Will Luffy awaken his Devil Fruit in One Piece? When?

Monkey D. Luffy will soon awaken his Devil Fruit, and I kid you not – it will happen in the form of the Fifth Gear as per his power growth.

Dubbed as the “King of Mangas”, One Piece is a classic show that many 90s kids know about since the franchise has been around since 1997. When I was a child, I loved seeing how the characters go on multiple adventures to hunt for the One Piece out in the Grand Line.

But now, after almost two decades, not only do I see Luffy very similar to Goku from Dragon Ball (another 90s classic anime), but rather, Luffy possesses the staple shōnen protagonist in many manga and anime series: he is the almost-always-hungry, willful, determined, silly, ambitious, and heroic protagonist who leads everyone in his group of friends, all while dreaming of becoming the King of the Pirates.

Ever since Doflamingo introduced the concept of Awakening, the community has gone wild with speculations and discussions about Luffy’s eventual Awakening. 

With the upcoming fight between Kaido & Luffy and the endgame of the series creeping upon us, it’s a great time to discuss the possibilities of Luffy’s Awakening.

So, here is a blog discussing it in depth.

Disclaimer: This article will contain spoilers about the series, so if someone is still catching up, you have been warned.

Luffy’s Devil Fruit, the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Rubber Rubber Fruit), will definitely awaken at some point in the series. His mastery of it will be limited since something like this requires years of practice.

A popular theory is that Luffy’s Awakening will be in the form of his 5th Gear, in which he will use a Vulcanized Rubber transformation to morph his body parts into weapons.

This will give even more meaning to his attacks, such as Gomu Gomu no Battle Axe. Now that you know Luffy will awaken his Devil Fruit, let’s dig deep into the matter.

1. Devil Fruit Awakening

Devil Fruit Awakening is a special stage in the One Piece world that greatly increases individuals’ devil fruit abilities that significantly allow more control, refinement, and enhanced power skills.

Like most Devil Fruits, it must follow some sort of pattern. When the Devil Fruits that are scattered worldwide are consumed, the consumer loses the ability to swim but gains special abilities.

Before we dive deeper, here is a quick refresher to the classifications of Devil Fruits:

• Zoan: Zoan type devil fruits allow the consumer to transform into an animal.
• Logia: Loga type devil fruits allow the consumer to turn into completely alter their form into a natural element and manipulate it at will.
• Paramecia: Paramecia type devil fruits are very broadly categorized as fruits that give “superhuman abilities.” Basically, any Devil Fruit that isn’t a Zoan or a Logia is a Paramecia.

Each of these classifications also has special fruits known as Mythical fruits, which give users abilities that appear in legends, such as the Phoenix, the Grand Buddha, etc.

Any Devil Fruit can potentially or actually awaken the powers sleeping inside a user.

The concept of Awakening was introduced to us during the final stages of Luffy’s fight against Doflamingo. He described Awakening as the next stage of controlling a Devil Fruit’s powers.

Using his Ito Ito no Mi (String String Fruit), Doflamingo was able to control his environment and turn inanimate objects into strings.

While the actual specifics of a Devil Fruit’s Awakening depend on the fruit itself, there are broad classifications of how an Awakening would look like for a Zoan, Logia & Paramecia type fruit. 

• Zoan: Upon Awakening, a Zoan fruit user’s body becomes extremely strong, fast and durable. The earliest example of Awakening seen in the story was of Zoan fruit users. During the Impel Down arc, we saw Jailer Beasts who were extremely durable. Crocodile explained this as them being awakened.
• Logia: While there are no confirmed examples of Awakened Logia Devil fruit users, an Awakened Logia fruit user can probably alter the environment of a location permanently. This is discussed in more depth in section 3.
• Paramecia: Upon Awakening, a Paramecia type Devil Fruit user is able to alter their environment temporarily. This is shown when Doflamingo & Katakuri use their fruits to turn their surroundings into their respective elements. This classification is not accurate, as due to the sheer amount & variety of Paramecia Devil Fruit users, it is improbable that it would be the same for all of them (Example: The Jacket Jacket Fruit). 

