One Piece‘s Final War has been moving at a much faster pace than before, generating both hope and hype that the series might be in its endgame. One Piece Chapter 1179 revealed Imu’s face and background for the first time, pitting the overpowered villain against the Straw Hats and Elbaph. In addition to his name and historical origins, Imu’s power source has also been identified as the Akuma no Mi or the Devil’s Fruit, whose very name defies Devil Fruit conventions unlike any other.
Many fans had previously realized that Imu’s devilish powers were sourced from a Devil Fruit, but this one seems to operate on an entirely different set of rules. This further suggests a power that predates — and possibly defines — the very system that it belongs to, centering Imu as the primary antagonist of One Piece. The Akuma no Mi may even represent the origin point of all Devil Fruits, although that’s a mystery for another time. For now, it’s important to understand how the ability works.
Imu’s Devil Fruit Features a Range of Bizarrely Arcane Powers
Imu’s face revealed in One Piece Chapter 1179Image via Shueisha
As a classical depiction of Satan, Imu’s transformation in One Piece 1179 revealed a humanoid figure bathed in tremendous Conqueror’s Haki. A mysterious constellation of never-before-seen features revolves around the villain, including an altered version of the flames that appear when someone’s using an Awakened Devil Fruit. It’s clear that Imu’s ready for battle, and neither Luffy nor Loki is ready to face someone so overpowered — together, however, they might stand a chance of escaping.
Chapter 1179 named Imu’s ability as the Akuma no Mi, simply known as the Devil’s Fruit, a marked departure from the combat system used for the last three decades. The Akuma no Mi may not even be a typical Devil Fruit, providing Imu with a diverse array of fascinating powers. The villain also possesses a Black Clover-esque grimoire capable of generating formidable weapons, but even they become forgettable in comparison to his remaining abilities.
Esoteric applications aside, one of the most potent aspects of the Akuma no Mi is the “immortality” it bestows — on both the user and those chosen by the user. The Five Elders showcased their flawless regeneration in the Egghead arc, whereas Imu’s immortality protected him during the God Valley Incident. Then there’s Abyss, a witchcraft-coded teleportation circle that does exactly what the name says: magically beam characters between distant locations.
CBR Exclusive · One Piece Quiz WHICH ONE PIECE LEGEND ARE YOU? Set sail — Quiz sequence initiated ⚓ The Grand Line stretches endlessly before you. Across its treacherous waters, legends are born — forged in Devil Fruit power, unbreakable will, and the fierce loyalty of a crew that would sail into any storm. Twenty questions. One legendary result. Your adventure begins now. 🌊
🍖Luffy
⚔️Zoro
🗺️Nami
📖Robin
🍳Sanji
01
The Going Merry is ready to leave port. What’s your first move? 🚢 How you set sail says everything about who you are at sea.
02
A Marine warship is blocking your route. You: 🏴☠️ Crisis response reveals your true pirate nature.
03
You find a Devil Fruit on the table. What do you hope it is? 🍈 The fruit you crave is the power you were always meant to have.
04
What is your one, unshakeable dream? 🌟 Every great pirate sails for something deeper than treasure.
05
The Thousand Sunny docks at a new island. First stop? 🏝️ What you do first in port reveals your deepest priorities.
06
Your greatest weapon aboard the ship? ✨ Every Straw Hat has one thing that makes them irreplaceable.
07
What’s your natural role when things get tense? 🪝 The pressure moment is where your true function reveals itself.
08
Honest confession — what is actually your biggest flaw? 😬 Even the greatest pirates have one thing they’re still working on.
09
A crewmate is in serious danger. You: 💪 How you protect the people you sail with is who you truly are.
10
Halfway across the Grand Line. What keeps you going? 🌟 Not the crew’s reason. Yours. The private one.
11
You lost the fight. The crew is watching. Now what? 😳 How you rise after falling is what separates legends from passengers.
12
Your bounty poster just went up. What’s on it? 💰 The World Government describes you the way your enemies see you.
13
Free day on a peaceful island. What actually happens? 🌴 How you rest is a window into what drives you when no one’s watching.
14
What does your crew actually say about you behind your back? 📋 The people who sail with you see the version you can’t.
