History Recap / DeathBattleS07E19SanjiVsRockLee

Clad in black finery, Sanji pops into view behind Lee, repeatedly stomping on the spirited youth and readjusting his face briefly. With a diving dropkick that shatters his ribcage, Lee plummets back to earth, but he refuses to give up. He reiterates his fighting spirit and his will to survive before plunging a thumb straight into his heart; the Eighth Gate has been opened. A red aura envelops the Konoha ninja as he rockets back into the sky, creating currents from every direction that seem to trap Sanji in the center. The master chef escapes meets Lee's outstretched fist with another stomp. Sanji's leg wavers under the intense force before rupturing and bursting in a spray of blood. Lee is blasted back into the street and prepares himself for Sanji's touchdown; an axe kick from the one-legged pirate knocks him off balance. Intent on making his ungrateful customer atone for his actions, Sanji delivers a sweeping kick to the torso that rips Lee clean in half. The pirate positions himself by a dock and helps himself to a cigarette, uncaring as he listens to Lee's bifurcated carcass crash behind him and crumble to ash.

'''Boomstick:''' Like Sanji, the sous chef of the Straw Hat Pirates searching for the One Piece.\\
'''Wiz:''' And Rock Lee, the hard working ninja warrior from the village of Naruto.

First to be covered is Vinsmoke Sanji, prince of the seafaring Germa Kingdom. When the children of king Vinsmoke Judge were conceived, he became obsessed with the idea of his sons attaining great power; Sora, his wife, was against this idea, concerned they would become unfeeling sociopaths in exchange for their power. Against her wishes, Judge forced his queen to undergo surgery to grant them the physical prowess he sought. Sora took medicine to negate the surgery's effects in the hopes of giving her children a normal life. Of Judge and Sora's ensuing offspring, only Sanji was unaffected by this surgery. Sanji's childhood was a miserable one, being bullied by his brothers for his weakness, imprisoned by his father for the same, and losing Sora due to the effects of the medicine; the only reprieve he had during this time was in discovering an interest in cooking. His sole sister eventually took pity on Sanji and helped him escape. Traveling the world and honing his culinary talents with several chefs, Sanji learned of the All Blue, a place in the world where all the oceans and their sea life intersect, a perfect location for a chef such as him. Eventually, Sanji's path crossed with that of the ragtag adventurers known as the Straw Hat Pirates. It was shortly after meeting the Straw Hats that Sanji would join their ranks, serving as the team's chef on their journeys while still on his own for the All Blue.

-->'''[[Manga/OnePiece Sanji]]:''' (holding a lit cigarette in front of his burnt but still standing body) I was looking for a light. Appreciate it.

With all that said, the fight moves on to Rock Lee, native of Konoha. In the world Lee hails from, the energy known as chakra pulses through all living things; the humans of this world can channel it for superhuman feats of strength and skill. Lee is an exception, having been born without the ability to use chakra. Mocked by his peers, Lee pushing his body further to prove them wrong. Lee showed enough promise in his training to be paired alongside ninja prodigy Neji Hyuuga. While their ensuing rivalry gave Lee the motivation he needed to better improve his physique, he still lacked a family to find a mentor and guidance in. Thankfully, help came in the form of Might Guy, who had a similar lifelong disability. Empathizing with Lee's ordeal, Might Guy took it upon himself to give Lee a proper training so as to keep pace with his more talented contemporaries. As time went on, Lee learned from his new master's teachings to become as splendid a ninja as he envisioned he could possibly have.

-->'''[[Manga/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]]:''' To protect and maintain one's own ninja way! Third Gate, Gate of Life, open!

-->'''Boomstick:''' Guess you could say he had a leg up on Rock Lee, hand over fist... or I guess foot over fist, but you get it.\\

There are so many heroes with crazy, over-the-top superpowers. But there's one class of character everyone respects: the master of the martial arts.

Like [[Franchise/OnePiece Sanji]], the sous chef of the Straw Hat Pirates searching for the One Piece. And [[Franchise/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]], the hard-working ninja from the village of Naruto.

Like [[Manga/OnePiece Sanji]], the sous chef of the Straw Hat Pirates searching for the One Piece. And [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]], the hard-working ninja from the village of Naruto.

** The battle animation has Sanji win, but only after he loses one of his legs, though downplayed given his home universe treats such an injury as a mild annoyance for most characters on his level.

** The battle animation has Sanji win, but only after he loses one of his legs, an especially devastating loss for an ExtremityExtremist like him.

** The battle animation has Sanji win, but only after he loses one of his legs.

** It's reiterated that although the Eighth Gate ''will'' kill the user, it still counts as a victory if the user kills their opponent first, which was the case during Might Guy's tenure in the ring.

** While describing Rock Lee can become a DrunkenMaster, the screen behind the hosts gives a visual example with [[Film/DrunkenMaster the film series of the same name]].

** After being hit with Sanji's kicking barrages, Lee's face briefly turns into the infamous [[Memes/SpongeBobSquarePants handsome Squidward]].

* ShoutOut: After being hit with Sanji's kicking barrages, Lee's face briefly turns into the infamous [[Memes/SpongeBobSquarePants handsome Squidward]].

* ContinuityNod: Previous combatants [[Recap/DeathBattleS03E13ZoroVsErza Roronoa Zoro]], [[Recap/DeathBattleS04E14NarutoVsIchigo Naruto Uzumaki]], [[Recap/DeathBattleS06E12SasukeVsHiei Sasuke Uchiha]], [[Recap/DeathBattleS06E16AllMightVsMightGuy Might Guy]], and [[Recap/DeathBattleS07E08ObiWanKenobiVsKakashi Kakashi Hatake]] are all referenced in the fighters' bios; Zoro, Naruto, and Might Guy specifically are used to scale the characters to them.

