In a crew where Luffy’s goofy Gum Gum powers and Zoro’s flashy swordsmanship often steal the show, the Straw Hats’ third in command, Vinsmoke Sanji often gets shafted for his fairly ordinary kick-based fighting style. Jokes about his bounty being lower than Zoro’s have fueled power-scaling debates among fans since the beginning of One Piece and though the introduction of Haki and the revelation of Sanji’s Germa lineage have since added some flair to his arsenal in recent years, Sanji’s Black Leg Style of fighting rarely ever gets the appreciation it deserves. That said, Netflix’s live-action One Piece may finally give Sanji his dues, with Taz Skylar all but proving his fiery kicks are way harder to pull off than they look.
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In a recent exclusive interview with ComicBook while also discussing Cleaner, Taz Skylar was asked whether he underwent any special training to improve his fighting skills for season 2 of Netflix’s live-action One Piece. Taz, who is known to have trained vigorously in preparation for the role and performed all of Sanji’s stunts and kicks himself shared, “I finished the first season with so many injuries…my knees felt like they were made of legos and held together by cello tape,” highlighting just how deceptively demanding Sanji’s fighting style is in reality and arguably deserves much more appreciation.
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Netflix’s One Piece Live Action Proves Sanji’s Fighting Style is Criminally Underappreciated
Impressive as martial arts fighting styles may be in real life, in a fantastical, fictional world like One Piece full of every imaginable devil fruit power under the sun, fighters like Sanji sadly often fail to get the appreciation they truly deserve. That said, despite his non-flashy fighting style in the series for the most part, Sanji has always been considered the third strongest Straw Hat crew member and has held his own against every opponent he’s faced in One Piece so far.
Easy as it may look, Sanji’s fighting style, called the Black Leg Style handed down to him by Zeff, is not only incredibly challenging to pull off but also very taxing on the body as Skylar further reveals in the above interview saying, “It took me like three months or so to kind of feel like my knees were stable again. And I still kept training throughout that time.”
While fans have seen Zoro train multiple times in One Piece, often with hilariously huge weights, the same can hardly be said of Sanji. As such, Taz Skylar, in playing Sanji’s character in the live-action adaptation has finally shone a light on how much work likely goes into the effortless strength Sanji displays in the series, particularly in the earlier arcs of One Piece when his Germa lineage is still dormant. Nonetheless, it is worth commending Taz Skylar for putting so much hard work into portraying Sanji’s character, and given his excellent performance in Season 1, the upcoming season of Netflix’s live-action One Piece is sure to be even better.
If you liked Taz Skylar’s interview, be sure to check out more on ComicBook’s YouTube channel!