2. When will Luffy’s DF awaken?

Now that we’ve explained it, the one-million-dollar question is when will Luffy’s Devil Fruit awaken? 

There are two major factors at play here: Luffy’s age & the prophesized year.

I. Luffy’s Age

Something that people tend to overlook is the fact that Luffy is young. Almost every single person Luffy has beaten so far was at least twice his age and had way more experience and control on their Devil Fruit.

Doflamingo has had his fruit since he was a child, and he was 41 years old when he fought Luffy. That is over three decades of experience in using his fruit. 

Katakuri, the most recent example of an Awakened Devil Fruit user, is 48 years old.

We do not know how long he has had his fruit, but he has likely been using the fruit for decades.

While Luffy will definitely unlock the Gomu Gomu Awakening, it is likely that he won’t master it anytime soon.

II. The Prophesized Year

Many timelines set up in One Piece point to the current year(in the story) to be the year where “it all goes down.”

There might be another time-skip for a few months, but no more long-duration time-skips are going to happen as this is the year when the One Piece will be discovered, and the world turns “topsy-turvy.”

For a more in-depth article on The Prophesized Year, leave a comment down below! Now let’s look at some of the popular awakenings and understand the concept before we begin theorizing about Luffy’s.

3. Popular awakenings

Now that we have the picture a bit clearer let us talk about what we know of Awakened fruit users before we theorize the form of Luffy’s eventual Awakening.

I. Donquixote Doflamingo

Often called “The Heavenly Demon” due to his origins, Donquixote Doflamingo is a former Warlord of the Seas.

During the Dressrosa Arc, Doflamingo explained the concept of Awakening.

After awakening the Ito Ito no Mi, Doflamingo can extend his string creating ability, transmuting the ground and buildings into vast quantities of strings that he can manipulate without even the need to touch them.

II. Charlotte Katakuri

The second & the strongest son of Charlotte Linlin, Charlotte Katakuri is the most recent addition to Awakened Devil Fruit users.

He has a billion berry bounty on his head, and it is no wonder that his Devil Fruit is Awakened.

Katakuri has awakened his Mochi Mochi no Mi (Mochi Mochi Fruit) powers, enabling him to transform nearby inorganic material into mochi, enhancing the range of his attacks and using the environment to his advantage.

III. Jailer Beasts

The Jailer Beasts from Impel Down were the first Devil Fruit users whose Awakening is confirmed. Each of them has an Awakened Zoan Devil Fruit.

This gives them really high strength, speed & durability. Their Awakening was confirmed by Crocodile during the Impel Down Arc.

Now that we know about the possible awakenings, and how powerful would an awakened Devil Fruit looks like? Let’s talk more about the DF in question – The Gomu Gomu no Mi and Luffy’s possible awakening.

4. Luffy Awakening Theories

This Paramecia-type Gomu Gomu no Mi Devil Fruit literally means “Gum-Gum Fruit”, and “gomu” means rubber. In other words, it has gum-like properties which make Luffy “Rubber Man”.

He even found several ways to improve his fighting ability and increase his combative strength when training his powers by adapting new gears of powers such as Gear 2, Gear 3 & Gear 4.

Now that we know everything there is to know about Awakening, we can theorize what form Luffy’s potential Awakening will take.

As it is a theory section, it may or may not happen. If you have an idea of what it could be, leave a comment down below!

I. Gear 5

With his back against the wall, Luffy has upgraded his battle strength immensely by “gearing” up. Gear 2, Gear 3 & Gear 4, have all upgraded Luffy’s combative power exponentially by adding speed, strength and toughness.

Naturally, Luffy’s next Gear – Gear 5 is a hot topic of discussion in the community. While there are many theories out there, the most probable one revolves around Vulcanized Rubber.

Vulcanized rubber is a denser form of rubber that has a higher tensile strength & resistance to swelling and abrasion. It is also elastic over a greater range of temperatures.

