Imu
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Japanese Name
イム
Romanized Name
Imu
Official English Name
Imu
Debut
Chapter 906; Episode 885
Affiliations
World Government
Occupations
Supreme Ruler of the World Government (clandestine)
Residence
Mary Geoise (Pangaea Castle)
Status
Alive
Japanese Voice
Unknown[Note 1]
English Voice
Unknown
Introduction
Imu is the supreme ruler of the World Government, who occupies the Empty Throne and whom even the Five Elders bow to and serve. Imu's existence has been kept an absolute secret within the government and from the world at large for centuries, to maintain the lie that there is no singular ruler of the world, until they were discovered by Sabo of the Revolutionary Army during the most recent Levely. With the ambition of bringing the Great War to a decisive conclusion, Imu directed their subordinates to procure Dr. Vegapunk's invention, the Mother Flame, and ordered the God's Knights to annex Elbaph in an invasion that Imu personally participated in. Imu is revealed and first appears during the Levely Arc. Due to their status and indirect actions, they are the overarching antagonist of the Egghead and Elbaph Arcs, and one of the primary overarching antagonists of the Final Saga and the One Piece series as a whole.Imu is the supreme ruler of the World Government, who occupies the Empty Throne and whom even the Five Elders bow to and serve. Imu's existence has been kept an absolute secret within the government and from the world at large for centuries, to maintain the lie that there is no singular ruler of the world, until they were discovered by Sabo of the Revolutionary Army during the most recent Levely. With the ambition of bringing the Great War to a decisive conclusion, Imu directed their subordinates to procure Dr. Vegapunk's invention, the Mother Flame, and ordered the God's Knights to annex Elbaph in an invasion that Imu personally participated in. Imu is revealed and first appears during the Levely Arc. Due to their status and indirect actions, they are the overarching antagonist of the Egghead and Elbaph Arcs, and one of the primary overarching antagonists of the Final Saga and the One Piece series as a whole.
Appearance
Summary
Imu has only been shown as a silhouette so far. They possess a humanoid figure similar in size to a regular person, with a hand resembling a human's and sharp, almond eyes with red irises, each having a thin ring around the pupil. In terms of attire, Imu dons a crown that has four sharp, incredibly tall spikes on the top and an extremely long robe that flows upon the ground a great distance behind them. In the anime, Imu's voice has a distorted echo to it.
Gallery
Personality
Summary
Imu has developed a particular interest in Monkey D. Luffy, Marshall D. Teach, Shirahoshi, and Nefertari Vivi, keeping wanted posters or photos of all four on their person. Imu was also shown to have left the aforementioned pictures (save for Vivi's) pierced through and cut apart by blades. Imu appears to have a high degree of familiarity with Nefertari D. Lili, one of the First Twenty, and this interest appears to extend to her descendant, Vivi. Imu has demonstrated greater cruelty and apathy than the Five Elders. While the Elders tend to feel hesitant about ordering mass executions to protect their secrecy, Imu annihilates entire islands in order to erase them from history with a level of enthusiasm. This immense callousness is best evidenced by Imu ordering the destruction of Lulusia Kingdom purely to field-test a Mother Flame-powered Ancient Weapon, completely disregarding the lives of its inhabitants, solely due to the close proximity of the target island. Despite their existence being meant to be secret from the world at large, Imu is not above revealing themselves to individuals of interest, as with Nefertari Cobra when he questioned the lost records of his ancestor and Ohara's archaeologists. However, Imu and the Five Elders had no intention of letting Cobra leave the room alive after Imu showed themselves. Likewise, when Sabo appeared and attacked, Imu was furious that their existence was revealed to an outsider. When confronting Cobra, Imu was initially polite in their speech and offered to explain what the Will of D. actually meant, but quickly became much more hostile when talking about the subject of the Poneglyphs. Likewise, Imu has an intense hatred of those who bear the Will of D., as the moment Imu discovered Cobra's ancestor had the "D." in her name, Imu immediately attempted to kill him. While seemingly possessing an inhuman and enigmatic demeanor, Imu appears to be capable of strong emotions and grudges, displaying no tolerance for even their subordinates if they fail to take care of his personal enemies. They immediately drop their cool when Cobra asked about Lili, keeps relics of their personal enemies around their quarters that they are shown to revisit, and when Jaygarcia Saturn failed to stop "Joy Boy" from escaping Egghead, Imu admonished Saturn before stripping the Elder of his immortality, effectively killing him, and wasted no time filling his position with Figarland Garling. Notably, Saturn never put Luffy's intervention into consideration before invading Egghead with stopping Vegapunk's broadcast in mind and was never told to prioritize getting rid of Luffy to begin with, so Imu's intervention was completely unexpected on his end. For all of Imu's necessity of keeping themselves a secret, they seem to lack a certain degree of subtlety required to maintain the charade, as they tend to openly show up to intervene/attack and in incredibly blatant ways that would alert anyone nearby of their presence. Examples include showing up in front of King Cobra without warning and killing him while Sabo and Wapol were present (both which managed to escape alive and tell the tale), killing Saint Saturn by revoking his Immortality with Saturn himself directly calling out their name while begging for mercy in front of a group of Vice Admirals, and made a massive display of power upon manifesting on Eblaph in front of numerous eyewitnesses, including a country-wide Supreme King Haki burst that immedeately alerted Luffy to take action despite being unaware of the conflict prior. When not speaking with the Five Elders, Imu usually spends their time in the Room of Flowers in complete silence, gently handling butterflies and listening in on conversations that may be of their interest. Imu uses the unique first-person pronoun "Mu" (ムー, Mū?) seemingly derived from their name, as well as the unique second-person pronoun nushia (ヌシア?) for others.
