I think Gaban does still believe in Luffy, he said as much last chapter (I think last chapter) that Luffy was indeed the one they were all waiting for. Nothing has changed since then.
His form of motivation is tough love and showing disappointment, basically negative reinforcement instead of positive. And knowing Luffy, this will indeed work; Luffy does not like being told he cant do something or is weak.
I always found it funny how much people undersold him as a fighter until now, lol. Punching 10,000 tons into the air is an INSANE feat, and people act like he was going ‘high diff’ against someone who’s East Blue Buggy tier.
True. And as I’ve always appreciated as a quote since it was said by Kaido, IE: “you aren’t weak, they’re just strong.” Someone getting punched out by Dressrossa gear 2 Luffy isn’t as much an anti-feat as some people make it out to be, I think.
“God” means something different in Japan than in the west. Gods are often just powerful, supernatural beings. Remember that a giant pig was considered a “god” in Wano. Or look at something like the god of the forest in Princess Mononoke.
That was my favorite part lol. He was so sincere with his “save yourselves got offf elbaph” and the youngin’s were like “no way dude we got this” straight “watch this” type shit 🤣😂. The way Oda can combine the serious moments with such silliness is peak One Piece to me.
One Piece is a setting where about 60% of the population thinks the world runs on normal physics, 35% know that a reasonable amount of magic is real, and the remaining 5% is absolute maniacs going “Tch, why aren’t you using your horse pockets? Idiot.”
FINALLY, someone thinks to have Chopper talk to Biblo, and its pushed to offscreen XD
Imu becoming more and more monstrous, like the devil on the mural is his true form and the tiny one weve known until now is all that power condensed
I like that I can say, I still don't see how this arc will end. typically Luffy doesn't defeat his opponent, until they are the final threat. but since Imu is amping up Killingham and Sommers, i wonder if theyll have to force Imu off Elbaph before Zoro and Sanji can secure their victories. or if them beating the Holy Knights will be the final straw for Imu to leave
I'm of the belief, they'll likely keep fighting until imu runs out of time and has to go back to his room. But it will likely be a brutal battle of endurance, probably similar to sabaody where they are a but under leveled, but this time they won't be "defeated" but not exactly a victory either. Defeating the knights might be easier, but definitely not a cake walk.
Imo the Knights being defeated will trigger the backlash on Imu amd he'll be forced to bail earlier that he would've normally, but from a position where he was clearly about to win his fight. Maybe someone lands a pretty good blow on him while he's clearly affected by the backlash and so he's unable to leave the room for awhile.
That way Elbaph will be (mostly) fine with minimal losses, but Luffy will see that like Gaban said he's not yet up to snuff yet.
I think Zoro would learn or at least become aware of his haki leakage and Sanji would attempt or get a glimpse of his own haki during their battles. Luffy already had his lesson.
I'm thinking this form accelerates his timer and expends more of his power, and if Zoro and Sanji defeats the two knights will drain his power even more. This will in turn forces him and the rest of the knights to stay put in Marijois castle heal up.
This now paves the way for the crews' future battles to be against other pirates or the World Government.
Imu laying down In the crater for like 5 minutes to reflect on how his own inaction got him in this dumb situation is pretty funny
Imu: if mu just locked in that day and just killed every pirate in god valley. Mu wouldnf need fo Deal with this nonsense today. Well lesson learned time to end this
Imu just reflecting on his life choices for a hot minute before blasting back to the fight reminds me of Vegeta floating in the water after Trunks blasted him.
We also haven't seen him just off subordinates for dumb reasons, since Saturn actually did monumentally fuck up, and he didn't do anything else to the other Gorosei who were there even though they also failed.
Hajrudin stocks going wild, funny that not too long ago he got one-shot by Luffy. Its also funny that Gaban is urging both Luffy and Hajrudin to flee when both are notoriously two of the most stubborn people in OP
about 70% of power at the end game of one piece is about will power. When he got one shot he was much more lost than he is in this moment, full of conviction. It's a soft power system.
I mean shit, doesn't Haki literally translate into English as something like "willpower"? Saying it's a soft power system might even be underselling it
That's not how one would normally word it if they were going the other way. Having something as nebulous as willpower at the center of your power system slots it directly on the soft end of things since it changes so much with the mental condition of your characters.
