Long ago, there was only one creature living on the Earth, named the Ocean Devil. It roamed the barren waters of the Earth for along time. due to being the only sea creature in the ocean at the time, it ruled the seas, and with it's immense power, it made sure no early humans and other land species came into it's waters. Tired of being the ONLY sea creature, it planned on using its immense power to destroy the Earth's oceans, leaving no water behind. However, instead of destroying the oceans, it created the Sea Devils and paved the way for all sea life to exist in the ocean. It also created the fabled Origin Fruit, and from its creation, the Devil Fruits immerged from the stem the Origin Fruit is attached to.
A young scientist and a boy are both walking to a old looking house. The scientist is wearing a lab coat and under the lab coat is a lime green shirt, brown pants and black shoes. The boy is wearing a blue and white t-shirt, and on the back of it is a spiral symbol. He wears a red baseball cap and olive green shorts with big pockets and red sneakers.
The scientist, named Howard Stein and the boy, his three year old brother Eight both lived on Lucky Island in Rabbit Foot Village with their grandmother. The scientist was studying the Devil Fruits, mystical fruits that give the person who eats one extraordinary powers, at the cost of their ability to swim. He was interested in a particular one: The Origin Fruit, which is the ancestor to all Devil Fruits. The Origin Fruit is said to have been born from the ancestor of the Sea Devils and to all life itself on the planet, including the Devil Fruits.
Due to nobody ever seeing it at all, with no proof of it's existence it has been branded as a myth.
"I will prove them all wrong!" Howard exclaims as he goes out to sea, searching for any clues. Due to Lucky Island being on the outskirts of the Grand Line, there would probably be multiple Devil Fruit users near there, so just in case, Howard brought Seastone based weapons with him on his journey to find the Origin Fruit.
Howard comes close to the Grand Line and he sees something, something that looked like a curled up snake, in the middle of the Grand Line. "What the hell?" He says as he goes closer to get a better look. What he finds is a small root like object attached to a long stalk that has a black and purple color scheme with an olive-green stem and leaves. "What a strange root, how have I not noticed this before?" he asks before taking the root home on Lucky Island.
He takes it to his underground lab deep in a forest to take a better look. In his studies, he discovers that this is in fact, a Devil Fruit, but this one has no swirly pattern on it like most of the other Devil Fruits. "Very odd and intriguing!" He exclaims "Could this fruit be the Origin Fruit!?" As he ponders that, the fruit begins to glow, showing its immense power, almost as if it's alive and is demonstrating that to Howard.
"What the!?" He exclaims, fascinated. He does more studies on the fruit, checking what type of fruit it is, and what abilities are.
But he couldn't get anything from the fruit at all.
"Amazing, this actually might be the fabled Origin Fruit!" Howard thinks. "I have to gather all the knowledge and rumors on this fruit to see if they all match up!" He then leaves the lab to go back to his home. Eight, who figured out where his brother's lab was because Howard never made sure he wasn't following him, broke into the lab to see what his brother had been up to.
"Cool papers!" Eight says as he is walking around in the lab. He starts messing with viles of different liquids and strange objects. "What weird things that Howard has!" He says while laughing. He stumbles upon a strange root-like object that is propped on a stand on a desk, next to books of strange looking fruit. "Neat!" Eight exclaims as he begins looking at the pictures in the book.
Eventually, Eight comes across the same root like plant his brother did, sitting on a stand on a desk in the far left corner of the lab. He examines the root even further, pulling at it like a spring, and even playing with it like a slinky. Eventually, he just puts it in his mouth. "Yummy!" he says, as he eats the whole thing in one bite. His brother comes back to his lab, mortified that he had found it.
"Eight what are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me, why are you in my lab?"
"No reason!"
Eventually, he looks at the desk where he set the root, and he notices it is gone. "Eight... where is the thing that was on that desk?" Howard asks. "What thing?" He replies with a cheeky grin on his face. "Y'know? The thing?" Howard asks again, seeming more impatient. "No, I don't know, sorry!" He says, with the same grin on his face. He picks up his brother and starts shaking him. "T-The swirly thing!" He exclaims "The one that had the purple and black colors!" Eight opens his mouth to say something, but pauses and thinks for a bit. "Oooooh... that thing, yeah I ate it." Eight says.
"S-so you mean to tell me that you broke into my lab, touched my stuff, and ate my thing?" Howard asks, sounding quite aggrivated. "Yup, sure did!" Eight says, with a bigger grin on his face. "Okay okay this is bad, very bad... your brother just ate what could have been the only proof of the Origin Fruit's existance, but, there might be a way to remedy this situation." Howard mutters to himself. "Big bro, what'dya muttering about?" Eight asks. "Uh, how would you like to discover your super power?" Howard asks nervously. "OH BOY WOULD I!!!" Eight screams excitedly.
For the next couple of years, Howard had been helping Eight discover the power he got from the root, discovering that it was the fabled Origin fruit, and for that, he gave it the name the Hara Hara no Mi. He discovered, through tests that the fruit had properties of the Zoan, Logia, and Paramecia class of Devil Fruit, letting the user transform into a beast like form, but only parts of his body, transforming his body into black flames and also harness them for attacks, and creating combusting orbs that can be detonated by the snap of a finger.
What he discovered that shocked him the most was that once the user eats the fruit, their spirit becomes merged with the spirit of The Ocean Devil and that the fruit can no longer go back into recirculation if the user is killed. It also bypasses a Devil Fruit user's most feared weakness, the ocean, but only for a short while. The fruit allows him to keep the ability to swim for approximately 2 minutes, this includes bypassing Seastone as well.
When Eight was 6, Howard left to go meet up with other scientists to tell them all the info he had gotten about the Hara Hara no Mi. When Howard was coming back however, he was murdered by pirates to steal info on the whereabouts of the Origin Fruit. Since then, he has lived with his grandma alone, studying the notes his brother left behind.