A handful of people in the One Piece world have unlocked the ultimate level of Devil Fruits’ power called “awakening”, which gives their abilities a significant boost. For Zoan-types, awakening enhances the physical abilities of the user to almost unparalleled levels, with the risk however of losing their minds to their bestial nature. Despite its initial impression, Luffy’s Devil Fruit is also a Zoan-type of the Mythical branch, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika (Human Human Fruit, model Nika). Luffy’s appearance and abilities in awakened form (which he calls Gear Fifth), however, differ greatly from other awakened Zoans shown recently in the series.

Luffy’s Gear Fifth Doesn’t Have Black Flames Like One Piece‘s Other Awakenings

During their current adventure on Egghead Island, the Straw Hats are clashing with the members of CP0, an elite group of spies and assassins in the service of the World Government. This group includes two old foes, Rob Lucci and Kaku, who are both Zoan Devil Fruits users. Lucci immediately showed his new awakened form, which has peculiar flame-shaped black wisps of smoke coiling around his neck and shoulders. In chapter #1072 of One Piece, Kaku fights Zoro and reveals he has also awakened his Devil Fruit, and his form shares the same signature black flames as Lucci, proving that this is a common feature of awakened Zoans who don’t lose their minds in the process (explaining why the Impel Down guards don’t show it).

Luffy’s Gear Fifth also has similar wisps of smoke coiling around his shoulders, but they are white and don’t look like flames. Together with the unique abilities of his awakening, which are more akin to Paramecia-types than Zoan, this confirms that Luffy’s awakened Devil Fruit form is absolutely unique in the series. This is probably due to the fact that the Mythical Zoans’ grouping with other Zoan-types has always been odd and possibly inaccurate. All the Mythical Zoan users, such as Kaido, Yamato, Sengoku, and Marco, have displayed abilities that resemble those of Paramecia and go well beyond the mere bestial transformations of regular Zoans, as confirmed by Eiichiro Oda in the special Road to Laugh Tale vol. 3.

Luffy’s Awakening Makes Him Unique Even Among One Piece‘s Crazy Abilities

There is also a chance that the color white that is prominent in Gear Fifth is another way for One Piece‘s author to highlight Luffy’s role as the “dawnbringer” and the savior of the world. The different colors of the signature awakening smoke/flames on Luffy’s body compared to those of Lucci and Kaku thus help further set apart Mythical Zoan users. Luffy’s dominance over Lucci in their battle already showed that they are on very different levels. The true abilities of Luffy‘s Devil Fruit, revealed twenty-five years after its debut in the manga, are clearly overpowered, and make the protagonist of One Piece look and feel special even in a world filled with people with unique Devil Fruit powers.