Imu


 * The subject of this article is also called Im.

Imu is the mysterious occupant of the Empty Throne, holding supreme authority and power within the World Government as the one whom even the Five Elders bow down to and serve the every whim of. However, Imu's existence is kept an absolute secret within the government and the world at large, to maintain the lie that there is no singular ruler of the world.

Emporio Ivankov speculates that Imu may be one of the First Twenty from 800 years ago, a member of the Nerona Family named Saint Imu, who would have received the "perennial youth operation". However, this is all unconfirmed.

Due to their status and actions, Imu is one of the primary antagonists in the Final Saga and one of the overarching antagonists of the One Piece series as a whole.

Appearance
Imu has only been shown as a silhouette so far. They possess a humanoid figure with a hand resembling a human's and sharp, almond eyes with red irises, each having a thin ring around the pupil. In terms of attire, Imu dons a crown that has four sharp, incredibly tall spikes on the top and an extremely long robe that flows upon the ground a great distance behind them.

Personality
Little is known about Imu's personality, but they have developed a particular interest in Monkey D. Luffy, Marshall D. Teach, Shirahoshi, and Nefertari Vivi. During the events of the Levely, Imu kept wanted posters or photos of all four on their person. Despite this, Imu seems to have a calm demeanor, as shown when they gently handled the butterflies in the Room of Flowers; though in that same moment, Imu was also shown to have left the aforementioned pictures (save for Vivi's) pierced through and cut apart by weapons. Imu has demonstrated greater cruelty and apathy than the Five Elders, who reluctantly ordered the destruction of Ohara, while Imu coldly annihilates entire islands in order to erase them from history, causing said destruction for personal reasons. This immense callousness also extends to the fact that Imu orders the destruction of Lulusia Kingdom purely to field test the Mother Flame weapon, completely disregard the lives of millions of people there.

Despite their existence being meant to be secret from the world at large, Imu is not above revealing themselves to individuals of interest, as with Nefertari Cobra when he questioned the lost records of his ancestor. However, Imu and the Five Elders had no intention of letting Cobra leave the room alive after Imu showed themselves. Likewise, when Sabo appeared and attacked, Imu was furious that their existence was revealed to an outsider.

When confronting Cobra, Imu was initially polite in their speech patterns and offered to explain what the Will of D. actually meant, but quickly became much more hostile when talking about the subject of the Poneglyphs. Likewise, Imu has an intense hatred of those who bear the Will of D., as the moment Imu discovered Cobra's ancestor was a D., Imu immediately attempted to kill him.

Imu uses the unique first person pronoun "Mu" (ムー) seemingly derived from their name, as well as the unique second person pronoun nushia (ヌシア) for others.

Five Elders


As the true supreme ruler of the World Government the Five Elders are all extremely loyal to Imu and obey them without question. The Five Elders often come to their all-mighty sovereign for council of matters of the upmost importance. What Imu personally thinks of the Five Elders is currently unknown, but they seem to trust them enough to handle government affairs on their behalf. The Five Elders understand that any outsider that learns of Imu’s existence must be eliminated to maintain the illusion of peace and equality among the allied nations.

Nefertari Family
Imu shows great disdain for the Nefertari Family, particularly because of the actions of Queen Lili during the Void Century that resulted in the dispersing of the Poneglyphs across the world and suspected that it was no mere accident.

Despite this utter contempt for Lili, they were polite to her descendant King Cobra, although they fully intended to kill Cobra when the conversion ended because he had become aware of Imu as the shadow ruler of the world. Hostilities intensified when Imu learned that Arabasta’s royal family had the initial D in their name. When Cobra sacrificed himself to ensure that Sabo escaped Mary Geoise, this greatly angered Imu.

Imu has also developed an interest in Princess Vivi for currently unknown reasons.

Sabo
When he and his fellow revolutionaries infiltrated Mary Geoise, Sabo inadvertently learned of Imu’s existence. Sabo was surprised and appalled by the fact that there was a secret monarch of the world. After Sabo escaped, Imu became extremely determined to silence him and was even willing to destroy a whole kingdom in order prevent Sabo from revealing the truth.

Abilities and Powers
The full scope of Imu's abilities is unknown, but the fact that they sit on the Empty Throne, a seat whose occupant would be associated with sole authority over the entire world, plus the fact that the Five Elders—who are publicly considered the World Government's highest authorities—bow down before Imu and address them with a great honorific, would indicate that Imu indeed holds the highest authority within the World Government.