Relationships
Five Elders
As the true supreme leader of the World Government, the Five Elders are all extremely loyal to Imu and obey them without question. The Five Elders often come to their sovereign for counsel about matters of the utmost importance. What Imu personally thinks of the Five Elders is currently unknown, but Imu seems to trust them enough to handle government affairs on their behalf. The Five Elders understand that any outsider that learns of Imu's existence must be eliminated to maintain the illusion of peace and equality among the allied nations. However, Imu has no qualms of killing and replacing the Elders at any time if they fail particular orders, as seen with Saturn, who failed to stop "Joy Boy" from escaping and disobeying the direct order to scrap Emet, swiftly filling his vacant position with Garling. Even the other Elders were shocked by Imu's choice to dismiss Saturn without letting the rest of them know beforehand. Imu's dismissing of Saturn implies that they see the Elders as merely tools that can be discarded and replaced at any time.
Gods Knights
The God's Knights all serve Imu with great reverence, regarding them with respect and humbleness. Imu, on the other hand, admonished the ones sent to conquer Elbaph for their tardiness in light of Mary Geoise's hour of need, and forcefully possessed Gunko to take matters into their own hands. They do, however, respect the Knights enough to have a cordial conversation with Sommers and Killingham, answering their questions calmly.
Clan Of D
Imu possesses an immense hatred for those who bear the letter D. as the middle initial of their names, due to it being the moniker of an "ancient enemy". For this reason, they became angered when Cobra admitted that his ancestor, Lili, also had it.
Nefertari Family
Imu shows great disdain for the Nefertari Family, particularly because of the actions of Queen Lili during the Void Century that resulted in the dispersing of the Poneglyphs across the world, which they suspected was no mere accident. However, despite this disdain, Imu seemingly keeps a portrait of Lili inside Pangaea Castle to look at for unknown reasons. Despite their utter contempt for Lili, they were polite to her descendant King Cobra, although they fully intended to kill Cobra when the conversation ended because he had become aware of Imu being the shadow ruler of the world. Hostilities intensified when Imu learned that Arabasta's royal family had the initial "D" in their middle name. When Cobra sacrificed himself to ensure that Sabo escaped Mary Geoise, Imu was greatly angered. Imu has also developed an interest in Princess Vivi for currently unknown reasons. After she escaped the custody of CP0, Imu ordered the Five Elders to capture and bring her to them.
Joy Boy
Imu appears to be familiar with Joy Boy on a personal level, as they were kneeling in pain after Joy Boy's Supreme King Haki was unleashed during the Egghead Incident, instantly recognizing that the Haki used to belong to him. Imu regards stopping Joy Boy's second coming, manifested in the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika's awakening of Monkey D. Luffy, as of the utmost importance and even went as far as to kill Saturn of the Five Elders for allowing Luffy, whom Imu referred to as "Joy Boy", to escape.
Abilities And Powers
Summary
As the occupant of the Empty Throne, a seat whose occupant would be associated with sole authority over the entire world, Imu by all accounts holds the highest authority within the World Government. They have direct control over the Five Elders, who are publicly considered the government's highest authorities, and have the sole authority to revoke an incumbent Elder's title and replace them should the need arise. Imu also has the authority to command the God's Knights, an elite group of powerful Celestial Dragon warriors who publicly oversee affairs on Mary Geoise. Notably, Imu appears to have possession of one of the Ancient Weapons, which is powered by the Mother Flame invented by Dr. Vegapunk. This weapon, which floats in the sky above the target location, can effect the total annihilation of an entire island within seconds, which it did to the Lulusia Kingdom.
