Franky is one of the few One Piece characters who arguably needs a Devil Fruit the least. His body is already a walking weapons platform, complete with missiles, beams, mechanical gimmicks and enough steel to make a normal punch feel like a workplace hazard. So naturally, Eiichiro Oda’s answer to a surprisingly specific SBS question was to give him even more weapon potential.
In SBS Volume 98, a reader asked what Devil Fruits Oda would give Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Franky. For Franky, Oda chose the Buki Buki no Mi, the Paramecia that lets its user turn their body into weapons, adding that he could not think of anything better for Franky. That is not a canon power-up: Franky has never eaten the Buki Buki no Mi. But Oda’s hypothetical choice is almost hilariously perfect.
Oda’s Pick Would Give Franky a Whole New Arsenal in One Piece
Franky from One Piece. [Credits: Toei Animation]
The Buki Buki no Mi is officially known as the Arms-Arms Fruit in English. Its established ability is straightforward but wildly versatile: the user can transform their body, or individual body parts, into weapons. Baby 5 has demonstrated transformations into weapons including swords, sickles, pistols, rifles, cannons and missiles. That makes Oda’s answer particularly revealing because Franky’s entire fighting identity already revolves around weaponized engineering.
Franky is the Straw Hats’ shipwright, the man responsible for building and maintaining the Thousand Sunny. He is also a self-made cyborg who packed his body with mechanical weapons and later incorporated technology based on Vegapunk’s research. The official One Piece character profile describes him as capable of developing weapons and having missiles and beams built directly into his modified body.
And Franky’s arsenal is not merely decorative. His body has been designed around combat versatility, from projectile weapons and powerful blasts to his trademark Radical Beam. He also developed General Franky, a giant robot with substantial armor and artillery. That history makes the Buki Buki no Mi feel less like an arbitrary Devil Fruit selection and more like Oda spotting the obvious punchline: Franky already thinks like a weapon-transforming Devil Fruit user without actually having one.
There is even a delicious bit of irony in how Franky reached this point. After suffering catastrophic injuries, he rebuilt and modified his own body, transforming himself into a cyborg. His engineering obsession subsequently became part of both his identity and his combat style. Baby 5’s fruit simply achieves through Devil Fruit power what Franky achieves through absurd amounts of engineering.
Buki Buki no Mi Could Make Franky the Straw Hat Tank
This is where the hypothetical gets genuinely fun. Franky’s existing technology gives him fixed mechanical weaponry. The Buki Buki no Mi would theoretically give him another layer: the ability to turn his own body into whatever weapon the situation demands. Baby 5 does not merely carry an arsenal; her body itself becomes the arsenal. She can transform specific limbs or her entire body into different weapons, including firearms and explosives.
Put that ability inside Franky’s already modified body and the possibilities become ridiculous but still logically rooted in his established character. His mechanical engineering could potentially complement the fruit’s transformations, allowing the cyborg’s existing weapons and the Devil Fruit’s weapon-changing concept to coexist. Oda never said Franky would combine the fruit with his cyborg technology, nor did he suggest specific new forms. That part is hypothetical. What Oda actually confirmed is simply that, if Franky were to receive a Devil Fruit, the Buki Buki no Mi is the one he would choose, because he felt it could not be a better fit.
And it might not even make Franky strictly stronger. His existing combat style already gives him considerable firepower and durability. The fruit’s greatest contribution would likely be adaptability: turning different parts of his body into weapons on demand rather than relying solely on machinery he has constructed.
There is, however, one enormous problem. Franky would lose the ability to swim. Devil Fruit users become unable to swim and lose their strength when submerged in water. For an ordinary pirate, that is bad. For Franky, the shipwright whose dream is tied directly to building and sailing the Thousand Sunny, it is almost comically cruel.
Franky’s greatest strength has always been that he does not need supernatural powers to be extraordinary. So Oda’s Buki Buki no Mi answer works precisely because it does not fundamentally change Franky. It doubles down on what he already is.
Would Franky actually become stronger with this Devil Fruit? Tell us what you think in the comments!
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