Devil Fruits
What Are They?
In the One Piece universe, Devil Fruits are mystical fruits found throughout the world that, when consumed, provide the eater with a special ability, depending on the type and variation of the Fruit itself. Devil Fruits are also more common in the Grand Line in comparison to the Four Blues, which is displayed in how most strong Grand Line pirate crews have a captain with a Devil Fruit, while the Four Blues have your average pirates that may have some advanced weapon of some sort. Devil Fruits serve as a basis for diverse special abilities and fighting styles in the One Piece universe, as those who have them usually use them to gain an upper hand or secret ace in a fight.
A common theme with all Devil Fruits is the fact that they taste unimaginably bad, to the point of making it seem like the user had taken poison. The Devil Fruit, when consumed, gives the consumer a power or special trait, which they become aware of either over time or through instinctual knowledge. A person who has eaten a Devil Fruit and gained its powers is known as a Devil Fruit User. The Fruits come in all different shapes and colours, and all Devil Fruits presumably have swirl marks or patterns on them of some kind. Another rule with Devil Fruits is there can be only one of each specific Fruit at a time, whether the power is in a being or in a fruit. Only one bite is needed for the user to gain the power of the Devil Fruit, after which the Devil Fruit becomes a simple, useless, disgusting fruit. Despite this, the majority of those who have consumed a Devil Fruit have eaten the entire Fruit, as they are apparently unaware of this fact. It is after ingesting the Devil Fruit that they gain the power permanently or until death.
Classification:
All Devil Fruits are categorized into three general types/classes. These are Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia. Paramecia is the most common of the three types, as Paramecia-type Devil Fruits offer their users superhuman physical abilities or traits, which basically means this is where Devil Fruits that cannot be categorized into the other two classes are put. These Fruits are considered unique to each other due to the wide range of powers that can be put under the class of Paramecia, and due to how it may take more creativity or imagination to utilize certain Fruits in this class compared to the other two, which are more clear-cut. The Zoan-type Devil Fruits are the second most common out of the three groups, as they give the user the ability to transform into a specific animal which they acquire every trait affiliated with said animal. The user can also transform into a range of partial transformations in between their base form and newly acquired animal form. Zoan Fruits can also be transferred into weapons, such as guns or swords. The last class is Logia, the rarest of the three Devil Fruit classes. Logia-type Devil Fruits offer their users the ability to transform themselves into a single element, whether it be solid, liquid, gas, energy, or into a materialization of an abstract concept. This can effectively make them intangible, making physical attacks harmlessly go through them, or allow them to be able to absorb the attack completely. They also gain every ability related to that element and gain the skill to disperse, control, and rejoin any part of their bodies while conscious and in control of their powers. Logia users can move every part of their transformed bodies while in element form. It is due to this that Logia Fruits are considered the most powerful class, as it is displayed to have more devastating powers, as well as harder to fight against and harm due to their intangibility.
Side Effects of Devil Fruits:
There is always a common factor when it comes to a weakness for those who have eaten Devil Fruits, the sea rejects the new Devil Fruit user and they become helpless while submerged in water, a more accurate definition is that the seawater itself is the weakness as opposed to swimming or moving in seawater, which simply becomes impossible once one has consumed a Devil Fruit. Not touching the water itself, however, will allow the user to go unaffected even if submerged, so Fruit users are able to go into the water in deep-water swimsuits that prevent water contact. Devil Fruit users are also susceptible to all types of water, not just seawater, which includes the white sea surrounding Skypiea. It is expanded upon by saying that "moving" water, like rain or waves, does not weaken Devil Fruit users, while "still" water, like oceans and lakes, does. Sometimes the power of a Devil Fruit involves water, or at least some state of water, in which case the user will not be weakened by its own state of water but will still be weak against others states of "still" water.
Even if a part of the user is submerged, they cannot use their Devil Fruit powers, no matter how much or how little is submerged. However, if the user's body has been permanently altered by the Fruit, then the user's ability can be manipulated by outside sources. It should also be noted that although all Devil Fruit users are weak against water, the power itself may still work underwater, but may stop working if they are submerged in some form, leading to their powers deactivating or losing the precision needed to control their powers. Being weak against the sea proves deadly to many Devil Fruit users, as the world of One Piece is made up of large bodies of water with islands scattered around the world. Additionally, the use of a Devil Fruit puts users at odds with races like the Fishman, as it will also render a Fishman or Merman just as weak in water as it would anyone else who consumed a Devil Fruit. However, it should be noted that the risk of dying from drowning only applies to a devil fruit user if they cannot breathe underwater, as Fishman and Merfolk Devil Fruit users are capable of breathing underwater. They will, however, still be rendered unable to move due to their weakness, and this immobility would also make such users vulnerable underwater dangers such as ocean predators and hunger, as they would be incapable of defending and providing for themselves.
