Hello! I am KENTA, a Japanese who loves One Piece.
As the story of One Piece progresses, one of the biggest mysteries, Imu’s true identity, is revealed.
Imu turned out to be not one of the 19 families that destroyed the once prosperous kingdom, but actually the king himself of the Nerona Family.
In this issue, we will thoroughly discuss the identity of “Nerona Saint Imu” from its appearance to its attack methods.
1. description of Imu in battle
The first reason why Imu’s power is considered to be that of a dark god.
Here is Imu’s battle scene in episode 1085.
Imu was using some ability to launch an attack, emitting a pitch-black spear-like object that pierced the Cobra king’s body.
Then, in an attempt to save King Cobra, Sabo attacks with flames towards Imu and Goroshi before Imu and his friends.
Imu, however, transformed into a large, black beast-like figure and nullified Sabo’s attacks by eating flames.
At the same time, all the five old stars also transform into large beasts of black birds and cows.
He attacked Cobra King and Sabo, and even his transformation ability was portrayed as being somewhat influenced by Imu.
His ability to change his own appearance into that of a beast, as well as his ability to influence the zoon-like abilities of others, makes us believe that Imu’s ability is zoon, and like Luffy, he is most likely a Devil Fruit that bears the name of God.
2. the name “Nerona Saint Imu
Imu turns out to be not one of the 19 families that destroyed the once prosperous kingdom, but actually the King of the House of Nerona himself.
Perhaps the official name will be “Nerona Saint Imu”.
This is a kind of play on words between Japanese and katakana, foreshadowed by the author, Mr. Oda, who assembled the katakana characters “Nerona Saint Imu” to form kanji meaning “God” and “Buddha.
I thought that he was a person who had the ability of the devil’s fruit bearing the name of God from the words “God” and “Buddha”.
Currently, Luffy is modeled after [the god of Nika], but I think that in Imu, like Luffy, he is modeled after some god.
And if such an Imu has the power of God in it, how divine is it?
A hint or a line from Blackbeard in episode 441.
“Zee ha ha ha, sun or darkness! There is only one winner! "
These words clearly refer to the adversarial relationship between the sun and the darkness.
From the above description and setting, we can assume that the model of divine power that Imu inhabits may be the model of the God of Darkness.
3. Apep in Egyptian mythology
The god of darkness actually appears in Egyptian mythology.
The name of the god is “Apep.
Apep, the god of darkness, is the same god as Nika in Egyptian mythology.
He is depicted as a deity in opposition to the sun god.
And Apep is said to be the god who resented the light emitted by Ra, the sun god, and attacked Ra every night.
Thus, we considered that Imu’s divine power was inspired by the power of Apep, the god of darkness.
4. the time of Apep’s birth
We will continue our explanation of Apep, the god of darkness in Egyptian mythology, a little longer.
Although Apep was an enemy of Ra, he was actually born earlier than Ra and reigned as Ra’s senior.
And it is said that Apep was born at a time when order did not exist in this world.
Then Apep is born and dominates the chaos of this world.
He is called the primordial god because he brought order to the world. Speaking of the creator who brought order to the world, he is in a very similar position to the Tenryujin, the current order of the One Piece world itself.
Therefore, we can assume that Imu’s ability at the top of the Tenryujin, who was in conflict with Nika in those days, is that of Apep, the god of darkness and the primordial god.
5. the role of Apep
We will continue our explanation of Apep, the god of darkness in Egyptian mythology, a little longer.
As the primordial god, Apep brought order to this world, but being the god of the beginning of the world, Apep was actually the god until the birth of Ra, the sun god.
However, after being deprived of the position of the sun god by the newly born god Ra, Apep is said to have come to dislike Ra.
As a result, Apep became hostile to Ra as the god of darkness.
This can be taken as the very composition of the antagonistic relationship between Nika, god of the sun, and Im, god of darkness, in the One Piece world, which was considered to have become an antagonistic relationship after the humans he had ruled were freed.
6. the relationship between eclipse and Apep
In ancient Egyptian mythology, this phenomenon was thought to be caused by Apep.
And the Lucia Kingdom was collapsed by Imu in episode 1060, when the sky of the Lucia Kingdom was covered by something huge and cloudy.
A small-scale eclipse-like phenomenon occurred above the Kingdom of Lurcia, and then the Kingdom of Lurcia was collapsed by a huge object in the sky.
And because Imu’s face was painted just before the collapse, this attack and the huge object that appeared in the sky were due to Imu’s ability.
The link between these eclipses and the giant sphere that struck the Kingdom of Lurcia also suggests that it was Imu who collapsed the Kingdom of Lurcia, using the abilities of the Dark God to manifest a sphere so huge that it eats the light of the sun.
7. the appearance of Apep and the Tenryujin
Apep, whom we have introduced as the god of darkness and the god of the sun and an adversary of Ra, is said to have been a large serpent in appearance.
And in episode 1085, Imu is depicted as a large monstrous figure, but its outline is round and simple with large eyes and mouth, in a design that could be a giant snake.
Also, snakes basically swallow their prey whole when eating food.
This is exactly in line with Imu’s description of Sabo swallowing his flame whole.
In addition, Apep is said in Egypt to be a dark god with a serpent-like appearance, but he is also believed in other countries.
The royal families of the 20 confederacies, led by Imu, later called themselves Tenryujin, and their emblems were marked with a dragon’s hoof motif, and the slaves they ruled were engraved with this dragon’s hoof without fail.
This is why the Tenryu people have special feelings toward dragons.
These are precisely the proofs of the deification and praise of Imu, the supposed head of the United Nations, who stood at the top of the Tenryujin people 800 years ago and brought victory to the 20 allied nations.
8. How Abem attacked
Here is a bit of Egyptian mythology.
I have tried to find out how Apep, who is said to have taken the form of a large serpent and attacked Ra, the sun god, every night, actually raged against Ra and man.
What a surprise, Apep basically swallowed people whole and attacked people.
It has also been believed that Apep is the god of eclipses because it was believed that by swallowing the sun’s light, the sun would disappear and this world would become dark.
And since the act of eating flames is only possible through the ability of the devil fruit, it is thought that eating flames and making them disappear may itself be Imu’s ability, and this ability is perfectly in line with the attack method of the dark god Apep.
Therefore, we infer that the most important characteristic of Imu’s ability is predation.
The fact that Apep brought order and civilization to the people and ruled the world suggests that Imu may be the one who, through the act of predation, does not kill the predator but empowers it and in return, brings it under Imu’s complete control.
In addition, since Goro-sei’s appearance is very similar to that of the transformed Imu, it makes sense that Goro-sei has already been empowered by Imu’s ability.
That is all for now.
Imu would have used the power of the dark gods to rule the world over the past 900 years, treating people like slaves while giving them power and civilization.
Imu’s presence is extremely important in the one-piece world.
His identity, purpose, and connection to D’s family and ancient lineage form the core of the story.
We will be keeping a close eye on what role im-sama will play in the future development of the company.