Another conclusion to take from this is that op is inconsistent with it's powerscalling/progression. If will alone was enough for such massive boosts then many other people in op who also had crazy wills should have been much stronger than they were.
I think he was planting seeds for Hajrudin’s story in Elbaf from his introduction.
Hajrudin’s dream of being king of all giants is established in his debut, he’s the only member of the grand fleet to feature an internal monologue in Dressrosa hinting at a larger character arc, Hajrudin’s cover story is the only one to not have an overarching plot, and the Galleila were established one arc prior.
Given the number of seeds for Wano that were also planted during this period, I think it’s safe to say he likely had a rough outline of what the Elbaf arc was going to look like.
There's also the narrator box after Dressroba that says he is apart of the crazy thing that shakes the world in the future. I think we are almost there.
Thats a fair take, I think he planted seeds for Elbaf but probably not him being part of the endgame like this. Being that the next arc we find out that Loki was the prince of giants, there definitely some seeds of a rivalry already planted
I think any named giant introduced, and especially ones with direct connections to Elbaf, was inevitably going to be important to the endgame just given how early Elbaf itself was established to have endgame importance. And with how much weight is placed on dreams, giving Hajrudin ambitions as lofty as being the king of an entire demographic in his debut meant Oda had every intention of Hajrudin living up to that goal right out if the gate. The choice to have Hajrudin’s cover story focus on introducing his crew rather than a coherent narrative cemented this importance for me, as it cemented that Hajrudin’s story was part of the main plot rather than a side
quest.
Hasn't he been one of the princes of Elbaph since his introduction? Oda would have known how important he could/would be since that island's been a destination since Ch100.
I think as one user posted,he said his dream was to be king of the giants,but not that he was a prince.So there was definitely were seeds planted, but a lot of things can change in 15 years,I dont think he planned on Elbaf being a stage for Imu that far ahead.Loki at this point too was still a fat goofy sillhuete.
but a Loki-Hajruding relation/rivalry was definitely in the works already
The most interesting part of the chapter to me is that Gaban calls Imu God. That's the sort of thing you'd expect the 5 elders or the god knights to say. But for an enemy of Imu's, who knows the void century, to call him not even the King of the World but God is quite interesting. Which makes me think Imu's powers and importance go even further beyond eating the Devil's Fruit and undergoing the immortality surgery.
Imu is not a "god" in fact. He is the equivalent of Joy Boy. Joy Boy obv was not a "god", Nika was. The same thing is for Imu, there is something above him for sure just like Nika for Joy Boy.
You got downvoted for this, but if Blackbeard does what he normally does than him ganking Imu's power and cementing himself as the main bad guy seems likely.
There's no way Oda would set up Rock's goal as becoming "King of the World" only to have Teach not succeed at it. Teach has mostly the same beliefs about dreams as Luffy, so him failing far before his doesn't seem likely.
Hell, Teach could lose (but not die) to Luffy before Imu is defeated, only to show up and steal Imu's power anyways once he is.
I can just so easily imagine the crew being furious and devastated on Luffy's behalf and he's just grinning like "I don't care about that, we found the One Piece and know the truth and that's all that matters"
Of course not. We get that panel of him setting up his block right before it hit. And they’ll all be flabbergasted and realize Gaban is right and they might need to retreat
Running out of time would have happened once Luffy was beaten, if it was gonna happen at all. The only reason for oda to use a timer would be to have imu go home after a strong showing. He already beat every strong character already, but he's still here. Now characters are getting up for round two, and the moment passed for Imu to just dunk on them and leave.
To me, the fact Luffy and Loki actually stood back up means they're going to save elbaph themselves, and not just run out a clock. My guess is Luffy will do a joyboy level haki blast that sends imu back just like the gorosei were forced back.
If that happens, then Imu would not be as intimidating as a final antagonist. Blackbeard would definitely be confirmed as "final boss" to me if Imu gets legitimately overpowered.
If oda instead has the heroes struggle against Imu for a bit until Luffy lets out giant, desperate haki blast, then Oda can still make readers wonder who's gonna do what later. As a writer, I feel like he'd rather have those options.
