I have so many questions now - but first, i'd like to know what's going on with Imu's age.
So, it seems he's not immortal (he's bleeding.), but he lives for 800+ years, and it seems like he stopped aging at some point.
Unless he's draining the life force from those he's bound to by pact or something.
Is this the work of Ope Ope ?
Imu making houses and trees come to life is further proof that their powers are soul based like Big Moms.
We know that big mom can suck the sole energy out of other people. Both consensually and non consensually.
The Ope Ope Perrenial Youth Surgery does what it says it does: you can die but you won't age.
There's nowhere that says this does not have a cost. The energy needs to come from somewhere.
Bjg Mom gains most of her soul power through consensual interactions, involving taking a small bit of soul from tottte land citizenry, reducing their lifespan.
Why does Imu need slaves?
Souls.
That's what keeps him and the Gorosei immortal.
The consumption of souls, mostly from slaves.
Why are the buccaneers highly prized slaves? Strong souls, we know kuma's soul is different than normal humans. But this is also what makes it hard to break them: those with strong souls have strong wills.
So while buccaneers are great soul batteries for the world government, they don't like enslaving them because their wills make it almost impossible to break them.
I'm theorizing that once things get bad enough, Imu will either turn the CDs into full on Domi Reversi Demons. They should have very little soul energy considering how pathetic they are.
The celestial dragons exist as a pipeline to feed Imu slaves so he can eat their souls.
My question now is: can Luffy punch the souls out?
My Act 4 theories involve Sanji kicking Souls out of Big Mom using CoC but no CoA, so he can fight her without hurting her or touching her.
One other thing: I believe Imu's powers are Shadow based. Each soul has two halves. Imu puts the shadow in control.
We know from thriller bark that the counter to this is salt, and historically, salt has been known to be a deterrent to demons.
Can you imagine if Usopp damages Imu by shooting a fucking salt star into his mouth?
