One Piece‘s latest chapter just pitted the series’ final villain against two of its strongest characters, and how it plays out is actually pretty surprising. Ever since the Levely Arc, Eiichiro Oda has made it abundantly clear that the final boss of the story will be none other than Imu, the mysterious ruler of the world.
Since then, Oda has been slowly building up this secret ruler. That all leads right up to Elbaph, where Imu finally decides to step up and handle things personally, especially since the Gorosei failed to take down Luffy last time.
However, as it turns out, taking down Luffy is not going to be that simple now that he has teamed up with Loki. Chapter #1178 makes it clear that Imu is going to have to do a lot more than just take over a Holy Knight’s body if he actually wants to win this fight.
One Piece Finally Forces The Ruler Of The World To Step Onto The Battlefield
Chapter 1178 finally delivers the long-awaited two-on-one fight that One Piece fans have been waiting to see, pitting Imu directly against Luffy and Loki. Once Imu figures out that using Gunko’s body won’t be enough to handle them, he decides to switch up the strategy.
In a pretty terrifying scene, the secret ruler of the world detaches from Gunko and turns into a pitch-black, shadowy figure. The shadowy transformation looks practically identical to the form he took while possessing Saturn during the God Valley flashback.
Imu attempts to manipulate the duo using the Diabolical Covenant, a twisted technique that offers great power and strength in exchange for a piece of their lifespans. The whole point of the trick is to make them hate each other and start a fight.
It’s the same trick Imu pulled on Rocks to make him turn against his own crew. However, that same move doesn’t seem to work on Luffy and Loki. Judging by the look on Imu’s face, it seems the secret ruler was expecting something like this to happen.
Luffy and Loki waste no time finishing him off, with Loki using Ragnir Niflheim to freeze him instantly. However, Imu manages to teleport back to Pangaea Castle. The second he gets there, he summons the Five Elders to let them know that he will be stepping out of the sanctuary for a little while.
This marks an unprecedented moment in the series, as it is the very first time Imu is going to leave Pangaea Castle physically. Up until this point, the secret ruler of the world has only ever left those walls by using Domi Reversi to possess other people’s bodies, which makes this actual physical departure a huge deal for the story.
Even though Imu doesn’t say exactly where he is going, the editor’s note at the very end of the chapter basically confirms that he is heading straight for Elbaph.
Luffy & Loki’s Alliance Ends One Piece’s Strongest Devil Fruit Debate
Imu has witnessed firsthand just how formidable Luffy and Loki are when fighting side-by-side. This whole situation looks exactly like what Rocks D. Xebec was going on about decades ago.
While it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed, all the clues are pointing to the idea that the two legendary Devil Fruits Xebec was after were the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika and the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Nidhoggr.
Luffy’s Gear 6 Will Mark the Greatest Glow-Up in Anime History
Gear 6 would be the crowning power-up for Luffy, as it will affirm his position as one of the greatest characters of all time.
He always believed that having the combined powers of those two specific fruits would be enough to take over the entire world, which is why he pushed Harald to eat Elbaph’s legendary Devil Fruit and join him.
Rocks might have failed to pull off his dream, but Luffy and Loki have officially made it happen, and Imu clearly realizes the massive threat they now pose.
Gear 5 And Nidhoggr Share A Massive Weakness That Imu May Plan To Exploit
Chapter #1178 also makes it pretty clear that Luffy and Loki still have some big limits when it comes to their powers. Right now, their main issue is that neither of them can actually stay in their strongest forms for very long.
It is no secret that Luffy always has stamina issues whenever he uses his Gear forms, and Gear 5 definitely hasn’t fixed that problem. The Nika transformation puts a huge strain on his body and completely drains all his energy.
So far, his usual trick of just scarfing down a ton of food in the middle of a battle to get his strength back has somehow worked out. But in a battle against someone like Imu, he is probably not going to get any outside assistance to recover.
Surprisingly, Loki is actually dealing with the same issue. During Chapter 1178, the accursed prince admits that staying in his massive form for too long just tires him out, which pretty much proves his Nidhoggr transformation has a strict time limit too.
Knowing this, it makes total sense why Imu is pushing so hard to take them out before they figure out how to unlock the true power of their Devil Fruits.
Scopper Gaban Could Be The Key To Finally Unlocking Luffy and Loki’s True Potential
It hasn’t been long since Luffy unlocked Gear 5. He is still largely unaware of Gear 5’s true potential, and he definitely hasn’t figured out how to use it without burning through all his stamina.
Loki is essentially dealing with the same problem. Since he has spent the majority of his life locked away in the Elbaph underworld, the accursed prince hasn’t had a chance to master his new Devil Fruit powers.
This feels like the perfect moment for Scopper Gaban to enter the picture. Just like Roger’s right-hand man, Rayleigh, trained Luffy, it is time for his left-hand man to do the same thing. However, they need to figure this out quickly, since Imu might be heading straight for them.
With no break scheduled for One Piece next week, fans won’t have to wait long to discover the true motive behind Imu leaving the castle.
- 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 Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)