Hi! I'm as green as can be around here, first post, been watching the CP9 arc with extreme interest up to the current Zoro fight, and I thought for my first speculative post here I would bring to the table the consideration of (and I'm sure this probably not the first time this has been brought up) how few Straw Hats actually have Devil Fruits, other than Luffy, Chopper, and Robin.
This of course leads us to our four very human last four, consisting of Nami, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji. It's interesting to me, personally, that Oda has shown us the possibility of certain antagonists having trouble adapting to Devil Fruit powers, because I've wondered since…well, heck, the Don Krieg saga what would happen along the way if one of our four normal (if you can call these four normal) humans had the chance to eat a Devil Fruit, how they would adapt. It could be an entire arc.
Certainly each of these four have their own gimmicks...Zoro as a swordsmen (and thus as the person most wanting to keep a pure style, probably, if ANY Straw Hat were to gain a DF power), Sanji with Zeff's kick style, Nami with her Dial-improved Storm Stick and Usopp with his sniper gimmicks, and certainly common sense dictates they will continue developing these skills. But the emphasis Oda has put on the way Devil Fruits can improve upon or hamper one's abilities, it at least makes one want to speculate a little bit.
Consider my own thoughts on the following Straw Hats gaining some sort of Devil Fruit power, and reasons why it might be the source of an interesting arc:
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Sanji -- To finally match Zoro. Zoro has always had a slight edge over Sanji, and it pisses the heck out of him.
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Usopp-- To gain more power, pure and simple. A Devil-Fruit would more than likely put Usopp on a higher tier just by virtue of there are VERY few more creative fighters than Usopp, with the possible exception of Nami. This isn't to say Luffy and Chopper aren't incredibly creative, but Nami and Usopp are the people who really know to use their tools, environment, and the situation to their advantage.
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Nami -- Probably the second least likely to garner a devil fruit, but it would be an interesting twist.
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Zoro -- This would be the most controversial one. Purists would DESPISE it. But inversely, it could make a fantastic arc. Zoro would DESPISE being a Devil Fruit user, I think, as he wants to be known on his sword-skill alone. Assume he had to eat it, though, to save one of his friends. The arc complicates...;D
Please note, I have absolutely NO conception that Oda would give any of the Straw Hats devil fruits, and I realize there is an incredible merit in keeping these four DF-less, keeping the DFs in the Straw Hats to a minimum, and in most likely scenarios they will probably never gain such abilities. I would like to say I like the pure forms of the four non-DF strawhats, I actually probably prefer those versions.
That aside, I just wanted to know the community's opinion of the concept. Speculate away. Purists, don't kill me. Tis just idle speculation, I swear. :unsure: