Chapter 67

"Uhh, Ace?" Ace and Tanya turned towards Mihar who was just standing with a blindfold on. "Should I…?"

"Ahh, sorry!" Ace said before raising one of his hands. Flames extended from his raised hand and acted like an extension of his arm to pick up the wooden rod to bash Mihar with. "Let's resume."

"Here." Tanya handed the ruined book to Ace. "You sure I'm not distracting you from training Mihar?"

"Nah, it's good. Those who trained their Observation Haki good enough can split their focus easily," Ace said before examining the ruined book of Tanya. "This book is old as hell."

"Probably more than a hundred years old. Or maybe even older," Tanya said.

Ace first inspected the badly burnt and torn cover of the book. The only thing he can barely make out is a name at the bottom of the cover.

Yoshitoga.

'This should be the name of the author.'

"Yoshitoga. Do you know him?" Tanya asked.

"Never even heard of him," Ace said before setting the book down to carefully open it with one hand since the other was busy training Mihar. "What did he write about?"

Ace was turning page after page. Sadly, most of them were too damaged to even have anything to read about.

"Turn to the last pages. The last chapter is mostly undamaged," Tanya said. "It talks about the different types of Devil Fruits."

"You mean Paramecias, Zoans, and Logias?" Ace asked. "I already know those."

"Not exactly," Tanya said as her grin widened. "I'll let you take a look for yourself."

Ace skipped to the end portion of the book. He carefully turned the pages and observed how the pages at the end of the book were more preserved and weren't as damaged as the rest of the pages. Eventually, Ace reached the last chapter.

"Devil Fruits and Energy Types?" Ace read aloud the title of the last chapter.

"That's right! I'll let you read it first," Tanya said. "I'll go and help the Doubles with navigation."

Tanya walked away from Ace who currently had his eyes glued on the last chapter of the book. The title alone caught his attention. Whatever the chapter contained was bound to be interesting.

—

Devil Fruits are a mysterious and powerful treasure scattered all over the world. Multiple accounts tell and support the myths and rumors regarding these fruits. Some myths are now proven as facts. Eating a Devil Fruit can give a brand new power at the cost of being unable to swim in seawater.

Powerful figures are usually supported by a Devil Fruit power user. May it be the powerful figure itself or their subordinates, it can always be assumed that there is a Devil Fruit involved with those in high positions.

The study of Devil Fruits when it comes to the Energy they possess has been proven to be a rather difficult subject of study. It is very difficult to have a Devil Fruit user as a willing subject of study for good reasons. What may be even more difficult is finding a Devil Fruit in the wild. Countless others are in search of Devil Fruits for their own gain, be it cutthroats or soldiers. Nonetheless, decades of research has made it possible to compile information regarding these fruits into a benchmark for future researchers.

At first glance, Devil Fruits seemingly give random powers. It is very difficult to see a pattern to the powers that Devil Fruits give to their eaters when seeing one is a rarity in and of itself. However, the compilation of information collected from those who have seen Devil Fruit powers at work has made it possible to classify these fruits into categories based on the powers they give. These are:

1. Logia

Thirty years ago, the heroes of Flevance Kingdom killed the tyrannical Lawrence Logia who attempted to usurp the Flevance Throne. Logia was a man who ate a Devil Fruit that gave him the ability to turn into liquid metal. He had the ability to be seemingly invincible as all attacks passed through his transformed liquid body. He was feared because he was also capable of hardening and shaping his metal body, making him seem like an invincible living weapon. 

Logia came close to usurping the Flevance Throne. Thankfully, he was stopped before he could do so. In honor of the fallen heroes that died to bring the tyrant Lawrence Logia to justice, this class of Devil Fruits will be named after him to warn everyone of the dangerous and potent power these fruits possess.

Logias are the rarest Devil Fruits. They give its eater the ability to transform, create, and control an element at will.

2. Zoan

Five years ago, a notorious pirate rose to infamy. Tarzoan was a pirate who had the ability to transform into a lion. He sailed the seas in search of Devil Fruits that turned its eater into an animal all in an effort to create a Kingdom of Beasts.

Tarzoan sailed the seas and tore through every island he landed on in search of said Devil Fruits. The Devil Fruit that gave him the ability to transform into an animal seemingly made his mind turn into an animal's as well. Thankfully, he was shot down like an animal as well. The second class of Devil Fruits will be named Zoan, the name of the kingdom that Tarzoan attempted to build.

Zoans are Devil Fruits that allow its users to transform either their whole body or parts of their body into an animal at will.

3. Paramecia

The third class of Devil Fruits are the most common, relatively speaking. Devil Fruits that do not belong in the previous two categories will belong in this category. Information about Devil Fruits in general will have been difficult to comprehend without the help of one of the two authors of this book. This book was written in collaboration with Doctor Parsons Paramecia, a fellow researcher of Devil Fruits. 

