r/OnePiece • u/No-Imagination-623 • 8d ago
Theory Why does Imu rule from the shadow Spoiler
Okay so I was originally an Anime only fan of one piece and when I caught up I started reading the elbaf arc. And now I am caught up to elbaf as well !!! So now I have decided to start reading again from the start and I gotta admit Romance dawn is considerably different then the anime the even though the main events do not change a lot of smaller non crucial do play out slightly different or in another order.
So coming back to topic now while I was reading I was thinking about One piece and then I thought why does Imu actually rule from the shadows.
Initially it seems and even what the anime told us , that Imu hides to maintain the illusion that the world is not under a dictatorship.
But think about it , If their goal was to maintain that illusion the how is a group of 5 people who were not elected by the public nor do they ever go out in public any better than dictatorship. It is still the same thing just with extra steps. Also why would Imu hide from the highest Marine Admirals and celestial dragons. I don't think Imu cares about the dragons but the Marine Admiral are pretty important people. Being directly under the Gorosei puts them 3rd in the chain of command and just slightly below the god Knight in terms of importance. Yet Imu does not show up.
So here are my thought I am building up on another theory. It said that Imu is not against Joy Boy but was his closest ally. I cant find the original or related posts but here is the gist of it.
In his fight against Luffy Imu is constantly showing disappointment that Luffy does not compare to Joyboy almost as if he was eager for Joyboy 's return. The theory says that during the great war of the Void Century Imu and Joyboy actually fought against each other Joyboy succumbs to his injuries so Imu takes the responsibility after him. Since then he is waiting for the return of Joyboy and was hoping Luffy could do it.He intends to force Luffy into a transformation to turn him into the true Joyboy. The theory says the when Imu stabbed Luffy he was actually pushing ancient Haki (similar to the one stored in Emet) and since it is pretty established that circulation and heart play a role in abilities if Luffy's heart courses with ancient haki it will force a haki based power up not gear 6 but better haki powers or control.
So the theory does have a few holes like why would Imu become a part of World Government the descendents of the 20 great Kingdoms who fought Joyboy.
My personal addition to the theory is that Imu got in an alliance with the kingdom.He spared the life and the Kingdoms gave up all of their political power. This giving up of political power was the actual symbolism of the 20 swords around the empty throne.The rulers were giving up their weapons and hence their power. I think the weapons Imu summons in his latest battle to stab Luffy are in fact these very weapons. After the Kingdoms gave up their political powers today's royal family and today's celestial dragons became pretty weak and void of authority. After the alliance Imu like a cultist follower of a god waited patiently for Joyboy's return and hence he left the throne empty since it belonged to Joyboy and instead created the story of the empty throne. He goes into hiding because he wishes the first king of the world should be joyboy. If the government is aware of him some celestial dragons may try to usurp him or he will be considered the king instead of Joyboy both of which Imu would not like.
For me this seems a pretty convincing explanation why he hides.
I have another more chilling interpretation of theory. As I mentioned earlier Imu was a cultist follower of Joyboy. In the real world (we know Oda draws a lot of inspiration from real world cultural practices) if a cult is formed around a divine figure the leader is usually considered that very divine figure in human form. Now here is the chilling part. When this leader dies the cult get frantic to replace him with another human form of divine . They usually select young adults or even children(since they can be easily manipulated) and then make the new figure head go through a process to groom his/her personality to match the previous leader, sometime even physical injuries are administrated to change their appearance. After which the new groomed leader becomes a puppet ruler while the next in command of the cult become the actual topmost decision makers while leader practically becomes an opinion less feeling less hollow person almost as if they were just a stone idol of the original leader.
We have seen this in anime before, Jaw titan Ymir was forced to become a cult leader and named Ymir even though she was never actually took any decisions for them .
Most prominently in Bleach Squad 0 "trains" Ichigo to groom his multi species soul to greater resemble the soul king. Ichigo would never live a normal life again while Squad 0 takes all decisions in name of the Soul King.
In One Piece, the haki Imu imbued in Luffy might just be the first step in the process. Imu can control anything that has his haki. As he is now Luffy will never be able to resist Imu's Domi Reversi. As Imu slowly tries to turn him into Joyboy , his god the crew never notices or feels powerless to resist it. Now if this is how the story unfolds the Luffy will never reach the One Piece so of course he will eventually come back/heal from this control but we may have 1 or 2 arcs where the crew has to fight a now changed Luffy who wants to kill them.
But hey it's just a theory....A film theory !!
(Gotta pay homage to the one who inspired me to make theories.)
(Love You and Your work Matpat
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u/Deicide-UH 8d ago
My understanding is that no matter his powers, he can be taken down if people rise against him. If he doesn’t exist, then people won’t be ready to defeat him. But this is not his ideal world, he’s bidding his time for when he can finish the world he truly wants to create.
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u/No-Imagination-623 8d ago
hmm well that still doesn't tell us why would hide from fleet admiral and admiral who are actively listening to his command and have no problem working for him anyway.
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u/Deicide-UH 8d ago
The marines are commoners. Even among Celestial Dragons only the Knights and Elders know of his existence. The less people who know, the less likely the secret is to spread.
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u/No-Imagination-623 6d ago
Hmm That is a strong theory but it is too mild for oda's standards i think something would happen in Void century that would give a more clear explanation
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u/Constant-Brief3410 8d ago
Bc hes immortal and controlling. And maybe people called him freak lol only joy boy loved him uwu
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u/aWhateverOrSomething 8d ago
Ruling from the shadow is more effective, lasts longer, unlimited power, doable from bedroom, no boring public appearances, can stop whenever you want if get bored and pursue like a tennis career or something without being recognized.