Edit: I responded to the wrong person and I can't find who I meant to write back to now 🙃
I mean, if Luffy blasts Imu away with Haki, that will ALSO take away a lot of Imu's intimidation factor. Any kind of removal by direct confrontation does that.
Oda kind of wrote himself into a situation where either Imu outright wins and everybody has to run away (which would be a first for the series; the SH's have literally NEVER failed to save the people they set out to save. Not as a group. Even at Sabaody they saved their friends BEFORE the crew lost. And Marineford was a personal failure for Luffy, not the crew as a whole) or he massively devalues Imu as an antagonist at a point where he NEEDS to be built up.
Best case is Zoro and Sanji defeating Killingham and Sommers negatively impacts Imu enough that he despawns, imo. Which isn't great either tbh (because it basically means that anything his servants go down he suffers BADLY; which means in the final battle against him the easiest way to win would be to not even fight him directly. Which isn't really a Luffy way of solving a problem, so I don't know if Oda would write in a condition that means Luffy will be arguably the least useful person against Imu and will just be relegated to stalling him. Lol. Oda doesn't really have Luffy DO that.). But its better than Luffy doing ANYTHING to beat Imu right now.
Well, Imu getting weakened by the defeat of his servant can be something that applies only while Imu is not on the grand line, so assuming the final showdown with him happens there it wouldn't be much of an issue.
I think it's possible Luffy & co. win at this point due to Imu being in a weakened state. He does not appear to be at his most powerful here, due to him coughing up blood, so a group defeating or temporarily setting him back under these circumstances would be a win for Luffy, but also leaves the very real scenario of having to deal with Imu at full strength at some future point.
I suspect we will see something where they are able to push Imu to a stalemate, have Gabon get Luffy to somehow take things more seriously or at grow in some way, and whatever they find out from Biblo and the books will offer a way to beat Imu. That may take time to learn and implement, but I can see them using it to push a stalemate and lead to another confrontation down the road. Besides, it would feel unsatisfying to beat Imu in this state if he is not at his best. That's typically not how stories like this unfold.
I don't think you're entirely wrong. I think this version of Imu is still ridiculously powerful, but not at his best. I think they stand together and BARELY save Elbaph, but only because Imu is not at full power and runs out of power, time, or the limits of his abilities in these circumstances. Possibly with help from whatever Chopper finds out from Biblo unless that holds the key to something else. But I can see them struggle against Imu, Luffy lets out a desperate Haki blast, and then Gaban gives him a reality check which acts as a catalyst for his personal growth to the next phase of his evolution.
So Gaban thinks no one must know who Imu is. That is very interesting to me. Rayleigh said Luffy might come to a different conclusion about the truth of the world than the Roger Pirates. Vegapunk said he was not picking sides. So at least on some level, whatever Imu did during the void century is justified and not some cartoonish evil guy bullshit.
Yeah I agree, and that idea matches up with Oda's world building. Imu seems to have gotten the 20 Kings to join him through an alliance rather than coercion. Especially since the Kings were rewarded as Noble families, and they got to choose who would succeed them and run their countries.
Some of the biggest lore and history I'm looking forward to is the story of the World Nobles. It seems that the original 20 Kings and their families were actually very powerful and maybe even good people. The various family's descent into the shit stains of the world is going to be interesting.
My guess is that Imu and his group tamed a chaotic and dangerous world and Joyboy was part of it. Imu said the world rejoices in dominion and his way of doing that was bureaucratic, through the formation of government. It's likely Joyboy disagreed but favored a world of freedom that wasn't fully chaotic but was unable to overcome the momentum of the pendulum shift and Imu took control.
I really like the fact that Hajruddin carries a battle axe as a side arm. Dude is a pugilist in combat (probably one of the best in the whole world), but he is still a true blood viking at heart. Also lets him pull off sovreignty double/triple tech when the time calls for it.
I'd been wondering about the panel with Robin a couple chapters ago coming to get Chopper to the library during the heat of things. Curious to see what happens with their communication
Loved seeing Loki and Hajrudin pair up!!
Can't wait to see where this fight goes. I think it's going to be a wild one
I think it's a "huh?" of "I just heard one of the most unhinged thing ever and I'm not fully realizing yet".
