The One Piece manga, like many other manga, has used a form of strength awakening to give its characters a boost of strength. Zoan Awakening in One Piece is a transformation of a person who eats a devil fruit.Â
Zoan is one among the three types of devil fruits, Zoan, Paramecia, and Logia. Devil fruits are very rare and also hard to differentiate. They can be differentiated from others by their unusual color and, more specifically, by the whirl-like markings on their surface, which also taste horrible.Â
Anyone who takes a bite of the devil fruit simultaneously gets the power contained within the fruit. Zoan-type Devil Fruit gives a person the to transform into a specific animal. Let’s understand what Zoan Awakening is.
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What is Zoan Awakening?
Zoan Awakening is an additional superior stage of power that a devil fruit user can achieve. How one achieves a Zoan Awakening is not clear whether it requires a distinctive ability or harsh training. The first Zoan Awakeners we come to know of are the jailor beasts.Â
Awakened Zoans show increased power and durability, and enhanced abilities and can also heal at super-fast speeds.
In awakened form, Zoans lack human consciousness and show more primitive instincts as they can barely talk or express themselves but can understand and obey basic commands.
Luffy, Kaku and Lucci come out as an exception, as even in their awakened form, they remain in control of their senses and spirit.Â
A Zoan-devil fruit that allows the user to transform into three forms:
1. Beast Form- This is the primary form of the Zoan devil fruit. In this form, the user can transform into an animal (depending on the fruit) and use that particular animal’s abilities.Â
2. Beast-Human Hybrid form- The user becomes a hybrid of human and animal forms. The user remains a Bipedal, even if the animal may be a Quadrupedal.
In this form, the user develops short animal legs disproportionate to the overall size, a visible human waist, and a beast’s upper body with a large head.
3. Awakening Beast form- Here, the user transforms into the animal vested in the devil’s fruit which may have the powers from one of the five types of animals mentioned below.
In this form, the Will of the animal takes over the user’s Will, granting them a tremendous strength. The awakening form is sporadic and difficult to control.
In simple terms: Zoan awakening means an awakening of the Zoan-devil fruit that is very rare. When a Zoan devil fruit is awakened, the user completely changes into an animal and gains a tremendous boost in strength.
At that time, the Will of the user should be strong; otherwise, their Beast form takes over the Will, and then the user will lose their senses, unable to preserve their human form. That’s the only catch of Zoan awakening.
Categories of Zoan Devil Fruits
1. Herbivorous Zoans– When a Zoan Devil Fruit bestows the strength of a herbivore animal. Despite their instincts not being as sharp as those of carnivores who are designed for hunting down their prey, they are in no sense inferior to them in terms of physical power.
Example: Ushi Ushi No Mi: Giraffe, Ushi Ushi No Mi: Bison
2. Carnivorous Zoans– A Zoan Devil Fruit that has bestowed the power of a carnivore animal and has sharp hunting instincts, making the user bloodthirsty.
Example: Neko Neko No Mi: Leopard, Inu Inu No Mi: Wolf
3. Ancient Zoans– Some Devil fruits bestow the power of an ancient animal that has been extinct for a long. These Zoan forms are considered to be stronger and bigger than normal ones and are also more difficult to find.
Examples: Zou Zou no Mi: Mammoth Ryu Ryu no Mi: Pachycephalosaurus
4. Mythical Zoans- Mythical Zoan Devil fruits give the fruit user the abilities of an animal that does not exist or is mythical, and the user gets some mythical powers, so the Mythical Zoans are the rarest.
Example: Tori Tori no Mi: Phoenix, Hito Hito no Mi: Daibutsu.
5. Artificial Zoan- Artificially created Zoan fruits, known as SMILE, are not as effective but can grant a user partial transformation abilities with various side effects.
All Known Zoan Awakeners in One Piece
1. LuffyÂ
Fruit: Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi: Nika
Luffy, when seven years old, ate the Gomu Gomu No Mi, a paramecia-type devil fruit, that is later discovered to be a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi: Nika, that allows him to become the ever-cheerful incarnation of Nika. He has his awakening during the Wano country arc.Â
His clothes and hair turn white all of a sudden, and he is surrounded by white clouds. Also, his Haki gives everything in his environment rubber-like qualities that allow him to bend or stretch anything, even lighting.
When thrown into Onigoshima, his Haki made the eyes of people in Onigoshima pop out, but his awakening quickly exhausted all his Haki, and he was soon out of steam.
2. Impel Down Jailer Beasts
In the Impel Down Arc, we see Jailer Beasts as the first Zoan awakenings in One Piece.
- Minotaurus– Minotaurus has a deceiving appearance in contrast to his personality and has both strength and speed, making him a formidable enemy.
- Minozebra– Minozebra has brutal strength, and with his mace, he throws several inmates into the pond of blood.
- Minorhinocerous– Minorhinocerous is bashful and bloodthirsty and also is in charge of torturing the jail inmates.
- MinoKoala-Â A cutesy yellow Koala in its awakened form, but is a very violent one who wields three spiked knuckles to attack his enemy.
- Minochihuahua– Recruited much later than others in the Fish-Man Island Saga, but he is equally brutal and as violent as others.
3. Rob Lucci
Fruit: Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard
Rob Lucci has eaten a carnivore-type Zoan devil fruit, Neko Neko No Mi: Leopard. He awakened his beast form along with Luffy while fighting him in the Egghead island arc. Black clouds form around his arms, just like Luffy.Â
He experiences increased strength and durability and grows bulkier, but his arms remain lean, and also his teeth and claws grow out, enabling him to render more damage.
4. Kaku
Fruit: Ushi Ushi No Mi: Giraffe
Kaku awakened his devil fruit while in a duel with Zoro. Just like Lucci, he develops black clouds around him.
His neck becomes bulkier and long like a serpent, but before he can show his full potential, he is bitten unconscious by Stussy.
Temporary Zoan Awakeners in One Piece
1. Chopper
Fruit: Hito Hito no Mi
Tony Tony Chopper’s awakening is temporary as he uses the rumble ball to transform. He used science to unlock six forms of his devil fruit, including the monster point.
His ability to master his awakened form has increased over time. During the Imperial Down arc, he is strong but slow and also not conscious of himself.
After the time skips, he is more in control of his senses, so he requires one rumble ball instead of three to awaken monster point, but it is useless for at least three hours after his transformation. He can use his monster point only every six hours.
2. Lassoo
Fruit: Inu Inu no Mi, Model: DachshundÂ
Lassoo is an example of an inanimate object gaining abilities after eating a devil fruit and has been the pet companion of Mr. 4 ever since.
He was originally a gun, but he ate a cursed fruit, Inu Inu No Mi: Dachshund, so he could transform into a gun dog. He transforms into a baseball pitching machine that throws baseballs at great speeds toward his opponents.
3. Funkfreed
Fruit: Zou Zou No Mi: Elephant
Funkfreed is Spandam’s pet and bodyguard who was Spandam’s sword, who swallowed Zou Zou No Mi: Elephant and became the elephant sword. He transforms into an elephant sword hybrid with the size of an elephant and the strength and sharpness of a steel sword.
Here, we conclude our article on, “Zoan Awakening in One Piece.” Many humans have not unlocked their full potential. Following the progress of chapters, there is a lot of fun waiting to be unleashed in One Piece.
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A Fitness Instructor and Therapist based in West Bengal, Durgapur. She is pursuing her Post Graduation in Literature and also pursuing her passion for manga and anime with Seinen Manga. She has been a fan of manga and Anime for long and is honing her writing skills as a Content Writer. A regular at anime cosplay events, when not reading a manga, she will be busy sketching her favorite anime characters.