Netflix’s One Piece took the world by storm with how influential and amazing the entire series had been. From the spectacular cast to the vast array of stories, there is one factor after another that better suits the series. In the process, it helped it connect with fans of both the manga, and anime and those who have no clue of what Eiichiro Oda’s story was about.

It was not just the storytelling and incredible cast that helped bring the live-action project to life. From Mackenyu’s incredible sword-fighting skills to Sanji’s smashing kicks, the fight scenes were a sight to behold. The dedicated work that was done had a lot to do with the inspiration The Witcher gave to the series.

The Witcher Became the Missing Puzzle Piece for One Piece

Marc Jobst, the showrunner for One Piece, revealed that it took a lot of inspiration from different shows he had previously worked on to bring the series to life. One of the key factors that came into play was Henry Cavill’s The Witcher. It was the way fight sequences were choreographed in the series that really clicked with Jobst.

“To achieve the fluidity, one of the things that I learned when I was shooting the sword fight for the pilot of The Witcher is that if you have an operator dedicated to the stunt team, they learn the choreography with the camera as well. So in Henry Cavill’s sword fight, because he was such a brilliant sword fighter himself, I wanted to show that.”

Speaking with Cinema Blend, he talked about how the more the sword-fighting scenes are cut, the worse they become. If a sense of flow is maintained, then there is a continuous beauty of it that keeps the scene going with ease. It contributed to the idea of how the stunt team was able to utilize the skills of the actors in these beautifully choreographed fight scenes.

The Flow of Fight Scenes Was Like Water

Marc Jobst, when talking to Cinema Blend, explained that the flow of fight sequences is much more important. The more it gets broken, the more complicated it becomes. In this manner, it becomes integral to maintain a sense of continuity in these scenes when they are choreographed. When he was working on The Witcher, it was this continuity that helped bring Henry Cavill’s own abilities to life.

“And the more you cut it up, the less you kind of show it because it just becomes a jumble of cuts, but the more you can keep the camera going and going around the action, the more you begin to see the incredible athleticism, the choreography, the beauty of real proper fighting. And when it comes to Zoro, when it comes to Nami, when it comes to Luffy, who are the three that I was dealing with in the first two, they are all highly skilled fighters”

The water-like flow of these scenes shows the skill these characters hold as fighters and not just as actors doing their jobs. Zoro, Nami, and Luffy are all skilled in their own weapons and fighting styles. To show that without it looking clunky, The Witcher and Henry Cavill’s own fighting style became a beacon of inspiration.