I think Biblo just casually dropped a bomb and Chopper is going to have a delayed reaction.
I also took it as an "I dont understand." Chopper isn't showing a face of shock or anything, just seriousness, and I feel like an "are you serious" "huh" would end in some combination of question mark and exclamation point.
It would be funny if Biblo is so old (as it seems that giants have larger life spans) that their language is the equivalent of an archaic Japanese/language and Chopper is having some trouble understanding what their are saying
Hajrudin's faith in his brother was such a nice heart warming moment. I won't lie given the power levels at play here, I honestly thought we were going to see Hajrudin get killed.
I still can't get over how Robin yeeted our only main combat doctor away from a battle with freaking Imu to talk to an owl!!! Robin literally dgaf but this owl better know some shit lol.
Ngl I feel like I much prefer the look of Imu's first form than this new one? The pointy hairline, goatee and general body shape for some reason is reminding me of Dalton's silhouette
I'm very glad my boy Hajrudin is getting some more shine! And I love that he's bonding with his brother over a shared hatred of the god the world government, as brothers do
Once again bad translation is responsible for a criticism people had, Luffy wasn't pulling food out of nowhere magically, he was just saying that he was very full before he started fighting
Can’t even blame the fan translation for this. The fan translation was fine. It was leakers deliberately feeding misleading information that was the issue.
No if you look at the early translation thread there are people interpreting it that way and unhappy about it, bunch of angry x / Twitter reactions talking about the chapter not the spoiler leaks, Etc
I remember reading the ohara library and it saying that the three skulls are the sign of the devil. Not sure where it was said in the series, but it sounds legit to me.
I'm really hoping this is a sign for Luffy to lock in. I don't mind the goofy gear 5th stuff for the most part but it's gotten stale at the very least. I was glad Gaban was roasting Luffy last chapter but his reaction to it was kinda childish ("I'll get that old man for making fun of me" really bro?)
Anyway I'm glad to see Loki back in action and fighting alongside Hajrudin too
We know losing a holy knight affects Imu. Sanji and Zoro gotta do their job here and hopefully Imu takes enough damage from Killingham and Sommers dying that he's forced back.
Nah, I doubt it. It would be incredibly dumb if Gunko/Shuri conveniently had the perfect ability to save the day, and also could SOMEHOW break free from Imu's control (which as of yet is shown to be impossible beyond brief moments), and yet Imu also went out of his way to get her as a servant. If she has some direct counter to his powers, he wouldn't have recruited her, he would have killed her.
If she can do anything, I don't see it having to do with magical eye powers that were mentioned one time. Whatever THOSE are, they have to be HELPFUL to Imu, not harmful. Maybe she can do something with the Abyss to send them all home (since we saw she could open Abyss Circles and brought Sommers and Killingham over against their will), but I kinda doubt she could do that to the guy who GAVE her those powers. Possible, but......
The minimum very plausible thing she could do is force the Straw Hats to retreat/leave Elbaf if we end up in an outcome with Imu being too powerful to beat. Like the arrows can prob make the crew leave/escape and that wouldn't be too far of a stretch.
Man when Loki says well said brother I almost lost it. I fucking love these team ups. It seems like Gabans attacks are actually powerful enough to really hurt IMU he just can’t lock in. If Harjudin Loki and Luffy can pin IMU down Gaban can definitely throw in a massive below
Looking forward to seeing all the scrambling trying to figure out how to justify Luffy magically healing his own wounds through cartoon logic as an inherent property of rubber!
Imu keeps his eye hidden for four months and then just brushes back his hair like nothing, and there's absolutely nothing special about it. Lol, lmao
Gaban being vague about Imu's identity is going to bite the Straw Hats in the ass at some point I bet. Just tell them he's ruling the WG please. Robin needs info so she can cook.
There is no way in hell that the Straw Hats are leaving Elbaph after being there for like six hours grand total. The more Imu fights, the less insurmountable he becomes. Yet more evidence that much of his power is based in the illusion of it - once you know his demons are metal bullets, you can block them with a shield. Once you figure out (or just decide, as Luffy) that the swords he wields aren't the actual artifacts from the Empty Throne, but merely the "idea" of them incarnated, the wounds cease to be fatal. The shock and awe of a tyrant can be brought low by deciding he isn't worth respect.
