Devil Fruit

Devil Fruit Overview Origins It is currently unknown what Devil Fruits are exactly, how they were made, where they came from, or exactly how they work. Even the world's greatest scientist, Dr. Vegapunk, has no idea how they came to exist. However, he theorizes that Devil Fruits are a manifestation of the possibility for human evolution, with all the different powers representing the many branches for humanity's future, brought into existence by human hope and desire: thoughts along the lines of "if only I could do this" or "if only I could be like that". Vegapunk claims that those with powers exist in different dimensions dreamed up by others before them. However, according to Vegapunk, those who exist in this unnatural state are loathed by the sea, which he describes as the mother of nature, and thus become unable to swim as punishment.[3]

Some legends state that Devil Fruits were enchanted by "sea devils",[4] while others state that they are inhabited by actual devils which fight each other if they get too close, though the latter was eventually debunked by science.

They have existed in the world for at least eight centuries, with the oldest introduced Devil Fruits being the Toki Toki no Mi and the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.[5][6] There are more than 100 different Devil Fruits in the world, but only one of each Devil Fruit exists.[7][8]

Appearance Devil Fruits as Described by Morgan Devil Fruits when first described by Morgan.

Appearance-wise, each Devil Fruit comes with its own shape and color, though all the Devil Fruits seen so far have possessed swirl marks or patterns over their peel. Some fruits have simplistic designs resembling regular fruits, while some have appearances that reflect the power they grant.[9] For example, the Gomu Gomu no Mi greatly resembles a regular Yubari King, giving no indication to its rubbery powers, while the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi takes the shape of a paw print, which is similar to the paw prints that appear on the user's hands (which allow them to repel any object they touch) after consuming it. Artificial Devil Fruits, on the other hand, are different from natural ones as they nearly appear all the same and have ring patterns on them instead of swirls.[10]

Consumption Sabo Eating the Mera Mera no Mi Becoming a Devil Fruit user only takes one bite.

After being consumed, a Devil Fruit gives the consumer a superpower or a special superhuman trait, which they will soon become aware of, and the consumer will keep these powers for the rest of their life; it does not appear that powers can be lost except through death. A person who has eaten a Devil Fruit and gained its powers is known as a Devil Fruit User (能力者, Nōryoku-sha?, lit. "Power User" or "Esper").[11] Additionally, all Devil Fruits are known to taste very bad.[12]

Many Devil Fruit users have their own titles, such as Rubber Human (ゴム人間, Gomu Ningen?), Smoke Human (煙人間, Kemuri Ningen?), or Leopard Human (ヒョウ人間, Hyō Ningen?). In the case of Tony Tony Chopper, he became a Human Reindeer (人間トナカイ, Ningen Tonakai?) after eating the Hito Hito no Mi. As seen with these examples, the title is usually the type of ability followed by the species of the Devil Fruit user (or, in the case of items that have "eaten" Zoan fruits, the object they originally were). Some exceptions in which the title is connected to the ability but is not named after it are with the user of the Kage Kage no Mi, who gains the title of Ruler of Shadows (影の支配者, Kage no Shihaisha?), the user of the Hoya Hoya no Mi, who gains the title of Lamp Human (ランプ人間, Ranpu Ningen?, VIZ: "Lampman"), or the user of the Muchi Muchi no Mi, who gains the title of Training Human (調教人間, Chōkyō Ningen?, VIZ: "Discipline-Woman").

Only one bite is needed for the user to gain the power of the Devil Fruit. Afterwards the Devil Fruit becomes a simple, useless and disgusting fruit. Despite this, the majority of those who have consumed a Devil Fruit have elected to eat the entire fruit, as they appear to be unaware of this fact.[13] Furthermore, the consumer gains the powers and drawbacks of the fruit immediately after the fruit is swallowed, without needing to wait for the fruit to be digested.[14][15]

Consuming a Devil Fruit is known to alter the user's Lineage Factor, and extracting this genetic blueprint has allowed scientists to make breakthroughs in replicating fruit powers.[16] However, the user's altered Lineage Factor has not been shown to affect them beyond granting the fruit abilities and side effects; Devil Fruit users appear to retain normal lifespans, and they are capable of siring children who possess no powers and can eat their own Devil Fruits without any unusual effect.

A person can only eat a single Devil Fruit in their entire lifetime; any attempt to gain a second Devil Fruit power will cause the consumer's body to be blown apart to such a degree that little trace is left of it, resulting in their death. The reason for this is currently unknown; Jabra heard a rumor that an actual devil lives inside each fruit and transfers to a fruit user's body upon consumption, and would fight with the devil inhabiting another fruit if they were to meet within the same body. However, this rumor is said to have been debunked by science.[1] The only seeming exception to this rule is Marshall D. Teach, who manages to hold the powers of both the Yami Yami no Mi and the Gura Gura no Mi without any visible consequences. Marco attributed this to Teach's body being "odd", but this has yet to be elaborated on.[17]

There are methods to obtaining a Devil Fruit power without actually consuming the fruit itself. Charlotte Linlin had somehow obtained the power of the Soru Soru no Mi after its previous user, Carmel disappeared, but it is unknown how she did it. In addition, it is possible for a sufficiently skilled scientist to create an extract of a Devil Fruit and administer it to an infant who cannot yet eat solid food; this method results in the recipient gaining the ability as normal while the fruit becomes worthless, as if the baby had eaten the fruit normally.[18]

Caribou Smothers Drip Devil Fruit powers can extend through the user's clothing.

