One Piece Finally Reveals an Imu Face in the Elbaph Arc

Elbaph bow of One Piece has thrown a lot of focus on the character of Saint Imu Nerona, one of the 20 founding kings and the sovereign of the world. With last week's declaration that Imu wanted to visit the Warland, Oda finally delivered and unleashed this individual's true face. For years, Oda hid Imu's face behind a silhouette, but the Elbaf arc has torn this mask from his face, revealing the true form of the final antagonist of the entire series.

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Assessing the reason behind the sovereign's Elbaph arrival

One Piece Chapter 1178 saw Imu make a massive declaration towards the end. After fighting Nika and Nidhogg through Gunko's body, Imu realized that the threat he faced was serious enough for him to personally do something about it. As such, towards the end of the chapter, Imu declared to the Five Elders that he himself would be heading to the Warland.

For the first time in a generation, Imu decided to leave the sacred land of Marijoa and set foot on the world below, as the dire situation required him to do so. Had Imu not set foot on Elbaf himself, the straw hat pirates as well as the giants would have won over him quite easily. Now the arrival of Imus tips the tide in the World Government's favor once again, setting the stage for a grand finale that has dire consequences for the series' protagonists.

Eiichiro Oda finally reveals Imu's true face in chapter 1179

Considering Imu was all set to make an appearance in Elbaf, Oda delivered hugely, fully revealing his face to fans for the first time in eight years. For nearly a decade, Oda teased the mystery surrounding Imu's face. Every time this person appeared in the story they were covered by a silhouette, but One Piece chapter 1179 did extremely well to tear off this mask from the character and show their true face.

Imu has a particularly unique face when it comes to the men in the One Piece world. For some reason, Imu's face doesn't look like the typical character from One Piece. The facial features are somewhat feminine, and Imu really looks very unique. Imu sports white hair, which flows down one side of his face, and has tanned skin, which is quite similar to the lunar race in the One Piece world.

More than that, Oda gave fans a good look at the true form of Imu, as he was revealed to sport giant black wings during his transformation, as well as a pointed tail. Even Imu's Devil Fruit ability was unleashed by the writer of the series, signaling that this is the beginning of the end not only for the Elbaf arc, but for all of One Piece as well.

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Breaks down Imu's connection to major One Piece Races

When Imu makes a proper debut in the Elbaph arc, the connections he has to some of the world's greatest races are pretty clear for all to see. Having tanned skin and white hair in her, Imu draws a very deep connection to the Lunar race in the One Piece world. Not many people in the world of One Piece are known for having tanned skin. Having brown skin and ashen hair is actually a key indicator of someone having lunar blood, and it seems that Imu has this connection. This would be fitting since the Moons were once known as the gods of the world, and Imu considers himself the only true god in the entire world.

It is possible that Imu fought against his own people long ago and then stood as one of the 20 founders, eventually taking over the entire world. More than that, Imu also has giant horns, which can be traced back to the bloodline of the ancient giants. Whether these horns originated from a Devil Fruit transformation or if they are natural remains to be seen, but if they are indeed natural, Imu may even have an ancient giant bloodline, which would greatly increase his power even more.

Measure the consequences of the world ruler bleeding on landfall

An important thing to note is that Imu started bleeding right after arriving in Elbaf. This means that Imu's body is weakened in some way, and this can be linked back directly to the previous battle with Joy Boy that ended around 800 years ago. In the end, Joy Boy died, but it seems that Imu is facing serious consequences for participating in this war against Joy Boy.

For some reason, Imu's body is greatly weakened, and it is unlikely to be able to emit full power for a long time. This means that Imu's stay in the sacred land of Elbaph will be short-lived, and he will use all his powers at their disposal to immediately end the threat of Nika and Nidhogg.

One Piece Chapter 1180 will be available to read on Manga Plus on April 19, 2026.

One Piece

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 Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, 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

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)