Imu came to Elbaph knowing Marijoa was already facing a major crisis. The Revolutionary Army’s blockade was starving the Holy Land, several of the World Government’s strongest forces were occupied elsewhere, and leaving the throne exposed carried an obvious risk.
Yet the secret ruler of the world still descended into the Lower World.
Imu could have sent more Holy Knights. The Five Elders could have intervened. The Marines or other World Government forces might have reinforced the operation. Instead, the hidden king left Marijoa, traveled directly to Elbaph, and entered the battle personally—even though Imu collapsed and coughed up blood immediately after arriving.
That decision tells us something important: whatever was happening in Elbaph had become more dangerous than the crisis unfolding in the Holy Land.
The obvious explanation is that Imu came to rescue the Holy Knights and complete their mission. However, that does not fully explain why a ruler whose existence had remained hidden for 800 years suddenly accepted such a serious personal risk.
Luffy had awakened Nika. Loki and Luffy had resisted Imu’s attempts to control them, Elbaph’s giants were resisting the World Government, and Imu had begun directing anger toward Joy Boy. Somewhere on the island, an unknown power had also killed Harald despite the immortality granted by his covenant.
What if Imu did not come merely to conquer Elbaph?
What if the secret ruler came because Joy Boy’s ancient alliance was beginning to form again?
This theory contains major spoilers for the latest chapters of One Piece. Welcome to BareAnime, where we break down anime’s biggest mysteries and hidden connections. If you enjoy evidence-based theories, like, subscribe for more, and tell me why you think Imu risked leaving Marijoa.
Imu Had Every Reason to Remain in Marijoa
For most of the story, Imu has ruled through secrecy and delegation.
The Five Elders publicly occupied the highest position within the World Government while the true ruler remained hidden inside Pangaea Castle. Even kings attending the Reverie did not know that someone sat on the Empty Throne. Protecting that secret allowed Imu to control the world without becoming a visible political or military target.
Elbaph changed that arrangement.
Chapter 1179 reveals that the Revolutionary Army’s blockade remained effective even after Shamrock returned and helped stabilize Marijoa. Food shortages continued, and York’s ability to reproduce the Mother Flame had become important to the World Government’s response.
This was not a safe moment for Imu to leave.
The Five Elders also expressed alarm over their ruler descending into the Lower World. Nevertheless, Imu entrusted the Holy Land to them and entered the Abyss leading to Elbaph.
That choice created two risks at once. The decision left the center of the World Government without its hidden ruler during a siege and risked exposing an existence that had remained concealed for centuries.
A routine military failure should not have required that sacrifice. Imu had already built an entire system designed to handle threats without appearing personally.
Something about Elbaph made that system insufficient.
The Elbaph Operation Was Already Falling Apart
The original World Government operation did not begin as a direct invasion led by Imu.
Shamrock and Gunko entered Elbaph to recruit Loki into the Holy Knights and force the nation under the World Government’s control. Loki’s strength offered the Government a chance to gain an extraordinarily powerful soldier while weakening one of the few nations that had never submitted to its authority.
When Loki refused, the mission escalated.
The Holy Knights targeted Elbaph’s children and used them as leverage against the giants. Killingham transformed the children’s fears into monsters, while Sommers helped maintain control over the captives. The operation depended on terror, hostages, and the giants’ unwillingness to sacrifice their own children.
However, the plan began collapsing once the Straw Hats and Elbaph’s warriors fought back. Sommers and Killingham were defeated and captured, the children started escaping the World Government’s control, and Gunko’s suppressed connection to Brook interfered with the mission.
Imu then took control personally—but not yet physically.
Imu Wanted to Rule Elbaph Through Its Kings
Chapter 1150 reveals that Imu did not intend to destroy Elbaph.
While controlling Gunko, the hidden ruler explained that the World Government still needed the country and wanted to determine how useful the giants could become in war. The goal was conquest, preservation, and military control.
