Amazing, a good and needed slap in the face for Luffy, I would love for it to be explored in more details further, but this is great. It confirms the fact that Luffy still has room for growth and for such a character, it's not an easy thing to do.
Gaban is stronger that I thought. I think it's fair to say that Imu is also nerfed massively. He is bleeding, he might be starting to feel exhausted a bit. It's a good thing for us, perhaps that attack will make him retreat for the moment.
The idea of Luffy standing up and fighting one last big time seems to be on the table, and frankly, as a Yonko, this is the level of resiliance that we should expect. (Remember just how much White beard tanked before kicking the bucket). Luffy is a tank of stamina and resilience, at this point this should not be too much of a surprised for him to be able to fight just enough to make Imu retreat for good. Even if I would love for him to stay on the floor and Usopp saving him
This will not be enough tho.
Luffy is still cocky and he didn't listen to Gaban, which means that he has not been humbled enough to understand his shortcoming just yet (
at least if we trust the two translations that I have seen - which are horrible btw I'm waiting for TCB to correct that) this could mean that something darker is about to happen, something bigger than just Gaban losing an arm... and frankly, I'm a little bit afraid now.. or......
... ironically Gaban losing an arm saving Luffy is actually a good thing (
for luffy, not gaban haha), this COULD place Luffy in the same position has his childhood. and we know that he didn't tank that too well. Of course, Shanks was important to him so it won't be as dramatic, but it still could trigger a self-reflection.
Anyway amazing chapter