Summary
Devil Fruits (悪魔の実: Akuma no Mi) are any of the variety of foul-tasting fruits in the One Piece universe that grant the user permanent superhuman abilities and an equally permanent inability to swim.
The exact workings of a Devil Fruit are to this day barely understood by most, with many superstitiously considering them to be the fruits of the Sea Devil. However, there are at least a few people, particularly very accomplished scientists, that understand how they function. What is known so far is that when a user consumes a fruit, their Lineage Factor will be altered.
There is only one of every Devil Fruit in the entire world, and once a single bite is swallowed the fruit will pass on it's power, becoming just a useless disgusting fruit. If the user dies, the Devil Fruit will "reincarnate" itself into the nearest regular fruit to it, turning it into a copy of itself and granting it the ability to bestow it's powers to someone else. This is the Devil Fruit life cycle.
Devil Fruits empower a significant number of the verse's most powerful and noteworthy individuals. Though the powers they grant are vastly different, Devil Fruits are generally grouped into three broad categories, with a few sub-categories within: Paramecia, Zoan and Logia.
Paramecia
Paramecias are the most common kind of Devil Fruit found in the One Piece world, notable for the vast and incredibly different array of abilities they can bestow. As such they can possess powers that range from the mundane to the incredibly destructive.
Though Paramecias are so incredibly different as to defy easy classification, there are three subcategories they can roughly be grouped into, however it should be noted that many Paramecias can fall into multiple of these subcategories. They are as follows:
Body Alteration
Jozu utilizing his Devil Fruit to turn into diamond.
These types of Paramecias directly affect the user's body, changing it's composition. Some fruits grant a permanent alteration that remains active by default, such as the Gomu Gomu no Mi turning the user's body rubbery even under the nullifying effect of Seastone or water.
Others require being turned on manually, and can be used to turn the user's body or certain parts of it into both organic and inorganic materials and objects. The Buki Buki no Mi for instance allows the user to turn their body into various weapons, Jozu's Devil Fruit can be activated to turn the user into diamond, the Supa Supa no Mi allows the user's body parts to be turned into steel blades, etc.
There are also those Paramecias that allow a certain quality of the user's body to be changed, such as the Suke Suke no Mi turning someone invisible on command, or the Hira Hira no Mi allowing someone's body to ripple like a flag.
The Yomi Yomi no Mi alters the user's body in a unique way, as it enables the soul of the deceased to return once after death to the body it previously inhabited.
There are also those body alteration fruits that depend on certain environmental factors, such as users of the Baku Baku no Mi gaining traits from things they have consumed.
(Examples: Monkey D. Luffy, Daz Bones, Baby Five, Zala, Bellamy, etc.)
Environmental Alteration
Law manipulating objects inside of his ROOM
Paramecias that specialize in environmental alteration can make unnatural changes to their surrounding area. Abilities like these can work on animate or inanimate objects, or may not differentiate at all between them.
Some of these fruits create areas of effect, such as the Ope Ope no Mi's ROOM, or the Nagi Nagi no Mi's soundproof field. Some require touch, such as the Kage Kage no Mi and the grabbing of a shadow being necessary for it to work, or the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi requiring direct contact.
Some of these fruits may even control entire natural forces, like gravity in the case of the Zushi Zushi no Mi.
(Examples: Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, Shiki, Jewelry Bonney, Kalifa, etc.)
Substance Generation
Doflamingo generating a flaming thread.
These Paramecias are capable of generating and manipulating a substance, usually elemental, though not always.
Examples include generation of wax via the Doru Doru no Mi, various kinds of venoms and poisons via the Doku Doku no Mi, or even more exotic substances like the strings of the Ito Ito no Mi, or the candy of the Pero Pero no Mi.
Some Paramecias can even generate natural forces, like the Zushi Zushi no Mi's gravity, or the Gura Gura no Mi's vibrations.