Elbaph’s lack of a king created a problem.
Imu chose Dorry and Brogy as the country’s new kings, transformed them through Domi Reversi, and ordered them to kill Jarul. After removing Elbaph’s elder authority, the two captains would proclaim themselves rulers and lead the nation under World Government control.
The giants would not truly be joining voluntarily. Dorry and Brogy had lost their reason and were being forced to obey. However, placing recognizable giant leaders on the throne could manufacture the appearance of legitimate rule. The hidden king would control Elbaph’s rulers, and those rulers would command its military.
Imu’s previous attempt to control Harald had already shown how controlling one king could provide a path to controlling Elbaph’s military.
Harald Proved Imu Could Control Elbaph
Chapter 1168 confirms that Harald accepted the Depths Covenant when he became a full Holy Knight. The agreement granted him greater strength, immortality, and access to the Abyss, but it also required absolute obedience to Imu.
Harald believed joining the World Government would allow Elbaph to enter a more peaceful era. Instead, Imu ordered him to mobilize the giants into a military force serving the Government. Harald resisted, so the Depths Covenant overrode his will and forced him to attack his own people. Loki ultimately killed Harald before Imu’s command could be completed.
Dorry and Brogy appear to be Imu’s attempt to recreate the same political structure while avoiding the resistance Harald displayed. Rather than depending on kings who might willingly rebel, Imu transformed the two captains, stripped them of their reason, and ordered them to seize the throne.
Both plans followed the same system: control Elbaph’s recognized leaders, use their authority to command the giants, and turn one of the world’s strongest military forces into a World Government weapon.
That method may also reveal how Imu fractured the possible coalition surrounding Joy Boy during the ancient war. The hidden king would not have needed to overpower every kingdom directly. Corrupting rulers, controlling armies, and forcing allies to turn against one another could have broken the opposing alliance from within.
Possessing Gunko Was Imu’s First Intervention
Chapter 1149 marked the first major escalation.
After losing patience with the Holy Knights’ progress, Imu remotely possessed Gunko. Her appearance changed, the hidden king’s eyes appeared through her, and the ruler of the world used her body to continue the attack.
At that stage, Imu could influence the battle without leaving Marijoa.
The possessed Gunko demonstrated the terrifying system behind Imu’s authority. Imu could use another person as a vessel to direct the Holy Knights and attack Elbaph while the original body remained protected inside the Holy Land.
If taking control of Gunko had succeeded, Imu may never have needed to descend.
Instead, the resistance grew stronger. Loki and Luffy confronted the possessed Gunko, and Chapter 1178 ended with Loki using Ragnir’s power to freeze her. Gunko remained alive inside the ice, but Imu could no longer use her freely as a vessel.
That left Imu with a decision.
The ruler could abandon the mission, send reinforcements, summon another Elder, or continue operating through the World Government’s existing forces.
Imu rejected every one of those options.
Soon after Gunko became unavailable, the hidden king prepared to enter Elbaph personally.
That sequence strongly suggests that the situation had become too important to delegate. The failure of the Holy Knights explains why Imu needed to respond, but it still does not explain why Imu chose the most dangerous possible response.
Losing the Holy Knights Could Hurt Imu
Gunko was not the only part of the operation Imu risked losing.
Sommers and Killingham had been defeated and captured, while Loki’s ice prevented Imu from continuing to use Gunko as a vessel. All three Holy Knights carried covenants connecting them directly to the hidden ruler.
Chapter 1171 reveals why that matters.
After Loki killed Harald, Imu suffered an immediate backlash and admitted that granting covenants carried a personal cost. The ruler then refused to send more Holy Knights to investigate Harald’s death because they could also be killed.
That means the failure in Elbaph threatened Imu personally.
If Luffy, Loki, and the giants killed Gunko, Sommers, and Killingham, Imu might pay the cost of losing several covenant bearers at once. Their deaths could also destroy whatever power the hidden ruler invested in them when granting their immortality, strength, and connection to the Abyss.
