Netflix’s One Piece: What are Devil Fruits?

Devil Fruits are one of the One Piece world’s most iconic and essential aspects. These mysterious fruits grant powerful abilities to whoever eats them but at the cost of losing the ability to swim.

With the live-action Netflix adaptation of One Piece set to showcase Devil Fruits for the first time in live-action, here is a deep dive into what Devil Fruits are and which ones to expect in the upcoming show.

1. Origins and Nature of Devil Fruits

The origins of Devil Fruits are a mystery in the One Piece world. They come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties. The fruits confer various powers, from transforming into elements like sand or smoke to producing shockwaves or tremors.

Each Devil Fruit power is unique, and no two fruits give precisely the same ability.

While powerful, Devil Fruits come with a significant drawback – they cause the user to become a “hammer,” losing their ability to swim and immobilized when submerged in water. Seastone, a material in the One Piece world that emits the same energy as the Sea, weakens and disables Devil Fruit users.

The “Devil” name is unclear, but it may be related to the connection between the fruits and the “Devil” figure in some religions, offering power but cursing the user somehow. There are also numerous superstitions around the fruits, including that they are incarnations of actual devils, and Sea Kings avoid eating ships carrying Devil Fruit.

2. Notable Devil Fruits in One Piece

I. Luffy’s Gum-Gum Fruit

Luffy gains elastic properties from eating the Gum-Gum Fruit, which turns his body into rubber. This allows him to stretch, bounce, and inflate his body like a balloon. In combat, Luffy uses these powers innovatively, delivering powerful blows by stretching his limbs over long distances. Seeing Luffy’s body contort, and snap back must look believable, so rubber-like CGI and wirework will likely be utilized.

II. Chopper’s Human-Human Fruit

Tony Tony Chopper gains human intelligence from the Human-Human Fruit, allowing him to understand and communicate in human language. The fruit also will enable him to transform into a human/reindeer hybrid form or a hulking humanoid reindeer. Chopper’s transformations will challenge the show’s VFX team to believably blend his reindeer and human features.

III. Alvida’s Smooth-Smooth Fruit

Alvida eats the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, which makes her skin impossibly slippery. This allows her to deflect attacks and makes her physically more difficult to restrain. Creating glossy, frictionless skin for Alvida will test the limits of the show’s textures and lighting effects.

IV. Buggy’s Chop-Chop Fruit

The Chop-Chop Fruit allows Buggy to separate and levitate his body parts independently, making him difficult to hit and immobilize. Portraying Buggy’s floating hands, feet, and torso without a visual disconnect will fall to wirework and seamless effects.

V. Mr. 1’s Dice-Dice Fruit

After consuming the Dice-Dice Fruit, Mr. 1 can transform parts or all of his body into blades. Realistic CGI effects will make his bladed limbs appear as hard as steel while keeping his joints flexible.

VI. Smoker’s Smoke-Smoke Fruit

As a Marine Captain, Smoker ate the Smoke-Smoke Fruit to gain the ability to turn into smoke. This allows him to evade physical attacks, fly, and absorb physical matter into his smoke form. Creating billowing, solid smoke that looks hot and dangerous will test the adaptation’s CG capabilities.

VII. Ace’s Flame-Flame Fruit

Luffy’s brother Ace, 2nd commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, consumes the Flame-Flame Fruit and becomes a “fireman.” He can create and control fire, including turning his fists into flamethrowers. Crafting vivid, intense, carefully controlled flames is critical to selling Ace’s powers.

VIII. Enel’s Rumble-Rumble Fruit

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit allows Enel to transform into electricity. He can travel through conductive materials, boost his reflexes to lightning speed, and generate a devastating voltage from his hands. Vibrant electrical discharges and lightning-fast movements will bring Enel’s electricity manipulation to life.

IIX. Jewelry Bonney’s Age-Age Fruit

Jewelry Bonney alters people’s ages through her Age-Age Fruit power. She demonstrates this by transforming a young Marine into an older man and herself from a young woman to a small child. Aging up and de-aging characters convincingly will be crucial to nailing Bonney’s powers.

3. What is the significance of Devil Fruits?

Why do Devil Fruits matter so much in One Piece?

They introduce incredible variety into the show’s combat and action sequences. With so many wildly different power sets, clashes between Devil Fruit users become imaginative battles of contrasting abilities, fights like Luffy vs. Enel or Ace vs. Smoker pit unique power against unique power.

Devil Fruits also have significant narrative implications, shaping characters’ identities, driving their ambitions, and factoring into the series’ lore.

For many characters like Chopper, Robin, and Brooks, their Devil Fruit powers are deeply connected to their backstories and personalities. The mysteries behind the Devil Fruits’ origins and the extent of their capabilities also drive the overarching story.

So, effectively adapting Devil Fruits will be make-or-break for the live-action One Piece. Based on early glimpses, the show’s effects team is up to the task! Fans can likely expect the Netflix series to faithfully recreate all of the Devil Fruit powers that make the Straw Hats and their allies and enemies so distinct. With the proper visual treatment, Devil Fruits could be the live-action show’s crowning achievement.

4. About One Piece (Netflix Series)

One Piece is a television series, serving as a live action adaptation of the ongoing 1997 Japanese manga series of the same name by Eiichiro Oda. It is produced by Tomorrow Studios and Shueisha (who also publish the manga) and premiered on Netflix. It features an ensemble cast starring Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero Gibson and Taz Skylar.

The series follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as they explore the oceans in search of the “One Piece”, a fabled treasure that will allow Luffy to become King of the Pirates.