(Examples: Edward Newgate, Magellan, Donquixote Doflamingo, Fujitora, etc.)
Special Paramecias
Katakuri regrowing his arm just like a Logia.
Some Paramecias may get the definition of "special" via having unusual abilities. So far the only person to display this type of Paramecia has been Charlotte Katakuri, who possesses the Mochi Mochi no Mi, a Devil Fruit that functions identically to a Logia, with the exception of giving the user the ability to turn into an unnatural material (in this case, mochi).
Zoan
The Zoan class of Devil Fruits grants users the ability to transform into an animal dependent on the type of fruit they have eaten. They generally become more powerful physically, attain the enhanced senses of their respective animal, and in some cases become more aggressive and bloodthirsty. All Zoans have displayed incredible endurance and enhanced recovery speed as compared to normal individuals in the universe, as well as not being susceptible to the effects of the Kibi Kibi no Mi.
The user is capable of cycling through three different forms: their regular form which they possessed prior to consuming the fruit, a full animal form based on the species the fruit provides, and a hybrid between both forms that usually provides enhanced capabilities compared to both.
Furthermore, through a process developed by Doctor Vegapunk, weapons and other inanimate objects are capable of "consuming" Zoan Devil Fruits, bringing them to life as proper living beings.
There are currently four distinct subcategories of Zoan Devil Fruits:
Standard
Pell transforming into a human-falcon hybrid.
The most common type of Zoan Devil Fruits, these grant the user the ability to turn into the respective animal species and a hybrid between human and animal form, that usually comes with increased capabilities and exaggerated proportions.
Any additional abilities related to the animal in question are granted to the user, such as the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Falcon allowing flight, or the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard providing increased speed.
(Examples: Tony Tony Chopper, Rob Lucci, Kaku, etc.)
Carnivorous
Carnivorous Zoans do not differ wildly from other Zoans, however they are notable in having an increased level of aggression which combined with natural weaponry like claws or talons make them better suited for close quarters combat.
Ancient
X Drake turning into an Allosaurus.
These types of Zoan grant the user the ability to transform into extinct species such as dinosaurs. They are notable in being generally far stronger and more durable than regular Zoans, as well as for their relative rarity.
Furthermore, Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit users have displayed incredible recovery capabilities, even beyond those of regular Zoans, being able to consistently shrug off injuries and continue to fight despite them.
(Examples: Jack, X Drake, King, Queen, etc.)
Mythical
Marco transforming into a phoenix.
These Zoans grant the user the ability to turn into a mythological creature, such as a phoenix or eastern dragon. These Devil Fruits are by far the rarest in the series, even rarer than Logias, and they provide not only a great boost in abilities compared to regular ones, but also special powers unique to each mythological creature.
(Examples: Marco, Sengoku, Kaido, etc.)
Artificial
Vegapunk managed to create an Artificial Devil Fruit by mapping Kaido's Lineage Factor while the latter was imprisoned by the Marines. The result however was a failure.
As it would turn out however, new artificial Devil Fruits would begin to be produced by Caesar Clown in alliance with Donquixote Doflamingo. These artificial Devil Fruits, known as SMILEs, were monopolized by the Emperor Kaido. Unfortunately they only have a 10% rate of success, with the other 90% of consumers not only losing the ability to swim but also losing the ability to express any negative emotion, only smiling and laughing at anything around them.
These fruits, unlike regular Zoans, grant only something similar to a hybrid form where the being that has consumed the fruit gains a varying degree of animal appendages and features. This hybrid state can be turned off in the case where the fruit does not cause a sentient animal to sprout out of the user's body. However, in the case where that happens, the fruit's effects cannot be turned off.
These fruits generally do not possess the same capabilities as regular Zoans, and also are vulnerable to the effects of the Kibi Kibi no Mi,
Logia
Kuzan displaying his elemental intangibility and control over the element of ice.
