Creating a Devil Fruit in Real Life

[00:00:00]These are Buffy, Roror, and Numi. Their father vanished after rebelling against the celestial dragons, the tyrants of the world. To get their revenge, they begged us for devil fruits, fruits we engineered using real science to give people superpowers. We made five devil fruits, but the stronger the fruit, the more dangerous it is. Two are nearly impossible to survive, and one of them is going to pick the wrong one. But let's start with the Hie Hie no Mi. In One Piece, the Hie Hie no Mi, which means ice ice fruit, allows the user's body to transform into ice. But real biology can't do that. So our scientist, Vegapunk, creates something different, a biological ice generator. Here's how.

[00:00:43]There are real proteins called antifreeze proteins, AFPs. They are the reason why Antarctic ice fish can survive in freezing oceans, because AFPs latch on the ice crystals inside their blood and stop them from growing. But there is a second protein that does the exact opposite. Bacteria called Pseudomonas syringae produce ice nucleation proteins. They can force ice to form at temperatures far above normal freezing point. So, Vegapunk integrates both of them into the fruit. AFPs to protect the user's cells from the cold, and nucleation proteins, which allow the user to fire ice wherever they point. If you're wondering how these abilities will transfer from the fruit to the user, this is Vegapunk's biggest secret.

[00:01:26]We'll get to this later. Anyways, this fruit has a trade-off. AFPs force the body to run cold permanently, and cold slows down the nerve signals in the brain. The part that controls emotions and empathy goes quiet. Numi's gaze has been lingering on this fruit.

[00:01:44]The Hana Hana no Mi, or flower flower fruit, lets the user grow extra limbs on any surface. Here's how. Before you were born, your body already knew where to grow your arms and legs. This is because there are tiny signals that tell blank cells exactly what to become. Scientists call these signals morphogens and they're the only reason your arms didn't grow out of your knees. While stem cells are those blank cells because they start with no identity and they can become any tissue in the body depending on which signal reaches them first. Therefore, Vegapunk fills the fruit with stem cells that already carry those signals. When the user focuses on a surface, the cells travel there and sprout limbs. But there's a cost. Maintaining millions of stem cells constantly drains energy because the body has to fuel them. Blood sugar crashes without warning and the body shuts down. Whoever eats this fruit will fall asleep uncontrollably. Zoro is keeping an eye on this one.

[00:02:44]The Gomu Gomu no Mi or Rubber Rubber fruit makes the entire body elastic.

[00:02:49]Here's how. Pinch your skin right now and let go. It bounces back, right? It's because your skin contains a protein called elastin and elastin is made of a building block called tropoelastin. So, Vegapunk engineers the fruit to mass produce tropoelastin connecting them into a web throughout every tissue in the user's body. The result is skin that behaves like vulcanized rubber. It can be stretched to extreme lengths but suffer no permanent damage. However, the body loses something. Your brain tracks where your limbs are through tiny pressure sensors in the skin. But when tissue becomes elastic, those sensors stop working. Therefore, the user can't feel where their body is. They start bumping into things by accident. And there's a second problem. Tropoelastin repels water because its structure doesn't bond with water molecules. So, the moment the user is submerged in still water, they become completely paralyzed and sink to the bottom like a stone. Luffy has been staring at this fruit the whole time.

[00:03:52]The Mera Mera no Mi, or Flame Flame Fruit, lets the user generate and shoot fire from their own body. And the key to replicating this is a beetle. The bombardier beetle is a real insect that can spray boiling hot liquid. It stores two chemicals in separate body chambers, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide.

[00:04:11]Alone, they are harmless, but when mixed with a trigger chemical, they react at 100° C and fire scalding hot liquid outward.

[00:04:20]Therefore, Vegapunk reverse engineers this into the fruit using four cell types: pressure cells that hold the two chemicals, oxidizer cells that hold the trigger chemical, fuel cells that produce a flammable gas, methane, and ignition organs built into the user's fingertips. They light everything on fire the moment it leaves the body.

[00:04:40]However, this fruit has an 85% chance of killing whoever eats it. Because of Vegapunk's biggest secret, the pressure, oxidizer, and fuel cells spread throughout every tissue at the same time. If the body can't build walls to separate them fast enough, they react and the user burns from the inside.

[00:04:59]Luffy's case lingers on this fruit. It reminds him of someone.

[00:05:05]The Gura Gura no Mi, or Tremor Tremor Fruit, lets the user generate vibrations at any frequency. Here's how. Your bones already do something remarkable.

[00:05:14]Whenever pressure hits them, they produce electricity, and this causes them to vibrate in response. Therefore, Vegapunk engineers hyper piezoelectric cells into the fruit. Cells that can generate electricity. Thus, the phenomenon is amplified thousands of times. But this also destroys the user from the inside. Because everything has a resonance frequency, which is the exact vibration that shatters something.

[00:05:39]And there are many real-world cases of this. In 1831, marching soldiers collapsed the Broughton Bridge because their footsteps matched its resonant frequency. The Gura Gura no Mi lets the user do this to anything they target.

[00:05:53]However, the human body has resonant frequencies, too. Because of Vegapunk's top secret technique, the cells produce vibrations randomly before the nervous system can control them. The vibrations resonate with the heart's frequency and it stops pumping. The probability of death is 99%.

[00:06:13]Before Buffy, Roronoa, and Nami choose their respective devil fruits, Vegapunk is finally going to reveal his biggest secret. Inside every fruit is the same core technology, engineered viral vectors. They are modified viruses stripped of everything harmful and refilled with new DNA instructions, the same tool used in real gene therapy.

[00:06:34]When someone takes a bite, the fruit dissolves instantly in their mouth.

[00:06:38]Then, the viral vectors are absorbed into the bloodstream and from there, they spread to every organ simultaneously. This is also why every devil fruit tastes disgusting. The engineered chemistry destroys the natural flavor of the fruits. For the tree's devil fruits, the integration process is stable enough to survive, but for the Mera Mera no Mi, the pressure, oxidizer, and fuel cells are integrated at the same time with no walls between them yet. The user melts from the inside. And for the Gura Gura no Mi, the piezoelectric cells activate the moment they are integrated at random frequencies before the nervous system can control them. The user ruptures from the inside. Vegapunk lines up all five devil fruits. It's time for the three siblings to choose.

[00:07:25]Nami takes the Hie Hie no Mi. Buffy hesitates, but still takes the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Roronoa reaches for the Hana Hana no Mi because in his head, more arms equals more swords. But at this moment, the cursed sword at his waist, Sandai Kitetsu, floods his mind with illusions.

[00:07:43]He gets lost and accidentally eats the Gura Gura no Mi. The piezoelectric cells assimilate in turn the moment he starts chewing and vibrations start forming inside him. The running gag that made everyone laugh is the last thing he feels. Then the vibrations frequency resonates with his heart. It stops pumping. He wasn't reckless. He was just Roronoa.