Another main weakness all Devil Fruit users share is Seastone, a special substance that emits the same energies of the sea, which cancel out Devil Fruit powers through physical contact with the user. The user is also weakened depending on how much physical contact the user has with the Seastone, and therefore the sea-like energies they absorb.
Devil Fruit Hierarchy:
It has been discovered in the One Piece universe that some Devil Fruits that are considered to be similar can be described to be "superior" to the other, as some of the base abilities are simply more versatile or powerful when compared. This means that there is a "Hierarchy" amongst similar Devil Fruits when base power and abilities are considered, and not how they are used. It is also noted on several occasions that there is no way to tell how Devil Fruit powers will fare when pitted against one another. A Devil Fruit user who normally dominates all other abilities can sometimes be brought down by an ability considered "weak" or "limited" in comparison, as they may nullify or counteract the other Fruits ability. It is, however, often believed by those who have faced multiple Devil Fruit users that the power and potential of Devil Fruits are mostly dependent on the skill and creativity of the users, and as such, there is no such thing as a "weak" Devil Fruit. Although it has been confirmed that some Devil Fruits of similar abilities to be superior over another, it in no way means that the superior ability user is stronger than that of the inferior', as it accounts for none of the other strengths and weakness' the user may have.
Anime and Manga Logic:
This section describes how Devil Fruits interact with things that they should not or are not meant to, which the most common one is clothes, as it is displayed that a Devil Fruit power also generally affects the clothes that the user is wearing. Paramecia Fruit users alter their clothes along with themselves automatically, while Zoan Fruit users' clothes will fit in the same proportions after their transformation and Logia Fruit users transform their clothes to their element along with themselves. However, some special cases can pop up, as some Devil Fruit users clothes do not change proportionally to their powers, which may be default or due to not enough training, precision or control.
Devil Fruit Cycle:
This explains how Devil Fruits occur in nature, how they are "reborn" and what happens when a Devil Fruit user dies, which is the general and overall life cycle of a Devil Fruit. First, the cycle starts at the Devil Fruit, which is considered a "Shell" that stores the abilities or "Essence" within it. The second step occurs when something eats the Fruit, leading the "Essence" to be "absorbed" or "moved" into the being or thing that ate it, while the previous shell is left empty and useless. This step turns the being or thing into the new "Shell" for the "Essence", allowing the user to use the abilities of that "Essence" while it is in the new "Shell" which is them self. The third step is when a Devil Fruit user dies, their ability from hosting the "Essence" is "reborn" or "moves" into another fruit, and has, therefore, became a new "Shell" to hold the "Essence" until another being eats it. The "Essence" will move to the nearest fruit when trying to find a new "Shell", but if there is no fruit within a certain range (50-500 meters) then the "Essence" will leave and find a fruit randomly around the Grand Line, or in rare cases amongst the Four Blues. Then the cycle is repeated when another being or thing eats the Fruit. It is due to this cycle that no abilities are able to be seen or observed in another, as it can only exist in one "Shell" at a time.
Identification In Cannon:
In Cannon, it is shown that there exists a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia (which I ironically didn't know it was called that at the time of creating this book) that lists the names and abilities of all the Devil Fruits. However, only a few of them have illustrations, meaning that most Devil Fruits cannot be identified by their shape or colour, but instead are identified by the abilities they grant the user due to the original Fruits description never being documented, only the abilities when it has been used. However This book is shown to be quite rare in One Piece, or that the information has been restricted by the World Government, as displayed in how only the most prominent or influential individuals of One Piece even know about it. What is known about the Devil Fruits is that the fruit is always found in the same form that links to the same abilities, displaying how the Fruits can be identified with a certain power. A characteristic of a Devil Fruit is a spiral pattern on the Fruits surface, which is usually several shades of one colour or is just a singular colour, and that the stem becomes noticeably curlier than it was when the fruit was not a Devil Fruit.
Awakening:
Devil Fruit powers can, in rare occasions, be "awakened", a process or event that increases the abilities of the user to unprecedented levels through the gaining of new skills and better control of current ones. The details of how a Devil Fruit can be awakened are so far unknown, but the increased abilities have been seen to allow significantly more power, as well as new abilities. The effects of the awakening depend on the type of the Devil Fruit and may be unique to each Devil Fruit. The main difference between the effects of awakening in each Devil Fruit can be linked directly to the abilities they originally provide the user, as it may do several things to better utilize current abilities.
A/N: Might be a bit slow on the updates for these first chapters that are heavy information based, but as soon as I'm over them I will have updates going every one-three days. And if anyone wants the first Devil Fruit idea to be theirs let me know through private messaging or reviews.
