This title is a bit click-baity, Imu deserves to die but stick with me lol. So:
DISCLAIMER: Many users will see this post as a “cope” post from a classic Admiral Enjoyer such as myself
But this post is genuinely 100% no trolling not about that at all. I have said repeatedly in the past that with the introduction of the Seraphim, the Admirals’ status as true EOS villains has long since been usurped.
And while I do think Akainu vs Goofy is still written in the stars, I do not believe the Admirals are the true EOS baddies of this manga. That honor has been claimed by the Seraphim.
While I do believe we will get a Marineford 2.0, the ultimate fate of the Marines in this series is either to fall just before the true final battle (Ryokugyu) or to straight up switch sides and wind up as Allies against the true big bads.
So extremely long disclaimer statement out of the way,
I do not believe that Imu is destined to be the final villain of this manga, nor do I believe that distinction will fall to Blackbeard. I want to talk a bit conceptually about what I think the final villain of One Piece should be and why I think Imu cannot fulfill that role.
There have been a variety of villains in the story of OP, and all of these villains when you look at them conceptually are symptoms of larger narrative problems.
For example, would Kaido even exist if One Piece itself did not exist? Would the Yonko as a whole exist were it not for the promise of the One Piece? The concept of four all-powerful pirates locked into a stalemate in the pursuit of Roger’s treasure cannot exist if One Piece itself did not exist.
The same thing could be said of practically every faction in the OP world as they exist now. The Marines exist because pirates exist. Pirates exist because One Piece exists. The Revolutionaries exist because the World Government exists. Hell even Roger himself wouldn’t have become the Pirate king and ignited the pirate era were it not for the world’s true history being concealed for some reason.
All of the current One Piece players that we know are symptoms of larger narrative problems. There is always a “why” to their existence, there is always some initial first cause that must exist in order for all these other groups and factions to exist.
So with that said, let’s talk about Imu.
At a first glance, Imu appears to be an extremely evil practically all-powerful figure responsible for just about every large scale atrocity that takes place in the OP world right now.
However, what I never see anyone discuss is why Imu does the things they do. There is some kind of larger, more all-encompassing concept that has caused Imu to be the way that he/she is, even if that concept is just that Imu was greedy and desired more power.
Why is Imu greedy? Why does Imu want more power? If the simple answer is that Imu is greedy for the sake of greed, then the story can’t just be about defeating Imu anymore.
If Luffy defeats Imu at EOS and there is no larger big bad to beat, then ultimately it will only be a matter of time until another Imu arises and takes the throne. Without defeating the very root cause of Imu’s greed, then Imu is ultimately just the symptom of a much larger problem. Beat Imu, and eventually others will experience the same greed Imu does, and others will slowly and slowly corrupt even a perfect World Government, until eventually another secret Imu seats another secret Imu throne for the same reasons that the first Imu did.
We may defeat Imu, but if we don’t defeat the source of Imu’s evil, what exactly have we accomplished? Temporary peace and happiness that will ultimately be broken again in a few hundred years? Another technologically utopian Kingdom like the AK where all is perfect until suddenly it collapses?
Why did the Ancient Kingdom collapse? Why did the World Government form? Why does Imu exist the way he does? If Oda ends the series by simply defeating Imu and not answering or solving any of these questions, then ultimately the Straw Hats will have accomplished nothing. They will ultimately be remembered as nothing more than a bright spot in a very dark history, rather than the true-world saving, freedom for all warriors that Oda wants them to be remembered as.
No, I do not believe Imu is truly evil at her core. There must be an all-encompassing source from which all of these other symptoms and problems have been derived, including Imu, and that all-encompassing source must be defeated, else the Straw Hats will not truly have created the world of laughter that Oda has worked for 30 years to create. It is this all-encompassing source that I believe will be the true final villain of One Piece. If the source isn’t defeated, then ultimately more symptoms will arise.
But what is the source of all evil in the OP world and how do we stop it? And how does that make Imu a good guy? And before I address this I want to talk a little about the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, because I think these books are a perfect roadmap to understanding what Imu is supposed to represent conceptually.
Now I’m going to spoiler tag this next part, if you plan to read the Mistborn books just know I’m about to spoil literally everything, but I’ll keep it in the spoiler tags.
Now I don’t say all this to sound like an Imu simp or an Imu justifier. Imu must die, if for no other reason than his actions and practices must die with him.
But I do say this to say that the final villain of this manga must be the source of the world’s problems and not the symptoms. Imu is a giant symptom but he is not the cause of all of the world’s evil.
I think we will end up finding out as we learn more and more about the OP world and why all of this shit happened, the more we will view Imu as a tragic figure just trying his or her best to prevent something even worse from coming to fruition.
There is a reason all these Kingdoms ganged up on the Ancient Kingdom, there is a reason the true history is being hidden, there is a reason the true OP world is probably buried miles beneath the waves at this point.
And that reason certainly isn’t some secret King who took power after the Ancient Kingdom fell. The true OP final villain must be the ultimate source of every problem and conflict introduced into this world’s thousand year history, or else we will never realize the true world of laughter and freedom that Lolda masturbates to in his sleep.
