#op chapter 1181

[anmechokola]

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1181)

Ok but why is Imu giving off such "jilted lover" vibes like

You're about to be knocked away by a squirrel hammer, my guy. Can you stop fantasizing about a man from 800 years ago for a few minutes at least?

[moth-in-black]

Okay guys. Op chapter 1181 - key points 👹💥

[peanut-with-wifi-access]

One Piece; Chapter 1181

MangaFire was actually functioning so I was able to get to this chapter before any weird cropping let's gooooo!!!!

Spoilers below, as always <3

Okay yeah taking into account Giant lifespans, Harald did die pretty young huh? Weird to think about. Goddammit I really should work on those ghost fics.....

Imu please I know the Covenants harm you too but cmon. Self-centered bastard, this is why I put you in a jar.

If Oda knows one thing, it's how to draw a hit! I cannot wait for this to get animated, I'm so hyped

What is this thing? It reminds me of Big Mom's Homies, which yk, point to the Snake In The Garden Theory. Anyway, it's kinda cute <3

LORE LORE LORE LORE LORE 💞💞💞💞💥💞💥💞💥💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥

Okay, so what I can gather from this is that whatever the Abyss is, it's omnipresent and able to technically be accessed by anyone or thing.

Imu's Omen technique draws direct power from the Abyss, enabling shenanigans like shapeshifting and whatever's up with the black flames, and the Covenants allow others to access the same corrupted strength. The entire process is referred to, at least by Imu, as a Dominion.

This, funnily enough, aligns pretty well with what I was working with in Sun Path and other AUs, so I don't even have to do any rewritting! 💞

Aside from that, this is an objectively badass power system and I'm so excited to see it in action!!!!! 💞💞💞💞

Though, this line and specific phrasing instantly made me think of Voice of All Things.....

Curious! That's a fun translation quirk, I love these little notes so much

You know what I'll give em that, there isn't that much difference in the grand scheme of things. Though the shadow over Imu's eyes and what little we can see of their expression lends toward that theory that they made a deal with some kind of God/Devil/Being for access to the Abyss.

"And they were roommates!" "Oh my god they were roommates..."

JOY BOY AND IMU FRIENDSHIP CONFIRMED WE WIN FOLKS 💞💥💞💥💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞💥💞

I need to know who the "Isn't that right?" line is coming from... It was probably Imu but could've been Joy Boy we don't know??? I'm biting the walls. What happened in the Void Century Oda please I'm murdering—

Hey, Imu's in their shadow banana form in the flashback! Without a crown, which makes sense, but that helps with the Devil In Disguise theory!!!

"The world itself rejoices in a state of Dominion!" Okay so the traditional definition of dominion comes obviously from domination, that being supreme authority or control. So Imu saying this makes sense, though "rejoice" is a curious word to use as it generally brings to mind joyous celebration that isn't allowed in controlled societies.

However, something I found;

...Hm. Now isn't that interesting, especially considering the series' previous usage of angelic hierarchies (ex; the seraphim). You'd think Imu's ability would be called something of higher rank, but no, it's Dominion. The 4th strongest.

And isn't it further interesting, that we know exactly 3 people from the Void Century who Imu was connected to? :)

Imu you're not beating the salty ex allegations I hope you know that. Though I guess this means Imu's the one who said all that to Joy Boy, and he probably turned them down on the offer. God I am so fascinated by whatever drama the VC cast had going on 💞

It's reassuring to see Imu taking damage and feeling pain from all this, it further confirms this isn't them at their fullest strength. They're still a fearsome threat, but we're not at the final fight yet! They're allowed to get knocked around a good bit! And look pretty while it happens!!!

Oh Imu was definitely allied with or at least connected to the previous Nidhogg Fruit user. I still have my bet on Davy D Jones being that user, but who knows atp.