Telepathy And Possession
Imu has been shown to have a supernatural telepathic connection with the Five Elders and God's Knights, and has been indicated to hold at least some degree of influence in the esoteric immortality and Abyss powers granted to them. Though Imu has utilized Den Den Mushi to normally communicate with the Elders, they communicated telepathically with Saturn during the latter's death, in which Imu stripped Saturn of his immortality. The process involved a dark, flame-like substance being emitted from and around Saturn, leading to him withering away and resulting in a large explosion, which left only his skeleton. Imu can utilize this connection to even greater lengths by outright possessing their own subordinates, which they did with Gunko. When the possession takes effect, the original personality of the host body is removed as Imu takes full control of it. Imu appears to retain full access to their original powers when possessing someone else, including their demonic transformation and Haki.
Abyss
Imu can make use of the Abyss in combat, seemingly to a far more extensive and casual degree compared to the Five Elders and God's Knights. While these groups have so far only summoned magic circles to transport themselves and other people, Imu has swiftly created circles of varying sizes that can manifest weapons from the Abyss which are immediately put to use. Imu's regular usage of magic circles and the Abyss while in their demonic transformation, particularly with the A Kuwaru technique, indicates some degree of connection between the powers.
Demonic Powers
Summary
Imu possesses the ability to transform into a demon, which appears to resemble common depictions of the devil Satan. They first showcased this transformation against Sabo in Pangaea Castle; it has only been seen in silhouette to this point, but is evidently extremely large, rivaling the entire platform under the Empty Throne and being roughly equivalent to the Five Elders' massive Mythical Zoan Beast Forms in size. It remains uncertain if this ability is also Devil Fruit-based. While transformed, Imu gains a pair of large, bat-like wings, a pointed tail, and a long pitchfork trident. The tail can be used as a fast and powerful piercing appendage, and Imu could even impale Sabo, a Logia user, with it. When fully transformed they were unaffected by a strike from Sabo's fire which they caught with their mouth. When possessing Gunko's body, Imu activated a seemingly more limited version of the transformation, in which only the three aforementioned features appeared while the rest of Gunko's body remained unchanged and did not grow in size. While in this transformation, Imu is capable of floating in the air without appearing to have to move their wings. Imu can summon a levitating grimoire-like book with a pentagram on the cover seemingly out of thin air. From this book, they are able to manifest a dark-colored substance which can quickly transform into a variety of weapons, with these weapons being powerful enough to severely injure the giant Brogy. In this demon form, Imu makes frequent use of magic circles and the Abyss to an unprecedented degree. In particular, they have the capability of sending targets into the Abyss and transforming them into fellow demons, who possess features very similar to those of Imu's transformation. In this condition, the target becomes intoxicated with their overwhelming power and loses their sense of reason, and can be freely ordered by Imu to even attack their comrades.
Techniques
A Kuwaru (悪魔契約（アー・クワール）, Ā Kuwāru?, lit. "Demon's Contract"): Imu creates an Abyss in the air with their hand, which is then projected down beneath their target for them to sink into. In exchange for a portion of the target's lifespan, they are transformed into a demon that possesses an immortal body and greatly enhanced strength, which Imu dubs the "power of evil" (悪の力, aku no chikara?). The name of this technique is likely on pun on the Japanese words aku and waru (悪?), which mean "evil". In the VIZ manga, this pact is called Diabolical Covenant.
Haki
Imu is one of the few people in the world able to use Supreme King Haki. When possessing Gunko's body, powerful waves of Haki began to radiate out from her body, resembling black lightning. Imu is capable of unleashing Supreme King Haki over a vast area to incapacitate multiple giants across Elbaph, including warriors of the Giant Warrior Pirates.
Weapons
Imu possesses a saber, which they used to cut apart wanted posters and photographs or stab them. Whether or not Imu has any skill in wielding it for combat is unknown. While possessing Gunko's body, Imu manifested a large black trident with arrow-shaped prongs. They appeared to use this weapon in the creation of an Abyss portal to summon a pair of cannons. Using their mystical book, Imu manifested a dagger that they used to stab Brogy's hand and free themself from his grip, and a huge double-barrelled flintlock pistol that is powerful enough to blast straight through Brogy's arm and sever the giant's hand from his body.