Some good candidates are the Sea Devil or the blood soaked serpent, who Imu is trying to conceal the existence of.
Thank you for reading.
@SakazOuki @MarineHQ @Kurozumi Wiwi @The White Crane @Wuuuke @silverfire @scoobie3 @AkainuTheGrimReaper @Apollo @Admiral Mou Bu @ZenZu @Extravlad @kurwa @EmperorKinyagi @Blackbeard @Owl Ki @TheKnightOfTheSea @God Buggy @Sentinel @Playa4321 @Veku
DISCLAIMER: Many users will see this post as a “cope” post from a classic Admiral Enjoyer such as myself
But this post is genuinely 100% no trolling not about that at all. I have said repeatedly in the past that with the introduction of the Seraphim, the Admirals’ status as true EOS villains has long since been usurped.
And while I do think Akainu vs Goofy is still written in the stars, I do not believe the Admirals are the true EOS baddies of this manga. That honor has been claimed by the Seraphim.
While I do believe we will get a Marineford 2.0, the ultimate fate of the Marines in this series is either to fall just before the true final battle (Ryokugyu) or to straight up switch sides and wind up as Allies against the true big bads.
So extremely long disclaimer statement out of the way,
I do not believe that Imu is destined to be the final villain of this manga, nor do I believe that distinction will fall to Blackbeard. I want to talk a bit conceptually about what I think the final villain of One Piece should be and why I think Imu cannot fulfill that role.
There have been a variety of villains in the story of OP, and all of these villains when you look at them conceptually are symptoms of larger narrative problems.
For example, would Kaido even exist if One Piece itself did not exist? Would the Yonko as a whole exist were it not for the promise of the One Piece? The concept of four all-powerful pirates locked into a stalemate in the pursuit of Roger’s treasure cannot exist if One Piece itself did not exist.
The same thing could be said of practically every faction in the OP world as they exist now. The Marines exist because pirates exist. Pirates exist because One Piece exists. The Revolutionaries exist because the World Government exists. Hell even Roger himself wouldn’t have become the Pirate king and ignited the pirate era were it not for the world’s true history being concealed for some reason.
All of the current One Piece players that we know are symptoms of larger narrative problems. There is always a “why” to their existence, there is always some initial first cause that must exist in order for all these other groups and factions to exist.
So with that said, let’s talk about Imu.
At a first glance, Imu appears to be an extremely evil practically all-powerful figure responsible for just about every large scale atrocity that takes place in the OP world right now.
However, what I never see anyone discuss is why Imu does the things they do. There is some kind of larger, more all-encompassing concept that has caused Imu to be the way that he/she is, even if that concept is just that Imu was greedy and desired more power.
Why is Imu greedy? Why does Imu want more power? If the simple answer is that Imu is greedy for the sake of greed, then the story can’t just be about defeating Imu anymore.
If Luffy defeats Imu at EOS and there is no larger big bad to beat, then ultimately it will only be a matter of time until another Imu arises and takes the throne. Without defeating the very root cause of Imu’s greed, then Imu is ultimately just the symptom of a much larger problem. Beat Imu, and eventually others will experience the same greed Imu does, and others will slowly and slowly corrupt even a perfect World Government, until eventually another secret Imu seats another secret Imu throne for the same reasons that the first Imu did.
We may defeat Imu, but if we don’t defeat the source of Imu’s evil, what exactly have we accomplished? Temporary peace and happiness that will ultimately be broken again in a few hundred years? Another technologically utopian Kingdom like the AK where all is perfect until suddenly it collapses?
Why did the Ancient Kingdom collapse? Why did the World Government form? Why does Imu exist the way he does? If Oda ends the series by simply defeating Imu and not answering or solving any of these questions, then ultimately the Straw Hats will have accomplished nothing. They will ultimately be remembered as nothing more than a bright spot in a very dark history, rather than the true-world saving, freedom for all warriors that Oda wants them to be remembered as.
No, I do not believe Imu is truly evil at her core. There must be an all-encompassing source from which all of these other symptoms and problems have been derived, including Imu, and that all-encompassing source must be defeated, else the Straw Hats will not truly have created the world of laughter that Oda has worked for 30 years to create. It is this all-encompassing source that I believe will be the true final villain of One Piece. If the source isn’t defeated, then ultimately more symptoms will arise.
But what is the source of all evil in the OP world and how do we stop it? And how does that make Imu a good guy? And before I address this I want to talk a little about the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, because I think these books are a perfect roadmap to understanding what Imu is supposed to represent conceptually.
Now I’m going to spoiler tag this next part, if you plan to read the Mistborn books just know I’m about to spoil literally everything, but I’ll keep it in the spoiler tags.
So in the Mistborn books, there is a character extremely similar to Imu called the Lord Ruler. Very briefly, the Lord Ruler is essentially an all-powerful, immortal, deific autocrat who rules the world of Mistborn with an iron fist. He runs a slave empire, he kills and silences his critics and opposition, he runs a merciless military regime, he censors and erases all history and knowledge, and he is overall just a completely merciless tyrant who appears to be responsible for all evil present in the world.
