What are you talking about?
Vergo had to run away from a weakened Sanji
Judge had to hide behind his soldiers to fight Sanji
His brothers had to hide behind a female hostage so that Sanji wouldn’t kick their asses
None of those made Sanji look bad?
If anything, technically, most of Sanji's battle related events are him getting the lesser treatment by Oda. While it's not always bad, you can't help but have that impression.
This is mostly because expectations don't meet reality, mostly because Sanji isn't allowed to shine brighter than Luffy Zoro (in battle related events).
We know Sanji has both high intellect and high strength.
His intellect often showcased when Savior Sanji, Hero Sanji, or Spy Sanji rpesent.
His strength often showcased, regardless of his enemy's powerlevel, Sanji mostly middiff or highdiff his opponent, very rarely extreme diff like Luffy Zoro.
With above's expectations, we hoped Oda become consistent with his overall abilities. But from time to time, Oda purposely nerfed Sanji just to fit the narrative (the stepping stone stuff I mentioned a few posts back).
During Arlong Park, Oda make 100% use of Sanji. His swimming skill and strength are shown. His intelligence also shown to counter Fishman's underwater advantage.
Same with Absalom. Oda allows Sanji to use his brain.
However, in a lot of events, Oda seems to turn off Sanji's brain. The Judge's situation and his siblings' situation, Sanji should've been able to bypass their cheap tactics. Like, those cheap and basic tactics are nothing against Sanji's actual intelligence.
Or Montblanc's situation I've mentioned. Sanji doesn't need to get bashed by him because of his speed is the best. Or the simple punches of Luffy and Jinbe. Oda had to draw Sanji getting bloodied.
Maybe, for veteran and enthusiastic Sanji fans, they know Oda did him bad on purpose. But for casual fans, Oda did treat Sanji worse. That's the point.
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Latest example being Black Maria's situation. Every fans and their mother knows Sanji can easily left that place, but Oda's nerf once again "made" Sanji to be the stepping stone/hype tool/dumbass.
Granted, BM scene is happening to showcase Sanji's character development and Robin's entrance, so everything's fine.