and Franky strikes with his Impactful Strong Right.

Luffy tells them that it hurts, as they added Haki to their techniques. Nevertheless, a moment later, Luffy performs Booming Dawn Balloon to combine those attacks with his own power, and release everything together. The resulting force sweeps Mars away, making him disappear in the sky.

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The much-awaited full power Ifrit Jambe was underwhelming

Hell Memories is Sanji's ultimate attack (Image via Shueisha)

Hell Memories is Sanji’s ultimate attack. It involves the cook setting his entire body on fire to strike the target with a flaming kick. As seen in One Piece chapter 1119, Sanji can combine it with the Ifrit Jambe, an upgraded version of the well-known Diable Jambe.

Upon unlocking his family’s special genes, Sanji gained a tough exoskeleton. Combining this enhanced durability with the usage of Armament Haki, Sanji was able to withstand much hotter and more powerful flames than before, which allowed him to evolve the old Diable Jambe into the stronger Ifrit Jambe.

Sanji's Ifrit Jambe (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece fans have always fantasized about Sanji performing Hell Memories while using Ifrit Jambe at the same time, and this finally happened in chapter 1119. Theoretically, both the heat and the sheer raw power of the attack should have been insane.

After so much anticipation, however, the long-awaited Ifrit Jambe: Hell Memories was quite disappointing. Sanji didn’t use it in a 1v1 fight, but merely as part of a combined attack aimed at boosting Luffy’s following attack.

As if that wasn’t enough, Sanji’s partners in the combo weren’t Zoro or Jinbe, but the likes of Franky and Bonney, which felt like a massive downgrade. Worse still, Sanji didn’t get any special portrayal compared to them, as the scene made it seem that he was on the same level as Bonney and Franky.

Sanji used his absolute strongest move, for the first time in the series, and yet his attack got no greater emphasis than Franky's fist and Bonney’s temporary Nika-like form. Fans were hyped to see Sanji’s full power, and yet the series handled it casually, portraying it as no big deal, which was underwhelming.

Even in terms of style and visuals, the Ifrit Jambe: Hell Memories was a complete disappointment. It was relegated to a small panel, which made it barely noticeable, and almost insignificant. Needless to say, such little emphasis left many fans disillusioned.

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The iconic cook needs to step up his game

Sanji should be stronger than this (Image via Toei Animation)

Whenever Sanji taps into his genetic powers, his eyebrow is temporarily reversed. Of course, this also happened when he performed Ifrit Jambe: Hell Memories in One Piece chapter 1119.

Sanji, Franky, and Bonney went all-out with their respective strongest techniques, and it was explicitly remarked that they had to attack with the intent to kill, in order to pull out their maximum power. While they would never want to hurt Luffy, they struck him as if they wanted do.

Even then, Luffy was barely injured by their combined attack. His balloon-like technique usually involves the usage of Haki, as he can cover himself with it to maximize his durability, while still mantaining his body elastic and bouncy. However, he didn’t deem necessary to use Haki to withstand the impact of Sanji, Bonney, and Franky’s combined moves.

Luffy normally uses Haki, but this time he didn't even need it (Image via Toei Animation)

All Luffy did was to scream for a moment. This means little, as the series had Kaido yelling in pain after being hit by Momonosuke or the Red Scabbards, even though their hits did basically nothing to him, as the Yonko could endure much stronger attacks. Likewise, Sanji said that the bullets of the Beasts Pirates hurt him, even though he didn’t appear to be injured at all.

A few moments later after getting hit with the combined might of Sanji, Bonney, and Franky’s best moves, Luffy was moving as if nothing happened, as he began to fight with Saint Ju Peter. This established that Sanji’s full power, even when paired with that of two relatively strong characters, can’t even slow down Luffy, let alone injure him significantly.

Of course, if Sanji can barely hurt Luffy despite going all-out with Hell Memories and Ifrit Jambe, he probably has no chance to damage characters with superior durability, such as Kaido, Big Mom, King, and the Seraphim cyborgs.

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Unfortunately, Sanji's strength is scaled down

Kaido's reaction to Momonosuke's attack (Image via Shueisha)

The impression is that an overpowered Sanji can do nothing to Luffy. While all fans knew about the big gap in power between Luffy and Sanji, probably few expected it to be this huge. The portrayal of Sanji’s strength was an absolute letdown, as the subtext of the scene was that Luffy felt that the former can’t threaten his incolumity at all, not even with a direct hit struck at full force.

It also sounded like Sanji wasn't strong enough to assist Luffy on his own, but needed to combine his power with Bonney and Franky, and still played no greater role than them. Luffy didn’t even acknowledge Sanji’s individual strength. He could have mentioned that the Ifrit Jambe attack was about to melt his back, or something of the kind, but he didn’t.

Luffy got burnt at mere contact with the flames of Kaido’s Rising Dragon: Flame Bagua. He also got burnt by Saint Mars' fire blast. However, Luffy was almost unfazed by Sanji’s Ifrit Jambe, despite being struck with a direct hit. This also undervalued the power and heat of Sanji’s flames, which some fans believed to be the hottest in the One Piece series.

Of course, what happened in chapter 1119 can’t help but leave a mark in the debates about the powerscaling of One Piece. Upon seeing the underwhelming portrayal of Sanji’s full power Ifrit Jambe, fans immediately noticed that One Piece author Eiichiro Oda would never treat Zoro in the same way.

There's no way that, in a similar situation, Luffy could withstand an attack from Zoro as easily as he did with Sanji and the others. Even before learning to use the Advanced Conqueror’s Haki and employing it to create the King of Hell Style, Zoro could force a Yonko to dodge, with Big Mom screaming in fear for Kaido’s incolumity.

In the same fight, Zoro would injure Kaido even with low-end moves, and later damage the Yonko enough to leave him with a permanent injury. Given this, it’s clear that if Luffy let Zoro hit him with his current peak power, which is the combination of Ashura and King of Hell Style, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates would suffer tremendous damage. Perhaps, the wound might even be fatal.

That said, it's important to note that Luffy’s endurance and durability have become simply extraordinary, more than worthy of that of a full-fledged Yonko. One after another, Luffy withstood a direct hit from Mars, plus the combined power of Sanji, Franky, and Bonney’s strongest attacks, all without sustaining any real damage. With this astonishing feat, Luffy once again proved that he is a force to be reckoned with.

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Related Links

• One Piece chapter 1119 official release date and time
• One Piece chapter 1119 initial spoilers
• One Piece chapter 1119 full spoilers
• One Piece chapter 1119 confirms mid-July release schedule
• One Piece chapter 1118: How can Bonney use Gear 5? Explained