There is little doubt that all of the main cast members of the One Piece live-action series had to undergo training for their roles as the Straw Hats Pirates. After all, the crew members each had their own distinct style when taking on their opponents. Interestingly, Mackenyu is the one actor who should already be prepared for his role due to his previous experience with films involving swordfight. Still, the Knights of the Zodiac star admitted that he needed jaw training to portray Roronoa Zoro.
It's no secret that Roronoa Zoro is a unique swordsman who wields three swords during his duel. The bounty hunter invented his own sword style called "Santoryu" or "Three Swords Style" in an effort to become the world's greatest swordsman. It's an impressive feat that both the manga and the anime have shown off flawlessly. However, it's bound to be a difficult thing to adapt in live-action.
Nobody knows that better than Mackenyu, who has been cast as Zoro in Netflix's live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's manga. Although he has already proven he can easily handle master swordsmen (like fighting Battousai the Slasher in Rurouni Kenshin: The Final), Mackenyu admitted to GamesRadar that he needed to do some additional training to play Zoro.
"I have experience using two swords simultaneously and have done live-action shows using swords in the past, but when it comes to three, that’s a different story," he said. "The training I did for One Piece was specific for Zoro and the skills needed to really be him. My jaw had on-the-job training!"
We have no doubts about Mackenyu unlocking a new skill while working on One Piece and it looks like all his effort was worth it. The official trailer for the Netflix series only offers a glimpse of Zoro in action but he certainly looks like a true master swordsman in his scenes. Needless to say, we can't wait to see the action sequences in the upcoming show.
One Piece will also star Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji. All eight episodes of the first season will premiere on Netflix on August 31, 2023.
