Hardest Devil Fruits To Master In One Piece

Summary

• Some Devil Fruits in One Piece require time and expertise to master their unusual abilities effectively.
• Characters like Kaku and Ivankov have showcased creative and practical uses of their Devil Fruits.
• Monkey D. Luffy’s journey to master the Gomu Gomu no Mi reveals remarkable growth and an inventive mind.

There’s no denying that Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece has introduced one of the most creative and fascinating power systems in the shōnen action genre: Devil Fruits, which grant superhuman abilities to anyone who eats them. This, of course, means that some characters were fortunate enough to just eat a funny-looking fruit and immediately gain incredible superpowers, like being able to generate fire, being able to turn into a giant dragon, etc.

However, not everybody in this story was so lucky, because many Devil Fruits contain truly unusual abilities that may take a lot of time, skill, training and expertise to learn and use properly. There are a lot of Devil Fruit users in One Piece who have fallen victim to this trope, but all of them were able to fully master their strange abilities, and the following eight are the most interesting examples.

8

Ushi Ushi No Mi, Model: Giraffe

Eaten By Kaku

• Type: Zoan
• Debut: Chapter 401 (Manga) Episode 286 (Anime)

When people eat a Zoan Type Devil Fruit, they usually gain the ability to turn into a deadly predator, like a leopard, a hawk or even an Allosaurus. But when CP9’s Kaku ate the Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Giraffe during the Enies Lobby Arc, he gained the abilities of a giraffe, a herbivore with a bizarre biology and non-threatening appearance. Nevertheless, in just a few hours, he was able to combine his deep knowledge of giraffes with his powerful Rokushiki techniques to become a respectable Zoan fighter, but he was still no match for Roronoa Zoro.

But when Kaku reappeared two years later during the Egghead Arc, he was revealed to be one of the few characters in One Piece who has managed to awaken his Devil Fruit, which is an impressive testament of how skilled, dedicated and smart he is. Once again, he cleverly combined his odd giraffe powers with both his Rokushiki and his Haki, but Zoro still defeated him without a problem.

7

Yomi Yomi No Mi

Eaten By Brook

• Type: Paramecia
• Debut: Chapter 442 (Manga) Episode 337 (Anime)

The Yomi Yomi no Mi is extremely difficult to properly use (let alone master) because it’s actually the Resurrection Fruit, meaning that its user has to die in order to activate its effects. This is what Brook sadly discovered when he and his entire crew were unfairly murdered by a rival pirate crew, but only his soul was able to return to his decomposed body.

Nevertheless, Brook was able to pull off all sorts of unbelievable and practical techniques with his unconventional Devil Fruit, especially after he joined the Straw Hat Pirates. During the two-year time skip, he trained, understood how his Devil Fruit works and eventually learned how to detach his intangible soul from his body in order to stealthily gather information, how to summon a giant ghost that could defeat Big Mom’s Homies and even how to channel the freezing air from the Underworld through his sword. Needless to say, the Yomi Yomi no Mi would have been completely wasted if it was eaten by someone who’s not as resourceful and creative as Brook.

6

Horu Horu No Mi

Eaten By Emporio Ivankov

• Type: Paramecia
• Debut: Chapter 537 (Manga) Episode 439 (Anime)

Paramecia Type Devil Fruits usually give their users basic but impressive superhuman abilities, but some notorious exceptions exist within the story, and the Horu Horu no Mi is seemingly one of them, at least at first glance. It was eaten by Emporio Ivankov, and it allows him to create different types of hormones that he can inject either into his own body or into other people’s bodies.

Fortunately, it seems that Ivankov is an expert in hormones, because he has successfully used his Devil Fruit in many impressive and practical ways, something that must have taken him years to learn and master. For starters, it allows him to change anybody’s gender, which is especially useful for him, considering that he’s the Okama King of the Kamabakka Kingdom. But Ivankov has also used these strange powers in battle, by using hormones to enlarge his own body parts and even by injecting adrenaline into someone in order to relieve their pain and make them stronger.

5

Hito Hito No Mi

Eaten By Tony Tony Chopper

• Type: Zoan
• Debut: Chapter 138 (Manga) Episode 83 (Anime)

The Hito Hito no Mi is infamous for being one of the worst Devil Fruits in One Piece, as it allows its user to turn into a regular human. Fortunately, however, it was eaten by a reindeer that immediately gained human sentience from it and was named Tony Tony Chopper by Dr. Hiriluk. This obviously helped him stand out from other animals, but Chopper was still a regular human-like being with no real battle prowess.

With time and enough training, Chopper used his brilliant mind to come up with all sorts of applications for his Devil Fruit powers, which resulted in the creation of the Rumble Balls, a special drug that allows him to enhance and manipulate his Zoan abilities in order to use five new incredible and useful transformations. Furthermore, after training and learning more about medicine during the two-year time skip, Chopper was able to get access to four of these transformations without even needing to eat a Rumble Ball. The fact that he was able to put such a mundane Devil Fruit to such great use is enough proof of how intelligent and skilled this adorable reindeer truly is.

