One Piece Creator explains why Sanji uses his legs to fight

The leading characters in One Piece have their own distinct style and flare when it comes to looks and fighting style, and Netflix’s One Piece had to adapt Sanji’s impressive kicks. But ever wonder why the handsome cook uses only his legs?

The anime and manga depict Sanji as a striking white blonde, always dressed in a nice suit, and impressively tall. But this character is even more impressive knowing he has a flare for cooking, having worked at Baratie Arc and impressed Luffy and the others with his food.

But what about his fighting style? Luffy is a grand exception due to his stretchy abilities from the Devil Fruit. Zoro is a master of swordsmanship and wields a unique style of three swords.

Meanwhile, Nami is a good fighter all around with Usopp good with a slingshot. One Piece creator explains why he specifically created Sanji to only use his legs in a fight.

Eiichiro Oda thought logically about Sanji’s skills in One Piece

When it came to creating the One Piece characters, Oda thought about Sanji’s passion for cooking and his greatest asset when creating his fighting style, his hands.

Talking to Netflix Tudum, Oda broke down the history of One Piece and its inception from the get-go. When it came to Sanji, the question was why does the great cook only used his legs to fight. His high kicks don’t go unnoticed.

“Each of my characters has certain policies and philosophies that they live by. Since Sanji is a chef, I figured he would protect the one thing he needs for his trade (to cook), which would be his hands. Naturally, it made sense that he would only use his feet,” said Oda.

Having practiced only using his feet would explain why Sanji’s kicks are so incredibly powerful. Die-hard fans may also notice it’s likely one of the reasons why Sanji often keeps his hands in his pocket – got to protect the goods. Even when talking about Usopp, Oda explained that a slingshot made sense for the character – as a gun was too dangerous for the small village he lived in.

“Each of their fighting styles always needs to feed into their respective characters,” said the One Piece creator.

You can read more One Piece content in our hub here, more Netflix content here, how One Piece introduced a character Oda forgot about here, and more.