Elbaph Arch One piece focused a lot on the figure of St. Imus Nero, one of the founding 20 kings and sovereign of the world. With last week's statement that Imu wanted to visit Warland, Oda finally delivered and revealed the true face of this individual. Oda hid Imu's face behind a silhouette for years, but the Elbaf arc tore that mask away, revealing the true form of the series' final antagonist.
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Assessing the reason for the monarch's arrival in Elbaf
One Piece Chapter 1178 saw Ima make a massive statement towards the end. After fighting Nika and Nidhogg through the body of the Gunk, Imu realized that the threat he faced was serious enough for him to do something about it personally. As such, towards the end of the chapter, Imu declared to the Five Elders that he would be heading to the warland himself.
For the very first time in a generation, Imu decided to leave the Holy Land of Marijoa and step into the world below because the dire situation demanded it. If Imu hadn't stomped on Elbaf himself, the Straw Hat Pirates as well as the Giants would have defeated him quite effortlessly. Now, the arrival of Imu once again tips the scales in favor of the world government, setting the stage for a grand finale with dire consequences for the series' protagonists.
Eiichiro Oda finally reveals Imu's true colors in chapter 1179
Since Imu was about to appear in Elbaf, Oda put on a great show, revealing their face to fans for the very first time in eight years. For nearly ten years, Oda had been teased by the mystery surrounding Imu's face. Every time this person appeared in the story, they were covered in silhouette, but One Piece chapter 1179 did tremendously well by tearing this mask off the character and showing their true face.
Imu has a particularly unique face when it comes to men from the One Piece world. For one reason or another, Imu's face doesn't look like a typical One Piece character. The facial features are somewhat feminine and Imu definitely looks very unique. Imu has white hair that flows down one side of his face and has tanned skin that is quite similar to the Lunar race from the One Piece world.
More than that, Oda also gave fans a proper look at Imu's true form as he was revealed to be sporting giant black wings as well as a pointed tail during his transformation. Even Imu's Devil Fruit ability was released by the series' author, signaling that this is the beginning of the end not only for the Elbaf arc, but for One Piece as a whole.
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Severing Imu's connection to the main One Piece races
With Imu properly debuting in the Elbaph arc, the connections he has with some of the greatest races in the world are clear to all. Having tanned skin and white hair in his own right, Imu forms a very deep connection with the lunar race of the One Piece world. In the One Piece world, there aren't many people who have tanned skin. Tanned skin and ashen white hair are actually key indicators of someone having lunar blood, and Imu seems to have that connection. This would be fitting since the Lunars were once known as the Gods of the World and Imu is considered the one true god of the entire world.
All this was inevitable. Mu will leave the Holy Land in your hands, Gorosei. —Imu, One Piece Chapter 1179
It is possible that Imu once fought against his own people and then stood as one of the Founding 20, eventually taking over the entire world. More than that, Imu also sports giant horns that can be traced back to the bloodline of ancient giants. Whether these horns are from the devil fruit transformation or are natural remains to be seen, but if they are indeed natural, then Imu might even have the bloodline of an ancient giant, which would boost his strength even more.
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Measuring the consequences of a world ruler bleeding out when he falls to the ground
The key thing to note is that Imu started bleeding immediately after arriving in Elbaf. This means that Imu's body is weakened in one way or another, and this could be directly related to the previous battle with Joy Boy that ended about 800 years ago. In the end, Joy Boy died, but Imu seems to be suffering heavy consequences for participating in this war against Joy Boy.
For some reason, Imu's body is seriously weakened and probably can't be at full power for long. This means that Imu's time in the Holy Land of Elbaph will be short-lived, and he will use all his powers at his disposal to immediately end the threat of Nika and Nidhogg once and for all.
One Piece Chapter 1180 will be available to read on Manga Plus on April 19, 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)