Notably, Devil Fruit powers generally extend through the clothes the user wears. When a Devil Fruit user's body changes in size or shape, their clothing will stretch out and change with them without being any the worse for wear afterwards. When a Devil Fruit power involves the user's body changing in nature, that power also applies to their clothing which will change in nature with them. If a power involves generating a substance, then it can come from the user's clothing. This rule also applies to cyborg enhancements and prosthetic body parts. An example of this is Queen's artificial arm, which transforms into a brachiosaurus leg when he takes his brachiosaurus form.[19] However, it would seem that not all Devil Fruit powers adhere to this rule. Jewelry Bonney is an example, whose clothes do not change when her body does.[20] That said, the change may extend to weapons or other items on the user's direct person as well, such as Sasaki's sword, Karakuri Rasento, growing in size in his hand when he transformed into a huge triceratops hybrid.[21]

Types of Devil Fruit There are three basic types (系, kei?, also transl. as "systems/series") that all Devil Fruits are categorized into based on the nature of the powers they grant. Those types are Logia, Zoan, and Paramecia.

Paramecia The most common Devil Fruit type, Paramecia, encompasses fruits that grant any one of a wide variety of "superhuman" abilities. Their one unifying characteristic is that they are anything other than the ability to transform into animals or into elements of nature.

Some Paramecia fruits allow one to transform oneself or adopt a special bodily trait, temporarily or permanently (e.g., gaining a slippery physique, a body that can split into pieces harmlessly, a diamond body, becoming a jacket to be worn by others, transforming into blades and other weapons, controlling one's weight, mimicking appearances, gaining clairvoyant eyes or a brain with infinite storage capacity, etc.).

Other abilities involve creating substances from nothing, some of which may have strange properties (e.g., wax as hard as steel, soap that can "clean off" strength, poison, strings that can control people like puppets, straw with "voodoo" properties, etc.). Other fruits' powers involve creating and manipulating intangible forces (like "quake" shockwaves, gravity, or heat) and yet other abilities involve summoning discrete objects or entities (e.g., copies of one's own body parts, ghosts, a "genie" familiar, articles of clothing, etc.).

Other Paramecia powers allow wielders to influence and alter their environment, both living beings (sometimes including their own self) and/or objects (e.g., turning people into toys, controlling people's shadows or souls, "taming" animals, controlling specific objects like books or mirrors, making things levitate, making projectiles auto-lock onto targets, "surgically" modifying anything within one's domain, etc.). Zoan Zoan-type Devil Fruits grant the power to transform into a specific animal, as well as transform into a hybrid form between the ability user's own species (most frequently human) and the aforesaid animal. Unlike other Devil Fruits, Zoan fruits are said to carry a will of their own. A recently discovered science allows Zoan Fruits to be integrated into inanimate objects, bringing the object to life and granting it the standard Zoan transformations.

Zoan transformations greatly enhance a user's physical abilities and are the best kind of power for augmenting melee combat, with carnivorous animal Zoans being especially well-suited for combat due to their predatory attributes (claws, fangs, etc.). Some Zoans grant special abilities based on the animal, like avian Zoans granting the ability of flight, the king cobra Zoan allowing the user to spit globs of poison, or the mole Zoan allowing the user to dig through the earth, even through solid stone, at high speed.

Aside from most Zoans that transform users into animals that currently exist, there are three known sub-classifications:

Ancient - Zoan Fruits that allow the user to transform into an extinct species, such as dinosaurs. Ancient Zoans are rare, and they appear to be stronger than regular Zoans. Some have even displayed atypical physical abilities that their users claim the real animals naturally possessed. Mythical - Zoan Fruits that allow the user to transform into mythological creatures, such as a dragon or a phoenix. Mythical Zoan animals tend to have additional special powers, like a phoenix Zoan being able to generate flames that have healing powers. Mythical Zoans are the rarest type of Devil Fruit, even more so than Logias. Artificial - Artificially created Zoan Fruits that cause the user to permanently take on an animal characteristic; though, much more rarely, the user becomes able to transform at will. The artificial Zoan Fruits had a 10% success rate, while the other 90%, in addition to not gaining animal traits and losing the ability to swim, were stripped of the ability to express negative emotions, leaving them only able to smile and laugh, regardless of how they actually feel. These artificial Devil Fruits, known as SMILEs, were developed by Caesar Clown and Donquixote Doflamingo. Another version was developed by Vegapunk. Logia Logia, the rarest and most powerful of the three basic Devil Fruit types, refers to fruits that grant the power to create, control, and transform one's body into an element of nature, e.g.: fire, lightning, ice, sand, mud, magma, smoke, gas, plants, light, and darkness.

When transforming into their element, a Logia user becomes physically invulnerable (or outright intangible in the case of certain elements) and retains control over their body even if separated into pieces. A Logia user may also gain ancillary powers conceptually tied to their element, such as the sand Logia's power to dry things, the light Logia's ability to travel at light speed, the gas Logia's power to control the atmosphere, or the darkness Logia's power to nullify other Devil Fruit abilities on contact. The darkness Logia, in particular, stands out for its element being more esoteric compared to other Logias, representing not the mere absence of light but, rather, the all-consuming "darkness" of black holes. Some Logia powers even create a seemingly infinite space inside the user's elemental form.

Some few Logias that are considered non-canon grant the ability to become an artificial "element" like paper or candy syrup, although no such fruit has been introduced in the manga.