The exact mechanism remains unknown. The Holy Knights may carry a portion of Imu’s power, life force, or even something resembling a fragment of the hidden king’s soul. However, the manga has only confirmed that creating covenants carries a personal cost and that Harald’s death caused a painful backlash.
Imu’s actions after arriving support this motive.
Instead of ignoring the failed Knights, the ruler freed Sommers, restored him with Omen, attacked the ice imprisoning Gunko, and then released Killingham and restored his power as well.
Imu did not personally come to Elbaph merely to reinforce the Holy Knights.
The hidden king may have come because allowing them to die risked imposing another direct cost on the person who created their covenants.
Imu’s Arrival Came With a Physical Cost
Imu’s descent in Chapter 1179 was not presented as ordinary travel.
An enormous Abyss formed over Aurust Castle. Black pillars struck the island, nearby buildings and trees developed demonic features, and a burst of Supreme King Haki overwhelmed people across the surrounding area.
Then Imu appeared inside the ruined throne room.
Instead of arriving unharmed, the ruler immediately dropped to the floor and coughed up blood. The transformation that followed also appeared painful, ending with Imu emerging above the castle in a fully revealed form.
The cause has not been confirmed.
Traveling through the Abyss may place enormous strain on Imu’s body. The reaction could come from leaving the Holy Land, manifesting in the Lower World, recovering from the damage transferred through Gunko, or using an ability with strict limitations.
Whatever the mechanism, the consequence was visible.
More importantly, Imu had been warned that descending into the Lower World would carry consequences. Imu understood the warning but chose to enter Elbaph anyway.
Despite the physical reaction, the hidden king immediately entered the battle, overpowered several major fighters, and continued fighting rather than retreating to Marijoa.
This is no longer a distant ruler correcting a failed operation. Imu accepted that battle while Marijoa remained under pressure.
The Holy Knights’ defeat may have created the immediate need to intervene, but it cannot be the complete reason.
To understand why Imu came to Elbaph, we have to identify what the hidden king believed would happen if the island was allowed to remain free.
Elbaph Could Rebuild Joy Boy’s Ancient Alliance
Elbaph is not merely another unaffiliated nation.
The giants possess enough military strength to change the balance of the coming war. Their warriors live for centuries, their captains can overpower ordinary armies, and their culture has resisted World Government control for generations.
Their connection to the Sun God makes that strength even more dangerous.
Luffy already commands the loyalty of Hajrudin, who leads the New Giant Warrior Pirates and serves as one of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet’s senior captains. Dorry and Brogy fought beside Luffy on Egghead, while Loki now stands against Imu alongside him in Elbaph.
Those relationships formed naturally. Luffy did not need a contract, throne, hostage, or threat to gain their support.
That is the opposite of Imu’s system.
The hidden ruler gains obedience through domination. Luffy inspires people to choose freedom for themselves. If Elbaph willingly recognizes Nika and joins Luffy, it would further undermine Imu’s attempt to control the giants through figures such as Harald, Dorry, and Brogy.
The result would be more than a military alliance. It could reunite Nika with a race that participated in the ancient war and preserved the Sun God’s memory across generations.
Allowing Elbaph to remain free could therefore recreate something Imu may have already fought once before: a possible alliance surrounding Joy Boy.
Elbaph’s preserved history could also help Luffy’s alliance understand the ancient conflict that the World Government has spent centuries hiding.
Imu Is Repeating the Strategy From 800 Years Ago
The giant children are not random hostages.
Chapter 1186 connects their abduction directly to the ancient war. During the battle with Loki, Imu reveals that the World Government also attempted to take Elbaph’s children 800 years ago but failed. The ruler then predicts that history will repeat itself.
That statement explains why the Holy Knights targeted children instead of beginning with Elbaph’s strongest warriors.
