Among the Logia-type abilities were Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit, Aokiji's Ice-Ice Fruit, Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit, Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit, and others...
Their common trait was that they could unleash large-scale elemental attacks.
That was the charm and advantage of Logia-types.
However, a small number of Paramecia users could also unleash large-scale elemental attacks after awakening their abilities.
Doflamingo's String-String Fruit was one example.
Only,
Whether in destructive power or range, awakened Paramecia-types could never compare with Logia-types in elemental attacks.
Take an example.
Doflamingo's Raging Wave White Lines looked quite impressive in terms of sheer momentum and scale.
But Ace could casually summon a ring of fiery vortexes and burn all the white lines away in an instant.
Even if an awakened Paramecia user could imbue an elemental attack with Armament Haki, it still could not change this fundamental disparity in matchups.
That was the limitation.
But Maud's awakened Shadow ability did not have such a limitation.
That was because shadows themselves were formless existences.
While granting them physical capabilities, the Devil Fruit also gave them ever-changing special properties—freeform mimicry and infinite proliferation.
So, in terms of form, as long as the attack was powerful enough, shadows could indeed be cut apart, twisted, torn, crushed, and even burned away.
But shadows were endless.
Whether they were cut apart or burned away,
as long as they could proliferate infinitely, they could reproduce directly the instant they were destroyed, then mimic their original form.
In simple terms, it was an infinite super-regeneration ability.
Before an ability with such properties, just as Maud had said, Akainu's magma could burn through flames, but it absolutely could not burn through shadows.
Unless...
Akainu could imbue his magma fists with Armament Haki, then attack the shadows and directly reflect the damage onto Maud, thereby suppressing the shadows' ability