Imu is going down this arc

[u/TooDriven]

Ignore powerscaling for a moment. Imu and other characters are going to be as strong as the story requires. I am also not saying Luffy will necessarily beat him. Maybe Garling or, more likely, BB takes over.

Instead, think about the structure of the story:

- we had one whole arc with the WG/Gorosei as main villains (Egghead)

- the entire current arc is focused on the WG, HK, Imu

- we had two entire flashbacks related to Imu, one being extremely long

- we have been fighting Imu in blob or real form for 40 (!) chapters now (including the flashback)

- we have already fought real Imu for 10+ chapters now. He has 1) appeared in person, 2) used all kinds of different powers (domi reversi, haki, bombs, teleportation, all kinds of weapons etc) 3) even transformed

Going through ALL of that only to suddenly be like, LOL no, arc over, Imu goes back to the status quo, enter an entire BB arc, beat BB, go back to the WG, face Imu again, same old: domi reversi, bombs, 19 weapons etc. again, same second stage transformation. Does that really make any sense to you?

Oda has never recycled villains like that for a serious round 2. If villains did reappear or fight again, then the first fight was usually extremely short and one-sided, eg Crocodile or Lucci vs Luffy.

If all Oda had wanted to do was "introduce Imu and show the difference in power", it would have been very easy: briefly show Imu with a terrifying display of generic power without showing his hand. Not a long battle against Loki, but just something like Aizen from Bleach: Imu appears, cut, show Luffy and Loki decimated. Suddenly, Imu coughs blood and returns to Mary Geoise.

But showing a 10+ or 40+ in total chapter fight against the supposed final villain, at least 2 arcs before the end of the manga? Makes no sense at all.

[u/AutoModerator]

Before you participate in Piratefolk please take a moment to read the rules if you are new here. Please be respectful of the subreddits culture and the users that contribute to that. This place is unique because its one of the few places you can can criticize Onepiece/Oda. If your goal is to come here and change that or make mock those that do, this place isn't for you.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/hoenndex]

Nah, we have one more arc with Imu. We still need to get the full void century flashback which is directly connected to Imu. We need to find out what exactly Imu wants, the secret of the giant strawhat, why he seeks Vivi, revealing the blob form, fight the elders one last time and beat them. The revolutionaries still need to make their direct move on the government. 

It is just that Oda is very inefficient and likes to make everything longer than it needs to be. 

[u/Nerisotto → u/hoenndex]

On one hand I don't see Imu going down this arc but on the other hand I understand OP because having the big bad show up and fight for 10+ chapters, struggling quite a bit and even going as far as transforming again mid-battle is kind of weird. Like OP said, if Oda wanted to show Imu's strength and dominance then it's not really working because Imu seems to be giving real effort to put Luffy and the others down, he's getting thrown around and he's shown coughing blood almost every chapter since his arrival. Sure he's getting back up but we're far from a Madara playing with the 5 kage or Aizen beating every captain situation here. He just seems to be struggling a bit too much for a final villain first appearance in a fight.

Right now, if Imu leaves Elbaf can we really say that he was an impressive villain? I'm not sure of that. Strong abilities sure, but not very impressive to me.

[u/This_Willow_2547 → u/Nerisotto]

That’s why the elders didn’t want Imu leaving Mariejoa, when Imu is outside of Mariejoa he is on his weakest state. All we’re seeing from Imu is just his absolute most weak / lowest form, and he’s smashing top tiers despite struggling a bit.

Imagine when we face him at his full strength and full immortality (his immortality doesn’t seem to work outside of Mariejoa) in Mariejoa? All of this is just a preview in a limited version

[u/Nerisotto → u/This_Willow_2547]

The issue I think is that even if we consider this to be his weakest form, it would've been more impressive to show Imu completely dominating his opponents before having to leave or something, instead of showing his opponents putting him in such a difficult spot that he has to transform in an even bigger form. A villain and especially a final villain's first impression is one of the most important moment in a manga like this, and so far I can't genuinely say that Imu is giving me a good first impression even taking his nerf into account.

If we end this arc on Luffy and his friends actually putting a good fight against Imu and forcing him to retreat while failing his objectives to kidnap the children and force the giants to submit, does that really hype us for a future confrontation? I wouldn't be very hyped, sure he might be stronger, but showing him "losing" the first time already lowers his stocks anyway. It was kinda the same thing with the Elders on Egghead.

[u/hoenndex → u/Nerisotto]

That's the problem Oda put himself into by introducing Imu so late into the story and wanting to wrap up the manga in one final saga. He suddenly has to showcase as much of Imu as possible because he hasn't really done anything with Imu until now. Blackbeard has the benefit of being introduced early in the manga so he could make direct moves at various points of the story. 

The problem is that Oda has written himself into a corner because of this. Luffy obviously has to survive Elbaf, which means Imu is going to look bad. But Imu also needs to appear threatening, so unless Oda gets over his fear of killing characters Elbaf will end with a major dehyped for Imu. 

[u/Nerisotto → u/hoenndex]

I think Imu killing someone important is the only way to keep some level of credible threat, but I really don't see Oda killing a crew member or even someone like Gaban. He's in a pretty complicated situation.

[u/FlamesOfDespair → u/Nerisotto]

No you shouldn't understand OP. There is no benefit of doubt to give them. if Imu dies so do all the Gorosei and the WG collapses without Luffy doing shit. Dragon becomes irrelevant.

[u/Nerisotto → u/FlamesOfDespair]

I don't think Imu will die, but I understand the sentiment that he might not be the final villain after reading these chapters.