In the aftermath of the fight, its elements are laid out for review. Lee was definitely a formidable opponent for Sanji thanks to his years of training and the powers granted by the eight gates. Sanji, however, has had a similarly extensive time spent practicing his craft and could keep pace with anything Lee had to offer. Sanji's usage of Observation Haki would help him against the unpredictable nature of Drunken Fist, and while they both have feats of island-destroying proportion to their names, the meteor that the Straw Hats demolished was of a scale greater than Lee or Might Guy's usage of the Seventh Gate. The best bet that Lee would have to win in this fight would be activating the Eighth Gate, and while mutually-assured destruction is not the most practical option for victory, it is still an option. Indeed, Sanji may be durable, but he is well beneath the level of stamina that Madara displayed in his fight with Might Guy under the effects of the Eighth Gate. If Lee were able to hit Sanji in this state, it would be too much for the pirate to handle; the problem is that Lee would have to catch him first. By comparing Sanji to Luffy, who has effortlessly avoided laser fire, Lee's opponent would be capable of comfortably moving at speeds thirteen times faster than that of light. The Eighth Gate's effects are undeniably powerful and would certainly net Lee the win in certain circumstances, but Sanji's greater speed, precognition, and similar martial arts prowess would be the key ingredients to his much more likely victory.

* AnArmAndALeg: Sanji wins this fight, but he loses a leg to the Eighth Gate-empowered Rock Lee.

The penultimate match of season seven brings calls forth martial artists from some of the longest-running and most prolific of anime. Born without fantastic abilities, today's fighters make do with expert legwork and the very energy that fuels them.

In a port tavern, Rock Lee orders a plate of spicy curry, but then angrily complains that it isn't spicy enough. This offends the cook, Sanji, who promptly attacks Rock Lee in his usual impulsive manner. The two martial artists start a duel, and whilst Rock Lee does get some hits in, Sanji largely dominates the fight, kicking Rock Lee into a convenient barrel of beer.

Now drunk out of his mind, Rock Lee unlocks his Drunken Boxing style and resumes the attack, catching Sanji by surprise and managing to tackle him out through the wall and into the exterior street. The advantage of surprise doesn't last long, and soon Sanji begins gaining the upper hand again. He kicks Rock Lee into a building, dousing him with cold water and sobering him up. Rock Lee attempts to counter by invoking the Third Gate, and this gives him enough of an upper hand that Sanji is forced to use the Raid Suit to up his own game.

In the Raid Suit, Sanji dominates the fight once again, forcing Rock Lee to invoke the Sixth, Seventh, and finally the Eighth Gate. In the Eighth Gate, Rock Lee seems to finally have the upper hand over Sanji once again, and this pays off when Sanji tries to block one of the super-charged ninja's kicks, only for the force to explosively shatter his leg, reducing it to a bloody stump. Rock Lee believes that this makes him the victor, but is fatally underestimating Sanji's strength and tenacity. Using the Raid Suit's hover technology to make up for the loss of his leg, Sanji delivers powerful attacks that cut right through the dying ninja's defenses, finishing with a kick that obliterates Rock Lee's torso.

As the two halves of Rock Lee disintegrate into ash, Sanji sits on a nearby pier and lights up a cigarette, musing that mild curry was ultimately what suited Rock Lee best, as he clearly couldn't handle the true spice of Sanji's cooking.

As Wiz breaks down for Boomstick, Sanji's baseline levels of strength, speed and mobility flatly outclassed those of Rock Lee. Compounding matters were Sanji's Observation Haki, which both increased Sanji's defenses and nullified the "chaos advantage" of Rock Lee's Drunken Boxing, and his Raid Suit, which further increased Sanji's already powerful advantage in mobility and defense. Whilst it's true that the Eighth Gate, based on the evidence of its use by Might Guy, would give Rock Lee the raw power to kill Sanji if he could hit him, the key word there is ''if''. Between Sanji's speed, his ability to essentially fly, the Raid Suit enhancing both those traits plus giving him invisibility, and the attack predicting powers of Observation Haki, the odds of Rock Lee actually being able to hit Sanji whilst in the Eighth Gate were low. Combined with the fact that the Eighth Gate is a suicide move that '''will''' kill the user, and Sanji's superior defense became a weapon in its own right, as Sanji could literally just evade Rock Lee until the Eighth Gate fatally burned him out. Whilst Rock Lee's chances of victory weren't nonexistent, the odds just drastically favored Sanji.

* AnArmAndALeg: Sanji gets his left leg literally smashed to pieces by Rock Lee's Eighth Gate-powered kick.
* BerserkButton: Rock Lee starts the fight by insulting Sanji's cooking, and continues pressing it by claiming that as the paying customer, he deserves to have the food made to his specifications, not what Sanji believes is superior.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Eighth Gate, which boosts Rock Lee's strength to a level even Sanji couldn't have survived, but which '''will''' kill him.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Sanji quite literally kicks Rock Lee in half.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Sanji barely even flinches after having his leg blown off, and ends the fight simply kneeling in a pool of his own blood and casually smoking a cigarette.
* PyrrhicVictory:
** The battle animation has Sanji win, but only after he loses one of his legs.
** The post K.O discussion notes that this was basically the best Rock Lee could hope to achieve; the only thing that would amp him up enough to have a winning chance against Sanji was the Eighth Gate, and that meant he would have died even if he'd defeated the Straw Hats' cook.
* SeriousBusiness: Sanji and Rock Lee literally fought to the death over a plate of curry.

[''this episode recap is a work in progress; apologies for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience'']