One Piece creator reveals Devil Fruit that broke his own rules

Eichiro Oda reveals one Devil Fruit that goes against his preferences in One Piece SBS 109.

The position of the One Piece movies canonically has always been a subject of speculation. Though movie characters like Shiki and Uta appear in the main storyline, incidents from the films have never been addressed in the story.

Naturally, fans are quite confused about the whole ordeal. Recently one reader asked Oda about the Golden Lion Shiki appearing in the manga and if that meant the events of 2009’s One Piece Film: Strong World is a part of the main story in SBS 109.

Oda’s answer clarified the movies’ connection to the canon once and for all. The author revealed one can “forcefully” incorporate the events of the Strong World (and every other) movie in the main storyline if they want. But those won’t be “that much” connected to the manga.

The author also disclosed the Shiki in Strong World is the same as the one in the manga. However, it was never his plan to give the character the Float-Float Fruit. In fact, he has a personal rule of not giving any of his characters free floating and flying abilities.

“I have a self-rule that I won’t make a guy that can freely fly in the air,” revealed Oda, “So I decided to seal away the ‘Float-Float Fruit’ (because this is a manga about pirates).”

But since Shiki was given the Float-Float Fruit in the anime movie, the mangaka has to include it in the main story from now on. It’s quite irregular, with the canon having to adapt to the non-canon, instead of the other way around. As Oda put it, “It’s true that a strange ‘reverse importation’ has occurred.”

Shiki is a mysterious character in the One Piece manga. He used to be a member of the Rocks Pirates alongside the likes of Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom. After the crew disbanded, he started his own by the name of the Golden Lion Pirates.

His Paramecia-type Devil Fruit allows him to fly and make any non-living thing he touches float. It used to be considered a non-canon fruit until now. But Oda’s answer has officially put it on the list of the canon Devil Fruits in One Piece.

For more on the pirate world, check out our explainers on Bonney’s Devil Fruit, the Void Century, Joyboy’s history, and Vegapunk’s message.