As one of the world's top powerhouses, Kaido and Charlotte Linlin naturally knew exactly what the Awakening of Devil Fruit power was.
Kaido himself was even an Awakened ability user.
He is the Awakened user of the Mythical Zoan-type Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.
The Awakening of Zoan-type abilities is the most common and prevalent among all Devil Fruit users.
Of course, the Awakening of these Zoan-type abilities is also the most monotonous.
Because the vast majority of Zoan-type Awakenings involve a comprehensive increase in physical attributes such as endurance, recovery, and raw strength.
In other words, they become tougher, and there are partial enhancements related to their lineage. For example, a leopard type will become faster, while a mammoth type will gain more blood-thickening durability.
Kaido's protégé, Jack the Drought, is the user of the Mammoth Fruit. Regardless of other factors, his ability to take a beating is second to none.
He's not called "Captain of the Collisions" for nothing. It doesn't matter if I can beat you or not; relying on my powerful body and thick health bar, I dare to fight you!
Because of this, even though Jack constantly loses, he has never died.
If it were another ability user who played like him, they would have long since died on the spot.
Why does Kaido dare to call himself the "Strongest Creature"?
It's because he possesses an exceptionally powerful physique and physical quality, and on top of that, he is a Mythical Zoan-type user in the ridiculously powerful Azure Dragon form, dominating the sea, land, and sky.
Having reached this level, he is fundamentally at the apex of physical strength. Yet, he can also Awaken his ability, which results in his virtually immortal state. That's why he dares to claim the title of the "Strongest Creature in the Sea, Land, and Air!"
And purely in terms of physical quality, Kaido completely lives up to this title!
However, if we look at Logia and Paramecia users, setting aside Zoan types, we find that their Awakening rates are generally and significantly lower than those of Zoan-type users.
This is especially true for Logia types, who are considered almost impossible to Awaken. At least in the current era, no Logia user has been heard of achieving Awakening.
The current benchmarks for Logia users on the sea are mostly within the Marines: Sakazuki's Magma-Magma Fruit, Borsalino's Glint-Glint Fruit, Kuzan's Ice-Ice Fruit, Gion's Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and that young brat Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit.
Basically, all top Logia powerhouses are in the Navy. Among the pirates, the only ones currently worthy of mention are the Smoke-Smoke Fruit user, Smoker the White Hunter, and Crocodile the Desert King.
After years of in-depth development, Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit is no longer as much of a joke as it was in the original story. It's now a considerably effective ability, leading many to believe that the Smoke-Smoke Fruit is a top-tier Logia ability.
For example, Smoker's Smoke Suffocation is definitely a major killing move. A cloud of thick smoke passes by, and the more you breathe, the faster you die. At the same time, Smoker has also developed his smoke to have the feel of low-temperature flames, resembling ash. In any case, while his current strength may not be the absolute peak, he has definitely stepped into the top-tier threshold. Otherwise, Whitebeard wouldn't hold him in high regard just for his bounty.
But regardless of the famous Admiral-level Logia users in the Navy, or the two great Warlords of the Sea, Smoker and Crocodile, none of these top Logia users in the current generation dare to claim that they have Awakened their abilities.
Therefore, Zoan users are generally considered the easiest and simplest type of Devil Fruit user to Awaken.
Logia users, on the other hand, are widely considered the most difficult and least likely to Awaken.
Some Devil Fruit scholars even believe that the initial state of a Logia can be regarded as its Awakening. Consequently, Logia users often experience a rapid surge in power immediately after consuming the fruit, because the moment they gain the ability, it is practically equivalent to an Awakening.
There is also substantial supporting evidence, such as Logia users frequently having the power to change the climate or features of an entire island or sea area over a large range, abilities which should otherwise be "categorized" as the power of Awakening.
In short, there are rumors of Logia users Awakening a century or two ago, but currently, for at least the past hundred years, no Logia user's Awakening has been witnessed.
It's said that Kuzan once privately asked Saul about this matter, and based on Saul's memory, he hadn't seen any Logia user Awaken in his over a hundred years of life.
Thus, many experts and scholars generally believe that Logia abilities are impossible to Awaken, or rather, they are in an Awakened state from the beginning, and the deeper the development, the stronger this "Awakened" power becomes.
It must be admitted that this theory is widely accepted by Logia users themselves.
For example, Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan, and others all feel this is largely the case, so no one is stubbornly trying to figure out an Awakening. Instead, they are continuously deepening their ability development, and the more they develop, the stronger they become, the less they care about whether they can Awaken or not.
Even if they don't Awaken, who in the world would dare to claim that the two Marine Admirals, Sakazuki and Borsalino, are weaklings?
That's a joke. Borsalino and Sakazuki are both top-tier powerhouses.
Even Kuzan is only criticized for his lazy personality and style of action, but who would dare say his strength is insufficient?
Especially Gion, who acquired the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Even though she is only an Admiral candidate and not an Admiral, she is widely regarded by the outside world as one of the Navy's top powerhouses, not inferior to an Admiral at all!
Excluding the Logia types, which are the most difficult to Awaken and generally considered 'impossible' to Awaken, and excluding the Zoan types, which are the easiest and universally considered 'simplest' to Awaken, the Paramecia Devil Fruit users are in a relatively awkward state regarding the issue of Awakening.
In fact, within the field of Devil Fruit academic research, many scholars believe that the concept of Paramecia is simply too vast and complex. Practically speaking, it should be further subdivided into many sub-categories that are distinct from the 'Zoan' and 'Logia' major categories.
However, due to centuries of tradition, no change can be implemented, so Devil Fruits are currently still divided into the 'Three Major Categories.'