Logia Devil Fruits are the rarest "standard" Devil Fruit, not counting Mythical Zoans. They grant the user the ability to create, control and transform into a certain element.
Users of this fruit become untouchable to regular attacks due to turning to their respective elements when struck, which can become trained to be instantaneous. Furthermore this elemental form allows them to simply recover from even fatal blows that shatter them to pieces, making them effectively immune to blunt force attacks.
Exceptionally powerful Logia Devil Fruits users can change the landscapes and weather of entire islands while in battle.
Furthermore, while Seastone weaponry, Haki, or specific other Devil Fruits can harm a Logia user directly, they can easily avoid this via shifting their body into elemental form, creating holes where attacks will strike or simply moving their entire composition away from the attack.
(Examples: Crocodile, Aokiji, Kizaru, Enel, Akainu, etc.).
Weaknesses
Devil Fruits grant users incredible powers making them both more versatile and stronger than any ordinary individual, but this does not make them invincible.
All users of the Devil Fruit, no matter the species or object they are, are rendered unable to swim, and thus become useless and fatigued when deeply submerged in a body of water. They can even become immobilized by merely being waist-deep in water. For some unknown reason, a Devil Fruit user is also weak and lose their power if they come into contact with "Seastone", which can only be extracted from Wano Country.
Devil Fruit users in general may find their abilities to be useless if they have not taken the time to hone their physical abilities while also developing on their Devil Fruit abilities.
All Devil Fruit users are susceptible to attacks from Busoshoku Haki wielders as it cancels out the powers of the fruit and forces them into their original state, but does not nullify their powers throughout their body unlike Seastone.
Paramecia fruits are highly predictable and tend to display their complete capabilities very early into a fight, as well as their limitations and weaknesses (ex: the Gomu-gomu no Mi may be highly resistant to blunt-force trauma and electricity, but it's susceptible to cutting and piercing attacks). Paramecia types also seem incapable of keeping their powers active upon losing consciousness, or dying. Doflamingo's Bird-Cage and all of his threads vanished when he was knocked unconscious by Luffy, and all of the toys changed by Sugar's Hobi Hobi no Mi reverted to their original state after she fainted from fear. Manipulator Paramecia types are highly reliant on the environmental state in order to utilize their Devil Fruit power effectively in the first place.
Some Zoan types only change the physical appearance of the user without granting them any physical advantage depending on the distinction between the original user's body and their Zoan-type (ex: Pierre), but this is rarely the case. Zoan types suffer especially from the potential of having useless abilities if their physical capabilities are merely sub-par as their fruits rely heavily on their personal endurance, strength, and speed.
Logia Devil Fruit users are considered to be invincible by most, but this is far from the truth. Logia users are susceptible to attacks from elements that completely counter their own (fire being inferior to magma for instance, as it burns hotter). Some elements may force a Logia into their true physical body as their elemental form is rendered ineffective (rubber against lightning and water against sand). Logia users are also incapable of regenerating from injuries inflicted upon their real body.
Awakening
In rare cases, Devil Fruit users are capable of awakening the powers of their fruit, granting themselves even more capabilities and unlocking the full potential of their Devil Fruit. There have only been a few cases of Awakenings in the series thus far, and only displayed from Paramecia and Zoan users.
Awakened Paramecia
While not much is known about the exact capabilities of Awakened Paramecias, from what has been displayed so far by Doflamingo and Katakuri, the user has the capacity to turn the environment around, in essence all inorganic objects, into the element they control, such as string or mochi.
This requires no physical contact and the subsequent element can be controlled with their mind.
Awakened Zoan
For Zoan-type powers, Awakening grants far greater strength, speed, and durability than unawakened Zoan powers. This also includes faster recovery time, which functions involuntarily, even when the user is unconscious.
So far no intelligent Awakened Zoan users have been seen, as all examples are the Jailer Beasts of Impel Down.
Discussions
| Discussion threads involving Devil Fruits |