One Piece's The Elbaph arc has proven to be quite unpredictable, with some of the most interesting events taking place over the course of the last few chapters. With Saint Imu Nero deciding to head to Warland himself, it was only a matter of time before some of the biggest mysteries surrounding this individual were finally revealed to fans. Now, for the very first time, Oda confirmed Imu's true gender, and the individual was revealed to be male.
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Why was the world ruler's gender hidden by Oda
Founding 20's Saint Imu Nero debuted in One Piece 8 years ago during the Reverie Arc. When the Empty Throne was first revealed, he was immediately followed by the individual sitting atop it, declaring himself King of the World. At this point, it was clear that Imu would be the final villain of the story One piece.
Much to the surprise of readers, Oda hid Imu's true appearance and covered up the silhouette of the entire character, and this was done on purpose. The main reason Oda took this approach was to hide Ima for the time being. At the time, One Piece hadn't even started the Wano Country Arc and there were bigger threats to deal with like Kaido and Big Mom. In order not to overshadow these threats and set the stage for the final saga, Oda decided to hide Imu's appearance. Now that the war against the World Government is on the horizon, it's the perfect time for Oda to reveal the true nature of St. Imu Nero, which is why he did so in the Elbaph arc. As made clear in this chapter, Imu has now made landfall in Warland and revealed his true form for all to see.
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How the Elbaph Arc confirmed Ima as male
One Piece's Elbaph arc focused a lot on the character of Saint Imu Nero, ruler of the World Government and one of the Founding 20, and the latest chapter took it to the next level by bringing the character to Elbaph to fight against Niko and Nidhogg. Immediately upon introducing Imu, it was clear that this individual was male. Imu sports white hair and tanned skin. In addition, Imu also has dark wings and a pointed tail, along with an ability that appears to be awakened.
The five elders, Mu will leave the Holy Land for a short while. — Saint Imu Nero, One Piece Chapter 1178
Looking at the character design, it's clear that Imu is male. However, the design appears to be quite feminine, which is where quite a lot of the confusion has come from. It is now clearly seen that Imu is simply a woman's man, but actually a male character. This is further supported by how the Five Elders refer to Ima in Japanese. Sky dragons have their own honor: male sky dragons are referred to as “-sei” while females are referred to as “-guu”. The Five Elders and the Saint Knights clearly refer to Imu as “Imu-sei”, putting the character's gender beyond any doubt. Imu is a manand this has now been officially confirmed in the story.
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An analysis of the connection of the Imu with the major races of the world
That Imu is male is a huge revelation in itself, but there's more to the character design than just that. Imu is also probably associated with the main races One piece world one way or another. First of all, Imu has tanned skin as well as white hair. This is one of the key defining features of the Lunar race and suggests that the Imu might be related to them in some way or form.
At the same time, Imu also sports horns, which are a telltale sign of the bloodline of ancient giants. It is unclear whether Imu's horns come from the Devil Fruit transformation or are natural. In the event that they are all natural, then Imu could even be related to a race of ancient giants and carry some past connection to the land of Elbaph that they are currently trying to control. It would also be quite poetic for Ima to return to this land, given that in this case it would be their home after all. Having Imu appear in Elbaph definitely elevates the story tremendously and makes it more exciting than ever. The next few weeks will shed even more light on this character, and fans absolutely cannot wait.
One Piece Chapter 1179 is available to read on Manga Plus from April 5, 2026.
One piece
- Release date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imayomura, Yashiôhiro Mayuū Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Writers
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