Setting that aside, many scholars believe that Paramecia Devil Fruits should be formally subdivided into General Types, Special Types, and Rule Types.
The General Types need no extensive explanation. Devil Fruits that are relatively ordinary and focus more on material properties, such as the Gum-Gum Fruit, Gold-Gold Fruit, String-String Fruit, Hard-Hard Fruit, etc., are classified by scholars as 'Paramecia General Type Abilities.'
Furthermore, this category of Paramecia Devil Fruit is also considered by scholars to be the easiest Paramecia to Awaken.
In fact, this is also the case.
Looking across all Paramecia users in the history of the seas, the abilities that have Awoken are basically all material-based, i.e., General Types.
As for the Special Type Paramecia abilities, they can also be further subdivided. This is one of the reasons scholars believe the Paramecia category is too vast and complex and should have been further categorized long ago.
Special Type Paramecia can generally be divided into miscellaneous, strange abilities such as Healing Types and Ghost Types.
The Healing Types need no explanation; the abilities of the Tontatta Princess and Trafalgar Law can all be classified as Healing-Type abilities.
As for Ghost Types, abilities like Brook's Revive-Revive Fruit, Perona's Hollow-Hollow Fruit, and even Charlotte Linlin's Soul-Soul Fruit, and Hawkins' Straw-Straw Fruit, among others, can be assigned to this category.
Then there are the various other miscellaneous types, which are countless, such as Bartholomew Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit and the later Bomb-Bomb Fruit, Flower-Flower Fruit—all incredibly varied.
These Healing, Ghost, and miscellaneous factions are collectively referred to by scholars as 'Paramecia Special Type Abilities.'
The number of Awakened users in this category of Paramecia abilities has already dropped significantly compared to the Material Type, or General Type, Paramecia Devil Fruit users.
For example, Charlotte Linlin, one of the world's most powerful individuals, has not Awakened her Soul-Soul Fruit ability. However, relying on the diverse and strange nature of these abilities, the power they can unleash is vast. Bartholomew Kuma also hasn't Awakened his ability, but who would dare say that he or Charlotte Linlin are weak?
No one!
Therefore, the Awakening of an ability has no great correlation with a person's individual strength. One can only say that those who Awaken do indeed become stronger, but those who haven't Awakened can still stand at the pinnacle.
Now, looking at Rule Type Paramecia Devil Fruit users.
It will be found that, compared to Special Type Paramecia users, the phenomenon of Devil Fruit power Awakening is virtually non-existent among Rule Type users.
Rule Type abilities include those like the former Pirate Overlord, Shiki. His Float-Float Fruit ability can be entirely categorized as a Rule Type.
The current Strongest Man in the World, Whitebeard, has the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which is also a Rule Type ability.
Later on, there are abilities like the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, the Kilo-Kilo Fruit, and the Ton-Ton Fruit, which can all be considered Rule Type abilities, as they touch upon the power of universal laws.
Diarmuid's Gravity-Gravity Fruit is also in this category.
These Rule Type Paramecia abilities are almost impossible to Awaken, and the stronger the rule-based power, the more impossible the Awakening becomes. Diarmuid's 'Gravity-Gravity Fruit' serves as the standard for this.
Not considering personal power but the raw power of the rule itself, the Gravity-Gravity Fruit undoubtedly far surpasses the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Therefore, extrapolating from this perspective, the difficulty of Awakening the Gravity-Gravity Fruit is also far greater than that of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
But even without Awakening, who would dare say that Rule Type abilities are weak?
On the contrary, whether it's Shiki, Whitebeard, or even Diarmuid, they are all individuals standing at the peak of the world. Rule Type abilities are just that powerful.
Even without Awakening, just deep development, or even crude development, can make one immensely powerful.
Thus, there is a general consensus among scholars and even top powerhouses:
The more peculiar and closer an ability is to the Rule Type, the more impossible its Awakening becomes.
The representative figures for this are Charlotte Linlin, representing the peculiarity, and Whitebeard, representing the Rule Type.
They are indeed incredibly powerful, but most powerhouses and scholars believe their abilities are incapable of Awakening.
Diarmuid, having systematically studied this knowledge in the Marine system, also held this view.
And Charlotte Linlin perfectly met everyone's expectation: her ability is incredibly powerful and peculiar, but it has not Awakened.
But now, Whitebeard, a Paramecia Rule Type user, has Awakened his powerful Tremor-Tremor Fruit power. Isn't this just preposterous?
That's why Kaido and Charlotte Linlin were so surprised, even shocked and terrified.
Because this was an event universally accepted as 'impossible,' yet Whitebeard had achieved it. And he is already the Strongest Man in the World; now that he has Awakened his ability, how are they supposed to fight him?
In reality, Whitebeard's ability development to this extent was a matter of chance. In the original story, there was no mention of this; he never developed the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to the point of Awakening before his death.
This time, it was the pressure brought by Diarmuid that pushed Newgate to develop his ability to this level. Back then, when Diarmuid descended with Kaido, he used his 'Abyssal Devourer' to cut down anyone in his path. Even Newgate, the Strongest Man, couldn't block his blade, and a moment of carelessness nearly resulted in Charlotte Linlin's death. Diarmuid was a fearsome presence.
Although Newgate showed no reaction on the surface, only surprise, he later returned to agonizing day and night over how to break Diarmuid's 'Abyssal Devourer' technique.
And that led to the current situation.
People are pushed to their limits, and Diarmuid's butterfly effect successfully made Newgate stronger...
However, Newgate knew very well that this was not a truly complete Devil Fruit Awakening...
But at this moment, he wouldn't explain anything. Just assume I've Awakened! I'm going to beat the hell out of you two!
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