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One Piece Chapter 1180 Review/Recap

On the last piece of One Piece, it looked as though the crisis in Elbaph was finally under control. The God’s Knights had been beaten, the kids, the school, and the library were safe. Suddenly, Imu announced that he (not they) were leaving Mariejois to handle things themselves, and the entire fandom wet themselves in terror. The king of the world’s arrival on Elbaph had us all thinking that we were in for an absolute beatdown, and you know what? We were right! This is what we nerds call a “one-winged angel” moment, and it is suitably terrifying to read! This is a bad omen!

Recap

After making his grand entrance to Elbaph, Imu wastes no time in getting down to business as he teleports to where Sommers is being held. Before we even realize it, he frees Sommers by slicing off the tips of Gerd’s fingers!

And then, he slices off Stansen’s leg!!

And when Zoro tries to attack him, Imu hits him point-blank with a fire attack called Omen, sending him reeling before doing the same to Hajrudin!

The carnage only continues from there. After freeing Sommers, Imu grows black wings and flies towards Qillingham’s location, pausing only to fire a blast to try and free Gunko. Everyone on the island is reeling, with Gaban saying he never felt Haki like this at God Valley. Then, when Imu arrives at the location of Sanji’s group and frees Qillingham, the Straw Hat Pirates’ chef tries to attack him. However, not only does it do no damage, but like Zoro, he gets hit by Imu’s attack. Except this one ends in an explosion!

Before anything can get worse, Loki, who had been eating some burnt food at the school with Luffy and Ratatoskr, appears before Imu. With the demon saying he was looking for the one who killed his servant Harald, Loki rebuts this by calling him his father and Elbaph’s king, and that he was the one he wanted!

Review

So, I don’t think anyone who read this chapter was surprised to see Imu give the protagonists a massive beatdown. We all knew that having one of the two candidates for the ultimate big bad of One Piece appear would be catastrophic. What I was really hoping for is to see if Imu is every bit as scary in-person as he has been using his servants. Needless to say, he didn’t disappoint.

We already got a brief look at Imu’s appearance in the last chapter, but this one gives us our first full look at him. And his design lives up to the hype. The tan skin, the tattoos on his shirtless body, the horns and tail, and the halo made of black fire. If Oda wanted us to associate Imu with the Devil, then he succeeded. And I know that even if he’s evil, there are going to be people who will simp over him for how handsome he looks!

Is Imu on a Time Limit?

The thing that I found to be most interesting about Imu, though, is something that a YouTuber by the name of GrandLineReview pointed out: he does t waste any time on anything. A lot of the antagonists in One Piece are prone to being either bombastic, scene-chewing individuals or completely serious and stoic, or some combination of both. The fact that Imu didn’t waste any time when fighting the Giants and Straw Hats places Imu in the latter category, but that isn’t what makes him different from guys like Akainu. For every attack he makes, he only uses the bare minimum of effort needed. Every move he makes is done with as little energy as possible. And then there is the fact that he told Sommers that “they had no time to waste.” That could be him being impatient, but from what I’ve seen, the fans don’t think that. What if Imu has a time limit on how much he can do outside of Mariejois? What if the reason he hasn’t left Mariejois in centuries isn’t just because he wanted to keep his existence a secret, but because leaving hurts him.

It makes sense why this would be the case. We saw how summoning himself to Elbaph caused Imu a great deal of pain. By that logic, it means that he can only leave Mariejois for so long before tbe pain becomes debilitating. Thus, he can only stay on the surface for a short time before having to return. What this means is that the heroes may not have to beat Imu in a fight. They just need to survive long enough to run down the clock.

As much as I want to see Luffy and Loki give Imu the beatdown he deserves for all the pain and suffering he’s inflicted on the world, even I have to admit that this fight might be beyond them right now. If they can defeat Imu, it won’t be on this day. I only hope that Loki can hold off Imu long enough for Luffy to re-enter Gear Five. Otherwise, there’s not much hope for anyone. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long for the next chapter!

I Give “Omen” a 5/5

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