Unfortunately, Doctor Paramecia passed away before this book was published due to his old age. Doctor Paramecia's century of research allowed this book to come to fruition much faster. The last classification of Devil Fruits will be named in honor of his research-driven life.

Paramecias are the most common and diverse of Devil Fruits. Those in this class allows its eater to achieve one of a large variety of abilities that enables them to become superhuman or perform a superhuman feat.

—

"Woah," Ace said as he took a breather from reading. "I didn't know about this. So, Devil Fruits had this history to them, huh?"

Ace was surprised to read about the origins of the types of Devil Fruits. He unknowingly took the names for granted and forgot that someone in the distant past must have put effort in researching and figuring out names for them.

Curious to see what else the chapter contained, Ace continued reading.

—

As what was stated, established, and supported in the previous chapters, all that exists contains energy. Simply put, everything in our world contains a latent energy waiting to be used. Devil Fruits are no different.

This chapter was written as evidence that supports the notion that Devil Fruits give powers by transferring their latent energy into its eater. Whenever one eats a Devil Fruit, one consumes and digests the energy it contains into one's system. Once that new energy gets assimilated into the person, the new energy takes shape as Devil Fruit powers.

We return to the previous topics discussed. Since Devil Fruit powers are granted by a transfer of energy, all Devil Fruit powers follow the Basic Principles of Energy. Thus, every Devil Fruit user may be able to express their power in six ways:

1. Enhancement

Enhancement is the ability to strengthen or increase the natural abilities of an object or one's own body. Some Devil Fruits enhance a user's physical capacity as either a main effect or a side effect. For example, Zoan Devil Fruits strengthen its user's body like that of an animal's as a side effect. Enhancers are able to increase their physical attack and defense greatly and are best suited for melee combat.

It is a common belief that Enhancers generally do not need special techniques, as their natural category already has the best balance between attack and defense as its primary attribute. However, there do exist Enhancement abilities that are more complex such as enhancing one's healing factor.

2. Transmutation

Transmutation is the ability to change the property or appearance of an object or a person. All Logias and Zoans can show this type of energy expression because they change the property of their user's body. However, some Paramecias can also do the same.

Some Devil Fruit users change the properties of objects or people by touch. The most dangerous example is the Hobby-Hobby Fruit wherein those who are touched by its user turns into a toy before getting memories of their existence erased from others. This ability is a mixed expression of Transmutation, Manipulation, and Specialization which will be later discussed. Another example is the Bomb-Bomb Fruit that gives its user the ability to make any part of their body explode by changing the properties of their body.

Transmutation is often mistaken for Conjuration due to their similarities. The difference is that Transmutation changes an object or person's properties or appearance using energy whereas Conjuration creates something new out of the energy itself.

3. Conjuration

Conjuration is the ability to create a physical, independent, and material object out of pure energy. However, users of this category can also create laws and principles and affix them to a specific area, or even create their own pocket dimension. Although a Conjurer has to undergo a lot of visualization training, once they have mastered the materialization of a certain object, they can conjure it and dispel it in an instant whenever they want.

Constructs created via Conjuration have a subtle 'independence' to them. Under certain circumstances, they can continue existing even at a considerable distance from the Conjurer, or even if the Conjurer themselves are not aware that they have yet to be dematerialized. Furthermore, the durability of a conjured object can generally be taken as a measure of the user's skill, although conditions can be used to strengthen it.

4. Emission

Emission is the ability to outwardly express and separate energy from the source body. Due to its properties, Emission is typically employed in abilities with an emphasis on range and/or those that have long-lasting effects. Energy usually decreases in intensity very quickly when it leaves the source body, but adept Emitters can separate their energy from their body for long periods of time, over long distances, and still be able to maintain it and its functions.

When Logias shoot beams or projectiles using their power, Emission is expressed. This is one of the basic applications of this type of energy expression. Advanced applications include teleportation and sound attacks.

5. Manipulation

Manipulation is the ability to control living or non-living things like the elements of Logia Devil Fruits. The degree of control is, for the most part, determined by a condition that may or may not put the Manipulator at risk or at a disadvantage

The higher the difficulty for the condition to be achieved, the better the degree of control. Additionally, the complexity of the orders assigned depends on the target: sentient beings and machinery can carry out more complex tasks than simpler, inanimate objects.

6. Specialization

Specialization can be broadly defined as any abilities that do not belong to any of the other five categories, making it the most vague of the six types of energy expression. Specialist abilities also tend to have more steps and conditions than other abilities.

In accordance with its nature, Devil Fruit powers that can express this effect are wide-ranging. Usually, Devil Fruit powers that still cannot be explained by science in any way, shape, or form generally belong to this type of energy expression. Great examples are abilities that somehow control time.