One Piece Teases A Popular Imu Theory May Be True

Just when fans were beginning to get over the massive Jewel Tree Adam reveal, One Piece‘s Elbaf Arc has upped the ante yet again with the newest chapter dropping another huge bombshell. It seems Eiichiro Oda isn’t wasting any more time in the Final Saga as the series’ most mysterious villain, Imu, just made landfall on Elbaf, teasing fans may finally learn more about the secret ruler of the World Government, their identity, and powers. Though even before all that, Imu’s appearance on Elbaf itself may have already confirmed a popular fan theory.

In Chapter 1149 of One Piece, Imu arrives on Elbaf by taking possession of Gunko’s body, seemingly confirming fans’ suspicions of a deeper connection between Imu and Gunko. The fact that Imu possesses such an ability at all raises the interesting possibility that the form fans have seen Imu take so far may not be Imu’s real body at all but another person that Imu has possessed, with a prime suspect being Nefertari D. Lily, Vivi’s missing ancestor. Fans have long suspected that Imu could be possessing Lily’s body ever since her introduction, and One Piece’s latest chapter hints this theory could be true after all.

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Imu Could Be Possessing Nefertari Lily’s Body After All

Nefertari D. Lily was first introduced in the Reverie flashback in Chapter 1084 during Cobra’s meeting with the Five Elders, wherein King Cobra revealed that Nefertari Lily was one of the twenty rulers who founded the World Government but did not stay in Marijois to become a Celestial Dragon. However, Lily never made it back to Alabasta with her younger brother having to take over as the country’s ruler in her stead. Chapter 1085 would go on to reveal that Lily was a member of the D Clan that was the World Government’s enemy during the Void Century and that Lily was also responsible for scattering the poneglyphs across the world.

Lily’s coincidental disappearance after committing this grave sin of releasing the poneglyphs into the world is what initially led to the popular theory that Lily’s body had been taken over by Imu, and this is why she never made it back to Alabasta. Of course, Imu’s reasons for choosing Lily are a mystery, but Chapter 1116 of One Piece also revealed that Imu keeps a portrait of Lily in the castle, despite the troublesome mistake she committed, suggesting there may be more to the relationship between the two.

All that said, there are still a few kinks with this theory that have yet to be smoothed over, one of these being the fact that in Chapter 1086, Ivankov revealed that there was a Saint Imu Nerona during the Void Century, which could be the Imu fans see today in the series. The other major issue with this theory is that Lily is presumed to have scattered the poneglyphs using Kuma’s devil fruit, though if her body was being possessed and kept alive for so long, the fruit could not have resoawned and fallen into Kuma’s possession as there cannot be two users of the same devil fruit at the same time. Still, Imu’s ability to possess people opens many doors to speculation in One Piece, and it will be interesting to finally learn more about the final villain of the series.

One Piece is available to read on Manga Plus and Viz Media.