Devil Fruits are mystical fruits with tremendous power. These fruits play a massive role in One Piece and are key to the overarching plot of the series as well. Introduced in the very first chapter, Devil Fruits are known to hold great power and whoever eats them gains a specific ability at the cost of their own ability to swim. Broadly speaking, Devil Fruits can be divided into three types, which are the Zoans which allow the users to turn into animals, the Logia ones which grant the power to turn into a force of nature and elements, and the Paramecia types that grant various miscellaneous abilities.
Devil Fruits are, undoubtedly, a massive part of One Piece and their importance will only increase as the story now edges closer to its end. In the current arc of One Piece that is taking place on the island of Egghead, a lot of the mysteries that had fans looking for answers are being resolved, thanks to Dr. Vegapunk. Recently, a big part of the secret about the Devil Fruits was also revealed to the fans, and it certainly answers quite a lot of the questions that fans have about these fruits.
The Creation Of Devil Fruits
Devil Fruits are very mysterious objects. Ever since the beginning of the story, fans have wondered about the creation of these fruits and how exactly they came to be. The very first instance in which these fruits were introduced to the fans was when Luffy ate his Gum Gum Fruit in the very first chapter of the series. As the story went on, more and more details about these fruits were revealed to the fans and, with time, Oda made sure to drop bits of information about how these fruits worked. For instance, during the Enies Lobby arc, Oda revealed through the CP9 that no person could eat more than one Devil Fruit as the devil inside their body would not allow that, and the person would quite literally explode or cease to exist. Later on, in Marineford, fans saw Blackbeard steal the Devil Fruit of Whitebeard, and Oda established that the powers of these fruits can be transferred from one user to another. Later on, in Punk Hazard, the birth of a Devil Fruit was witnessed for the first time with the Sara Sara no Mi, Model: Axolotl.
In Dressrosa, the rebirth cycle of these fruits was explained to the fans and now, in the Egghead Island arc, Oda has finally revealed the answer to how these Devil Fruits came into existence. According to Dr. Vegapunk, Devil Fruits come into existence through imagination or a want for something. Throughout history, there have been countless people who have wished for certain powers to exist. For instance, there have been people who have wished for the power to control fire or the power to control ice. These desires ended up being manifested as Devil Fruits at some point in the history of the One Piece world. How exactly this came to be is something that still remains unknown for now, however, this bit of information is already huge for One Piece fans. According to Vegapunk, Every Devil Fruit is simply a possibility for human evolution. He goes on to say that all the Devil Fruits that exist are the many branches of human evolution. However, whatever these powers may be, at the end of the day, they are still very much unnatural and go against the very laws of nature.
Why Devil Fruit Users Cannot Swim
Ever since the very beginning of the story, it has been established that Devil Fruit users cannot swim. By eating these Devil Fruits, people gain tremendous amounts of power, depending on what kind of fruit they eat, however, they also lose something, and that is their ability to swim. For pirates who spent their entire lives on the seas, losing this ability is quite a massive deal. However, more often than not, the powers that they get are certainly worth it and as such, most people decide to eat the Devil Fruits anyway. Vegapunk also went on to explain why Devil Fruit users are unable to swim. According to him, Devil Fruits are, as explained earlier, a possibility of human evolution through desire. As such, he brands them to be an unnatural way for evolution. Evidently, this goes against the laws of nature, and the sea, being one of the manifestations of mother nature, hates Devil Fruit users for it.
As such, Devil Fruit users cannot swim in what is basically a nest of nature itself. Dr. Vegapunk goes on to call Devil Fruit users sinners in the eyes of mother nature itself and says that not being able to swim is a fitting punishment for those who break the laws. Still, a lot of questions about Devil Fruits remain a mystery. It isn't known how exactly the desire that people have manifests into these Devil Fruits, whether or not these fruits always existed and which fruit was the very first one to exist. With time, these questions will most certainly be answered. However, for now, fans have already found out a great deal of information that might be further built upon in the upcoming chapters of the story. Undoubtedly, the Egghead Island arc has proven to be nothing short of phenomenal when it comes to lore and information dumping in the One Piece story.