This was a pretty good chapter! Nice to see Imu taking damage and Loki being a badass, and of course that power explanation was delicious to chew on. Oh and the beloved Joy Boy crumbs!!!! Ough this is all gonna go so hard when it's animated, and I can't wait for the day we finally learn the Void Century drama and can look but on these scenes with more knowledge 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

Excited for next chapter, definitely! Luffy, hurry the hell up and eat boy!!!!!!!! 💥

[anmechokola]

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1181)

It might just be a coincidence (though knowing how much these people love their puns, maybe not), but there's a potential wordplay joke on this cover story too. The word used for panda shark is パンサメ (pansame), with サメ (same) meaning shark, but the verb 覚める (sameru) means to wake up, which is possibly why the reader specified the sharks as sleeping, to play with that other reading of same

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Imu called Harald's death a 迷惑 (meiwaku), which means trouble, bother, annoyance or inconvenience. I don't know if calling it a setback expresses the same level of... flippancy? Disregard, maybe. That calling a person's death an inconvenience does. It reminds me of Imu and Sommers talking about Harald's sacrifice as a blunder or mistake

.

Sadly I couldn't think of any puns with this name, it's pretty straighforward. The attack is 鉄雷一槌 with the furigana ラグナイヅチ (ragunaidzuchi). 鉄雷 is the kanji used for Ragnir and literally translates to Iron Thunder, 一 (ichi) is the kanji for the number 1 but is also used as an "a" prefix before a noun, and 槌 (tsuchi) means hammer, so the name is pretty much Iron Thunder Hammer

.

(chapters 1181 and 1179)

Imu calls the omen his 軍事力 (gunjiryoku), which means military force or military strength. It reminded me of what Garling said in Marijoa, though he used the word 戦力 (senryoku), which also means military strength, fighting power or war potential. As far as I can tell their meaning is pretty much the same

Gunjiryoku also reminded me of Gunko's name, which is written as 軍子 and literally translates to army child. If Brook's guess about her is correct, Gunko isn't her original name, but was given to her by someone in the time between when Brook last saw her (more than 52 years ago) and the God Valley Incident when she's specifically named as Gunko from the Manmayer family (38 years ago). That time she was with Imu when Rocks invaded the Holy Land she isn't really spoken of, so it's unclear if she's already being called Gunko by then

If omen is Imu's military might, then Gunko is another weapon in his arsenal, someone he can use when he wants and who does his bidding in the meantime. A child made for war, as it were

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He also calls it 万物に潜む力 (banbutsu ni hisomu chikara), which reminded me of the Voice of All Things, written as 万物の声 (banbutsu no koe). We still don't know enough about the Voice to be able to make an educated guess about what it means, but it's interesting to note, especially because not everyone can hear the Voice, even if by definition all things have it

潜む (hisomu) means to lurk, to be hidden, or to lie dormant. It implies that omen is something that everything has but not everyone is able to unlock or use it (like the name suggests, it's kind of like haki), and that Imu has the ability to control it. Or bring it to light, maybe. If we're going with his associations with the devil, you could interpret that as everyone having the capacity for evil, and the devil sways people more towards it than towards being good

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The gigantification thing is pretty interesting too, considering how much the government wanted to find a way to turn people into giants, both with the initial experiments to create ancient giants which failed and ended up creating Kaido's Numbers, and with Ceasar Clown's experiments on the children, which was also backed by Big Mom

(chapters 1181 and 605)

Also, doesn't the way his arm inflates before he grows give off Luffy's Gear3 vibes?

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(chapters 1181 and 1129)

Imu's attack is called 天罰剣 with the furigana ネメシス (nemeshisu). 剣 (ken) means sword or blade, and 天罰 (tenbatsu) means divine punishment or wrath of God. I remember talks of divine punishment twice in Elbaf so far, first with Nami punishing Rodo (incidentally by striking a "god" with lightning, just like Loki is doing now) and when the children were about to fall off the pier and thought they were being punished for misbehaving. The name Nemesis suggests that he sees his divine punishment as a retribution from an opponent that cannot be beaten, like the outcome is unavoidable and the person deserves whatever wounds they receive

.