History
Past
Most of Imu's life is a mystery, but it has been speculated by Emporio Ivankov that they may have been alive since the Void Century. This assumption is supported by Imu being familiar with Nefertari D. Lili and recognizing the Haki of Joy Boy, both of whom lived during that time period. What is known is that Imu has been the secret supreme ruler of the World Government for some time, though its unknown how long they have held this position.
Whole Cake Island Saga
Levely Arc
As royals gathered at Mary Geoise for the Levely, Imu went to an underground frozen chamber deep within Pangaea Castle, and approached a large straw hat while carrying several wanted posters and photographs including Monkey D. Luffy's. Imu later went to the Room of Flowers and cut apart Luffy and Blackbeard's wanted posters and stabbed the photo of Princess Shirahoshi. Afterwards Imu was alerted by a servant that the Five Elders had arrived. While carrying a photo of Nefertari Vivi in hand, Imu met with them and sat on the Empty Throne. The Elders requested that Imu reveal the name of the "light" that needed to be extinguished from history.
Wano Country Saga
Wano Country Arc
On the fourth day of the Levely, Nefertari Cobra went to the Empty Throne room to talk with the Five Elders about why Nefertari Lili, the Queen of Arabasta 800 years ago, was not officially documented after the Void Century, and questioned what the "D" meant. As the two parties conversed, Imu listened in on their conversation from the Room of Flowers. Without notice, Imu then entered the Empty Throne room and proceeded to sit on the throne in front of the Five Elders and a surprised Cobra. Imu refused to answer any questions about their own identity but went on to reveal that the Will of D. was the moniker of the government's ancient enemy; it has cropped up more frequently in recent times, but Imu referred to it as nothing but a faint echo and individuals who carry the name aren't even aware of its true meaning. Imu then explained Lili's involvement that caused the Poneglyphs to be scattered all over the world, considering it the worst possible outcome for the World Government. In exchange, Imu, who had shown interest in a letter written by Lili that Cobra mentioned having beforehand, ordered the Arabasta king to reveal the full name of its author. Realizing he had no chance to escape and was set to die anyway, Cobra admitted that Lili carried the moniker D. on her name and was impaled by a strange shadowy tentacle summoned by Imu. Sabo, who was eavesdropping nearby, quickly jumped in to attack the Five Elders and Imu, but the latter was able to cancel Sabo's flames with their own ability. Having let Sabo witness some of their biggest secrets, the top brass of the government gave chase to the revolutionary and Cobra, only managing to stop and kill the latter. Wapol also happened to witness the whole thing through a peephole and ran away as far he could. Sabo managed to escape with knowledge of Imu, and the World Government went on high alert to locate him. After the Levely ended, Imu called the Elders. They wished to test out Vegapunk's latest creation, the Mother Flame, and upon being asked where to use it on, Imu named Lulusia Kingdom as its target simply due to the kingdom's proximity to the Mother Flame, regardless of the people living there. Imu also ordered the Five Elders to capture Vivi and bring her to them.
Final Saga
Egghead Arc
Coincidentally, the World Government eventually was able to trace Sabo's location to Lulusia, after intercepting a call where he attempted to reveal Imu's existence to the rest of the Revolutionary Army. In the Room of Flowers, Imu listened in on the Five Elders' discussing the discovery of Sabo's location and the country of Lulusia being destroyed by an explosive energy barrage from the sky, with the Five Elders proclaiming that it never existed at all. Imu later witnessed the rise of the sea in the world. The next day, Imu looked at a painting of Nefertari Lili and listened to Vegapunk's broadcast message about that rise of the sea and the discoveries he had made about the Void Century. With the broadcast nearing its end, Imu listens to Vegapunk state that the fate of the world will be decided by whoever is able to claim the One Piece. After Emet used Joy Boy's stored Supreme King Haki to force the Five Elders back to Mary Geoise, Imu fell to their knees screaming and cursed Joy Boy's name. Following the conclusion of the Egghead Incident, Imu furiously blamed Saturn for his role in allowing Luffy (whom Imu referred to as Joy Boy) and his allies to escape. As a result, Imu stripped Saturn of his apparent immortality, killing him. At the same time, they promoted Figarland Garling to Saturn's previously held position as Warrior God of Science and Defense.
