A year later, One Piece Author Oda reveals Elbaf's main villain, and it's not Imu

One Piece's The Elbaf arc surprised quite a few fans. Not only did this arc drop the series' biggest lore reveal with the Elbaf mural, but it also gives fans an incredible Loki-centric flashback that also includes the God Valley Incident, an event fans have been eagerly waiting for.

Shortly before the flashback, One Piece's author Eiichiro Oda introduced Ima as a major villain in Elbaf when he took over the body of a Gunk. Although it might seem that Imu is the main enemy in Elbaf, the truth is that Luffy is still not ready to face them. The latest chapters make it clear that the real villain of Elbaf will not be Imu, but the corrupt Loki. After a year of incredible build up, it now appears that the final villain of the Elbaf Arc is Domi Reversi'd Loki. At the moment, Luffy can't handle the battle between Imu and Luffy.

Oda sets up Loki to be the main villain of One Piece's Elbaf Arc

Loki could be Domi Reversi'd by Im

• Luffy vs Loki has already been set up

• Luffy matches Shanks and defeats Loki

One Piece fans recognized I'm going to be the strongest character in the story for quite some time. But the extent of Imu's power was not clear until the God Valley incident where they took over Saint Saturn's body and withstood the attacks of the six strongest of One Piece: Rocks, Kaido, Big Mom, Whitebeard, Roger and Garp at the same time. Despite the overwhelming power, Imu regenerated and easily withstood the attack.

It's quite clear that Luffy is strong, but nowhere near the combined strength of the six. Facing Ima would almost certainly mean defeat for Luffy. It is also obvious that Oda sets up Loki as the true main enemy in Elbaf. Although Loki is currently on Luffy's side, Oda has a unique tool that can turn Loki into a major villain, and that is the Domi Reversi. Loki may soon be affected by Imu's ultimate ability, Domi Reversi, making him Imu's slave, similar to Rocks in God Valley.

The battle between Loki and Luffy has already been set up on numerous occasions in the story. Loki was already introduced as Elbaf's villain at first, and Luffy himself said that if Loki caused trouble, he would beat him up. First of all, it is stated that Shanks defeated Loki and Oda could repeat the feat for Luffy by having him defeat Domi Reversi'd Loki.

Luffy defeats Loki, but Zoro and Sanji will be busy anyway

Zoro and Sanji will fight Dorry and Brogy

While Luffy fights Loki, Zoro and Sanji will most likely take on Dorry and Brogyfor the two were already influenced by Domi Reversi. Other enemies such as Sommers and Killingham are present along with Imu.

Maybe there aren't enough people to handle all these enemies, so maybe Oda can Im retreating to Marijoawhich is already under attack. Dorry and Brogy would then have to face Sanji and Zoro. No matter how fans look at it, Elbaf is only going to get more exciting and fans can't wait to see Luffy and his team take it to the next level after fighting these monsters.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece will be on hiatus next week. One Piece Chapter 1166 will be released in two weeks. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1166 is November 23, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

Release date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

directors

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

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)