It is highly likely that Luffy’s next Gear will be his Awakening. By breaking through to the next stage of his rubbery body, Luffy will be able to upgrade his body to Vulcanised Rubber.

Since Luffy is already durable, this form would move his durability off the charts. And as vulcanized rubber is elastic over a greater range of temperatures, this form will heavily use fire attacks, such as the Red Hawk. 

However, his abilities will not be limited to this. Using his new form, Luffy may be able to mould his body into different shapes on command, allowing him access to incorporate rubber weapons imbued with Haki.

This would certainly give his attacks more meaning. I mean, just imagine a Gomu Gomu no Axe with an actual giant haki axe.

II. Rubber World (Theory)

The only two confirmed Awakened Paramecia Devil Fruit users – Doflamingo & Katakuri used their powers to transform their surroundings into strings & mochi, respectively.

Given that Luffy is a paramecia as well, and given that his power is very similar to Katakuri’s, it is likely that Luffy’s Awakening will allow him to turn his surroundings into rubber, making them a lot more bouncy.

This could open up an entirely new battle style for Luffy, similar to how Bellamy utilizes his Devil Fruit powers.

Let’s play a game now! Listed below are the possible Devil Fruit Awakenings in One Piece. Guess the names before scrolling down and comment your guess-count.

5. Possible Awakenings

I. Magellan

The former Head Warden of Impel Down, Magellan, is the consumer of the Doku Doku no Mi (Poison Poison Fruit). This Paramecia Devil Fruit allows him to create and manipulate various poisons on command. 

During the final stages of the Impel Down Arc, Magellan used the Venom Demon: Hell’s Judgment attack.

While it is not officially confirmed, Magellan’s Devil Fruit is most likely Awakened as this attack seemed to affect his surroundings in a similar way as Katakuri & Doflamingo’s Awakening.

II. Sakazuki (Akainu) & Kuzan (Aokiji)

Sakazuki & Kuzan are both former members of the Admiral Rank of the Navy.

Sakazuki posses the Magu Magu no Mi (Magma Magma Fruit) & Kuzan possesses the Hie Hie no Mi (Chill Chill Fruit). 

After the events of the Summit War, they had a duel to decide the person who will fill Sengoku’s position as the Fleet Admiral of the Navy.

This duel took place on Punk Hazard right after the War and lasted for ten days. The duel concluded with Sakazuki as the winner.

However, the intensity of this battle permanently altered the island’s environment into half of it being on fire and half of it being frozen. While it is not officially confirmed, it is possible that this is what a Logia Awakening looks like.

III. Eneru 

Keeping the story of Punk Hazard in mind, let us talk about Raijin Island.

For those of you who don’t remember, Raijin Island was first shown after the Fishman Island Arc as one of the possible starting locations from following the Log Pose in the New World.

The thing that stood out about this island was the fact that lightning rained on it constantly. It was shown again later during Oden’s flashback when the Roger Pirates visit it.

Assuming that it is not a natural phenomenon, and caused by an Awakened Devil Fruit user, the only person that comes to mind is Eneru.

Eneru possesses the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble Rumble Fruit) that allows him to turn into, and control lightning. It is possible that the constant rain of lightning on Raijin Island was caused by Eneru, or a previous user of the Goro Goro no Mi.

6. About One Piece

One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda.

It has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 22, 1997, and has been collected into 96 tankōbon volumes.

The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, is Gol D. Roger.

The final words he said at the execution tower were “My treasures? If you want it, I’ll let you have it. Look for it; I left all of it at that place.”

These words sent many to the seas, chasing their dreams, headed toward the Grand Line, in search of One Piece. Thus, began a new age!

Seeking to be the greatest pirate in the world, young Monkey D. Luffy also heads toward the Grand Line in search of One Piece.

With his diverse crew joining him along the way, consisting of a swordsman, marksman, navigator, cook, doctor, archaeologist, and cyborg-shipwright, this will be one memorable adventure.

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