15
Which Haki do you feel most aligned with? 🔮 The Haki you master reflects the deepest truth of who you are.
16
What does it truly mean to you to be a pirate? 🌊 Not Garp’s definition. Not the Marines’. Yours.
17
In a hundred years, what will they say about you? 🎬 The Void Century has room for one more name. What does yours mean?
18
A Warlord of the Sea is blocking the path forward. You: 👀 Warlords don’t intimidate legends. They reveal them.
19
The crew celebrates a big victory. Your contribution? 🎉 How you celebrate says as much as how you fight.
20
You reach Laugh Tale. The One Piece is real. What do you do? 🔥 Twenty questions. One truth. No turning back now.
⚓ The Grand Line has made its judgement ⚓ YOUR ONE PIECE LEGEND
Your scores are revealed below! The character with the highest number is your One Piece counterpart. Read their profile to discover your true pirate destiny. 🌊
🍖 Luffy
⚔️ Zoro
🗺️ Nami
📖 Robin
🍳 Sanji
You don’t understand the word impossible — not because you’re naive, but because you genuinely never accepted that it applied to you. You charge into every situation with the full force of your personality, your body, and your heart, and somehow the universe rearranges itself to accommodate you. You don’t lead through command; you lead through being so completely, recklessly yourself that everyone around you becomes a better version of who they were. You eat too much, feel too loudly, and care too deeply. The world calls it recklessness. Your crew calls it home. 🍖
You have made exactly one promise and you have organised your entire existence around keeping it. Stoic to a fault, terrifying in combat, and somehow always facing the wrong direction — you are the immovable foundation that the whole crew leans against when everything else shakes. You don’t ask for recognition. You don’t need it. The work is its own reward. The sword is the path and the path is the sword. You will lose a thousand times before you reach the top, and you will get back up every single time. That is not stubbornness. That is who you are. ⚔️
You are sharper than anyone in the room and you know it — but you also know exactly when not to show it. Pragmatic, resourceful, and carrying more than you ever show on your face, you are the reason the ship reaches anywhere at all. Every route was planned by you. Every impossible weather reading, every near-catastrophe avoided — that was you. The world tried to take everything from you once, and you built something extraordinary out of the wreckage. You love the people you’ve chosen fiercely, quietly, and without much ceremony. The map isn’t finished. You’ll get there. 🗺️
You spent so long being hunted for what you know that you forgot — briefly, painfully — that you were also worth loving for who you are. You carry the weight of erased history in your memory and the quiet certainty of someone who has survived what should have been unsurvivable. Calm where others panic, perceptive where others miss everything, and in possession of a dark humour that still catches people off guard. You don’t trust easily, and when you do, it is the most complete and devastating loyalty imaginable. You want to know the truth. You deserve to live to read it. 📖
You have principles carved so deep they function like a skeleton — invisible, structural, and the thing holding everything else upright. You cook for people because food is love expressed at its most honest. You fight for the crew because protecting them is the most natural thing in the world. You are elegant, occasionally absurd, capable of extraordinary tenderness and absolutely terrifying combat in the same five-minute span. You came from darkness and chose light so deliberately and so completely that it became your defining act. The sea called and you answered. All Blue is out there. You’ll find it. 🍳
The Devil’s Fruit sees the most action in the form of Covenants, enacted between Imu and his choice of individual. All three Covenants place the so-called Covenantee under Imu’s control, but they differ both in terms of how much power they offer and how much control they give up. The lowest-ranked Shallows Covenant puts all the risk on the Covenantee, who receives no abilities despite giving themselves over to Imu.
Meanwhile, the Depths Covenant and the Abyssal Covenant provide new powers as well as a stronger bond to Imu. These contracts are extremely rare, with only thirteen available, leading to countless fan theories about who the Covenantees could be. Imu is nigh-unstoppable with the Five Elders and the God’s Knights at his beck and call, so forcing Admirals or Emperors of the Sea into a Depths or Abyssal Covenant could shift the tides even more.