The World Government was repeating a strategy it had attempted during the ancient war.
Threatening the children forced Elbaph’s fighters to divide their attention. Warriors who could have concentrated on defeating the Holy Knights instead had to rescue hostages, stop the burning of the school and library, protect the surrounding villages, and prevent the children from being carried into the Underworld.
The same weakness may have been exploited during the ancient war.
If the giants fought beside Joy Boy, attacking their children could have forced them to abandon important positions, divide their army, or accept a deal to save the next generation. The World Government failed to obtain the children, but forcing the giants to protect them may still have disrupted Elbaph’s role in the wider conflict.
The current attack is not simply history resembling itself.
Imu’s own comparison indicates that the hidden ruler is deliberately trying the same strategy against Elbaph’s children again.
Nika Changed the Stakes in Elbaph
The timing of Imu’s decision is critical.
The World Government had wanted Elbaph’s military strength long before Luffy arrived. Harald’s story proves that. However, the secret ruler did not personally descend when Harald rebelled, when Loki killed him, or when Elbaph remained outside the Government for another 14 years.
Imu came after Nika entered the conflict.
Chapter 1179 connects Nika directly to that decision. Before leaving the Holy Land, Imu reflects on several events that have destabilized the world, including Rocks, Roger, Shanks stealing the Gomu Gomu no Mi, Shirahoshi’s birth, Blackbeard, and Monkey D. Luffy.
The Five Elders also connect the disasters spreading across the world to Nika’s appearance.
These are not unrelated problems from the hidden ruler’s perspective. They represent old enemies, inherited wills, an Ancient Weapon, forbidden powers, and unfinished conflicts returning at the same time.
Elbaph brought several of those threats together.
Luffy had reached a country that remembered the Sun God. Luffy and Loki had resisted Imu’s control, Gunko had been frozen, the other Holy Knights had been defeated and captured, and the giants had once again rejected the World Government.
Harald’s unexplained death also remained unresolved. The hidden king knew that someone in Elbaph had killed an immortal Ancient Giant empowered by the Depths Covenant, but the identity of that person—and the power used to defeat Harald—remained unknown.
Elbaph was no longer just one rebellious island.
Imu was entering a country where Joy Boy had apparently returned, the Holy Knights had failed, and an unknown power had already proven capable of breaking the World Government’s control.
Did Imu Come to See Joy Boy Personally?
Imu’s behavior suggests that the decision was not entirely strategic.
Chapter 1179 shows the hidden ruler directing anger toward Joy Boy while focusing on Luffy’s wanted poster before leaving Marijoa. Later, during the battle with Loki in Chapter 1181, a personal memory of Joy Boy distracts Imu enough to interrupt the fight.
That reaction exposes something deeper than fear of Nika’s power.
Imu remembers Joy Boy as a person.
The ancient conflict involved conversations, opposing beliefs, and a relationship personal enough to break the ruler’s concentration 800 years later. Loki’s refusal to submit appears to remind Imu of the same defiance Joy Boy once displayed.
When Luffy finally confronts Imu directly in Chapter 1187, the hidden king addresses him as Joy Boy. Luffy rejects the name, but the ruler continues treating him as the return of an ancient enemy.
This may be the most personal reason Imu came to Elbaph.
Observing Luffy through Gunko could confirm that he possessed Nika’s power. However, watching through a vessel could not necessarily answer the question the King of the World truly cared about.
Imu may have needed to confront Luffy personally and determine whether Joy Boy had genuinely returned.
Imu Came Looking for Harald’s Unknown Killer
The hidden ruler gives another explanation after arriving in Elbaph.
In Chapter 1180, Imu demands to know who currently rules the country and reveals another objective: finding the person who killed Harald 14 years earlier.
At that point, the killer’s identity remains unknown.
When Harald died, Imu was shocked that someone in Elbaph had defeated an immortal Ancient Giant strengthened by the Depths Covenant. The death also caused a backlash, proving that destroying someone bound by a covenant could affect the person who granted it.
