Devil Fruits, not Haki, may be the path forward for One Piece's weakest Straw Hats

The Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece are one of the strongest pirate crews on the Grand as they are considered an Emperor crew (due to the position of their captain as one of the Emperors of the Sea). However, some of them might be weak in the context that they might not be able to hold their ground in a 1-on-1 fight. However, their Devil Fruits might save them in such cases.

As displayed in the series, the Devil Fruits are not bound by rules and are usually the representation of a user's thoughts (as seen in the Devil Fruits of Luffy, Doflamingo, and Bartolomeo). Similarly, the depiction of the Devil Fruit powers of Brook and Chopper might be 'their depiction' of the abilities of their Devil Fruits, making them unique.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this article solely belong to the author.

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One Piece: Why every Devil Fruit's interpretation might be up to its user

A Devil Fruit as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Devil fruits are the central power-scaling in One Piece, alongside Haki, which are supernatural fruits that grant anyone superpowers. These superpowers are divided into three kinds: the power of an animal (Zoan devil fruit), the power to create superpowers (Paramecia), and the power to become something (Logia). However, the interpretation of these fruits is not bound by any rules.

The series' main protagonist, Monkey D Luffy, ate the Gum-Gum fruit (later revealed to be the Human-Human fruit, Model Nika). While this fruit only made the user's body elastic, Luffy's interpretation of elastic divided this devil fruit's powers into three types with Gear 1 utilizing the fruit's elasticity, Gear 2 using blood flow to increase speed, and Gear 3 using air to expand.

While in theory, these concepts might seem bogus, they work because devil fruits are the display of a person's dream (quoted from Vegapunk). Similarly, Doflamingo's devil fruit (the String-String fruit) might also be a good example of this.

Doflamingo as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

The devil fruit gave the series' antagonist power to create strings but he expanded it to controlling others (puppetering others), thus showcasing the user's thoughts/dreams.

Similar to these two, the devil fruits of other users like Nico Robin and Bartolomeo also adapted to their dreams and adapted to how their devil fruit powers might work. This mechanism might be the true strength of some of the weakest Straw Hat Pirates, more specifically, Brook and Chopper.

Brook as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Brook, a skeleton, ate the Soul-Soul devil fruit which returned his soul to the world after his death. However, Brook might have associated his devil fruit powers with his 'chilling death,' leading to him getting powers like Cold Soul (de-attaching his soul from his skeleton) and getting ice-related powers.

Similarly, Chopper ate the Human-Human devil fruit (Model: Human). After eating the fruit, Chopper was transformed into his interpretation of a human being (due to which he was smaller than an average human). So, the devil fruits might be the core strength of the weak Straw Hat Pirates as they haven't showcased any Haki yet.

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Final thoughts

The devil fruit powers are surprisingly underrated in One Piece given how Kaido stated that Haki might be superior to such powers on the broader side. While this might also be true, both of these powers hold great importance in the series.

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