The Akuma no Mi’s Demon Covenant is Imu’s most useful ability, as he routinely inflicts the contract on his enemies and transforms them into devils to do his bidding. The technique is named Domi Reversi, and it works on pretty much anyone in One Piece. The resulting products are best described as evil doppelgangers, willing to sacrifice every ounce of honor and attack the innocent on Imu’s behalf.
Imu has used Domi Reversi multiple times in the Elbaph arc alone, cementing him as both an unstoppable force and an immovable object. And yet, the Akuma no Mi likely bears even more strange powers that give Imu an edge in combat. The villain has only now entered the battlefield, and fans must wait a while before One Piece confirms everything there is to know about Imu’s Devil’s Fruit.
The Devil’s Fruit Ties Imu to Every Other Devil Fruit
Imu’s portrayal as the Devil immediately makes him one of the most dangerous characters in One Piece, if not the most dangerous. Although he looks less like Satan in his true form, the standard devil wings and tail manifest when Imu possesses his Covenantees. That said, what Oda means by painting Imu as a manga version of Lucifer is unclear — especially since arguments can be made in support of Lucifer.
It’s more interesting to consider the Akuma no Mi itself, named so differently from every other Devil Fruit that it has already become a major One Piece mystery. The designation for individual Devil Fruits remains consistent in both Japanese and English, with a double naming style like Yami Yamo no Mi/Dark-Dark Fruit. On the other hand, while generic Devil Fruits are also described as Akuma no Mi, the Japanese name reads “悪魔の実,” using kanji for the word “akuma” or “devil.”
This is a pertinent difference because Imu’s Akuma no Mi uses katakana for “akuma,” yet another difference that highlights the knowledge and power gap between Imu and his enemies. Katakana is predominantly used to transcribe foreign words, arguably referencing the Devil’s prevalence in Western culture and mythology. It could also have a nuanced meaning that fans are yet to comprehend — regardless, the Devil’s Fruit feels like the origin point for its kind.
If that interpretation holds true, then Imu reframes the entire lore of One Piece. No longer would Devil Fruits be random anomalies scattered across the seas, but rather fragmented extensions of a singular, primordial source. The very possibility links Imu directly to the world’s greatest secrets. In other words, defeating Imu might require dismantling the origin of Devil Fruit power itself.
Imu’s Devil Fruit Has a Few Surprising Weaknesses
Imu reveals their transformation in the One Piece anime during Sabo’s attack.
Image by Toei Animation
When Imu arrived and transformed on Elbaph, he looked somewhat weakened. Still, the fact that he chose to challenge Gear 5 Luffy and Nidhöggr Loki implies that he has the upper hand — as evidenced by Imu’s general preference for staying in the shadows and acting only when victory is guaranteed. Neither Imu nor his opponents may technically lose the upcoming battle, although the heroes have a much better chance when considering the Akuma no Mi’s weaknesses.
It’s unclear whether Imu will be affected by seawater and seastone, but there are several other drawbacks to the Devil’s Fruit. From a potential limit on the total number of Covenants to the resistance of willpower against the enforced Demon Covenant, Imu faces numerous struggles on the battlefield. Recent chapters also confirmed the efficacy of Conqueror’s Haki, whose critical mass can counter the effects of Domi Reversi.
Chapter 1178 showcased another unexpected method to escape Imu’s clutches — Dorry and Brogy beheaded each other and returned to normal, demonstrating that death was counterintuitively enough to rescue and resurrect those transformed by the Demon Covenant. Although Luffy and Loki raised many questions by simply resisting Domi Reversi, Chopper’s actions were far more interesting.
Rejecting the need to deliver fatal damage, Chopper’s ordinary strikes turned devilized giants into normal. He did nothing more than punch them, only for the target to become normal once again. This unique power might well come in handy down the line, allowing Chopper to save the day without resorting to killing, even temporarily — like the doctor he is and wants to be.
Even if Chopper won’t be facing Imu anytime soon, One Piece‘s grand villain seems ready to take on two Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits simultaneously. Luffy and Loki are reaching their limits, but the story has evened out the playing field by weakening Imu. And yet, the Akuma no Mi still tilts the balance in Imu’s favor, leaving the heroes with little room for error as the Final Saga reaches its endgame.
