Awakening, a manifestation of Devil Fruit abilities, occurs when the user's development and power increase, allowing a rare few to reach the threshold of awakening.
Once a fruit is awakened, the user's power typically becomes much stronger. For Paramecia-type fruits, awakening means the ability to alter surrounding objects.
The power affects things beyond the user themselves, and at that moment, a large number of objects on the coast were transformed into mochi by Katakuri.
"It seems you won't admit defeat, so I'll have no choice but to take you down, Rainy Mochi!"
Katakuri slammed his fists onto the ground. Under his attack, the sand, transformed into mochi, rose up in hardened strips toward the sky, blocking nearly all of Shaina's escape routes as she moved with extreme speed.
The attack from above made flight difficult for her, and the omnipresent strikes made evasion hard.
The rain-like assault combined with Future Sight observation meant the mochi hit her like a flurry of punches. To cope, she had to switch back to a defensive form, igniting the flames on her back, with Armament Haki coating her wings to form a protective barrier.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A series of dull thuds rang out. Though Katakuri's attacks were temporarily blocked, this created a vicious cycle, forcing her to abandon her speed form to withstand the assault.
However, by abandoning her speed form, she couldn't deal with Katakuri's Future Sight Observation Haki. Without countering this Haki, she would continuously be hit by his attacks, leaving her with no choice but to endure in a defensive form.
At this point, she was almost caught in a loop. Although employing attacks like Flamethrower, it failed to reach Katakuri.
"Machamp Mochi!"
He also noticed Shaina's reduced speed, assuming she had reached her limits, intending to seize the moment to end this battle.
A doughnut made of mochi appeared above his arm, and as he swung his fist, a massive mochi fist followed.
This time, Shaina's Flame Kick failed to hit its target. Katakuri predicted her movements and struck her abdomen at a peculiar angle. Though the damage wasn't significant, the battle began shifting in his favor.
"You've lost; you can't challenge my awakened form."
"Awakening..."
At this moment, Shaina needed to maintain her defensive stance while achieving the speed of her speed form to break the loop. But there was a limit to the effects of acceleration, requiring a breakthrough.
As one of the first followers of Arceus, he did not neglect her. She had assembled several sets of corresponding skills and had also inquired about awakening.
After all, fruit awakening wasn't a secret with Kaidou, and she was curious whether Arceus's power could awaken. He had already given her that strength.
The Mega Evolution belonging to Pokemon.
Unlike Primal Reversion, most Pokemon's Mega Evolution is a transcendent form, unable to be sustained for long due to its greater power.
In the world of Pokemon, Mega Evolution requires the aid of a Mega Stone and a Key Stone.
However, beings like them, equivalent to ability users, couldn't find a Trainer, so the power was integrated into them in a special way. Like awakening, once trained to a certain extent, this power could be mastered.
Like Mandfeish's Light of Evolution, the power was granted, and whether a breakthrough could be achieved depended on oneself.
Though Zoan-type Fruits can also awaken, their manifestations differ greatly from Paramecia-types. Zoan awakenings often bring unparalleled recovery or larger forms, with failure potentially turning them into Prisoner Beasts.
She hadn't felt such sensations from Kaidou, but today's encounter with Katakuri seemed to make some things clear.
"Awakening..."
As an excellent teacher of observation, the second-generation awakening teacher, Shaina found the final threshold by extrapolating from her sensations of this power.
At this moment, a different light flickered in Katakuri's eyes. Before he could react, a towering pillar of fire shot toward the sky, and under the blaze, Shaina's form began to change.
Yellow feathers turned black, claws grew sharper, and flames danced like wristbands in the air.
"Unrivaled Donuts!"
Behind Katakuri appeared multiple doughnuts made of mochi, continuously launching mochi fists. Like before, Shaina's broad wings shielded her from Katakuri's attacks, but the subsequent results differed.
In the gaps of Katakuri's assault, Shaina vanished.
"So fast..."
Since mastering Observation Haki to this level, it was the first time he experienced such a feeling. A fiery kick was aiming for his head; although he wanted to transform into mochi to avoid it, Shaina's attack speed surpassed his evasion.
Shaina's claws were aflame; Mega Blaziken's leg strength exceeded that of Blaziken. Due to the extreme speed, friction with the air caused intense burning, raising internal temperatures, enhancing energy, and speed.
The scorching flying kick hit Katakuri's neck. The immense kicking speed and the attached Haki rendered his evasion ineffective, sending him flying.
Boom!
Even the mochi-covered ground rumbled violently upon the high-speed collision.
Awakening versus Mega Evolution, Paramecia versus Zoan, a more intense battle unfolded on the island.
"Machamp Mochi!"
"Flame Kick!"
Shaina's high temperature countered Katakuri's mochi to some extent, as the intense flame dried and crisped the sticky mochi, tilting the scales of victory back toward Shaina.
The battle ultimately ended with Katakuri conceding. Both could still continue, but doing so would not merely determine a winner or loser but lead to a life-or-death struggle.
Upon envisioning himself landing on his back, Katakuri opted to admit defeat, akin to Marco, finding it a better alternative than being utterly defeated.
"That guy is yours, but you're not going to let him go, right? That way, I can't explain it to Mama."
"No, that guy's fate was sealed long ago."
With that, Shaina tossed a small vial to Katakuri.
"Burn Heal."
"Thanks."
Unlike Marco, the two pirate crews had a lot of cooperation. Since the battle ended, there was no need to continue clashing...