Elbaph Arc
During the God's Knights mission on Elbaph, the group ran into a number of adversaries that caused them trouble, including the Straw Hats and Scopper Gaban, Gol D. Roger's left hand man. As a result of this, alongside an unknown catastrophe in Mary Geoise involving the holy city being set ablaze, Imu decided to act. Having noticed God's Knights member Gunko suddenly regaining lost memories between herself and Straw Hat member Brook, Imu used an unknown method to possess Gunko's body, before declaring their intention to "assist" the God's Knights. A moment later, the Giant Warrior Pirates, as well as a few parents, finally made their arrival to rescue the children. Imu, annoyed by their interference, sprouted a pair of devil wings and took to the sky, before unleashing a burst of Supreme King Haki, knocking a few of their adversaries unconscious. As said giants were meant to have been distracted by Killingham's MMAs, Imu took a moment to berate Killingham for his failure to do so. They then addressed Sommers, demanding that he take charge of the children. Meanwhile, Dorry and Brogy, the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, finally arrived to confront whom they believed to be Gunko. With suitable candidates before them, Imu attempted to inform the pair of their new status as the kings of Elbaph, but was interrupted by Brogy grabbing them. While Brogy began to rant about stopping the God's Knights, Imu casually summoned a magical book, which they then used to create a pair of weapons. At the same time, they issued a simple order for Dorry and Brogy, which was to kill Jarul and declare themselves kings. Brogy was outraged by the very idea, but was cut off by Imu suddenly stabbing him with a dagger they summoned, before blowing his left hand off using a large shotgun. With Brogy effectively immobalized, Imu summoned an Abyss below his feet, before preparing a demonic contract. Using Domi Reversi, Imu converted Brogy into a demonic version of himself. The shock of the moment allowed Dorry to be converted as well, alongside a few of their crewmates. Imu was impressed with the sheer ability their new pawns showed, and watched intently as they set off to kill Jarul. With the majority of their work complete, Imu stood aside and watched as their demons proceeded forward, alongside Killingham's newly revitalized MMAs. Upon being proposed a question by Sommers as to how long they planned to go with their takeover, Killingham chimed in that things were safely in their favor. Before he could finish his explanation, Imu cut him off, and declared their intention to shatter Elbaph's spirit. Imu added that Harald's apparent mistake 14 years prior had been the sole reason for their previous failure, and that Elbaph should long have been under the World Government's control.
Major Battles
Summary
Imu and Five Elders vs. Sabo Imu vs. Brogy
Translation And Dub Issues
Summary
In the VIZ Media translation, Imu talks in first person with the standard subject pronoun "I", but instances of the objective form "me" are replaced by "mu". Imu's unique second-person pronoun nushia (ヌシア?) in Japanese is seemingly derived from the dated "you" pronouns onushi (御主?) and nushi (主?). In the VIZ Media translation, Imu uses the archaic English pronouns "thou" and "thee".
Trivia
Summary
Regarding Imu's name: The Japanese verb imu (spellings: 忌む・諱む・斎む?) means "to shun", "to avoid" or "to detest" (with imubeki (忌むべき?) meaning "abominable/detestable"). The katakana of Imu's name (イム) are the radicals that form the kanji 仏 ("buddha"). Ím (transliterated as イーム in Japanese) is a jötunn in Norse mythology. Emporio Ivankov has hypothesized that Imu may be one of the First Twenty from 800 years ago: specifically, a member of the Nerona Family named Saint Imu, who may have received the "Perennial Youth Operation" since a normal Celestial Dragon has no authority to command the Five Elders. This belief is supported by Marcus Mars referring to Imu as a "Creator", the same way as the First Twenty are referred to, although whether Imu is indeed one of those 20 kings is unknown as of now. This theory is further reinforced when Imu collapsed and seemed to recognize the Haki of Joy Boy, who lived during the Void Century, during the same time as the First Twenty. Imu's position as ruler of the world is a title that the infamous pirate Rocks D. Xebec once aspired to obtain. It is not known if Rocks was ever aware of Imu or the Empty Throne, though the island on which he met his downfall, God Valley, was later wiped off the map much like the Lulusia Kingdom and a great kingdom during the Void Century that also disappeared. The existence of an authority even higher than the Five Elders within the World Government is first hinted at in Chapter 793 when Fleet Admiral Sakazuki learns from the Five Elders that the orders approving Doflamingo's charade of falsely quitting the Seven Warlords came from an authority that supersedes their own. In One Piece in Love, an extremely shy girl called Hagiwara Hana (萩原 花?) wears an Imu costume to approach the pirate club.