Hello and welcome to the GrandLineReview, your source for everything One Piece.
Today we are going to add our very first Logia entry into the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia by examining the Moku Moku no Mi.
The Moku Moku no Mi is a Logia type fruit that gives its user the ability to conjure, manipulate, and become smoke.
It was eaten by the conveniently named Marine Officer Smoker, and first put on show during the Loguetown Arc.
This Devil Fruit borrows its name from the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound made when billowing smoke.
Furthermore, "Moku" is an anagram for the word "Kumo" which means cloud,
And to top it all off, Moku even forms part of the Japanese pronunciation
Over the English word for smoke, which is su-mo-ku.
So we have quite the strong expectations from the expanded lineage presented in this name,
And the Moku Moku no Mi certainly does not disappoint.
What does disappoint though, are the various English translations of the Moku Moku no Mi.
You would think this one would be pretty straightforward yeah?
And it turns out I have to give full credit to none other than 4Kids
for being the only company to simply call it the "Smoke Smoke Fruit."
Viz and Funimation went down a very different path, and labeled it as the "Plume Plume Fruit."
Which I-uh why, and I mean I get it, a plume of smoke is indeed a thing
As well as a plume of dust via vapor and a whole assortment of other substances, it just sounds off.
Meanwhile One Piece Grand Adventure mislabeled it entirely by calling it the "Steam Steam Fruit."
Yeah- you guys didn't quite hit the mark there,
But there's an even stranger name out there
Within the Mythical Odex Dub who,
for reasons decided to call it "Seed of Smoke."
Yeah look, I don't really see what was so difficult about this one, just call it the damn Smoke Smoke Fruit.
So as the first Logia to be examined in this encyclopedia, it's probably worth pointing out
that this class of fruits affects the user in a very different way to that of a Paramecia.
The primary difference being that a Logia type fruit does not simply affect the user's body,
but actually turns them into a particular element.
So in this case, the Moku Moku no Mi quite literally turns its user into smoke.
And the immediate advantage here is that of intangibility.
Facing off against an individual with this fruit is like trying to fight a cloud of smoke.
There's no way you could really do anything against it using conventional combative methods,
of course generally the smoke cloud wouldn't really be able to do much against you either.
But in this case, oh yes it can.
One of the key strenghts concerning the Moku Moku no Mi,
is the ability of the user to control the density of the smoke they produce and become.
And well, that means that punching is back on the menu
along with any sort of blunt-force attack.
Not only that but the user of the Moku Moku no Mi can propel their attacks forward in a very similar way
to that of the Gomu Gomu no Mi actually,
just obviously without the benefits and drawbacks of elasticity.
Regardless, it provides the user of this fruit with a great selection of options in regards to ranged combat.
Although if you don't want to bother with the nitty-gritty of fighting,
then you could always enclose your adversary in a cloud of smoke and increase the density
to the point in which they hopefuly cannot escape.
That's a strategy that works particularly well for Smoker,
and has been trained to be capable of ensnaring decently powerful individuals,
such as Luffy, Buggy, and Alvida.
Then again there's also the potential to conjure thin smoke on mass, and create a smokescreen effect.
And that sort of power really should not be underestimated,
because removing vision from an opponent will be very effective at lower levels of combat in the One Piece World
And eternally effective against anybody in the real world.
Furthermore, there's always the potential to produce enough smoke to simply asphyxiate an opponent
by depriving them of all available oxygen in the area.
Dark, but possible.
The particular smoke of the Moku Moku no Mi way also have an added degree of toxicity,
as characters have been known to comment on how very foul the smoke smells.
Or it might be relatively healthy and still smell like crap.
Who knows?
But the pungent odor does add another layer of sensory warfare to the arsenal of the Moku Moku no Mi user.
Becoming smoke can also be quite convenient in terms of travel.
I mean you could just transform yourself entirely into a light plume and let the wind carry you over long distances.
You'd also become very difficult to obstruct with anything,
because smoke can seep through the tiniest of cracks
so the fruit comes with some very nice emergency escape measures.
The fruit also doesn't appear to have any specific weaknesses aside from the standard Devil Fruit caveats.
I mean I suppose you might have a rough time if you encounter somebody who can manipulate a counter element like wind or something,
but for the most part, you'll be sitting pretty sweet with the Moku Moku no Mi.
But now let's examine some advanced use of the fruit,
from its user in the series; Smoker.
Now Smoker is an exceptional Devil Fruit wielder,
which is particularly important when it comes to possessing a Logia type.
Due to the initial rush of incredible power granted,
there can be a huge temptation to rest on that, and not pursue any further personal development.
Smoker is not one of those people and he has very consistently pushed his physical and creative limits with the Moku Moku no Mi.
One very cool thing Smoker figured out was how to use this Devil Fruit to fly to some degree,
by transforming only the lower half of his body into smoke and using it to propel him wherever he so pleases.
And this propulsion effect is used by Smoker quite frequently in general combat,
to increase the speed of impact of individual strikes which is a nice and precise use of the fruit.
And something he figured out quite early on as well,
is how to use his excessive smoke as a power source.
Resulting in a handy smoke fueled motorbike,
which according to Oda, can even travel over water- which is pretty fun.
Some other miscellaneous things to consider when becoming a smoke human.
Despite being able to control the density of the smoke,
remember that it is part of the user's body,
and its strength at peak density will be directly tied to the core strength of the user themselves.
Also because smoke isn't a particularly destructive element,
it's unlikely that a user of the Moku Moku no Mi would ever be able to rely on its power entirely.
Smoker has certainly realized this, and as a result he chooses to wield a Jitte as his primary weapon
whilst using the Moku Moku no Mi more to enhance his power and maneuverability.
All up here, we have a very solid Devil Fruit.
Which I think is highly underrated in this series because it garners comparison to every other Logia.
The majority of which just have much higher raw destructive capabilities.
The Moku Moku no Mi works best as a support item really,
giving the user access to an exceptional range of movement,
and a general power boost to their basic combat abilities.
With that in mind this fruit more so than any other Logia, requires a strong user.
You just can't consume it and expect to be amazing,
it takes a lot of work and creative input to make the most of its powers.
But if you can satisfy those requirements, then this is a phenomenal fruit.
And with that, we are going to commit the Moku Moku no Mi to the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
Next week we will be examining the Sube Sube no Mi.
A particularly slippery cool Paramecia type.
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