Other than sharing a publisher, there's not much that links One Piece, Eiichiro Oda's pirate adventure series, to Food Wars!, Yūto Tsukuda, Shun Saeki and Yuki Morisaki's culinary comedy. And yet a year before the latter manga ended its seven-year run in July, fans of both series were rewarded with an unexpected crossover: Shokugeki no Sanji, a crossover tale starring the only logical, connective tissue between the two properties -- One Piece's chain-smoking cook, Sanji.
The 35-page one-shot, pitched by the Food Wars! creators, was published in the July 23rd edition of Weekly Shonen Jump in 2018 to coincide with the 21st anniversary of Oda's hugely popular series. Now, on the back of its success, it seems that an anime adaptation of the story may well be in the works -- and it's all thanks to Oda himself. An interview with Tsukuda from Shonen Jump that surfaced online last October revealed that "fan reaction to the chapter was strong," and the One Piece creator was absolutely one of those fans.
"When we saw Oda Sensei at the New Year's Party, he told us he was really happy with it. And that was when he said, 'We're making an anime version of it.' Now the two editors of the series are in a bind since the companies working on the two projects are totally different.
"[Laughs] Now everyone on the editorial side is greatly perplexed, trying to figure out what to do about it. On the other hand, Oda Sensei is just like, 'So what? You are going to do it.'"
That's the man behind one of the world's biggest-selling comics dropping the mic, there.
In case this little slice of crossover fun passed you by, here's what you need to know about the story. Shokugeki no Sanji is essentially a professionally-created, affectionate piece of fan fiction from the Food Wars! team. Rather than transplant One Piece characters into the world of Food Wars!, the story instead filters Oda's creation through a Food Wars! lens.
Set before the high-kicking chef joined Luffy's Straw Hat crew, the story returns to Sanji's days working as the Sous Chef at the Beratie restaurant, a fish-shaped establishment that floats near the start of the Grand Line. While patrons are happily lapping up the menu, a plus-size woman loudly complains from her table that the food served aboard the "derelict barge" is "an insult to gourmet taste everywhere." The woman is Savarin, a gourmand whose scathing reviews have "spelled doom" for famous restaurants everywhere.
Spotting Sanji skulking around the corners of the dining hall, she mistakes his suit for the garb of a waiter and demands that he fetch her the Head Chef, Zeff. Sanji, noticing that she hasn't actually touched anything on her plate, turns on his signature charm to persuade her to stay. This is when Patty and Carne -- who One Piece fans will recognize as two of the Beratie's cooks -- emerge from the kitchen wielding giant cutlery, barking at Sanji to simply let her leave so they can wash their hands of her.
As a joke, Savarin suggests that Sanji prepare one final dish for her to decide her fateful verdict on the Beratie. He, of course, accepts with relish, preparing her a flambéed Tomahawk lobster. Not only does she instantly fall in love with the dish, but the Strip-Strip Devil Fruit it's laced with melts the weight right off of her -- if only temporarily.
Satisfied with his work and having saved the restaurant from a disastrous review from an unfair critic, Sanji humbly accepts the plaudits from the rest of the staff and patrons. Just then, a hat-adorned skull-and-crossbones flag comes into view on the horizon -- beckoning him to bigger and better things.
As the narrative itself is just frothy, throwaway fun (if not somewhat problematic where body politics are concerned), the most appetizing part of the crossover lies in seeing Saeki's take on Sanji, especially given the big difference between his and Oda's styles; The latter's is recognizable for its rounder, goofier qualities, while Saeki's is closer to the meticulously detailed, slickly-composed character designs of Death Note and Bakuman's Takeshi Obata. As is the hook of Food Wars!, it's also fun to see the One Piece chef star in one of Saeki's action-packed cooking sequences too.
This isn't the first time One Piece has been intertwined with a food-based series, either; 2013's Dream 9, the "Super Collaboration Special," brought One Piece's Luffy, Dragon Ball Z's Goku and Toriko's titular gourmet hunter together for a two-part TV special based around a Food Tournament with delicious prizes for the taking. The characters of One Piece have also more recently been used for a series of Nissin Cup Noodle commercials in Japan, which place them in a high-school setting and use a dreamy, romanticized art style.
Clearly, the appetite for One Piece crossovers and alternate universe stories continues to be insatiable.
Shokugeki no Sanji is available in English from Viz Media.