Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQEIeGV8wZQ

WHO IS IMU?

Just as we mentioned last week, though the idea of Nefertari Lily having become Imu would’ve been really cool, as I said the safest answer was always going to be that Imu killed Lily, and that seems to be exactly what happened, with some better added context in this chapter illustrating what became of Lily.

However, what’s worth noting is that this is the first time that we ever hear Imu talk. And from Japanese there is a lot that we can extrapolate from their speech pattern. And shockingly Imu speaks… very casually. You’d expect someone of their status to speak very mighty and holy, but they have a very casual way of speaking. At the same time however, Imu also speaks in a rather prepotent manner and uses some archaic words, which gives the feeling of someone who has lived for a very long time, such as for example using the second person pronoun “nushi” to talk to Cobra, a very archaic pronoun to refer to someone of lower standing, often in a condescending way, but written in katakana in a way that it sounds modern by contrast.

But furthermore, at the start of the chapter they refer to themselves in the third person, stating “There are two things you’ll wish to be told from Muu”, seemingly referring to themselves as “Muu”, which is the second part of Imu but the “mu” sound is elongated with an extra u. Because of how Japanese works “Muu” can mean just about a billion words, though the most known reading is the religious concept of “nothingness”, pure “emptiness”, or even the word “dreams” though that’s usually without the elongated sound, and his name is written in katakana anyway.

Speaking in the third person in Japanese, with a name that kinda sounds like a nickname, coupled with the speech pattern, makes Imu sound rather… childish, almost coming off like a kid trying to sound edgy and cool, which is an odd contrast with Imu’s position. Even later in the chapter we see Imu losing their cool very easily in petty and childish ways. In fact, this makes one wonder if it’s not so much that the Empty Throne and the straw hats were large, but it is Imu who is tiny due to being a child. This is still possible, though I find it less likely since Imu still appears to be proportional to things around them, like the servant in the room of flowers or the posters, but this weird erratic personality is an interesting contrast. This contrast also makes a lot of sense if we take Imu’s powers into account, but we’ll get into that in just a moment.

Beyond this, Cobra mentions that he recognizes the name “Imu”, stating “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, the “20 founders”…” but he is cut before he can really extrapolate anything further. It’s important to clarify in Japanese this isn’t necessarily confirming that Imu was one of the 20 founders, it’s just stating that someone called “Imu” had some sort of connection to the 20 founders, be it being one of them, someone ruling above them, or connected in any way, but it’s hard to say for certain what the connection here is, as it’s too vague. It is however interesting that Cobra was somewhat aware of this name, and if it wasn’t written in the letter, then it may even have been some common knowledge, at least to a king like him. Was he perhaps more familiar with the name of “Umi”, the famous “Mother of Nature the Sea” from the legends of the Void Century, and made the connection of how her name became that of Imu back then?

THE D. CLAN AND THE IMMENSE KINGDOM

Eitherway, Imu explains that long ago during the Void Century, the 20 founders fought against the people of a certain immense kingdom, as we’ve been told many times, with those enemies of the 20 kings being the “D.” clan. The “D.” members of the present seemingly being their descendants, though Imu states that “they are but “empty shells” who do not know the meaning of their names”. However, during the Void Century, Queen Lily of the 20 kings made a certain “great blunder” which resulted in the poneglyphs being scattered across the world, who Imu still blames for opening up the worst case scenario, as this resulted in scholars attempting to decipher the Void Century and pirates like Roger among others looking for the stones for many years to come. This is likely the reason behind why Imu may have executed Lily, thus not letting her ever return from Mary Geoise, to make her pay for her mistake, refusing the rest of her family ascension to the Holy Land as punishment. Or, a more interesting speculation if you fancy the theory, is that Lily was exiled to a far off island in the Calm Belt for her sins, which eventually led to the foundation of the Empire of Amazon Lily.

But either way, we don’t know how exactly Lily’s involvement allowed the poneglyphs carved by the Kouzuki Clan to be scattered across the world, but though Imu originally took this as a blunder at the time, they suspected whether Lily had really just made a mistake, or if this was all part of a larger plan. And having heard Cobra bring up the D., that suspicion became aroused even further. Imu’s suspicions were indeed not unfounded; as we already know the immense Kingdom had created a contingency plan when they realized they were likely going to lose the war, where they left the truth of history carved away within the poneglyphs hidden across the world, so that someday someone could inherit their will. Lily seemingly sacrificed herself to cover up for them, while also protecting her family of Alabasta by not letting the Government know that they were in league with the Kingdom, painting it all as just a mistake. Since the Government believed her lie, they only bothered executing Lily, but spared her family, thus allowing them to secretly house a poneglyph in Alabasta. This finally explains why Robin didn’t believe the Nefertari would try to protect a poneglyph, and the purpose of the Nefertari family that Cobra inquired to Robin about, something Cobra mentions finally understanding in this chapter.