A dangerous power existed in Elbaph, but the hidden king did not know who possessed it.
Loki answers the mystery himself. After Imu calls Harald a servant, Loki becomes enraged and admits that he killed his father. Only then does the ruler learn that Harald’s killer has been standing directly in front of him.
The Nidhöggr revelation comes even later.
Imu did not know before leaving Marijoa that the legendary Devil Fruit remained in Elbaph or that Loki had eaten it. Imu recognizes the power only after Loki transforms during their battle.
That distinction changes the theory.
Neither Loki’s identity as Harald’s killer nor his possession of Nidhöggr could have been the original reason Imu came to Elbaph. Instead, the ruler descended to investigate an unresolved threat. Finding Loki and Nidhöggr confirmed that the danger was even greater than expected.
Harald’s killer was therefore part of the objective, but Nidhöggr became a new discovery after the mission had already begun.
Why Imu Refused to Send Someone Else
The Five Elders offered alternatives before Imu descended.
An Admiral could have been sent if the Marines were not occupied elsewhere. Warcury offered to intervene again. More Holy Knights might also have reinforced the mission.
Imu refused.
That decision makes sense if the objective required abilities and knowledge that could not be delegated.
Only the hidden king could fully control the covenant system. Imu also possessed firsthand knowledge of Joy Boy, the giants’ ancient defeat, and the ancient war. The identity of Harald’s killer remained unresolved, while Luffy’s appearance raised a separate question that no subordinate could answer with certainty.
By going personally, Imu could investigate the power that defeated Harald without risking another covenant bearer and judge whether Luffy had become the same threat Joy Boy once represented.
The ruler could not risk another subordinate misunderstanding the danger or allowing Luffy and the giants to escape. By entering Elbaph, Imu could reclaim control of the invasion, confront Harald’s killer, recover the endangered covenant bearers, and face Nika directly.
That explains why the danger of leaving Marijoa was not enough to stop the descent.
The threat in Elbaph was personal, military, historical, and ancient at the same time.
Why Imu Came to Elbaph
Imu did not personally come to Elbaph for one isolated reason.
The Holy Knights were losing control of the operation as the giant children were being rescued. Dorry and Brogy could no longer secure the island, and Gunko had been frozen.
Harald’s death also remained an unresolved warning. Someone in Elbaph had defeated an immortal servant of Imu, but the killer’s identity and power were still unknown when the hidden king left Marijoa.
Elbaph’s surviving history created another danger. Its people remembered the Sun God, preserved knowledge connected to the Void Century, and possessed enough military power to reshape the final war.
Then Nika appeared among them.
That was the point at which Elbaph became too dangerous to leave unresolved.
The strongest conclusion is that Imu came to prevent Luffy from rebuilding Joy Boy’s ancient alliance with the giants. Conquering Elbaph, capturing its children, controlling its kings, investigating Harald’s death, rescuing the Holy Knights, and confronting Nika all served that larger objective.
However, the memories of Joy Boy suggest an even more personal motive.
After 800 years of hiding, Imu needed to see Joy Boy’s successor directly.
Imu May Have Made a Fatal Mistake
That decision may become the hidden king’s greatest mistake. Remaining in Marijoa allowed the King of the World to rule as an invisible god. Coming to Elbaph has risked exposing Imu’s face, abilities, apparent physical limitations, and fixation on Joy Boy to the people most capable of challenging that rule.
Imu came to Elbaph to stop history from repeating.
Instead, descending from the Holy Land may be the event that finally allows Joy Boy’s unfinished war to begin again.
What do you think? Did Imu leave Marijoa to conquer Elbaph, investigate the power that killed Harald, save the Holy Knights, or confirm that Joy Boy had truly returned? Share your theory in the comments, and if you enjoyed this breakdown, like, subscribe, and share it with another One Piece fan.