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Although some powers are a cheat code for victory in the world ofOne Piece,sometimes the deadliest threat comes from a weak power with an intelligent user. While it’s always beencoolto watch titanic Devil Fruits, like the Quake-Quake Fruit and Magma-Magma Fruit clash, seeing theinterestingapplications that Katakuri has for the seemingly inconspicuous Mochi-Mochi Fruit has always been a highlight ofOne Piece.However, asOne Pieceenters its end-game, more often than not, Devil Fruits are inherently powerful, providing strongabilities,with little to no practice or mastery.
At some point before the introduction of the true nature ofLuffy’s Devil Fruit inOne Piece, many fans considered the Gum-Gum Fruit to be a weak Devil Fruit with a strong and creative user.Thiswas originally aninterestingconcept, painting Luffy as the underdog set to overcome the awe-inspiring power of these world-shattering Devil Fruits.Introducing a new Devil Fruit user toOne Piecethat has mastered a seemingly weakfruit,may create astrongerandmore likable character in the end.
Weak Powers Make for Creative Users
Similar to how a series likeJojo’s Bizarre Adventurehandles powers,oftentimes, something inconspicuous can also be deadly.Thisis also true for Devil Fruit users, where sometimes a weak-sounding fruit, through the properapplications,can handle deadly foes. For example, while Vander Decken’s Mark-Mark Fruitis consideredto beone of the weakest Devil Fruits inOne Piece,by creatively using the power, he almost destroys all of Fishman Island.
A Devil Fruit embodies a different wish someone had for our evolution.
Though we haven’t seen the full extent of the Quake-Quake Fruit or the Magma-Magma Fruit,a lotof their attacks areextremely simple. Akainu can throw lava at people and punch people with lava, while Whitebeard and theDevil Fruit-collecting Blackbeardcan create earthquakes and enhance their attacks. Though this isn’t true for everystrongfruitinOne Piece,many of thestrongerfruitsare both lacking increativity and are tooseriousfor their own good.Plus, introducing weak Devil Fruits with creative users helps create more of an underdog story, compared toa Devil Fruit user who is already strong just by the nature of theirfruit.In the end, with creative Devil Fruit powers, fights, especially with weaker characters like Nami and Usopp, will become far more interesting.
One Pieceworks best when it has somelevity, like withthe introduction of Luffy’sGear 5. Weak Devil Fruits with creative andstrongusers tend to bea bitmore comedic than usual, like with Kalifa and her ridiculous Bubble-Bubble Fruit. Introducing somelevitywith weak Devil Fruit may be a great way to offset the more serious tone that modernOne Piecehas fallen into.
Devil Fruits Could Be Used for More Characterization in One Piece
Unexplored Devil Fruit Archetypes
Besides introducing more creative fights,levity, and better underdog stories, introducing more ofthe weakest Devil Fruits inOne Piecewith strong and creative usershelps with creating astrongcharacter as well.Devil Fruits helps characterize the user inOne Piece,though it doesn’t need to stop just at the specific power. Thefruitand its context in theOne Pieceuniverse can help define just who the character is.For example, a strong character with a weak Devil Fruit, on some levels,seems like a much moreinterestingtopic to explore than a strong user witha strongfruit.Though there are plenty of things that make each character inOne Piecespecial, there are a few avenues of characterization through Devil Fruit that Oda has yet to explore.
Although all these concepts seem like they could only work for a weak orstrange Devil Fruit inOne Piece, some of the stronger Devil Fruits inOne Piecealready do a great job in allofthese fields, namely the Human-Human Fruit: Model Nika. Luffy’s Devil Fruit introduces bothlevityand creativity, all while helping to characterize him as the source of joy and freedom he is. However, it doesn’t check every box, as it’s hard to view Luffy as an underdog with his new godlike power.
In the end, there are plenty of both weak andstrongOne PieceDevil Fruitsout there, though we’ve yet to see whatjustmight happen if an unbelievably strong characteris givena weak Devil Fruit.This interaction between power and user alone may be enough to create one of the more interesting characters in the entire series. If Imu or Lokiis givena weak fruit, perhaps it’ll show theOne Pieceworld that raw power isn’t everything.
