Devil Fruits are a major source of power in the world ofOne Piece, with a majority of the strong characters in the story having one. These fruits offer various powers to those to eat them but, at the same time, the sea hates those who consume these fruits. Simply put, those who eat Devil Fruits lose their ability to swim permanently. Devil Fruits are usually classified into three types and they’re Logia, Paramecia, and Zoan. Despite having very different powers, all these types grant tremendous power to their users, making them stronger than they were before consuming the fruits.
After the time-skip, the idea of Haki, another power system inOne Piece, was focused on quite a lot. In fact, in some instances, it almost felt as ifHaki was prioritized over Devil Fruitsby the author. However, that certainly didn’t last long as, towards the end of the Dressrosa arc, Oda introduced a new power related to the Devil Fruits, called awakening, that makes them much more overpowered and completely changes how their powers work.
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What Is Devil Fruit Awakening?
While the concept of awakened Devil Fruits was properly explained to the fans in the Dressrosa arc ofOne Piece, the idea was introduced during the Impel Down arc, way before the two-year timeskip. In Impel Down, fans got to see the Jailer Beasts who, according to Crocodile, were forcefully awakened Devil Fruit users. Sinceall of them were Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, awakening in their case meant more strength, power, endurance, and a much faster recovery rate. In fact, according to Crocodile, it was no surprise that even after being knocked out, they got up mere minutes later and were ready to fight again.
Following Impel Down, Oda started to introduce awakening as an important power among Devil Fruit users, with Donquixote Doflamingo being the first person with this power that the fans saw towards the end of his fight against Luffy. According to Doflamingo, awakening is a power that only a few Devil Fruit users can tap into. It is currently unknown how exactly a Devil Fruit is awakened, however, it most likely has to do with fulfilling the potential of the fruit completely and gaining total control over its abilities.
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Once awakened, a Devil Fruit’s power is significantly increased and it allows the user to do things that would’ve been impossible otherwise. In Doflamingo’s case, he was able to affect his immediate surroundings with his Devil Fruit ability and use them as weapons. Charlotte Katakuri, the strongest Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates, had a similar awakening. So far, no Logia awakening has been seen in the story.
How Awakening Affects The Power System
Awakenings appear to be quite useful as they drastically boost the user’s abilities in combat. Taking Luffy, for instance, it is clear that he has two major sources of power — his Devil Fruit and his Haki.Luffy has already mastered his Devil Fruitto a certain degree but he hasn’t awakened its powers yet. Yet, he has already mastered Haki and even managed to gain all the three advanced types of it. It is quite clear to see that Oda is saving Luffy’s Devil Fruit awakening as his next big power-up, meaning, whatever it is, it is likely going to be enough to take Luffy one step above the level he is already at.
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A further indication of the power of Devil Fruit awakenings was given to the fans in the Wano Country arc when Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid joined forces to defeat Yonko Big Mom. Although they lasted quite long in their fight, their powers or Haki wasn’t enough to even graze Big Mom. Only after they decided to tap into their Devil Fruit awakening were they able to seriously hurt her and turn the tides of the battle ever so slightly.Kid’s awakening allowed him to turn Big Mom into a magnetso all the scrap gets attracted to her while Law’s already overpowered Ope Ope no Mi became even more deadly and now gave him the ability to seriously injure Big Mom from the inside. Their effort was certainly commendable and for the very first time in the entire story, Big Mom bled due to the powers of Devil Fruit awakening.
Clearly, awakening is a gamechanger when it comes to the power system inOne Piece.Those with awakened Devil Fruitshave incredibly high potential, as seen from Trafalgar Law and Kid gaining enough power to injure even a Yonko. As far as Luffy is concerned, he’s already at the level of the Yonko and for him, awakening could prove to be the key to surpassing even the Yonko.
Although Law and Kid have barely shown the true extent of their awakened abilities, if they manage to defeat Big Mom with their newfound powers, awakening will certainly become one of the greatest abilities in theOne Pieceworld. That’s not to say that it is the only way in the story to become strong. Mastering Haki alone can push people to a high level and Shanks is a living example of that. That said, having a powerful Devil Fruit and managing to awaken it is simply another way to reach a similar level to that of the likes of the Yonko among some individuals with potential, such as Kid, Law, and Luffy.
