Highly unlikely? It happened.
Musashi trained in a forest by himself for several years before re-emerging as the world's greatest swordsman. All he had were the trees and his own shadow.
He had formal training by his father up until what 8 or 9? That was a starting point from which to work, something Ollie likely never had as I stated earlier. The way you make it sound, someone with no training whatsoever can take a sword into the woods for a few years, come back out and beat just about anybody.
DoomsdayApex said:
Hanzo didn't exactly have a sensei either. With what little he acquired from Ninpo, he utilized on missions before becoming a legendary Ninja figure.
I had to do a little research on him. Do you realize that it is said he could disappear and reappear supernaturally and had psychokenesis, right? These are all legends that have no doubt been built up over 400 years. For you to make your argument using this is kind of silly.
DoomsdayApex said:
Sabbah started off as a missionary who was dedicated to philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, etc. It wasn't until his travels to Cairo and while being on the run that he made the transition from missionary to assassin.
All three were nomadic loners prior.
All 3 had prior formal training, a starting point from which to work, something Ollie likely never had. I don't care what some manuscript hundreds of years old says, I call bunk unless you can show me some modern example of someone who became a hermit for years and them emerged and won the UFC. Never happened, never will.
DoomsdayApex said:
I'm not saying that Ollie learned to fight with nothing but his shadow. Slade's mask is likely a foreshadowing to his training. However, my point being is that it's not impossible to train oneself no matter the circumstances. For instance, I taught myself Judo and a few empty-handed Kali techniques from books and internet videos when I was younger.
I am not saying you can't learn forms and build a foundation from books working alone. BUT unless you can tell me you did all this without ever sparring and then actually used the skills you taught yourself in a real fight with spectacular results (ala Ollie) or point to an example of such that is actually verifiable by today's standards and not some stories that are hundreds of years old, I say your premise is false.
DoomsdayApex said:
Trial and Error is not a master or a legitimate teacher, but it is a crucial part in the learning process. That said, these three warriors weren't fighting novice foot soldiers.
And you cannot have trial and error without someone to try out on. Again, I defy you to show me a person who has trained themselves, never having someone to train with, and then have their first fight with someone and defeat them in such a devastating style as Ollie displayed.
Bottom line, he learned to fight on the island. If he trained himself, then his run-in with Slade must have been as a fight. We KNOW Slade is well trained in combat and for Ollie to have defeated Slade in their first fight with no formal training is absurd.
The other option is that Slade trained Ollie and so was the person Ollie got to hone his skills on. Obviously at some point, they battled and the mask with the arrow thru it is obviously a remnant of that fight.
I guess we'll find out but to say that Ollie spent years on the island practicing all those fight moves on no one and then have a seasoned cambat veteran like Slade show up only to get his ass handed to him is ludicrous.