Devil fruits are an incredible source of power for those who want to become stronger than everyone else. These mysterious fruits are scattered all over the world of One Piece, just waiting to be consumed. There are three kinds of devil fruits: Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan.
Zoan type devil fruits allow a person to transform into a creature from present-day, ancient times, or mythology. Depending on the type, Zoans are classified into three subtypes: Regular, Ancient, and Mythical. Mythical Zoans are considered to be rarer than even Logia types. Due to certain reasons, it is difficult to awaken a Zoan type devil fruit. However, there are a handful of One Piece characters that have pulled it off.
Why Are Zoan Awakenings Rare?
To understand why Zoan type awakenings are rare, it is important to go over one important detail. According to the new information that has been disclosed, Zoan type devil fruits have a will of their own. The jailor beasts of Impel Down are the perfect example of how Zoan devil fruits can become problematic. The jailer beasts had Zoan type devil fruits, but they could not switch between their human and animal forms. They were permanently stuck in their animal form and couldn't revert.
The reason for their problem is quite simple. Due to using their devil fruit awakening, the will of the devil fruit overwhelmed their personalities. As the Impel Down jailers do not have control over their devil fruits, they are classified as failed Zoan awakenings. As a result, the list will only include their names and their devil fruits: Minokoala (Koala Zoan), Minozebra (Zebra Zoan), Minotaurus (Cow Zoan), and Minorhinoceros (Rhino Zoan).
1 Luffy
Monkey D. Luffy is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. For the majority of the series, readers were under the impression that Luffy had a paramecia type devil fruit, but in the Wano Country arc, Oda revealed that he actually has a Mythical Zoan type devil fruit. The name of Luffy's devil fruit is Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. The World Government had changed the name of the devil fruit in order to keep its identity a secret.
Luffy awakened his devil fruit in the fight against Kaido. He calls his awakened form Gear Fifth. In this form, Luffy's hair turns completely white, and he is surrounded by a cloud of white smoke. Luffy's Gear Fifth grants him an absurd amount of power. He is able to make his surroundings rubbery and can extend the effects of his power to things such as lightning bolts. However, he cannot use Gear Fifth for an extended period of time. After Gear Fifth runs out, Luffy's face turns droopy, and he cannot fight again for a while.
2 Rob Lucci
From a young age, Lucci was only interested in carrying out missions for the sake of the World Government. He didn't care about the casualties as long as the task was complete. Currently, Rob Lucci is a member of CP0, the strongest Cipher Pol. As a masked assassin, Lucci possesses a great deal of power, which makes him a fearsome foe. Before joining CP0, Lucci was a member of CP9, but he was kicked out by Spandam after he lost his fight against Luffy.
Considering his personality, the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard, is perfect for him. It is a Carnivorous Zoan, which makes it more ferocious than a regular zoan type devil fruit. Lucci revealed his devil fruit awakening in the Egghead Island arc. When he saw Luffy running around, the CP0 agent couldn't control himself and decided to use his strongest power. While in his awakened form, Lucci gains a black cloud of smoke around his body. Lucci's awakened form grants him more strength, stamina, and speed than his other forms. Despite using his strongest form, Luffy crushed Lucci very easily.
3 Yamato
Yamato is the son of Kaido. He was introduced in the Wano Country arc, where he allied with the Straw Hat Pirates. Yamato is an extremely talented fighter who has mastery over all three types of Haki. He was even able to use Advanced Conqueror's Haki to defend himself from Kaido's attacks.
Yamato possesses the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami, which is a Mythical Zoan type devil fruit. It allows him to turn into the mythological wolf deity. While fighting against Kaido, he showed all the different versions of his devil fruit, including an awakened form. Like Luffy and Lucci's awakened forms, Yamato too had a cloud of smoke surrounding him. While it has not been officially confirmed, it is highly likely that he has awakened his devil fruit as well.
4 Kaido
Kaido was known as the "Strongest Creature in the World." He earned the respect of his enemies due to his immense strength. Years prior to the story, Kaido took over the country of Wano and began working on his plan to start a massive war.
During the Wano Country arc, Kaido fought against the Nine Scabbards, Yamato, and the Supernovas while keeping the island of Onigashima afloat. This shows how freakishly strong he was. There has been a lot of discourse about whether he had awakened his devil fruit or not, but most fans believe that it would be weird if the Emperor had not accomplished this feat. One of the major pieces of evidence that supports this claim is the name of Kaido's devil fruit.
While Kaido was able to transform into a dragon, his devil fruit was called Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu which translates into Fish Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon. It is a common belief that Kaido trained extremely hard to transform from a fish into a dragon. In his dragon form, Kaido also had smoke clouds surrounding him, which is a further indicator that he had awakened his devil fruit.