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Through Bartholomew Kuma’s flashback, One Piece has finally begun to shed some light on Monkey D. Dragon’s enigmatic character. While the exact details remain unknown, it has been revealed that Dragon was once a Marine but left the organization after discovering all the rotten things behind it.
As the Revolutionary Army’s leader and presumably most powerful member, there’s no doubt that Dragon’s combat prowess is at the level of the absolute strongest One Piece characters. Dragon shares the same blood as Garp and Luffy, which is another pretty evident clue of the former’s might.
To this day, Dragon’s fighting abilities are yet to be revealed, but based on his few appearances in the series, it’s safe to assume that he possesses a weather-controlling Devil Fruit. Interestingly, One Piece chapter 1099 highlights a further hint of Dragon’s powers being related, in particular, to wind.
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Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1099.
One Piece 1099 makes it clear that Monkey D. Dragon has a wind-based Devil Fruit
The new chapter contains yet another clue about Dragon’s powers
Throughout the story, Dragon has been strongly associated with storms and wind, to the point where it could be said that, every time he is around, the weather changes. The most notorious example of this is Dragon’s arrival in Rogue Town.
As soon as he got there, a sudden storm simultaneously blew away the scaffold where Luffy was about to be killed at the hands of Buggy. This can’t be a mere coincidence, given that Luffy is Dragon’s son and that another similar event happened immediately after.
Overpowered by Smoker, Luffy was on the verge of being arrested. However, Dragon promptly appeared behind the Navy officer and stopped him from capturing Luffy. Concurrently, a powerful gust of wind blew away Smoker’s subordinates.
In the flashback that shows how he saved a child Sabo from drowning, Dragon seemed to float above the water's surface, as if he were hung in the air. Furthermore, his body was noticeably emitting some kind of smoke.
Interestingly, being able to levitate and fly is a typical ability of Logia users transformed in their element. Taking this into account, Dragon’s Devil Fruit might very well be the Wind-Wind Fruit, i.e., the hypothetical Logia of the wind.
A similar power would perfectly fit Dragon's character. Wind is commonly associated with the concept of change, and no one can embody it more than Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, the only force that actively seeks to topple the World Government.
As a turbulent and free-spirited man who is trying to bring revolution to the One Piece world, Monkey D. Dragon is the personification of the “wind of change”. With this in mind, the fact that Dragon’s personal ship is called “Wind Granma” can hardly be considered a coincidence.
One Piece author Eiichiro Oda is well-known for his tendency to mislead his readers with clamorous red herrings, but, in this case, the coincidences are just so many. In the manga’s most recent installment, One Piece chapter 1099, Dragon greeted Bartholomew Kuma by saying:
"Just leave fate to the blow of the wind, my friend."
It must be noted that this is just one of the many times that wind is directly mentioned either by Dragon or by someone who is talking with him.
Wind or weather? Logia, Paramecia, or Zoan?
Without a shadow of doubt, Dragon doesn’t possess the Logia of lightning and electricity, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, as it’s well known that Enel owns it. Still, he brought a storm to Rogue Town, and caused lightning to hit the scaffold where Buggy had set up Luffy’s execution.
Theoretically, Dragon might have changed the air temperature to create lightning, but, even then, he wouldn’t have enough control to make it strike the scaffold with accuracy. Given that he was trying to save his own son, it’s hard to think that he would leave so much up to luck.
Thus, Dragon’s Devil Fruit has to be something specific. A speculative Weather-Weather Fruit would give him the ability to manipulate all the atmospheric conditions, while a hypothetical Storm-Storm Fruit, he could use to control each component of a tempest.
In either cases he would be able to handle both gusts of wind and lightning strikes with precision. Needless to say, a theoretical Wind-Wind Fruit, as the Logia of the wind, would enable Dragon to fully control any aspect related to this element, including the development of storms.
Being a Logia, the supposed Wind-Wind Fruit would also allow the user to transform his body into the natural element. This would explain the weird smoke surrounding Dragon when he rescued Sabo, as well as his alleged ability to fly and hover in the air.
In the Chinese mythology, dragons can control wind, lightning, and, broadly speaking, the weather. In this perspective, Dragon’s weather-manipulating powers could stem from a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit that allows him to turn into an eastern dragon.
For instance, he could own the Mythical Zoan of the Xilong. According to the Chinese myths, this fabled creature is faster than the wind and has control over the atmospheric conditions.
While it might seem a silly argument, Dragon’s name is, literally, that of the mythological being. Considering that Smoker’s Devil Fruit is, unironically, the Smoke-Smoke, it’s not too farfetched to think that Oda made the same pun with the leader of the Revolutionary Army.
On the contrary, there’s good reason to think that things are just like that. The martial arts style that Dragon taught Sabo when he trained him includes moves like the Dragon Claw, the inspiration for which is quite self-explanatory.
Finally, another option could be the Mythical Zoan of the Thunderbird. This creature, typical of Native American culture, possesses the ability to manipulate the weather and generate storms. Interestingly, Dragon’s hairstyle and facial tattoo resemble those of typical North American indigenous tribes.
Whether the Logia of the wind or a Zoan that grants the ability to control the atmospheric conditions, at this point it seems clear that Dragon holds a Devil Fruit power.
Considering that Dragon's first appearance in the manga was in chapter 100 and that Oda loves to play with numbers, the incoming chapter 1100 of One Piece might feature the former's return in grand style. Dragon's appearance on Egghead would be timely to protect his son Luffy and his old friends Kuma and Bonney from the wicked Saint Saturn.
When Luffy was revealed to be a Conqueror’s Haki user, Emporio Ivankov said that it was to be expected for the former to have that rare ability, given his blood tie with Dragon. Needless to say, this implies that Dragon has the same natural-born power.
As one of the mightiest individuals in the One Piece world, if, as seems likely, Dragon can unleash the Color of Conqueror, he should be able to use the highest level of that power as well. Admittedly, a combination of Advanced Conqueror’s Haki and wind-based Devil Fruit techniques would be dope.
Be sure to keep up with One Piece's manga, anime, and live-action as 2023 progresses.
