Over the course of One Piece, hundreds of Devil Fruits have been shown and many of them don’t even have actual names. Users can range from Marine Admirals to random lucky children, and the powers are always a toss up between obviously practical and outright strange.
With Devil Fruits, Eiichiro Oda has found a way to introduce silly or otherwise impractical powers in some of the most threatening ways. There are Devil Fruits that could level the world with the snap of a finger, but others whose power depends on the strength and imagination of the user.
Charlotte Katakuri
Katakuri proved to be one of the most formidable foes that Luffy has ever fought one on one. Boasting a similar power set with a few Logia-style benefits, the Mochi Mochi Fruit felt like an appropriate rival to Luffy’s own Gum-Gum Fruit. However, being able to turn your body into candy rather than rubber comes with its own share of issues.
Luffy proved that someone with a big enough appetite could simply eat themselves out of a mochi trap. Also, as shown by Jimbei, the mochi becomes less sticky if it becomes wet enough. If Katakuri were a less competent fighter, this fruit would be pretty useless.
Kin'emon
Kin’emon has been traveling with the Straw Hats for quite some time now and has shown to be an excellent fighter. As the leader of Wano’s Nine Red Scabbards, Kin’emon is a skilled samurai and tactician. His Foxfire Sword Style is capable of generating fire and has even been able to use several of Kozuki Oden’s Two Sword Style techniques.
The Garb-Garb Fruit grants its user the ability to generate clothing and other costumes out of leaves or stones. Given Kin’emon’s impressive combat experience, it’s hard to see where this power can come into play when up against rival pirates
Senior Pink
One of the many Donquixote Pirates officers, Senior Pink showed his strength by being able to take on Franky and even survive a direct hit from a rocket. He’s also a skilled assassin and uses his Swim-Swim Fruit to infiltrate enemy bases and ambush targets.
Yet the Swim-Swim Fruit doesn’t show much in terms of offensive capabilities. The ability to swim through any surface sounds powerful on paper, but given the weakness of Devil Fruit users and actual water, it limits what this power can do on the high seas with other pirates.
Blueno
As a member of CP9, Blueno is understandably a strong opponent. He made quick work of Sanji, Franky, and Sogeking’ as they attempted to save Robin before they reached Enies Lobby. Blueno even gave Luffy a run for his money until the latter revealed Gear 2 for the first time. His power, the Door-Door Fruit, gives its user the ability to open a door almost anywhere they want and even hide inside them.
However, Blueno’s Devil Fruit power is only deadly thanks to his combat experience. While the Door-Door Fruit makes infiltration and stealth easier, the doors only remain open for a set amount of time. The limited nature of the fruit makes it one of the weaker abilities the series has shown over the years.
Kaku
Both a skilled fighter and intelligent carpenter, Kaku easily proved why he was the 2nd strongest member of CP9 behind Rob Lucci. He managed to stay evenly matched with Zoro, having only recently received his Devil Fruit powers and making up most of his techniques on the spot.
Despite Kaku’s imagination, the Ox-Ox Fruit: Model Giraffe is one of the sillier powers introduced over the course of One Piece. In the wild, giraffes aren’t known to be fighters and their biology doesn’t really lend itself to most combat situations. Plus it doesn’t seem practical to have a giraffe length neck while trying to dodge an incoming sword or bullet.
Luffy
The concept of the Gum Gum Fruit was always quite silly. Giving the user near-cartoon-like abilities to stretch and expand their body doesn’t always seem like it would be a practical power in combat for most. Luffy, being the central protagonist, obviously finds a way to use this power to fight and fight well.
With the addition of Haki and Luffy’s own imagination, the Gum Gum Fruit went from silly gag to outright threat over the course of the show. Given the revelations about its true nature, this fruit might be a little more than it lets on. Yet looking on just the surface, most people would see the Gum-Gum Fruit as no more than a fun party gag.
Nico Robin
Nico Robin has proven herself one of the smartest characters in the course of One Piece. Her intelligence has helped the Straw Hats discover many ancient legends and secrets of the world, and that intelligence helps with her Devil Fruit powers as well.
The Flower-Flower Fruit allows the user to replicate and sprout parts of their body from any surface or another living thing. However, their power is limited to that of the user’s actual limbs and any damage they receive is sent back to the user. It makes for tricky fights especially against opponents with abilities that manifest through touch.
Diamante
One of Doflamingo’s top three generals, Diamante oversees the Corrida Colosseum and boasts strong swordsmanship skills. His Devil Fruit, the Ripple-Ripple Fruit, gives him or what he touches the properties of a flag when he needs it. Diamante has been shown to use this ability defensively to dodge oncoming attacks and even treat a steel block as a defensive cape.
Yet on the surface, the Ripple-Ripple Fruit doesn’t show much in terms of combat strength. Making things flexible and flag-like would maybe be good for evading capture but in a fight it doesn’t have much practical use.
Mr. 2 Bon Kurei aka Bentham
Baroque Works was one of the strongest groups in the early stories of One Piece. Their various officers and agents had the Straw Hats on their toes from the start of their adventure on the Grand Line. Mr. 2, despite his silliness, was a high ranking officer in Baroque Works and was a master of deception.
His Clone-Clone Fruit allows him to copy people’s physical appearance but comes with plenty of weaknesses. For one, it only allows users to copy people they’ve already touched and cannot copy the target’s abilities. Similarly, once copied, the user loses access to many of their skills if the body they copied doesn’t have the physique to perform them.
Morgans
“Big News” Morgans is a character that has mostly existed in the background of One Piece until recent years. He’s the president of the World Economy Newspaper and one of the Underworld’s emperors. Given his position, Morgans has been instrumental in many important revelations in One Piece since his company provides the world with the news.
Like many Zoan-type users, Morgans spends his time in the animal-human hybrid form his Bird-Bird Fruit, Model Albatross provides. However, despite the albatross’ real-life ability to fly great distances over the sea, Morgans is completely unable to fly. Given his position, he wouldn’t really need anything combat oriented, but this weakness is a hard one to overlook.