Awakening allows Luffy to have greater control over his body. Ex. He can increase his physical strength and buff up due to his zoan powers. This is different from merely inflating his body as when Luffy does this, he actually gets stronger(see Luffy tossing kaido).
So Lucci can probably do stuff like that with awakening, as it seems tied to general Zoan powers, rather than Nika. Buff up his entire body or even just specialized body parts. This is where chopper’s points come from.
He can also probably choose to enhance certain aspects that are unique to leopards.
Ex. Make his claws larger, tail longer, etc.
ultimately, Zoan awakening should increase the amount of control the user has over their forms. What we saw this chapter is likely only one of his transformations.