This truth is all laid bare in Lily’s short letter which Cobra narrates to us: “Please protect the poneglyph.” This could refer to poneglyphs in general, though given the context it seems to refer to protecting the poneglyph found in Alabasta, given that this letter was addressed to her little brother. Part of the upcoming message is partially cut due to the scream of one of the Gorosei, but from there it continues saying “…raise the flag of the Dawn to the World – Nefertari D. Lily”.

Lily being a member of the D. clan is incredibly important, since like Imu explains, the D. are the members of the immense Kingdom from the Void Century, those that opposed the 20 kings. Which is basically something we had all already assumed, that the current D. are seemingly the descendants of the people of the immense Kingdom, as Cobra explains Lily being a D. makes him and Vivi D. clan members as well. But this bears particular importance because it seems to indicate that D. has less to do with heritage and was more simply an initial that the people of the immense Kingdom put in their names. This seems further motivated by the flashback where Luffy simply offers to let Sabo have a D., even if he wasn’t born with it. Calling him “SaD.bo”. Which could just be a coincidence, but given how Luffy is becoming Joyboy, and even Ace was thought to be a Joyboy by some, I wonder if Oda is being cheeky by naming Sabo as “Sadboy”.

But given particularly what Lily mentions about “raising the flag of the Dawn for the World”, could even suggest that the “D.” Stands for “Dawn” just like many of us have speculated for years, and that the ancient Kingdom was in fact the “Kingdom of D.”, or the “Kingdom of the Dawn”. After all, it’s been strongly directly implied that the sun is the mark of the people of that Kingdom, which would make sense if they were the “Kingdom of the D.”. Which, given the connection Imu attributes between the scholars of Ohara and the pirates with a D. in their name, might be just what Clover was trying to mention being the Kingdom’s name playing a vital clue about who its people were.

The wording of “raising the flag” not only is reminiscent of the lyrics of Binks’s Sake about the flag of pirates, but just in general evokes the image of pirates, which once again reinforces the belief many of us have had that the so-called “immense kingdom” was more of a massive alliance of pirates formed by people of many countries, something this chapter reinforces again through the fact that Lily, being a human from the Alabasta Kingdom, was part of these “D.”, much like how Saul, a giant, was also a “D.”. In fact, Lily may very well have been the “Vivi” of the Void Century in the pirate crew that may have been at the center of this kingdom.

This also makes me wonder if all allies of the kingdom chose to have that D. in their names as symbol of their kingdom but simply hid it away like the Nefertari, so I wonder if Shirahoshi and Momonosuke, both descendants of allied groups of the Kingdom, are also both D. members as well with hidden names. Which could perhaps explain how both of them were able to use the Voice of All Things and hear the “voices” found within the Poneglyphs, much like Luffy, Roger, or Oden. But if the “D.” holds a deeper meaning, if that ties to some biological power with the Voice of All Things, and why the “D.” clan is referred to as the “clan of fate” by some are all answers we do not yet possess.

WAPOL

It is with all this that Imu comes to the realization that indeed Lily had betrayed them, that the Nefertari were indeed traitors, members of the kingdom’s D. people all along, and might even be wondering whether a girl who looks just like Lily having reappeared upon the world is some mere coincidence or some twist of fate. Especially accounting that the likes of Poseidon, Joyboy, and more also seem to be reappearing upon the world. This calls for the execution of Cobra, which as we’ve previously mentioned, was seemingly secretly witnessed by Wapol, who now realizes the Government will try to hunt him down for this secret he’s discovered and wants nothing to do with, running into Vivi and escaping with her. This was the “leaked intel” that Wapol wanted to give Morgans, and the unforgivable secret for which the Government wanted to erase him, which he mentioned during his most recent reappearance. The fact that none other than Big News Morgans now holds this knowledge may pose a veritable turning point in the way the One Piece world operates.

POWERS OF THE GOROSEI

However, Sabo, having gone after the rumors of the phantom room and the mysterious person within it, jumped in to protect Cobra, using an attack called “Oute Bishya”, referring to performing a checkmate on a king surrounded by his pieces in shogi and chess, in reference to King Imu being surrounded by their pieces, the Gorosei. However, this resulted in Imu and the Gorosei finally showing their powers… but what exactly are these powers?

Imu-sama seemingly appears to transform into a giant blob of dark matter, whereas the Gorosei similarly transform into several different silhouettes. It’s hard to say for sure whether these are all just silhouettes for the sake of hiding their powers in classic Oda style, or if their true forms are indeed dark blobs of sorts. This even brings into question if the Gorosei are somehow creations connected to Imu’s powers, but realistically I think it’s safer for us to simply assume that this is just Oda using his usual silhouettes, so let’s not complicate things for now.

