A hidden awakening could explain why one Marine is considered a legend in One Piece

One Piece has always treated its legendary Marines with as much weight as it has the most notorious pirates, and the greatest of them may have been Tsuru. While Garp, Sengoku, and Kong are often remembered due to their great strength and stature, Tsuru is remembered for different reasons: her Devil Fruit, the Wash-Wash Fruit.

This might seem modest on the surface, but many fans speculate that Oda must have hidden the true potential. A secret awakening would explain her legendary status and incomprehensible powers in reality. The implication might serve to clarify why Tsuru is positioned amongst the great Marine legends.

Disclaimer: The article is a speculative theory and includes spoilers from the One Piece manga.

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How Tsuru could be hiding a hidden power in One Piece, explained

Tsuru could be hiding her true power in the story (Image via Toei Animation)

In One Piece, legends do not born simply through reputation but through the burden of concealed power, and Tsuru's is one of the best examples. Though she is not a brawler like Garp or a tactician like Sengoku, she is always among the legendary Marines of the early days.

The reason lies in her Devil Fruit, the Wash-Wash Fruit, which appears simple but likely conceals an awakening that could make it one of the most dangerous abilities in the series.

Her known power allows her to “wash” people and objects, rendering them malleable like laundry. On the surface, this appears quirky, but Oda has consistently taken playful powers and developed them into horrific extremes, as with Bonney's age control or Kuma's paws-based abilities.

Tsuru might rival Luffy Gear 5 in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

If Tsuru's fruit activated, it might extend beyond physical cleansing to abstract cleansing, erasing pain, memories, fatigue, or even sorrow. Such mastery of her power will make her more suitable for the role of a legendary Marine and relevant in the final war.

Another possibility is having the power to control water. Since washing naturally involves water, Tsuru's awakening could give her minimal hydrokinesis. Most Devil Fruits become less effective in the sea, but exceptions are possible, as evidenced by Big Mom's homies summoning tsunamis, Whitebeard disturbing the ocean, and Smoothie using water-based attacks.

This would put Tsuru's power on the same level as the best of her contemporaries, making her a valuable asset during naval battles and making her deserve a position as a legend.

Garp as seen in anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Most importantly, her capability to "wash" the environment could be an echo of Gear 5 Luffy's reality-altering elasticity. She would simply transform her environment into a malleable, laundry-like substance, with which she could control battlegrounds in innovative manners, immobilizing or neutralizing opponents immediately. This is appropriate given her image for resolving disputes efficaciously.

Though Tsuru has never been depicted using Conqueror's Haki like Garp or Sengoku, the notion that her Devil Fruit conceals an awakening of unparalleled scope gives the missing element to her stature.

It transforms her from a side character to a Marine whose unassuming strength defined history. Eventually, Tsuru is remembered as a legend, not only due to her experience, but because her fruit probably contains one of the most underappreciated and strongest awakenings in One Piece.

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Final thoughts

Tsuru is from the same pirate era as Garp in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Tsuru's legend in One Piece is not due to brute strength but the unexplored depths of her Devil Fruit. The Wash-Wash Fruit, which can often be marginalized as eccentric, has the potential to conceal either an awakening with the capacity to change the world, whether that is abstract cleansing, battlefield manipulation, shaped fighting areas, or embodying some level of water control.

This possibility would explain why she stands next to the best Marines in her era. Tsuru encompasses how subtle power can eliminate brute strength, establishing herself as a true Marine legend.

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