Book One is, essentially, a story about overthrowing the Lord Ruler. The main characters believe that when they defeat the Lord Ruler, they can create a world full of justice and happiness for all.
When the Lord Ruler is finally mortally wounded and collapses, he dies with an ominous final forboding: “You have no idea what I protect you from!”
A bit of a strange thing for a monstrous evil slave Emperor to say right before death right? But nevermind that! We can now build the perfect happy world that we’ve always dreamed of as we lived every single day under the Lord Ruler’s horrific regime! We can now build a perfect world!
Not!
You see, the Lord Ruler is defeated in Book One. Book Two begins a year after Book One ends, and it is immediately apparent that everything is worse and has gone to shit. The main characters try to do the things they wished the Lord Ruler had done: they free the slaves, they disband the Lord Ruler’s armies, they outlaw a lot of the evil shit that the Lord Ruler permitted, and they begin to search for the true history of their world that the Lord Ruler had erased.
The consequences? Everything immediately goes to shit. Uprisings, riots, revolts, wars for power, the planet itself starts to kill random people, the world starts getting hotter and hotter, everything begins to collapse and turn to chaos.
The main characters initially try their best to stop all this, but fail repeatedly until they ultimately come to a terrifying conclusion.
The Lord Ruler was not truly evil. He did a bunch of evil things, but they remember his last words and slowly come to realize that he was ultimately correct. The Lord Ruler did protect them, he did prevent everything from becoming worse. They couldn’t understand it at the time, but as more and more time passes, they stop viewing the Lord Ruler as an evil tyrant who needed to be overthrown, and more as a tragic figure trying his best to protect everyone from chaos.
The Lord Ruler was the symptom, and they defeated the symptom without defeating the source.
Book One is, essentially, a story about overthrowing the Lord Ruler. The main characters believe that when they defeat the Lord Ruler, they can create a world full of justice and happiness for all.
When the Lord Ruler is finally mortally wounded and collapses, he dies with an ominous final forboding: “You have no idea what I protect you from!”
A bit of a strange thing for a monstrous evil slave Emperor to say right before death right? But nevermind that! We can now build the perfect happy world that we’ve always dreamed of as we lived every single day under the Lord Ruler’s horrific regime! We can now build a perfect world!
Not!
You see, the Lord Ruler is defeated in Book One. Book Two begins a year after Book One ends, and it is immediately apparent that everything is worse and has gone to shit. The main characters try to do the things they wished the Lord Ruler had done: they free the slaves, they disband the Lord Ruler’s armies, they outlaw a lot of the evil shit that the Lord Ruler permitted, and they begin to search for the true history of their world that the Lord Ruler had erased.
The consequences? Everything immediately goes to shit. Uprisings, riots, revolts, wars for power, the planet itself starts to kill random people, the world starts getting hotter and hotter, everything begins to collapse and turn to chaos.
The main characters initially try their best to stop all this, but fail repeatedly until they ultimately come to a terrifying conclusion.
The Lord Ruler was not truly evil. He did a bunch of evil things, but they remember his last words and slowly come to realize that he was ultimately correct. The Lord Ruler did protect them, he did prevent everything from becoming worse. They couldn’t understand it at the time, but as more and more time passes, they stop viewing the Lord Ruler as an evil tyrant who needed to be overthrown, and more as a tragic figure trying his best to protect everyone from chaos.
The Lord Ruler was the symptom, and they defeated the symptom without defeating the source.
Now I don’t say all this to sound like an Imu simp or an Imu justifier. Imu must die, if for no other reason than his actions and practices must die with him.
But I do say this to say that the final villain of this manga must be the source of the world’s problems and not the symptoms. Imu is a giant symptom but he is not the cause of all of the world’s evil.
I think we will end up finding out as we learn more and more about the OP world and why all of this shit happened, the more we will view Imu as a tragic figure just trying his or her best to prevent something even worse from coming to fruition.
There is a reason all these Kingdoms ganged up on the Ancient Kingdom, there is a reason the true history is being hidden, there is a reason the true OP world is probably buried miles beneath the waves at this point.
And that reason certainly isn’t some secret King who took power after the Ancient Kingdom fell. The true OP final villain must be the ultimate source of every problem and conflict introduced into this world’s thousand year history, or else we will never realize the true world of laughter and freedom that Lolda masturbates to in his sleep.
Some good candidates are the Sea Devil or the blood soaked serpent, who Imu is trying to conceal the existence of.
Thank you for reading.
@SakazOuki @MarineHQ @Kurozumi Wiwi @The White Crane @Wuuuke @silverfire @scoobie3 @AkainuTheGrimReaper @Apollo @Admiral Mou Bu @ZenZu @Extravlad @kurwa @EmperorKinyagi @Blackbeard @Owl Ki @TheKnightOfTheSea @God Buggy @Sentinel @Playa4321 @Veku
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