After the end of One Piece’s Whole Cake Island arc, the brief Reverie arc showed the major rulers of the world meeting to discuss the various problems in the Sacred Land of Marijois.
This arc was the first to show a mysterious, cloaked figure standing in front of an equally mysterious giant Straw Hat, who would later be revealed to fans of the series as Imu, someone who holds greater authority than even the 5 Elders!
Imu’s appearances since then have been just as brief, with one of them showing him holding Nefeltari Vivi’s wanted poster. Though this was unexplained and lacked much context for quite some time, chapter 1116 of the One Piece manga showed that Imu had a huge portrait of Nefeltari Lily in his private chamber, raising even more questions. So, let’s go over who Imu might have been and why he may have had this poster at all!
Why Lili’s Picture Is So Important
Context is key
Portrait First Appearance: One Piece, Chapter 1116, “Inner Conflict”
Story Arc: Egghead Arc
The (currently) vague events of the Void Century are known to every fan of the series. 900 years before the start of the main story, there existed an Ancient Kingdom that held all the power in the world and was more technologically advanced than any other nation on the planet, which is likely the reason it was seen as a threat to to much of the world. Due to this, 20 kingdoms banded together in an alliance to take this empire down and enforce their own laws onto the world, which seemed to have been ruled by a St. Imu of the Nerona Dynasty.
One of these kingdoms was Alabasta, which was ruled by Nefeltari Lili at the time. The 20 nations were successful in defeating the Ancient Kingdom and proceeded to expunge knowledge of it and the rest of the Void Century, with the rulers all moving atop the Red Line into Sacred Marijois. However, Lili decided to forego this and wanted to return to Alabasta but mysteriously disappeared before doing so.
No individual should have the power to control the world!
It is implied that Lili came at odds with Imu and the rest of the ancestors of the Celestial Dragons, so was accordingly dealt with. However, before any of this, Lili was able to somehow disperse the Poneglyphs across the world that contained the forgotten history, which Imu attributes to being a mistake that changed the course of everything.
Though it is merely conjecture at this point, many fans believe that, despite initially being his enemy, Lili’s mind and allegiance were eventually swayed by Joyboy after he told her of the injustices that Imu and the others want to inflict onto the world. This may have led to her defecting to the other side and dispersing the Poneglyphs, causing Imu to eliminate her. However, this begs the question; why would Imu have her portrait in his chambers?
Imu And Lili’s Possible Connection
A theory that may explain the portrait
Many fans in the One Piece community believe that Imu and Lili’s connection may be more than just knowing each other due to being 2 of the 20 nations that formed the World Government. The theory here states that for one reason or another, Imu was in love with Lili and may have even been set up to marry her! However, Joyboy’s addition to the fray may have changed everything.
Due to Joyboy’s influence, Lili may have had a change of heart, causing her to go against every one of her allies and become the person responsible for why any semblance of knowledge of the Void Century still exists to this day! The truth of the world and the Void Century is something that Imu cannot risk getting out to the public, which is why the deciphering of the Poneglyphs is the greatest crime known to the world.
However, the theory states that Imu never truly stopped loving Lili or at least always craved something that she had, leading to why he keeps her portrait even 800 years after she died. Coincidentally, this does seem to make sense with how he held Vivi’s wanted poster. Back in chapter 908, the posters Imu had were all desecrated in one way or another, with Luffy and Blackbeard being all cut up and Shirahoshi stabbed with a knife through her head. However, Vivi’s poster was still intact and was even held up by Imu, perhaps strengthening this theory.
At that stage, Luffy was known to be Joyboy reincarnated, so why would Imu toss away his poster while keeping Vivi’s intact? The vague image fans have seen of Lili is a little obscured, but even through it, it’s quite clear that she and Vivi share a remarkable resemblance, so it does strengthen the idea that Imu would be more interested in Vivi than Luffy himself, especially if he was in love with Lili all those centuries ago.
It appears Queen Lili never made it home to Alabasta and the burden of ruling the country fell to her younger brother.
This is further supported by the meeting between Cobra and Imu along with the Gorosei. Though his fate was essentially sealed upon seeing Imu, the conversation between the two was fairly civil, with Imu peacefully complying with Cobra’s demands and questions. However, upon mentioning that Lili and the rest of the Nefeltari family were part of the D. Clan, Imu roared and lashed out in anger, proceeding to mortally wound Cobra on the spot.
Due to this, it is implied that Imu did not know about Lili belonging or aligning herself with the D. Clan and Joyboy. So, the moment when it is revealed may have reminded him of the greatest betrayal he ever suffered, where his closest ally betrayed him to join with his sworn enemies! While this is just fun theory-building, it is entirely possible for Oda to be cooking up a storm that could very possibly have this reveal waiting for the fans!
