This article contains spoilers from One Piece's Elbaf Arc.
One Piece's The Elbaf arc has finally put some focus on the ultimate villain of the story, and it's none other than Imu. Hardly any fan of the series thought that Imu would take the spotlight in Elbaf, but that's exactly what Oda did. Although the Holy Knights first appeared in Elbaf as the main villains, Oda quickly switched and introduced Imu. With that, Imu's abilities were also revealed to some extent. Fans were shocked to see the extent of Imu's powers as well as their abilities.
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Most of all, though, Imu's arrival in Elbaf confirmed to fans what the most powerful ability in the entire series is. Of course, based on what happened in Elbaf, most fans would assume so the strongest Devil Fruit is whatever Imu has, or maybe Luffy's Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. However, that is not really the case. In fact, Oda brought out the most powerful Devil Fruit over a decade ago in the story. In Oda's own words, Blackbeard's Yami Yami no Mi is the most dangerous and invincible power i One Pieceand Imu's arrival in Elbaf proves it once again.
Why Yami Yami no Mi is the strongest devil fruit power
Devil Fruits play an extremely important role when it comes to a battle for power among the strongest in the One Piece world. Most of the top tiers in One Piece have strong Devil Fruits, but not all fruits are equally powerful. Of course, there are some very powerful Devil Fruits in the world, but the one at the top is Yami Yami no Mi. For those who don't remember, Yami Yami no Mi belongs to the Logia class of Devil Fruits and it allows Blackbeard to control the darkness. With this darkness, Blackbeard can control infinite gravity and suck in everything in his vicinity.
With this ability, I am invincible Ace! — Blackbeard to Ace
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The pressure from his gravity is infinite and anyone sucked in would be crushed in an instant. But that alone does not make this fruit the strongest. In fact, this Devil Fruit can remove all Devil Fruit powers. To add to that, an important detail from One Piece chapter 441 also states that Blackbeard's Devil Fruit can absorb the power of the devil himself. In other words, Imu's abilities would be useless against Blackbeard. Luffy's Nika power wouldn't workand neither is Gorosei's Yokai. Any Devil Fruit power, or demonic ability like Imu's, is useless against Blackbeard.
Its awakening would make it the strongest
Right now, the only downside to Blackbeard's power is that he needs to physically touch someone to interrupt their powers. This means that Blackbeard is still open to counters and can be damaged before contact is made. However, this all changes with Devil Fruit Awakening. If Yami Yami no Mi is awakenedthen no Devil Fruit user, or even Imu, can stand in his presence and retain their powers. Blackbeard would be the undisputed strongest in One Piece immediately after the awakening of his Devil Fruit.
Of all the Devil Fruits in history, this one is said to be the most dangerous of them all. — Blackbeard to ace
Oda specifically calls it One Piece's most dangerous fruit ability
Calling Yami Yami no Mi the most powerful ability is not just a guess or assumption. Oda himself claims in the manga that this is the most dangerous Devil Fruit ability to ever exist, and it has authority over all other Devil Fruits, including Devil Power. This is exactly what Rocks D. Xebec was looking for, but unfortunately for him, he never found it. Teach already has this Devil Fruit, and no matter what Imu does, he would have no chance against Blackbeard in an all-out battle.
One Piece's The final stretch is sure to give fans a look at some incredible battles, and a clash between Blackbeard and Imu is almost inevitable at this time. Whenever that happens, fans can be sure that it will be Blackbeard who will have the upper hand, despite Imu's overwhelming abilities.
Eiichiro Oda's One Piece will be on hiatus this week. One Piece Chapter 1166 is out next week. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1166 is November 23, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.
- 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 Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Author
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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
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
