One Piece finally reveals how Imu will be beaten

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for One Piece chapter #1171]

After nearly 20 chapters, we’re finally out of One Piece’s longest flashback, which focused on King Harald and Rocks D. Xebec. In chapter 1171, at the end of a long story that delved deep into the recent past of the world and Elbaph’s history, One Piece also dropped an important hint about a means to hurt the otherwise unstoppable final villain, the great Imu.

In the previous chapter, Loki finally acquired the realm’s most sacred weapon, the hammer Ragnir (whose true form is that of a squirrel), along with a legendary Devil Fruit, said to be usable only by those Ragnir himself deems worthy. Using these new powers, Loki killed his father Harald, who succumbed to the control of Imu through his Depths Covenant seal. In chapter 1171 we learn that Harald’s death also injured Imu by proxy. Up until this point in the story, the mysterious king of the world seemed invincible, as seen when he was attacked by Sabo but reduced the assault to nothing. When Imu directly possessed Saint Saturn during the God Valley incident, it took the combined forces of the strongest fighters in the world to merely repel him.

As Imu states in the latest chapter, performing the Covenant inflicts a cost upon them as well. This “pact” is Imu’s exclusive power, used to both empower and bind his strongest servants. It can bestow near-immortality, regeneration, and the teleporting power of the Abyss, but it seems it comes with a cost for Imu. After Harald is killed, Imu is seen huffing and visibly shaken in their throne room.

At the end of the Egghead Arc, Saturn, a Gorosei member whose powers were granted by Imu, died with no effect on the ruler. The key difference was that Saturn died because Imu revoked his powers, leading to his centuries-old body to wither and die. Harold was killed by the hands of his son Loki, using a massive amount of Conqueror’s Haki, a weakness that was already highlighted during the God Valley incident. This invites the idea that anyone bound to Imu through a Depths or Abyssal Covenant who is killed by another also takes a piece of Imu with them, or, at the very least, that Imu shares in their pain.

This revelation gives insight into how the final battle against Imu could develop. Instead of fighting Imu directly, the Straw Hats and their allies may have to dispatch with the God’s Knights and their lesser Devoted Blades of Gods one by one in order to reduce Imu’s strength. It seems like Imu’s abilities work like a reverse hivemind, where instead of killing the main source, damage is done by eliminating each person that has a contract with Imu to reduce their strength.

It’s great to see that Imu’s vast and seemingly overpowered abilities have some sort of repercussion. It’s also refreshing to finally learn something concrete about this villain since Imu’s debut in chapter 906. However, Imu’s powers haven’t been explained, besides the ability to mark and influence their servants and bestow them with more power, while downright robbing them of autonomy. Although there’s more to discover when it comes to Imu, it’s great to get a glimpse into what will become a vulnerability the Straw Hats will have to learn and exploit when the final battle inevitably rears its head.