One thing that I absolutely loved about this episode (and I must have rewatched this sequence at least 5 times), is the bit where Luffy is searching for the "Nika beat" so he can Awaken. I hope we can get that in the manga as well, because it works so well with the information we got about Zoan Awakening, Nika and his heartbeat signaling the Awakening.
And it really clarifies the personality change he undergoes in Awakening. His entire body functions in a different frequency, his heart needs to be producing this beat for him to use these powers. Using Awakening is entering this zone where he lets go and is dancing by this exact rhythm, otherwise it won't work.
Going by what Shaka states about Zoan Awakening usually overriding one's personality, we can only guess the successful Awakening of a Zoan happens when the user is able to move at the rhythm of their fruit, without being fully conducted by it.