One Piece’s Paramecia and Zoan have fundamentally different properties, which means their respective awakenings are equally contrasting.
One Piece has two major power sources: haki and the Devil Fruit. The power of haki is obtained by vigorous training and usually depends on an individual’s innate talent, while the Devil Fruit’s power is gained simply by consuming it. There are hundreds of Devil Fruits in the world, each with unique powers that can be either extremely weak or strong. Nonetheless, once a living being consumes the power of one Devil Fruit, they can never consume another. Aside from special cases like Blackbeard, the price of taking more than one Devil Fruit’s powers is the user’s demise.
However, the power of Devil Fruit isn’t limited and can be enhanced through an “awakening,” which grants the wielder more refined abilities. Though One Piece has yet to show a Logia awakening, fans are aware of the massive boost Paramecia and Zoan awakenings can provide the user. However, even though both power-ups are considered awakenings, there is a massive difference between them because of the varying properties of each Devil Fruit type.
How Is a Devil Fruit Awakened in One Piece?
Devil Fruit awakenings are very rare and can significantly boost a user’s abilities. Kaido, a former Emperor of the Sea, once explained that an awakening can only happen when a Devil Fruit user’s mind and body catch up to their powers. These newly developed abilities are more refined and use the fruit’s full potential.
One Piece has mentioned that awakening takes time to manifest and, even when it does, it requires much training to fully control one’s powers before they can be properly used. Using such a massive boost without proper preparation causes the user to lose stamina rapidly. This is why Luffy only manages to maintain his Gear 5 awakening for a short amount of time before completely losing his stamina and looking haggard and pale.
A Paramecia Devil Fruit Awakening Expands the User’s Range of Abilities
Once awakened, the Paramecia user can spread their powers beyond their body and affect the surrounding environment to match the nature of their Devil Fruit power. In most cases, they can manipulate the transformed environment in any way they desire. For example, Doflamingo’s Ito Ito no Mi can create and control strings, but after awakening his Devil Fruit, he can transform his surroundings into strings as well. After witnessing Doflamingo’s awakening, Luffy states that it looks more like a Logia than a Paramecia.
Katakuri can similarly affect the environment with his Mochi Mochi no Mi. During his battle with Luffy, his Devil Fruit awakening transforms the walls of the Mirro-World into flexible mochi. In One Piece: Stampede, the antagonist Douglas Bullet has the power of the awakened Gasha Gasha no Mi, which extends the range of his ability to disassemble and restructure entire terrains. However, the option to transform and manipulate objects doesn’t apply to everyone and is only one aspect of a Devil Fruit awakening.
For example, Eustass Kid’s awakening allowed him to magnetize things other than his own body — both living and inanimate objects. He can strongly attract the objects and bury them under mountains of metals by doing this, but he still requires any form of physical contact with the object to activate his magnetism. On the other hand, before its awakening, Trafalgar Law’s Ope Ope no Mi allowed him to create a space — which he calls “Room” — and manipulate objects or living beings in a number of ways. While inside the room, Law has absolute control over every last object. After the awakening, Law can coat an object in the room without being inside it and use the same abilities more efficiently.
The Zoan Devil Fruit Awakening Increases Strength and Speed – But With a Risk
One Piece has just as many Zoan awakenings as Paramecia. In its awakened state, a Zoan Devil Fruit grants its user far greater strength, speed and durability as compared to its regular state. It also includes faster recovery time, which is active even when the user is unconscious. Unlike Paramecia, Zoan awakenings come with their fair share of risk due to the Zoan’s innate nature — which has the possibility of consuming the user’s personality, thereby turning them into mindless beasts.
One example of this was the Jailer Beasts of Impel Down. During their entire screen time, rather than showing any signs of complex thoughts, they simply work according to their instinct. They even have the appearance of a beast with human attributes, making them truly mysterious. One Piece has yet to mention if they lost themselves permanently after awakening or if they could gain a conscious mind. However, this is not the case with every Zoan user; Rob Lucci and Kaku are in full control of their powers even in their awakened forms. Mythical Zoans are extremely rare, therefore, little is known about their awakening. The only known case is Luffy’s, which is probably the only one in the world.
Before awakening, Luffy’s Devil Fruit had Paramecia powers of Gomu Gomu no Mi. However, it’s only revealed in the “Wano” arc that he actually has the power of “Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.” Luffy has only used this ability once, however, and it is clear his mental state becomes slightly altered as a side effect. Because of the Devil Fruit’s properties, Luffy is overwhelmed with joy even in mid-battle and grins while he maintains his form. Gear 5 allows him freely alter the shape and size of his rubbery body without restrictions. Intriguingly, he can also extend his rubber powers to surrounding inanimate objects to affect the environment — similar to a Paramecia Devil Fruit awakening.
Src: cbr.com
