Post by Vio on Apr 18, 2022 15:10:19 GMT -5
A SMILE is an Artificial Devil Fruit created by the efforts of less than reputable individuals occupying the New World, bestowing its consumer with a power similar to that of a Zoan Class Devil Fruit, but imperfect. As a result of a covert operation (see here), shipments of SMILEs were intercepted and have since found their way onto the black market, thus enabling characters to find them.
SMILE Ability Users are varied and diverse thanks to the nature of their Devil Fruits, whose artificial creation results in abnormal transformations that simply don’t match up to what is typically expected of a Zoan. Rather than shifting between forms that mix their natural and beast forms, SMILEs instead cause the user to sprout additional limbs, or transform in ways that simply don’t correspond to their particular animal’s anatomy — hands becoming the horns of a ram, gaining a lion’s face upon your belly, or turning one’s hand into the snarling head of a wolf are all possible examples. Some SMILE users’ transformations are so extreme that they can appear to have most of their animal’s body growing out of them, or even go as far as to look as if they are the ones growing out of the animal’s body. As a result, SMILE users are either transformed, or not, with no true option for assuming a “Full-Beast” form as regular Zoan users would. Furthermore, in many cases, the animal itself has a mind independent of the user, though these instances always seem to have the animal’s head present in some form, such as is the case with Hold’em.
A SMILE is always an extant animal species and, unlike other Devil Fruits, the naming scheme is simply “<Animal> SMILE” (“<Animal> no SMILE” in Japanese). For example, Gazelleman’s SMILE is referred to as a Gazelle SMILE. No surprises there! Similarly, because of their artificial nature, more than one of each animal can exist, though they’ll often have entirely different transformations. Despite how unusual they are, SMILEs still have a standard transformation to which they abide, and so — even if you’re sprouting extra limbs — they will always sprout from the same position. Remember! Even SMILEs that grant additional limbs are limited to the number of limbs an animal would have, so a Monkey SMILE could only grant you a maximum of five additional limbs (two arms, two legs, and a tail).
SMILEs share one similarity with Logia in that there is only one kind — no sub-categories exist and so they all use the same cost. Because they are more bizarre than regular Zoans and potentially offer more versatility, they are a little more costly, as shown below:
X-Poinz Cost Rebate Gained 200 100
Unique SMILE Features
When a character eats a SMILE, they gain a new Trait that represents their new abilities and any weaknesses that come with it. For example, after eating his SMILE, Hold’em became a “Lion SMILE”. Also, unlike Zoans, SMILEs cannot be ‘eaten’ by inanimate objects, so any users of these artificial powers must be living creatures. Even though SMILEs can seem limited as a result of their origins, they do still have some potential, even if it isn’t as great as that of a regular Zoan.
Inherent Quality
Much like the Zoan they aim to emulate, SMILEs grant their user a passive benefit to their physical capabilities. This benefit can take a more generalized form, akin to a standard Static Trait or a Passive Quality I - however, keep in mind that this only affects the portions of the user’s chimeric physiology that can be traced back to the false Devil Fruit’s animal, and it must in some way make sense for the animal in question!
Body Plan Manipulation
A Devil Fruit Advancement unique to SMILE users who have better developed their understanding of their outright bizarre anatomy. It allows them to break free of their usual transformation’s constraints and adjust their body plan as they see fit, such as transforming their hand into the entire upper body of a gorilla, instead of having an additional pair of gorilla arms. This mastery over their abilities does not allow them to spawn more limbs than they would naturally have, nor does it let them achieve any sort of proper Zoan transformation, but it does offer a much greater degree of versatility for those who take the time to master this weird power. You can learn more about this and other Devil Fruit enhancements in the Devil Fruit Advancement section.
Failed SMILE
Only one in ten SMILEs actually bestow the consumer with the ability of an animal. The rest incur all of the weaknesses with none of the benefits, plus another horrific side-effect which has resulted in members of Kaido’s crew gaining the name ‘Pleasures’. Those who eat one of these defective SMILEs inherit the weaknesses to water and Kairōseki (“Seastone”), but also become incapable of directly expressing any emotions other than joy, forever cursed to smile widely and laugh aloud no matter how angry, upset, or disgusted they may become. It’s for this same reason that these artificial Devil Fruits gained their name.
Because there were no doubt duds among the SMILEs that got loose, we’re presenting the option of having consumed a defective SMILE to characters that wish to take it. It incurs the weaknesses listed above as fixed Negative Traits, but costs nothing in terms of X-Poinz due to gaining no actual power from it.
