I'm sorry that is just .... untrue? Crocodile pointing out something exists absolutely does not mean he himself is a user. That just doesn't make sense. And his Desert Spada attack may be steel (which I don't even think was explicitly stated?) It may just be sand that's hardened so hard it becomes sharp... Gaara did the same thing in Naruto.
first of all, gaara and crocodile arent comparable at all. different abilities, different verses, different applications. one uses sand and another is actually sand itself. both of there abilities are very different in every aspect and the only similarity is that they both use sand. crocodile can do everything gaara can do because he is sand itself while gaara is just controlling sand thats it nothing more nothing less, gaara isnt the one who is hardening the sand all he had to do was insert charka into his sand to increase its density thats it. the laws are alot different in naruto, its not the same. u dont see gaara turning people into dust when people touch his sand, he cant do it because all he can do is control the sand thats it while crocodile can casually touch anyone/anything and turn them into dust if he touches them. crocodile have no such power to "harden" his sand and make it into steel, even if it wasnt steel it should be impossible for crocodile to do something like that to his sand without applying haki thats just out of his scope of powers.
And legit which other Zoans are "confirmed awakened?" We literally saw the Impel Down Guards who seem almost mindless, are gigantic, and extremely powerful. I would not say Pell is a confirmed awakened, moreso an asspull from Oda. Although maybe it will get confirmed later.
maybe ur right about pell but he has the characteristics. they werent mindless, nor that big, they are just in there zoan form like everyone who has a zoan fruit. maybe it was an asspull but pell still took an city buster bomb and came out unscathed.
Regarding "someone doesn't have to point out when an awakening is being used in every single battle" -- That is also a poor point considering every single time Busoshoku haki was used pre-time skip there was a very specific emphasis on it (think the Snake princesses or Sentomaru). Even Kenbonshoku haki was called "Mantra" specifically to show it WAS a thing. It would be major Retcon for Oda to be like LOL so many characters were awakened and you all never noticed!
whats funny about this is that "haki" was retconned the same way u said "so many characters were awakened and you all never noticed!" thats why it had a very specific emphasis on it. just like haki, awakening is just as common, before the time skip everyone thought having haki is rare until it got retconned and literally everyone in the one piece verse has it now, even a low tier marine officer or a new comer can easily use haki to some extent. remember when "conquerers' haki" was supposed to be some rare form of haki to have? literally every top tier commander has it, its now common to see "conquerers' haki just like how it will be for awakening devil fruit users everyone who u thought wouldnt had an awakening will have one. its no surprise here. having an awakening means little to nothing really and being able to use it shouldnt be hard either.
this is pre timeskip luffy, crocodile, jimbel one shotting awakening users, so ur telling me someone who basically knows everything there is to know about awakening doesnt have it or achieved a level of awakening of some sort at all? what is stopping him? nothing. they are no requirements for awakening other than mastering ur devil fruit to perfection.
if fodder characters can achieve awakening what is stopping crocodile from doing so?
he already knows everything about awakening and it would be completely illogical to say that he hasnt achieved this level
this should be enough to prove he is awakened, everything he has done so far points to him being awakened.
as the series progress u will realize how many awakening users they really were in the past til now, its not really anything of importance like haki because it doesnt give u a boost in anything important other than increasing the scoping of ur devil fruit powers. awakening will be treated like haki
do u actually believe people can survive in the new world without haki of some sort? lol u will start to see how common awakening users will be