One Piece‘s mythical Devil Fruit plays a huge part in the story, allowing for wild antics in an already bizarre world. There are three types of Devil Fruit: Paramecia, Zoan, and the rare Logia, so which one is the Kitsune Fruit, and who is the wielder of its power?
What is the Kitsune Fruit?
The Kitsune Fruit, otherwise known as the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kyubi no Kitsune, is a Zoan-type Devil Fruit. Zoan Devil Fruit allows the wielder to change into a certain animal, and this means they can usually change between three forms: their original human form, a human-beast hybrid form, and a full beast form. They also then fall into different categories, or models, with the Kitsune Fruit landing under the Inu Inu no Mi, with “inu” being the Japanese word for dog. Other such Fruits that fall under this model are the Jackal, Dachshund, Wolf, and Tanuki Fruits.
The Kyubi no Kitsune is even more special still, as it is a Mythical Zoan, meaning the user can transform into a mythical creature—in this instance, a nine-tailed fox. The nine-tailed fox originated in Chinese mythology but is also a big part of Japanese folklore. In One Piece, this particular Devil Fruit allows the user to not only transform into the fox but also grants them the ability of the magical creature: The user can also transform into other people, imitating them all the way down to their clothes.
Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit are the rarest of them all, even more so than Logia, and the most powerful of the Zoan (animal) Devil Fruit. There have been nine of these types of Fruit to appear canonically, including the Pegasus, Phoenix, and Daibutsu (a giant gold Buddha).
Who has the Kitsune Fruit?
The Kitsune Fruit was consumed by one of the most dangerous female pirates of all, Catarina Devon, also known as the Crescent Moon Hunter. She was imprisoned in the Impel Down, in the most secure facility possible, until she was released by Marshall D. Teach and then recruited into the Blackbeard Pirates. Here, she became one of the Ten Titanic Captains, an extension of Marshall D. Teach’s power over the seas, and is the Captain of the Sixth Ship.
Readers of the manga are introduced to her in chapter 575, or for anime lovers, episode 484. She is portrayed as an antagonist to Luffy and his crew and an extremely powerful pirate, not only because of her Devil Fruit abilities but because of her own physical strength. She was strong enough to land an attack on the Pirate Emperor Whitebeard using her spear, and could withstand attacks that no mere mortal would have survived.
She is also a nasty piece of work, as we see her use her Devil Fruit ability in a rather sadistic way. She mocks the pirate captain Gecko Moria, changing herself to appear as his subordinate Absalon, whom the Blackbeard pirates had killed earlier. On an even more terrifying note, the name Crescent Moon Hunter is feared by women everywhere, as she is known to find and decapitate beautiful women to keep their heads as trophies.
Though not the strongest Devil Fruit user in the series, she is certainly up there, and with her Devil Fruit abilities and her own physical skills and sadism, she is one to be wary of.
(featured image: Toei Animation)
