Thats your take.......Imu is much grander to one piece main storyline.......I don't see how luffy defeats akainu then Imu unless luffy bluenos akainu..........
I mean, my personal theory is that Luffy is nerfed cuz of the scar.
In One Piece, scars matter A LOT:
When Kaido thought of Oden, his scar started hurting. When Shanks thought of BB, his scar started hurting. When WB thought of Roger, his scar start hurting.
Akainu traumatized Luffy so badly, it’s possible that when Luffy encounters him in person his scar acts up and weakens him somehow.
We also saw on fishman island, when Jimbei mentioned Akainu, Luffy couldn’t stop grabbing his chest.