One Piece’s Elbaph arc has proven to be quite an unpredictable one, with some of the most exciting developments taking place over the course of the last few chapters. With Saint Imu Nerona deciding to head to the Warland himself, it was only a matter of time before some of the biggest mysteries surrounding this individual were finally revealed to the fans. Now, for the very first time, Oda has confirmed the true gender of Imu, and this individual has turned out to be a man.
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Why The World Sovereign’s Gender Was Hidden By Oda
Saint Imu Nerona of the Founding 20 made his debut in One Piece 8 years ago during the Reverie Arc. When the Empty Throne was first revealed, it was immediately followed by an individual sitting atop it, declaring themself as the King of the World. At this point, it became clear that Imu would go on to be the final villain of the story of One Piece.
Much to the surprise of the readers, Oda hid the true appearance of Imu and covered the entire character in silhouette, and this was done on purpose. The main reason why Oda took this approach was to hide Imu for the time being. At the time, One Piece had not even begun the Wano Country Arc, and bigger threats needed to be tackled, such as Kaido and Big Mom. In order not to overshadow those threats and set the stage for the final saga, Oda decided to hide Imu’s appearance. Now that the war against the World Government is on the horizon, it is the perfect time for Oda to unveil the true form of Saint Imu Nerona, and that is precisely why he has done just that in the Elbaph Arc. As was clear in the chapter, Imu has now made landfall in the Warland and unveiled his true form for all to see.
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How The Elbaph Arc Confirmed Imu As A Man
The Elbaph arc of One Piece has been throwing a lot of focus on the character of Saint Imu Nerona, the ruler of the World Government and one of the Founding 20, and the most recent chapter took this to the next level by bringing the character to Elbaph in order to fight against Nika and Nidhogg. Immediately upon Imu’s introduction, it became clear that this individual is a man. Imu sports white hair and tanned skin. On top of that, Imu also has dark wings and a pointy tail, along with an ability that appears to be awakened.
Five Elders, Mu shall leave the Holy Land for a short while. — Saint Imu Nerona, One Piece Chapter 1178
By looking at the character design, it is clear that Imu is a man. However, the design appears to be quite feminine, which is where quite a lot of confusion stemmed from. Now, it is clear to see that Imu is simply a feminine man, but indeed a male character. This is further backed up by the way the Five Elders refer to Imu in Japanese. The celestial dragons have their own honorifics: Celestial Dragon men are referred to as “-sei”, while the women are referred to as “-guu”. The Five Elders and the Holy Knights clearly refer to Imu as “Imu-sei”, which puts the gender of the character beyond any doubt. Imu is male, and this has now been officially confirmed in the story.
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Analyzing Imu’s Connection To The Major Races Of The World
Imu being male is a massive reveal in itself, but there is more to the character design than just that. Imu is also likely connected to the major races of the One Piece world in one way or another. For one, Imu possesses tanned skin as well as white hair. This is one of the key defining traits of the Lunarian race and suggests that Imu might be in some way or form connected to them.
At the same time, Imu also sports horns, which are a telltale sign of the Ancient Giant bloodline. It is unclear if Imu’s horns stem from the Devil Fruit transformation or if they are natural. In case they are all natural, then Imu could even be connected to the Ancient Giant race and bear some past connection to the land of Elbaph, which they are currently trying to take over. It would also make it quite poetic for Imu to head back to this country, given that, in this case, it would end up being their home. Imu’s appearance in Elbaph certainly elevates the story tremendously and makes it more exciting than ever before. The upcoming few weeks are going to shed even more light on this character, and fans absolutely cannot wait for that.
One Piece chapter 1179 is available to read on Manga Plus starting April 5, 2026.
One Piece
- Release Date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Writers
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
