Questions & Mysteries How Did Doflamingo Acquire the Mera Mera no Mi?

[Jew D. Boy]

We all know both how Ace lost it at Marineford and that Doffy gained possession of it before Dressrosa, but how did it end up in his clutches at all? The manga never explicitly addresses this, so I thought it would be fun to speculate.

The way I see it, there are at least two likely possibilities:
1. The fruit regenerated within a certain range of the spot where Akainu brought its user down, and nobody left behind was concerned with searching for it...except a man who loves gathering intelligence as well as influence just in case he needs to crush someone by means physical or psychological. Knowing the nature of Devil Fruits, he lingered after he and the Pacifistas failed to off Moriah and located the fruit, hanging on to it after showing an interest in Luffy’s trajectory.
2. Either the fruit DIDN’T regenerate right in Marineford and spirited away to infect an orange in another land, or someone other than Doffy who was involved in the war picked it up first; however this happened, it eventually ended up on the black market in the Underworld, and he found it there through illicit means.

What do the rest of y’all think?

 

[bluefire12]

He probably got it from one of his allies

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

I've always assumed the World Government had fruits on stand by to collect any after the war, and that's how they acquired the mera—mera. Considering Doflamingo's growing importance in the New World, both for pirates and the World Government, it wouldn't surprise me if they agreed to give Doffy this fruit alongside whenever Cipher-Pol Aegis Zero visited.

 

[Buusatan94]

It's much more likely that the Mera reincarnated on another island than MF and picked by someone who did not eat it possibly to sell it later. He sent Trebol elther to buy, steal or exchange it using his UW connection and intelligence network to locate the df.

 

[Finalbeta]

Not surprised if he had control over tons of devil fruit given his relevance and power in the NW

Heck even CP9 managed to get its hands on some interesting DFs indepdently from their origins

 

[wordyworm]

Doffy had been in the fruit-hunting game for a while. I'm sure he came prepared to collect some more at MF.
He probably had a bunch of fruit under his coat, lol. Strategic fruit pockets. Like a tourist vest full of fruit.

 

[Patryipe]

A good SBS question instead of fart jokes...

 

[Jew D. Boy]

A good SBS question instead of fart jokes...

I wonder how many Japanese readers have sent him this question only to pick up a new volume and see another installment of Here’s All the Favorite Foods of Secondary Characters Most People Don’t Remember.

 

[Finalbeta]

I wonder how many Japanese readers have sent him this question only to pick up a new volume and see another installment of Here’s All the Favorite Foods of Secondary Characters Most People Don’t Remember.

Japanese as culture usually love lectures over Internet so tons of them hahaha