Ever since One Piece started, the biggest point of conflict that has divided the fans is the rivalry between the two wings of the Future Pirate King. Roronoa Zoro and Vinsmoke Sanji have been proving themselves in almost every episode, and their immeasurable strength has forced fans to compare between the two to find out who is stronger.
Not only that but now the comparison has also dragged Eiichiro Oda into the debate as fans argue about who is Oda’s favorite character. While most of the fans lean towards the Swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates being the mangaka’s favorite, a discourse on Reddit might have proved otherwise.
According to the Reddit post, Oda clearly favors Sanji more as he has had more character development. He is one of the few characters who has gone through the most amount of plot twists and is still growing with the narrative. Thus, it is clear that Oda might be more in favor of Sanji than Zoro.
The Age-Old Debate Between Zoro and Sanji
Rivalries between two characters who are similar in strength are one of the central themes of One Piece. Be it Shanks and Mihawk, Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard, or Garp and Roger, almost every major character has an almost equal match who challenges them to grow even stronger.
The biggest rivalry, however, is between Zoro and Sanji. Initially introduced as a comedic aspect, the feud between the wings of the future Pirate King was loved so much by fans that Oda decided to give it more focus. Eventually, it became a big topic of debate, and to this day, fans argue about who the better character is within the crew in One Piece.
In terms of power-ups and bounty, Zoro takes the lead as he has unlocked his Conqueror’s Haki, and after the Wano arc, his bounty was raised to 1,111,000,000 Berries. But Sanji’s bounty only went as high as 1,032,000,000 Berries. This led fans to believe that Oda might be more indulged towards Zoro than Sanji.
Eiichiro Oda Might Be More Inclined Towards Sanji
While with the recent developments, it looks like Zoro is clearly Oda’s favorite, u/Goodstyle_4’s post on Reddit might prove otherwise. According to the post, Zoro might have had more power-ups, but Sanji has had more character development than any other Straw Hat Pirate besides Luffy.
Sanji has an entire arc devoted to his background and past. Not only that, even in Wano, where Zoro was supposed to be the main focus, Sanji’s battle with Queen, who was a former ally of his father, became a kind of character development for him. Thus, Sanji has had very more stories focused on his overall character development than Zoro.
Granted that Zoro has grown in terms of power and abilities, fans still don’t know much about his past, and the only information that was given about him was revealed by Eiichiro Oda through his SBS. It gives a very valid answer to the question of who Oda loves more out of the two One Piece characters.
One Piece is available to watch on Crunchyroll.