Warning: SPOILERS for One Piece #1061The biggest mystery in One Piece is about to be revealed soon. The secret behind Devil Fruits and their bizarre powers, which appeared in the very first chapter of Eiichiro Oda's best-selling manga, is going to be disclosed by one of the series' most anticipated characters, Dr. Vegapunk.
In the world of One Piece, eating a Devil Fruit confers a unique special ability based on the fruit's type. These amazing powers come with a cost: Devil Fruit users lose the ability to swim, and they become extremely weak as soon as they are submerged in water. Devil Fruits are divided into three main categories: Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan, with the subtype Mythical Zoan being the rarest and often most powerful kind. However, despite the important role played by Devil Fruits in the series, absolutely nothing is known about their origins or the way their powers work. The foremost expert in the matter is Dr. Vegapunk, the World Government's top scientist, who discovered that Devil Fruit work by altering the users' DNA (called Lineage Factor in the series) and has supposedly cracked every secret of these mysterious items.
Vegapunk made her long-awaited first appearance in chapter #1061 of the manga, causing a huge reaction among fans. However, not many of them remember that the appearance of the scientist also means that every secret behind Devil Fruits is about to be exposed. In the SBS (Q&A section) of volume 48 of One Piece, Oda mentioned that whenever "a certain professor" would make his appearance in the story, the truth about Devil Fruits would be revealed. This was released 15 years ago, so it's not strange that most fans forgot about it. What it means, however, is that Vegapunk's appearance in chapter #1061 preludes to the explanation of a secret that dates back to the very first chapter of the manga, and that Oda carefully maintained until now.
There are so many details about Devil Fruits that fans have been waiting to hear about. For example (and this is what prompted Oda's answer in volume 48), how and where Devil Fruits reappear after their user dies, a fact that was established only late in the course of the series. This is likely connected to a mysterious "will" that Devil Fruits contain and is the key to the process discovered by Vegapunk through which an object can "eat" a Devil Fruit and become animated. This could also be important to explain the secrets still hiding behind Luffy's Devil Fruit and the connection between Nika and Joy Boy. There is also the matter of Blackbeard, the only person in the world who has eaten two Devil Fruits without dying and can steal their powers from people through undisclosed means. Finally, even the basic weakness to water that all Devil Fruits users have has never been explained, and likely hides a huge secret.
According to Oda's own words in volume 48, all these questions will be answered now that Vegapunk has finally appeared in the manga. Fans of One Piece who have been waiting for decades to learn about the secrets of Devil Fruits will have to wait for just a few more chapters before seeing their patience rewarded.