Mane Mane no Mi

The Mane Mane no Mi is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to turn themselves into a physical double of anyone they touch, making the user an Imitating Human (マネ人間). It was eaten by former Baroque Works agent Bentham, also known by the alias Mr. 2 Bon Kurei.

It had previously been eaten by Kurozumi Higurashi before she was killed by Kaidou.

Etymology

 * Mane (真似/まね) means "imitation."
 * In the VIZ Manga, 4Kids and Funimation dubs, it is called the Clone-Clone Fruit.

Strengths


The fruit allows the user to impersonate someone they touch with their right hand, adopting their face, physique, and voice. Bentham has perfect recollection of every person whose form he has ever copied, so he will not forget any person whom he imitates. The user can revert back to their own body by touching their face with their left hand.

The greatest strength of this fruit lies more in its immense potential for deception and creating confusion. By copying the appearance of an important individual, such as royalty, the user can use their position and authority as if it was their own. The user can likewise ruin a person's reputation by framing them for crimes they didn't commit by appearing as them and confessing it was their doing. In both these case, the user needs to make sure the real person hidden away first so no one realizes the truth. The user can also make someone lower their guard by copying someone important to them, such as a friend or family member. Overall, while the fruit lacks much offense purposes, it can potentially topple countries given time and proper planning, as it two known users have demonstrated.

Weaknesses


The user cannot change their appearance into a person whose face they have never touched, making it impossible to change into someone that the user has never met beforehand. Apparently, the user can manifest several features belonging to different people at the same time, though this mostly comes off as comical and affords no strategical battle advantage whatsoever, making this fruit usable only for purposes such as stealth, infiltration, and subterfuge. As copied abilities must be gained through touch, some stronger opponents are hard to get close to and may keep the user at bay.

The user also cannot copy their user's clothes, mannerisms or weapons, so their ability to deceive others depends greatly on their acting abilities. Any key weapons or items possessed by the person will need to be obtained through other means, such as through stealing. Devil Fruit powers also cannot be copied, unless it is the some form of a Zoan fruit. For instance, Bentham was able to mimic Chopper's Brain Point form, which had been granted to him through the Hito Hito no Mi.

Furthermore, while the fruit allows the user to flawlessly copy the physique of a chosen individual, it does not allow them to imitate or adapt to the skills or fighting abilities of the person being impersonated. Similarly, the user may also not be able to use their own techniques depending on whose body they imitate; Bentham is unable to use his Okama Kenpo while in Nami's form because her body is not physically conditioned for it, so he has to change back whenever he starts performing a move.



Lastly, the user's impersonation abilities can be counteracted using measures to identify them. For example, the Straw Hats each wrapped their arm with a bandage as a distraction from the X mark underneath it to identify the real Straw Hats, whereas Bentham would not have this item if he were to impersonate any one of them.

It also seems that if the user is struck while in disguise, they will revert back to their original form, as evidenced by Bentham changing back after being punched by Nami and then later kicked by Sanji in two different occasions. Likewise, a clever enough opponent can trick the user into simply touching their own face with their left hand to undo the disguise.

Kurozumi Higurashi


Kurozumi Higurashi who had this fruit two decades ago used it as part of her deceptive plot to install Kurozumi Orochi as shogun of Wano Country. Notably, she impersonated Kozuki Oden to trick Oden's father, Sukiyaki, into giving Orochi a job in his castle, and 26 years ago, she impersonated Sukiyaki himself to decree that Orochi would succeed him after his death.

She later used this fruit's power to distract Oden during his fight with Kaidou by transforming into Oden's son, Momonosuke, and pretending to be held hostage by a Beasts Pirate, allowing Kaidou to defeat Oden. This action would later lead Kaidou to kill her, however, as he did not appreciate being given an unfair advantage.

Bentham


Complementing his flamboyance and penchant for performing, Bentham loves to demonstrate his ability to an audience for their entertainment, even when he once claimed he was not allowed to (due to his position as a Baroque Works agent at the time).

Bentham uses his fruit's abilities to create confusion and misapprehension, taking the form of authority figures in order to sabotage enemy operations. As such, he had an important role during Operation Utopia, impersonating Nefertari Cobra, the king of Arabasta, to order his royal army into shooting the citizens of Nanohana. Later, during the mass jailbreak at Impel Down, he transformed into Magellan to allow his allies to cross the Gates of Justice by ordering the gates to be opened.

Bentham may also exploit an opponent's devotion to a friend in order to keep them from attacking. He claimed to have met such a person in the past, and attempted the same tactic against Sanji, taking Nami's form after learning about Sanji's chivalrous, pervert tendencies during their fight. That said, Sanji found multiple ways to bypass this disadvantage, either by tricking Bentham himself into reverting through his left hand or counterattacking Okama Kenpo moves (which require Bentham's personal physique) at the right moment.

