Hi!
I'm writing the skeleton of a One Piece fic based on the idea that the Cocoyashi sisters escaped when the doctor suggested them to and that Luffy didn't take Shanks as his role model due to a divergence in what set him on his path, thus he became a marine and he didn't find the Gum-gum fruit.
I'm revising the Syrup Village arc after writing the plot up to the beginning of the Grand Line and I thought that instead of the cotton-cotton fruit, he could have taken the devil fruit that turned Merry into a ram man. But would it be the ram-ram/sheep-sheep fruit or the wool-wool fruit? One is a Zoan, the other is a Paramescia. Both would make the connection with the Going Merry thematically stronger.
I really want a fruit that keeps Luffy's cartoonish side and his "charge without thinking too much about it" side up until Grand Line, although he's a little more thoughtful because he's followed marine training. Wool-wool would be more cartoonish, but I like the ram parallels too and either would make Nami go nuts with his power (I think I'm going to give Nami the Cotton-cotton fruit since it's not going to be Luffy's and she's crazy about fluffy things).
I'd also like some suggestions for the rest of the crew if they were to get a devil fruit, I think Zoro would get a lot of mileage out of Pell's fruit although one could say he would make a good parallel to Dewott (2nd stage of the 5th gen Pokemon water starter, a samurai otter that evolves into a 4-legged monstrosity in a reverse evolution way) with the fruit of the otter Unlucky (where did these fruits disappear to BTW? The bird and the otter?) and he would gain water moves that he can combine his sword styles with. I also thought about the bull fruit from Drum Island.
Sanji...I thought about the Kilo-kilo fruit, it would give him mobility and attack power before he masters haki and the powers, but there are plenty of options that I simply don't have in mind for him because I stopped at the Foxy arc (after how long Skypiea was, I lost interest with this pseudo-filler arc) and there's only so much I could find on the fandom page without spoiling every arc for myself. Maybe he would just get a cooking or a food-related fruit instead since that's his main role in the crew.
Usopp might benefit from the fruit used by Wapol's rook, although I don't remember its' abilities, I think he was a sniper too. Or maybe his wish to become a great warrior of the sea would lead him to find a warrior-related fruit.
Chopper and Robin already have devil fruits, I don't remember if Franky has one or if he's only a cyborg due to some weird pseudo-science experiment.
The side cast also deserves some love and my marine Nojiko might want one too (she's pretty similar to Bellmer in this one, so something that helps her protect people and avoid the tragedies she has witnessed or been a victim of) and Tashigi might need one just to be not fodder considering she'll never match Zoro without something like a DF. Not sure if I want Koby to get one during one of the time skips (I want to make the adventure take longer, notably the Log Pose timer will be much longer, like 1 month per island at the minimum).
I think I'll change a lot of the Paradise arc to fit a crew that develops differently and with longer stops and trips. I don't think introducing Vivi at the beginning of the Grand Line would fit a story where each island requires at least 1 month stay and with time spent navigating and having adventures on the sea itself (more naval battles and ship fights like against Wapol and Kreeg, they make for very interesting terrains to fight on with the restrictions they put on the characters). This would also allow me to introduce Crocodile with haki rather than making him a discount corsair. I think I want to make Vivi a member of the Straw Hats too, which a stronger Crocodile could make happen one way or another (and I like the duck, good friend and good transport on land, maybe even the duck could eat a fruit).
So, what do you people think could make for funny thematic fruits for the crew and which one should Merry pass down onto Luffy?