Any casual viewer of one of the most popular anime, One Piece, has at least a cursory knowledge of Devil Fruits. The 1000-plus episode series follows the exploits of Monkey D. Luffy whose stretchy powers rival that of Mr. Fantastic and is now also available in the form of a successful live-action adaptation on Netflix.
Luffy’s powers are derived from a Devil Fruit and the method of acquiring powers from the aforementioned fruit is pretty much just how it sounds. The user eats the fruit and is granted the respective powers associated with it. If you can think of a power, there is most likely a Devil Fruit that can bless you with it in the One Piece universe, but not all of them are useful and many barely toe the line of sensibility. Yep, while Luffy’s absurd-looking stretchiness does come in handy, some of the other Devil Fruits continue to be downright baffling.
10. Slip-Slip Fruit
Though Slip-Slip Fruit has many applications, it doesn’t stand well through the test of time. Upon eating the fruit, the user becomes smooth and slippery, which can come in handy for many battle sequences. Its main user in One Piece is Alvida, a pirate captain whom Luffy tussles with during his travels. Alvida can slide around on bare feet, making landing blows on her quite difficult. It also has a consequence that one wouldn’t think of at first.
Eating the Slip-Slip Fruit also resulted in Alvida’s body fat slipping off her. She loses so much weight that Luffy doesn’t automatically recognize her at first. As her getting slim after consuming the fruit has been represented by an attractive appearance, the fruit not only works weird but also backs body shaming.
9. Sheep SMILE
Outside of the normal purview of naturally existing Devil Fruits are artificially created ones. Known as SMILEs, these Devil Fruits can grant the user many different attributes, but it is the sheep SMILE that takes away the crown of being the strangest. While it may make sense to turn yourself into any number of animals, choosing a sheep does not seem like anyone’s first choice. But that is exactly what the aptly named Sheepshead picked. So whenever he activates his powers, his hands turn into ramhorns and he is covered in the curly fur of a sheep. Ok…ay.
8. Chop-Chop Fruit
The epitome of “thanks, I hate it,” the Chop-Chop Fruit is something no one’s eyeballs should be subjected to. Used in particular by Luffy’s adversary Buggy, the fruit allows its user to separate their body parts and control them at will. This ability can come in handy because it makes them immune to slashing attacks. It is true that this particular ability has appeared in other works of fiction, such as The Suicide Squad via T.D.K. (The Detachable Kid), but no one — I repeat no one — should have to witness an angry clown throwing segments of his stomach at you.
7. Mochi-Mochi Fruit
It would seem with the right circumstances, anything can be used as a weapon. This includes the delightful Japanese dessert, mochi. A cake made of rice and sweet filling, you would think that the treat is more helpful when it’s in your mouth than using it in battle scenarios. However, Charlotte Katakuri seems to get along just fine after ingesting the Mochi-Mochi Fruit.
He uses it surprisingly well in combat as he can transform his body into the sweet in question. The power allows him to evade attacks and even trap adversaries with this substance. The ability loses its effectiveness when exposed to water, a significant mark against the power. It appears there are more downsides to this ability than what other Devil Fruits face, which only means Katauri would be better off finding a more feasible form of combat.
6. Wax-Wax Fruit
Out of all the abilities in all the world, Mr. 3 famously chooses the one with some of the weirdest applications. The Wax-Wax Fruit allows the user to secrete candle wax from their body, and it is as strange as it looks. The visual of this ability is way too provocative to appear on a children’s program. Typically, Mr. 3 uses this ability to melt wax around himself so that when it hardens, it turns into impenetrable armor. The only downside is heat, which makes one wonder if he should have just picked a power that provided actual armor.
5. Swamp-Swamp Fruit
What can be worse than the Wax-Wax Fruit? The one that blesses one with the even odder swamp abilities. If there is a wetland that anyone should want to turn themselves into, a swamp shouldn’t be one of them. As the rookie pirate, Caribou, demonstrates, this is basically akin to turning yourself into mud.
He essentially becomes a bottomless pit, able to store objects inside himself because of the nature of the swamp. At a moment’s notice, he can retrieve weapons from himself. This ability is undoubtedly useful, but we have to ask ourselves — at what cost?
4. Zoan Fruit, Model: Dachshund
While Mr. 4’s gun, Lassoo, is cute beyond measure, it’s hard to imagine how many applications turning yourself into a dachshund can have. Originally a bazooka, Lassoo assumed the form of a dachshund even though it was initially an inanimate object. It is not established how Mr. 4 completed this process, but it is canonical that inanimate objects can benefit from Devil Fruit.
As far as a gun is concerned, this could be useful. In theory, being able to turn a weapon into a pet with teeth makes it more dangerous. But it is hard to imagine why a human would ever use this ability. And if you’re going turn your gun into a dog, you might as well make it a rottweiler.
3. Hobby-Hobby Fruit
Gobbling down a Devil Fruit is all fun and games until someone turns into a mindless miniature monster with no free will of their own. While many fruits appeal to the lighter side of life, the Hobby-Hobby fruit is one of the most terrifying. Mainly used by Sugar in One Piece, it allows her to transform any person into a living toy that must obey all her commands.
This ability is something out of a horror movie. The victims of Sugar’s powers do not remember anything of their life before and all memory of their existence gets wiped from the face of the earth. Even more disturbing is the fact that using this ability gave Sugar immortality, allowing her to remain a child forever. For anyone who has seen Interview WIth the Vampire, staying a child for eternity is a terrible, terrible idea with deadly consequences.
2. Egg-Egg Fruit
If you ever wanted to have the outward appearance of a chicken, we have got that one Devil Fruit for you. After consuming the Egg-Egg Devil Fruit, the user’s body shares the attributes of an egg. Baron Tomago of the Big Mom Pirates was a notable user of this Devil Fruit.
If the eggshell takes enough damage, it will crack, and a new body will spring forth. This form is more durable and with every new version, one becomes more and more birdlike. While this ensures that Tomago can never be killed in battle, it makes us wonder: “To what end?”
1. Stick-Stick Fruit
For anyone remotely squeamish, please look away now. The Stick-Stick Fruit is simply the worst and most disgusting Devil Fruit in existence. If you had the choice of over 200 forms, would you really want power over mucus? Apparently, Trebol does because he uses this revolting ability with glee.
His control over mucus allows him to become sticky and attach himself to walls and ceilings. For some reason, the substance also becomes extremely flammable, which he uses in combat. This Devil Fruit, as far as we are concerned, is about as bad as it gets.
With Netflix’s One Piece season 2 now a reality, get ready to be squeamish when some — and if you are unlucky, all — the above-mentioned Devil Fruit powers appear in live-action.