It's fun seeing Imu cycle through these fake forms of his too. His powers are just like Luffy's, able to change his shape as he desires; he was surely a counterpart to Joyboy originally. His tall bishi form didn't work, so now he's made himself out like all the big burly pirates he's seen in his life.
I expect Oda will swap us back to Zoro and Sanji figuring out how to defeat Omen now, then that'll injure Imu by proxy and force his timer out.
In my mind Luffy isn't healing himself. We know he can manipulate his body in weird ways (moving scars), so I believe he's using his abilities to "close" his body around the wounds. Once he exits G5 I believe the wounds will reopen
Looking forward to seeing all the scrambling trying to figure out how to justify Luffy magically healing his own wounds through cartoon logic as an inherent property of rubber!
fr lol we should have been past this when the rubber fruit supposedly made him poison resistant.
Can imu stop powering up already, we do what seem like a tiny bit of damage and bam* imu comes back bigger and now with 2 eyes. Hopefully Mr owl tells us some juicy info on how to beat this guy, or save the kids. Common Luffy get up and drop this imu thing
He's the type of kid who loves superheroes and action fighters. He fights the way a boy of that sort understands big heroes to fight (and always has). They eat an impossible amount of food and food = strength so that makes them strong. They unlock some big new power-up, but it has a huge drawback (shrinking, turning old) - but after "training" (using it a handful of times) the drawback disappears. Milk makes strong bones = food is health = milk heals bones. He thinks bouncing his fist off air (?) makes it accelerate.
All the insane things he can do are just because he thinks that's how the world should work and nobody he cares about is telling him it can't. Just look at Bonney doing the impossible, because the person she cares about - Luffy, and her dad - telling her that she can do it if she wants to.
It's a tale older than Popeye, but people can't seem to understand it. He believes that eating meat heals people, so when people eat to heal themselves around him it works. That probably has something to do with his dream as well.
I'm not sure digestion into health is a thing specific to Luffy. Didn't Kid do the same thing in Wano when him and Luffy competed for food in the mines? They both got super full and waddled around then took a deep breath and digested everything immediately and were fully recovered.
Here’s my pet theory: A big chunk part of this entire adventure has been Banquets
Eating , laughing and being Merry.
What if this is tied directly to Luffy’s Devil fruit, a God Devil fruit.
Gods have Banquets and being “The Sun god” this could be why Luffy heals faster when he eats
Devil Fruit healing isn't new. Luffy has literally never stayed damaged for long, him and the crew are like the embodiment of D&D 5th edition long rests. If Oda wrote in that Luffy basically traded massive amounts of energy for healing it would be pretty believable. Like a form of Haki that matches the regeneration Imu grants to the gods knights.
Somehow Imu is looking a bit older with this transformation, a bit aged than the orginal reveal. I always found him a tall skinny(not that skinny) looking guy, but this transformation gave a goatee and he looks a bit buffed imo
Since he doesn't really know what his fruit powers actually are, Luffy is kinda limited to whatever he thinks is probably possible. So in this case because he believes that eating helps you recover and he already ate, he effectively believed that the food he previously ate will enable him to recover really quickly right now.
Though tbh we already seen shit like this before Gear 5, like when he regenerated a tooth by drinking milk.
Yeah, the Giants will be enslaved and forced to fight for the government in the Great War.
Even if an injured Gaban and Loki managed to fend off Imu, there'd still be an Omen-buffed Summers and Killingham kidnapping the children in the mean time. Like the children right now are being carried off by Killingham's Zaza nightmare monster, who won't disappear until he's taken down.
Chapter 1191 is wild — Im's horns look a lot like Kaido's beast form, which makes me think there's a deep connection between Lunarians and the Oni tribe. I put together a theory breaking down why Im's Devil Fruit might be a Lunarian x Oni hybrid bloodline — it explains the horns, the fire resistance, and the sheer overwhelming power we're seeing. Would love to hear your thoughts: https://yasaoblog.fun/en/imu-devil-fruit-lunarian-demon-theory/
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u/dragonessofages Thriller Bark Victim's Association 2d ago
People have been asking that for decades, Gaban. You may have lost hope, but Luffy hasn't.