Luffy's defeat in Elbaf is already inevitable

Elbaf is the second arc of One Piece's Final Saga and it's quite easily one of the most exciting in history at the moment. So far, Elbaf has proven to be quite unique and it stands out as one of the best arcs in the series, even though it is not yet finished. Ever since its launch last year, fans have witnessed an incredible amount of lore reveals, including the deep secrets behind the God Valley Incident.

At this point, One Piece's The Elbaf arc has done well to put into perspective for the fans how strong Imu is, and how difficult it is for Luffy currently to take them down. If an alliance consists of Rocks, Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido, Roger and Garp couldn't do any damage to Imuthen Luffy really has no chance. Right now, Luffy vs Imu can only end in a terrible defeat for the main character of the series.

Imu is way beyond Luffy's level in one piece

• Imu could take on 6 top tiers

• Luffy isn't even on Rock's level yet

If there's one thing fans were always sure of, it's that Imu would prove to be very powerful, but hardly any fan expected Imu to be so strong that they would finish off the Rocks in a single attack. Fans now know that Imu's powers far exceed anything Oda had shown before, and Oda showed it when he showed Imu emerging unscathed from a powerful alliance attack in One Piece chapter 1163. In God Valley, Rocks, Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido, Roger and Garp all attacked Imu at once, and yet nothing came of it.

At this point, Luffy isn't even on Rock's level, let alone as strong an alliance of 6 of One Piece's strongest characters through the ages. Fans at least thought that Imu channeling her powers through a subordinate would unnerve them enough for Luffy to fight, but that's clearly not the case after seeing what Imu-Saturn did at God Valley.

If Oda really goes through an Imu vs Luffy fightit really can only end in Luffy's defeat. Even if Luffy unlocks Advanced Conqueror's Haki, it won't be enough to do any significant damage to Imu. This can be Oda sets up a capture and rescue arc for Luffybut the truth might just be that Oda will change Elbaf's main villain instead.

Can Luffy really be defeated in Elbaf?

• Luffy could fall against Imu

• Oda could change the main villain to Loki

When Imu took over Gunko's body, many thought she would be the main enemy to fight on Elbaf, and while that may still be the case, Oda may surprise fans with what he has in store.

It is more than likely that Loki will now be the main villain of the arc, but with a twist. Loki can be attacked with Domi Reversiand made Elbaf the real villain. This confrontation would make a lot more sense for Luffy's level right now.

Imu, and maybe even the Holy Knights, could retreat soon. After all, fans have to remember that Marijoa is in trouble, which is why Imu came to Elbaf in the first place, to sort things out quickly.

If Imu really leaves, the perfect battles will be created—Luffy vs Loki, Zoro vs Dorry and Sanji vs Brogy. This bow will bring forth their Conqueror's Haki and teach them how to bypass immortality.

One Piece's next chapter comes out this week. As usual, One Piece will be released on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece releases at 12pm JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on October 26th. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

Release date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

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

Author

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

• 

  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)