For the Gorosei though, we can guess a lot more from their powers than you might first think. We can actually tell what each of the Gorosei transformed into by using their previous positions when talking with Cobra as point of reference, as they maintained the same formation:

• To start things off, St. Jaygarcia Saturn seems to have transformed into some sort of bovine Zoan, appearing to have sprouted two large horns and a large snout, like that of a cow or bull, which goes along with the shape of his beard
• The blonde Gorosei is mostly covered so there isn’t much we see from him, but he interestingly appear to become really large, with a massive gaping mouth, so he seems to have transformed into something as well, though it’s hard to say exactly what
• On the right the Gorosei with the large mustache seems to have transformed into some sort of creature with large tusks, like an elephant of sorts, though it’s also possible those tusks could just be his mustache, now much larger, so it could be some sort of other creature like a hippo, especially given the small ears being unlike those of an elephant
• Next to him the Gorosei with the long beard seems to have transformed into some sort of large bird, maybe even some mythological bird too, which appears to be an awakened Zoan fruit, as indicated by the scarf of clouds surrounding his neck, which we’ve seen appear to be an indication of awakened Zoan users like Luffy, Lucci, or Yamato.
• And finally, the bald Gorosei appears to have an awakened Zoan as well, as also indicated by the scarf of clouds. The difference is that compared to the others he appears to look fairly human, so this may be some special Model of a Hito Hito no Mi that still gives him some kind of human appearance

It’s also worth noting that this Gorosei is the only one among them to not pull a gun, but instead pull out his sword, and with this chapter basically confirming that the Gorosei are indeed fighters, it would be reasonable to think he’s very proficient with it. In fact the crossguard of his sword bears the shape of the Kitetsu line of swords, and given its color scheme, it is widely believed by the fandom that the sword he’s been seen carrying ever since Skypiea is the Shodai Kitetsu, the first in the Kitetsu line of swords that Ipponmatsu spoke of back in Loguetown, and one of the 12 Saijo O Wazamono, the greatest swords in the world, alongside Mihawk’s Yoru, Roger’s Ace, and Whitebeard’s Murakumogiri, meaning that this bald Gorosei could very well be among some of the best swordsmen in the world.

IMU’S POWERS

As for Imu themselves, it’s harder to say what their power is, as they seem to turn into a large blob, but its shape appears to be very inconsistent. At first they appear to be human, even seeing a faint silhouette of a human face, but when Sabo attacks them, their eyes morph and they transform into a large cartoonish-looking creature with big jaws, even letting out a big “CHOMP” sound effect in Japanese, “bakun”. It’s also worth noting that Imu seemingly grows a third circle around their pupil when transforming. And later they become this colossal creature descending from above, but their shape seems to shift, as we can see the shoulder morphing as if it doesn’t have a proper solid shape, and later Imu literally becomes just a pair of eyes encroaching the darkness all around Sabo.

This cartoonish yet creepy design stands parallel to Imu’s childish yet prepotent speech pattern, but wait, did we say… “cartoonish”? What other character appears to have very cartoonish transformations? Well of course, Joyboy, the Sun God, who may have been a counterpart to Imu, representing pure white whereas Imu represents pitch darkness. And this might give us an idea as to what Imu’s powers may actually be…

As we’ve mentioned previously, there’s a lot of evidence that seems to suggest that Imu may be the Sea Devil mentioned in myths of old, the origin of all devil fruits. So it may be well possible that Imu’s powers are exactly those… of the devil. But perhaps not so much the devil in a Satanic or Lovecraftian form, but more like… the devil out of a cartoon.

Much like how Joyboy is a Sun God, but not really the traditional image we associate with a god, Imu may be a devil but more in a cartoonish way, like the Devil that was often featured in cartoons of old, a sinister shadow that morphs into goofy yet scary creatures just like the one we see Imu transforming into. In fact, Imu appears to pierce Cobra with a long line in the shape of an arrow which looks exactly like the depictions of the Devil’s tail in old cartoons. It’s also worth noting that in one of the panels the arrow appears to be dripping, so perhaps it’s some liquid like ink or potentially maybe even silhouetted black water. And what with Sabo describing this place as literally “hell”, it would make sense with this being the den of the Sea Devil.

And this all ties with Imu’s speech pattern in Japanese, because Imu sounds both silly yet frightening at the same time, childish and prepotent but legitimately threatening and authoritarian. And the same could be said about their power, it’s silly and cartoonish much like Joyboy’s, but also incredibly frightening and terrifying, basically evoking childhood nightmares. Maybe this is some mythical Zoan based off of the image of the Sea Devil during the Void Century, or perhaps even something more sinister from that time. But regardless of what name or type it may have, given how it perfectly parallels the powers of Joyboy, it seems like this may very well be a power able to bring any creation or nightmare into reality. Joyboy is the dreams and hopes of people incarnate, being able to turn imagination into reality, whereas Imu is the the fears and doubts of men incarnate, an encroaching darkness that turns your greatest fears into reality.