Ok first off, I think it's beautifully in theme with all the blasphemy that Imu calls them a 三位一体 (sanmi ittai), which can mean not only three parts of something, but also the Holy Trinity, as in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

(chapters 1181 and 1149)

Imu did say when he first possessed Gunko that he would show everyone 神の支配 (kami no shihai) or the dominance of god. The implication at first being that he would show the overwhelming power that made him the Ruler of the World, but it turns out to also be about his actual powers. God's Domination comes from the Devil Fruit and is based on a Holy Trinity of powers: the Domi Reversi, the Covenants, and the Omen

(chapters 1181 and 1150)

Domi Reversi is a 堕落 (daraku), which means corruption or degradation. It takes the desire for power (which all people have, according to him) and turns it into something all consuming. The Domi Reversi grants people strength and an indestructible body, but in exchange it takes away a person's mind and inhibitions, not in a way that turns them into puppets, but in a way that turns them into the worst versions of themselves, with no self control or morals

(chapters 1181 and 1169)

The Covenants are 契約 (keiyaku) or contracts and, while they supposedly afford you more free will than the Domi Reversi, they still bind you to Imu's orders. It's interesting that he says people choose them out of self-interest, since the only one whose reasons we actually know is Harald. And you could argue that no one pointed a gun at his head and made him do it, but it's also undeniable how much pressure the World Government was putting on him and how far they would be willing to go to convince him to join "voluntarily"

This one is pretty interesting. Imu says

それを成す為の羨望の魔気 And the power (omen) of envy to achieve that

I assume "that" is referring to that first sentence about how people desire strength. Imu says 魔気, which are the kanji for omen, but with the furigana ちから (chikara), which means strength, ability or power. Based on what he said before, about omen being a power that lurks within all things, he's explicitly associating omen with power. But he says that it's envy that allows people to achieve the strength that they so desire. The omen powers the envy that lies dormant within all people and that guides them into making deals with the devil, or falling victim to the dominance of god

.

Those shaded eyes make me think this question has at least a little sarcasm in it, or at least anger. Maybe resignation? It reminded me a little of Rocks' last interaction with Harald where Rocks is asking him for help, which we know is a question he's repeated a lot during their friendship, but it doesn't really feel like Rocks is expecting the answer to be any different this time. It feels more like a ritual they both need, like a worn out discussion they follow mostly for nostalgia's sake

(chapter 1159)

So I feel that this is not the first time Imu has had this debate, which seems like an extension of the discussion about domination being bliss

Imu says that domination is the only 幸福 (koufuku), which means happiness, blessedness, or joy. Maybe this is more of a non-native speaker point of view, but I really want to associate this koufuku or joy with Joyboy, especially considering how Imu is really fixated on him during this monologue

If you think about it, it makes sense from Imu's point of view why he would think that devils and gods are the same, even if you disconsider that he literally kind of embodies both. Both a god and a devil are powerful supernatural beings that exert their will and influence over people, that dominate them, so to say. From a Christian perspective, God is good and the devil is bad, but for a lot of religions with multiple deities, they tend to be more neutral, or at least there are good gods and bad gods. If both god and the devil offer domination to "lesser" beings, and domination is the source of joy in the world, then there really wouldn't be much difference between a god and a devil

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It feels relavant that there are two separate memories with that exact phrasing, especially since Imu yells the same thing to Joyboy/the heavens right after. The first one is Loki remembering his father's words, and the second is what appears to be a conversation between Imu and Joyboy. I've seen someone talk about the possibility that Imu and Joyboy are related, and I thought it was a pretty interesting theory. It already feels like there was at least some sort of betrayal between Imu, Joyboy, Davy Jones and Lily, and the idea that person had is that Imu and Joyboy are kind of like a Cain and Abel situation. If that ends up being true, maybe this is another sign of that? Both could be memories of talking to family members

Harald is also talking about his reputation being irrelevant, and how all that matters is the future. Like Vegapunk said in his message to the world, we don't know what Joyboy's reasoning for his actions was yet, whether he was a good man or not, and who, if anyone, was on the "right" side of the Void Century War. All we know is the aftermath, the future

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So Loki can do damage, though mostly when Imu is distracted. When he used his Omen to block, even Thorheim didn't seem to do too much. This could be good if Loki and Luffy can decently tag team in a fight, even more so because Luffy is bound to remind Imu of Joyboy

He also seems to have fond (?) memories of Nidhoggr. When Imu is thinking about him, he doesn't seem to have nearly as much hostility as he has for the others, so there's a chance they were on the same side during the war, or at least enemies in the way that Garp and Roger were, which is more like friendly rivals

<- chapter 1180 analysis