He will forever be Oda's Chosen Goon.
In terms of actual character development, yeah. WCI put all of his self-sacrificing into a different context.
Sanji cared about Nami and Usopp when he saved them from Enel, he cared about Robin when he got on the CP9 train, and of course he cared about Zoro when he offered Kuma his life instead to preserve his dream - we just now also know a lot of that was tied to extremely low self worth from his childhood.
Even when he was going through it with his genetic modifications, he thought about what a perfect soldier he could be for Luffy if he just let go of his emotions.
Sanji didn't only put others first because he cared about them, it was also because he didn't care much about himself. That's changed now.