This article contains spoilers from One Piece's Elbaf Arc.
Summary
- Imu is confirmed as a male Celestial Dragon based on his title as Imu Sei, not Imu Guu.
- Imu can switch bodies, and while he is male, his vessel could still be female.
- Imu might target Queens and Princesses for their vessels, hinting at a possible female vessel.
One Piece's Elbaf arc has shifted a ton of focus to Imu, the main antagonist of the entire series, and for good reasons. As is clear in the story already, Imu has appeared as the main antagonist of the Elbaf arc, and this was accomplished by them taking control of Gunko's body.
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As this arc proceeds, a lot of exciting information about Gunko and Imu will finally be revealed, and fans absolutely cannot wait to see how Oda delivers. Concerning Imu, fans especially want to know the answer to one major question and that is their gender. While a lot of the fans are still scratching their heads, Oda has already provided the answer to this question long ago.
Imu Is A Confirmed Male In One Piece
- Imu Is Called A 聖 (“Sei”)
- Female Celestial Dragons Are Called 宮 (Guu)
When it comes to Imu's gender, fans have been heavily debating what Imu is. Some believe that Imu will be male, while a significant portion of the fans believe that Imu will turn out to be female. The truth is that the answer is more complicated than just male or female, as confirmed by Oda already.
Allow Mu to show thee the dominance of a God! — Imu
At the very least, Imu is, at their core, male. This is confirmed by Oda himself. The Five Elders refer to Imu as Imu Sei, which means he's a male Celestial Dragon. If Imu were female, he'd be called Imu Guu. In Japanese, male Celestial Dragons are called 聖 (-Sei), while females are called 宮 (-Guu). The fact that the Elders use the former for Imu confirms that Imu is, indeed, male.
That said, this doesn't answer anything in the grand scheme of things and the mystery of Imu's gender runs even deeper. This is because Imu is now confirmed to be able to have vessels and switch bodies.
Imu's Vessel Complicates The Issue
Imu Can Have A Female Vessel
While Imu, in reality, is male, the fact is that Imu's Vessel could still be female. This is evident from the fact that Oda is hiding Imu's true form still, and even their voice in the anime isn't made clear. If Imu is already called male, Oda would've had no reason to hide Imu. Furthermore, fans have rightly pointed out that the main body that Imu has looks like that of a woman.
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Furthermore, in the Elbaf arc of One Piece, Oda clearly drew Imu in control of Gunko. This means Imu can very well use others as a vessel, and while Gunko might be severely limited, some others will likely be able to host Imu better.
Imu Might Still Be A Woman
Imu could still turn out to be a female villain, simply based on the fact that they seem to want to target Queens and Princesses, likely for their vessel. Lily of Arabasta was a Queen who disappeared 800 years ago and never made it back from Marijoa, which is when the line passed to her brother, Vivi's ancestor. Imu could be in control of Lily's body.
Meanwhile, fans know very well that Imu wants Vivi at all costs, possibly to use as his vessel. Furthermore, Gunko also seems to be a former princess. All this points to Imu having a female vessel in the Final Saga, despite actually being male.
One Piece Chapter 1154 will be out in two weeks. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on July 13. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1154 is July 13, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
