The Elbaf Arc Will end with Uranus ERASING the Island From History

Currently, it looks like the Straw Hats + the Elbaf warriors are valiantly fighting off the enemy forces. Imu is currently being dealt with by Luffy and Loki.

Loki has just recently transformed into his hybrid form as well, meaning that we will finally see him fight Imu at his strongest.

And Sommers and Quillingham are most likely soon going to be defeated by Zoro and Sanji. All signs seem to point to Elbaf ending with a triumphant victory for the Straw Hats.

NO!

What if I were to tell you that the Elbaf arc is currently being built up to a climactic defeat, where Imu orders the erasure of the entire island? And you might be wondering why that would happen. Imu wants the Elbaf giants to be his subordinates, and that's why he sent the God's Knights to Elbaf after all.

But we need to understand why he wants to recruit them in the first place. Gunko said in chapter 1146, "The World was meant to vanish one day, that's how it was supposed to go, however some among the humans realized what's in store, and told the entire world".

The goal of the Celestial Dragons is to reshape the entire world by consistently nuking islands, which raises the overall sea level, leading to the world being flooded. That's why they have the ancient weapon Uranus at their side; that's why they need the Mother Flame in order to use it. And now, with York, that's a possibility. They already showed their willingness to do this by destroying Lulusia before the Egghead arc began. Therefore, all they need is for York to produce more Mother Flames.

In chapter 1179, we are shown that York is currently producing a new Mother Flame, and in the same chapter, Imu descends on Elbaf. Imu and the Celestial Dragons know the war is imminent, and that's why they want to recruit the giants to fight for them instead of having them be enemies.

But now that's not likely because the giants instead decided not to bend the knee and fight the government head-on.

Elbaf is the strongest nation in the world, so it would be wise for the Celestial Dragons to simply nuke their island. That way, they wouldn't be a threat during the war. We know the Mother Flame is being developed by York. They have Uranus, and the giants won't fight for them. Therefore, the logical conclusion for the Celestial Dragons to reach is to instead nuke the entire island. That way, the Elbaf threat is dealt with.

Imu deemed Elbaf to be such a threat that he himself came to oversee the mission of capturing the giant children. That shows the lengths the Celestial Dragons are willing to go to in order to deal with the giants.

But there is another reason why they must, besides the giant threat and their overall mission of reshaping the world, and that has to do with the island itself. Elbaf is the ideal island for the people of the world to hide on during the great flood. Due to how huge the island is and its elevation above sea level, Elbaf is the ideal place Dragon was alluding to in chapter 1125. This adds weight to why Imu must nuke the island, because otherwise, the people of the world will survive.

So by the end of the Elbaf arc, when Sommers and Quillingham are dealt with, when everyone decides to fight against Imu, he will order the Gorosei to send over the Ancient Weapon to Elbaf. And once it arrives, he will return to Marijoa.

That way, our protagonists will be able to show that they can fight against Imu together, but Imu will retain his overall threat as a final antagonist for the final war. The very action of nuking Elbaf will also symbolically begin the final war for dominion over the sea. I believe some giants will survive the nuking of the island, just like some characters did during the nuking of Lulusia. The New Giant Warrior Pirates, Loki, and the children will most likely survive. But I think characters such as Dory, Brogy, Jarul, and most of the warrior generation might not make it, and will sacrifice themselves to save the children during the destruction of Elbaf.