Manga
The great One Piece villain who sits on the throne, who is Im Sama?
Im Sama appears in the latest chapters of One Piece, where he shows off his powers and is confirmed as the assassin of King Cobra, Vivi’s father.
It wasn’t a bluff. Not this time. Eiichiro Oda was serious when he announced that we are entering the final saga of One Piece and that we should prepare for the final war. The author keeps his word and every time he unfolds more plots and solves more mysteries. Without going too far, in the last few days, the manga (in chapters 1084 and 1085, spoiler warning) has focused on the great villain of the series, Im Sama, whom we finally see in action.
The King of the World
Im Sama is the puppet master who pulls the strings of the world. For we have the Seraphim (the new pacifists, the most feared enemies of the series), above them are the Admirals (Ryokugyu, a two-legged Bulbasaur; Kizaru, who can move at the speed of light; Fujitora, who can launch meteorites; and Akainu, a volcano made human), and at their command, we find the Gorosei, that is, the Five Elders, who have controlled the politics of One Piece for more than eight hundred years. Along the way, we have encountered organizations like SWORD or CP0, but the fact is that above each and every one of them is Im Sama, the highest-ranking figure in the entire World Government.
In chapters 1084 and 1085 of One Piece, Im Sama was confirmed as the murderer of King Cobra, the father of Nefertari Vivi (Princess of Arabasta and Luffy’s Nakama). Until now, Morgan’s News attributed his death to Sabo, but Eiichiro Oda showed us Cobra having an audience with the Five Elders of the Gorosei, and in the middle of it, Imu Sama appears and sits on the throne, which is a real shock for the King of Arabasta.
The final confession about Vivi and Luffy
At the sight of this, King Cobra is incredulous. As symbolic as it may seem, this gesture shatters everything he thought he knew. After all, the world had referred to this seat as the “empty throne,” and all countries had agreed to rule in harmony, with no monarch stepping on the others. The presence of Im Sama on it (and the reverence paid to him by the Five Elders) shows that there is indeed someone at the helm of international politics, with its interests and manipulations. How many disasters in countries like Arabasta, for example, have been orchestrated.
After years of ruling from the shadows, Im Sama appears before the Cobra, knowing that the King of Arabasta will not make it out of such an audience alive. In chapter 1085, the villain ends his life with a strange arrow that seems to confirm him as the bearer of a devils fruit. But still, Vivi’s father has time to send a message to Luffy. Jiraiya-like, Cobra confesses that the Nefertari also have a D. in their names, like Monkey D. Luffy or Trafalgar D. Law.
We will see the implications of all this and how Vivi and Luffy react when they find out. But now we wonder what Imu Sama looks like and what their true identity is, about which there are dozens of the most interesting theories on social media. Let’s have a look at some of them:
Nefertari Lily’s Relationship with Imu Sama
The first of the theories we’re going to look at comes from one of our favorite One Piece scholars, Artur, and has to do with Nefertari Lily, a distant ancestor of Cobra and Vivi. She was said to be the only one of the twenty countries that formed the World Government who refused to hand over her sword to the empty throne. Moreover, Cobra went to the Five Elders to ask for her because the king did not fully understand his ancestor’s story, and when Imu appeared on the scene, he repeated Lily’s name as if it rang a bell. What if Im Sama is Nefertari Lily? Could he have forgotten how she was referred to in the past?
The story of Adam and Eve
Another suggestion with many supporters is that Eiichiro Oda is rewriting the myth of Adam and Eve. It would not be the first version of legends and real events that the author takes as inspiration. In this case, Lily would be Eve and would have escaped from Mary Geoise, the land of the Celestial Dragons, Eden, to establish a new kingdom (Amazon Lily, the island of Boa Hancock). Im would be Adam (or even God) and would be vengeful, desperately trying to wipe out the descendants of the one who betrayed them, the D clan.
Is Im Sama a boy? A woman?
As for his appearance, there are those who debate whether Im Sama is a boy (because of how small he is in relation to the throne and other elements of the scenario), and those who, knowing the perverse track record of Eiichiro Oda, bet that we are looking at another voluptuous female character.
Im Sama’s terrifying power
More and more questions that Eiichiro Oda will have to answer, and given the pace at which things are moving, it will be sooner rather than later. For now, we close this brief review of news about Imu Sama, but not before reminding you that we recently met their escort, the Divine Knights, that a few months ago we saw the extent of his power, which allowed him to wipe an entire island off the map, and the big question about his character, why is there a stone straw hat in his chambers?