Techniques

 * Mane Mane Memory (マネマネメモリー): Bon Kurei transforms into somebody he has physically touched, taking on their properties including strength and form. While this contributes little to no advantage in combat, video games such as One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush! (and its North-American only sequel, Grand Adventure) depict this move as being able to allow Bentham to mimic the faces of other Baroque Work operatives (Mr. 9, Mr. 7, and Mr. 8) allowing him to adopt range attacks using rifles and cannons. In the Viz Manga and 4Kids dub, this is called Clone-Clone Memory.


 * Mane Mane Montage (マネマネ): Bon Kurei makes a new face by using different parts from his memory of various faces. This is called Clone-Clone Montage in the Viz Manga and 4Kids dub and Copy-Copy Montage in the Funimation dub.
 * World's Funniest Face: In this case, Bon Kurei makes what he considers "the world's funniest face" by combining what he considers to be the most ridiculous and laugh inducing facial features in his collection of copied faces. The purpose of this move is to incapacitate the enemy by causing them to laugh. He uses 90% of his own face and Usopp's nose.

Anime Only Techniques

 * Gomu Gomu no Okama Pistol (ゴムゴムのオカマ): A punch while disguised as Luffy. Of course, he cannot use the Gomu Gomu no Mi's power, so it has Luffy's strength, but not his stretching. This is called Gum-Gum Queer Pistol in the Funimation subs and Gum-Gum Lovely Pistol in the Funimation dub.


 * Gomu Gomu no Okama Gatling (ゴムゴムのオカマ): A volley of punches while disguised as Luffy. Of course, he cannot use the Gomu Gomu no Mi's power, so it has Luffy's strength, but not his stretching. This is called Gum-Gum Queer Gatling in the Funimation subs and Gum-Gum Crossdresser Gatling in the Funimation dub.


 * Gomu Gomu no Okama Ogama (ゴムゴムのオカマ大鎌): A leaping kick while disguised as Luffy. Of course, he cannot use the Gomu Gomu no Mi's power, so it has Luffy's strength, but not his stretching. This is called Gum-Gum Queer Giant Scythe in the Funimation subs and Gum-Gum Ballerina Giant Scythe in the Funimation dub.

History
The Mane Mane no Mi was eaten over 41 years ago by Kurozumi Higurashi. She was killed by Kaidou around 20 years ago, and some time after her death, Bentham acquired the fruit and ate it.

Trivia

 * With the fruit giving the same appearance and power of the person he changes into, it has not been stated if that appearance or power is set at when he last touched said person.
 * Bentham has been shown with ten different disguises. He was shown as Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Chopper (in Brain Point form), Nefertari Cobra, Galdino, Vice Warden Hannyabal, Warden Magellan and, non-canonically, Daz Bonez. He has also been shown briefly turning into Pandaman during his escape at Impel Down, as confirmed by Oda in the SBS Volume 57. While demonstrating his abilities on his first encounter with the Straw Hats, he was seen with four other people's identities, who remain unnamed.


 * Higurashi has been shown with four different disguises. She was shown as Orochi, Oden, Sukiyaki, and Momonosuke. While demonstrating her abilities on her first encounter with Orochi, she was seen with two other people's identities, who remain unnamed.
 * One of the unnamed people looks similar to Shiki when he was younger.


 * Despite meeting up with the Straw Hats twice and Luffy on a third separate occasion in Impel Down, Bentham never managed to take the identity of Sanji. On the first occasion, Sanji was in the kitchen on the Going Merry (though in the film he merely stopped Bon Kurei before he touched his face). The second time on the Sandora River he had no reason to after Sanji had defeated him.
 * Bentham's status as an Okama consigns with this fruit's ability to become any person he makes contact with, regardless of gender.
 * It is currently unknown if the Devil Fruit mimics only human beings, especially after proving he could transform into Chopper, who, despite his Devil Fruit, is still a reindeer in essence, and since the fruit does not copy the target's Devil Fruit, it can be stated that the Mane Mane no Mi can mimic the target's physical state in the moment of contact.
 * According to Bentham, the user must touch their face with his right hand to change into someone else and then touch it with their left hand to change back. However, Higurashi was never seen using her hands to transform, meaning that the face-touching was likely just a gimmick.
 * Higurashi also did not seem to need to touch other people's faces with her hands in order to use the fruit's power, as she was never seen touching the faces of Orochi, Oden, or Momonosuke.
 * The 4Kids dub committed a mistranslation by having Bentham say he does not have to touch people in order to change into their appearance.
 * Catarina Devon's Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kyubi no Kitsune has a similar ability to this fruit, except that the user transforms through a puff of smoke.

Non-Canon

 * In One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2, Bentham uses his fruit's powers to disguise himself as Whitebeard in order to fool the enemy in the game's final non-canon scenario.
 * In One Piece: Burning Blood, Bentham can use his Devil Fruit to transform into either Nami, Robin, or Boa Hancock in order to stun enemies. Interestingly, both Nami and Robin forms are based on their Post-Timeskip appearance.
 * Additionally, Bon Clay (Clone) (which is Bentham in Nami's form) that appears as a DLC character also uses Nami's Post-Timeskip appearance.

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