4

Nikyu Nikyu No Mi

Eaten By Bartholomew Kuma

• Type: Paramecia
• Debut: Chapter 473 (Manga) Episode 368 (Anime)

Some Devil Fruits can be surprisingly abstract and unconventional, with one of the most prominent examples being the infamous Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. Bartholomew Kuma ate it during the God Valley Incident, and he immediately got access to its bizarre but versatile powers: paw pads appeared on the palm of his hands, which allow him to push away anything he touches with them.

As weird as these rejecting pads may seem at first, Kuma always puts them to very good use, as he is now able to push away attacks from enemies, create destructive explosions made out of repulsive forces and even remove abstract concepts, like pain and fatigue, from other people’s bodies. But the most incredible application of the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi is its ability to transport its user or other people to anywhere in the world with a single touch. Needless to say, Kuma’s flashback in the Egghead Arc revealed that he learned how to do all of that by training his Devil Fruit powers over the course of many years.

3

Ope Ope No Mi

Eaten By Trafalgar D. Water Law

• Type: Paramecia
• Debut: Chapter 504 (Manga) Episode 398 (Anime)

While most Devil Fruits are relatively straightforward and simple to use, the Ope Ope no Mi is a notorious exception, as it actually requires an inventive mind and deep medical knowledge. Fortunately for its user, Trafalgar Law, he does have both of those attributes and, as a result, he was able to use this legendary Devil Fruit to its fullest potential.

With the powers of the Ope Ope no Mi, Law can summon a spherical domain called a “Room” in which anything is possible: he can rearrange body parts, levitate objects, swap other people’s souls, generate electrical currents and a lot more, not to mention that he can also use it to perform surgeries and cure any illnesses. On top of all that, the “Surgeon of Death” live up to his name and was eventually able to awaken his Devil Fruit, meaning that he can now create Rooms of different sizes and apply them to specific objects, like his sword. At the end of the day, Law managed to achieve something as monumental and uncommon as Devil Fruit awakening, which is undeniable proof of what a great doctor, pirate and fighter he is.

2

Ito Ito No Mi

Eaten By Donquixote Doflamingo

• Type: Paramecia
• Debut: Chapter 234 (Manga) Episode 151 (Anime)

The Ito Ito no Mi is one of those Devil Fruits that seems weak and insignificant at first, but it became a deadly weapon when its powers were wielded and mastered by a brilliant fighter. It was eaten by one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Donquixote Doflamingo, and it allows him to create and manipulate strings that he can use to restrain his targets, cut through objects and even to control others like puppets.

This is already enough proof of how versatile this Devil Fruit can be, but Doflamingo kept showcasing more and more impressive applications throughout the series, like stitching his damaged organs, creating identical clones of him made out of string and even creating an enormous birdcage of unbreakable string in which he can trap an entire country. And to top it all off, he was also able to awaken the Ito Ito no Mi, which gave him the ability to turn the environment into giant strings that he can control to attack his enemies.

1

Gomu Gomu No Mi (Hito Hito No Mi, Model: Nika)

Eaten By Monkey D. Luffy

• Type: Paramecia (Mythical Zoan)
• Debut: Chapter 1 (Manga) Episode 1 (Anime)

The audience doesn’t usually get to witness firsthand how a character in One Piece mastered the abilities of an unconventional Devil Fruit. But Monkey D. Luffy is a notorious exception because, throughout many flashback sequences, the series revealed how he was slowly but surely able to practice the bizarre abilities of the Gomu Gomu no Mi in order to become a formidable fighter and a legendary pirate. When he first ate it by accident, his body gained the properties of rubber, which wasn’t very impressive nor useful, considering that he couldn’t even unleash a punch without losing control of his arm. But, with enough training, he eventually managed to become a beast in battle who came up with countless creative and powerful techniques, like Gomu Gomu no Pistol, Gomu Gomu no Rocket, Gomu Gomu no Bazooka and more.

Once he realized he needed more power in order to overcome the obstacles of a great pirate, Luffy brilliantly used his rubber powers to come up with unbelievable transformations, like Gear 2, Gear 3 and Gear 4. But the moment that cemented him as one of the most skilled Devil Fruit users was when he awakened it in the Wano Country and unlocked his Gear 5 form: now he’s able to transform his body however he wants, and his only limit is his own imagination. This is because the Gomu Gomu no Mi is actually a Mythical Zoan called the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, and this reveal was so satisfying because it felt like a reward for both Luffy and the audience: after years of watching him using a seemingly useless Devil Fruit so effectively, he became a Sun God who uses his over-the-top abilities to make people smile and help those who are oppressed by the corrupt World Government.