Imu appears to have authority to using over an immensely powerful weapon called the "Mother Frame", which was built by Dr. Vegapunk, and enables the complete annihilation of entire islands within seconds. This weapon manifests in the sky, shrouded in clouds, and rains down sixteen beams of energy resembling lightning bolts or lasers, which engulf their target in a massive explosion upon striking and leave nothing in their wake. Imu employed this ability and/or weapon to destroy the Lulusia Kingdom, readying and firing it within seconds.

Transformation


Imu has shown the ability to transform themself into a massive beast-like humanoid creature capable of consuming fire, as well as control what appears to be a sharp-pointed appendage or tentacle used for stabbing, a technique strong enough to severely injure even the Logia user Sabo. It is unknown if this ability stems from a Devil Fruit power or something else entirely.

Weapons
Imu possesses a saber. They have not been seen being used in combat, but they did use it to cut apart wanted posters and photographs or stab them.

Levely Arc


As royals gathered at Mary Geoise for the Levely, Imu went to a underground frozen chamber deep within Pangaea Castle, and approached a large straw hat while carrying several wanted posters and photographs including Monkey D. Luffy's. Imu later went to the Room of Flowers and cut apart Luffy and Blackbeard's wanted posters and stabbed the photo of Princess Shirahoshi. With a photo of Nefertari Vivi in hand, Imu then met with the Five Elders while sitting on the Empty Throne. The elders requested that Imu reveal the name of the "light" that needed to be extinguished from history.

Wano Country Arc
On the fourth day of the Levely, Nefertari Cobra went to the Empty Throne room to talk with the Five Elders about why Nefertari Lili, the Queen of Arabasta 800 years ago, was not officially documented after the Void Century. As the two parties conversed, Imu listened in on their conversation from the Room of Flowers. Without notice, Imu then entered the Empty Throne room and proceeded to sit on the throne in front of the Five Elders and a surprised Cobra.



Imu refused to answer any questions about their own identity but went on to reveal that the Will of D. was the moniker of the government's ancient enemy; it has cropped up more frequently in recent times, but Imu referred to it as nothing but a faint echo and individuals who carry the name aren't even aware of its true meaning. Imu then explained Lili's involvement that caused the Poneglyphs to be scattered all over the world. In exchange, Imu, who had shown interest in a letter written by Lili that Cobra mentioned having beforehand, ordered the Arabasta king to reveal the full name of its author.

Realizing he had no chance to escape and was set to die anyway, Cobra admitted that Lili carried the moniker D. on her name and was impaled by a strange shadowy tentacle summoned by Im. Sabo, who was eavesdropping nearby, quickly jumped in to attack the Five Elders and Im, but the latter was able to cancel Sabo's flames with their own ability. Having let Sabo witness some of their biggest secrets, the top brass of the Government gave chase to the revolutionary and Cobra, only managing to stop and kill the latter. Wapol also happened to witness the whole thing through a peephole and ran away as far he could.

Sabo managed to escape, and the World Government went on high alert to locate him.

Egghead Arc
The World Government eventually traced Sabo's location to the Lulusia Kingdom, after intercepting a call where he attempted to reveal Imu's existence to the rest of the Revolutionary Army. After crossing the Lulusia Kingdom off a map, Imu annihilated the country with an explosive energy barrage, with the Five Elders proclaiming that it never existed at all.

Major Battles

 * Imu & Five Elders vs. Sabo

Translation and Dub Issues
In the VIZ Media translation, Imu talks in first person with the standard subject form pronoun "I", but instances of the objective form "me" are replaced by "mu".

Imu's unique second person pronoun nushia (ヌシア) in Japanese is seemingly derived from the dated "you" pronouns onushi (御主) and nushi (主). In the VIZ Media translation, Imu uses the archaic English pronouns "thou" and "thee".

Trivia

 * Im is the name of a Jotunn appearing in Norse mythology.
 * When written in katakana, Imu's name is composed of the two radicals comprising the character 仏, which means "Buddha".
 * Imu's position as ruler of the world is a title which the infamous pirate Rocks D. Xebec once aspired to obtain. It is not known if Rocks was ever aware of Imu or the Empty Throne, though the island in which he met his downfall, God Valley, was later wiped off the map much like the Lulusia Kingdom and a great kingdom during the Void Century that also disappeared.
 * According to Nefertari Cobra, the name Imu has something to do with the First Twenty, however, the details are currently unknown.

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