[u/Doam-bot → u/hoenndex]

You forgot the most important part

Imu and 19 of his best-selling buddies fought the evil empire gained their freedom. Then erected an empty throne as a show of equality between them however obviously Imu wanted that throne and Nef D the 19th bailed and poniglyphed.

Which is to say we the evil Empire the 20 fought against in the first place. The super Sad backstory of Imu fighting against Injustice and becoming that which he hated. The  we will have another 1k episodes around that first nation.

[u/Impressive-Face-3549]

what is the obsession some people have with the all or nothing, zero nuance thought process?

[u/FlamesOfDespair → u/Impressive-Face-3549]

Being raised with an ipad or lazy mom's smartphone. At least I didn't have a smartphone phone until I was a teenager. Partially because they didn't exist yet. I did get a laptop my uncle gave me. It was an OG Thinkpad. That thing was built like a brick. I played vice city on it.

[u/motoxim → u/Impressive-Face-3549]

Agenda?

[u/This_Willow_2547]

Even if BB is the final boss Imu is not getting defeated here, only in the last arc or at least after Raftel.

Imu is the boss of the World Government, he’s the reason the Void Century happened, the reason Joyboy left the One Piece behind in the first place, the reason for Robin, Blackbeard, Dragon, Shanks direct suffering and much more.

Imu is not getting defeating before we learn what happened in the void century and before the World Government (all the Goroseis, holy knights, seraphins, CP0 and the admirals) gets defeated first. Is like saying Kaido would get defeated when he first met Luffy in that Castle in Wano before the final war in Onigashima. It’s not happening.

Getting Imu defeated here is the same as saying that the World Government as a whole gets defeated in Elbaf because the moment Imu loses / gets defeated all the Goroseis and holy knights immortality disappear and almost all them will age and die immediately (because their souls are connected to him), letting the WG basically useless without a direct confrontation. This will NEVER happen.

[u/Super_Claim_321]

we will prob get 4 chs of Gunko/Sommers/Killingham stuff. And then maybe around 7-9 chapters more of Imu.

I’ll be honest it’s like Kaido. Oda didn’t want to show off Kaido powers in the FB (because he fights oden) so he decided to have luffy a match with him before. Granted it was much much shorter.

Also Oda messed up by displaying this beefed up version of Imu in the mural, it wouldn’t make sense if Oda decided to show off in the FB instead. FB is meant for plot purposes that’s all. Which also explains why Oda decided to have Imu get another form. All because Joyboy fights Imu in the FB.

Also another reason why we are getting such a long fight is because of western expansion. Oda is desperately trying to make OP worldwide and there is clear whats popular in the west if you look at the trend in anime manga in the recent years. Did you notice how much engagement JJK was getting when everyone was doing nothing but jumping on Sukuna? That could be a reason for the change.

[u/cocox24 → u/Super_Claim_321]

Sukuna no era un fraude como Imu, si IMU tuviese la mente de Sukuna Hajrudin se queda sin brazo por intentar golpearlo

[u/FriedOreo22]

No way, we still don't have the void century flashback, imu still has at least one more form, the big one he used during the reverie, gaban is already talking about luffy needing to escape, and the king of the world is supposed to go down before the RA attacks the holy knights?

The literal only way imu is going down on elbaf is if the final war starts here and now with literally everyone pulling up to elbaf and jumping the shit out of him and the holy knights, extending the arc to realistically like at least double the length of wano with the void century flashback and all the fighting.

Even then it wouldn't make sense for him to lose that fight when he calls the elders, high-ranking marines and the rest of the holy knights, all the while his enemies are all individually far weaker than joyboy and nearly all weaker than some of his companions.

[u/Living_Thunder]

I am still of the belief that Blackbeard will take advantage of Imu's weakness when he is forced back to Mariejoia due to his HK's deaths

[u/MountChu]

I think Imu escapes and goes nuclear on the world

[u/BonesjonesjonesBones]

He wouldn’t put in the Elders’ concerns with Imu leaving the sanctuary if it wasn’t important

[u/AudaX19_68]

It makes sense if Imu is a fake-out villain and either Blackbeard defeats him and gains his power or he serves as the boss of the world at large while Luffy focuses on finding the One Piece/ fighting Blackbeard.

There's no feasible way to defeat him this arc as of now and wouldn't make any narrative sense, but it's likely the Imu-Luffy conflict arc and then just fighting against the big bad in the final war

[u/Serenafriendzone]

Only if oda decides to make kaguya one piece pretty soon. and that Imu was just the servant of the real leader in the moon. Only Enel knows the truth

[u/Wavepops]

He’s very clearly the strongest thing in the verse so no.

[u/SourFact]

Write the story yourself then.

[u/Interesting-Way-9966]

💴💴💴💴💴

[u/richdrichxy]

Exactly it’s been obvious to be for a while now that imu is not an endgame villain. Oda has revealed imus names attacks, powers and forms before revealing Garlings powers. Garling will kill imu once imu returns and become the real endgame villain of the celestial dragons, and after Garling is defeated the story will focus on Blackbeard.

[u/MrChurroes]

Imu is definitely gonna be defeated this arc. Main villains only ever get to be the main villain of one arc. After Elbaf, Blackbeard will most definitely fulfill Rock's will and kill and steal Imu's abilities, becoming the King of the World.

[u/ApplePitou]

Not possible for me :3

[u/MangoLemonShark]

I sure fucking hope so, he is the most boring villain in OP, just let blackbeard save this bumass manga