NERONA IMU Has the Mythical HUMAN HUMAN fruit model 20 KINGS

Laying the Groundwork

IMU's APPEARANCE

When Imu was revealed, there was something immediately shown in his design. IMU is in someway an amalgam of various species. People noticed this right away due to his physical characteristics (horns, dark skin, skin markings, etc). I think it goes a bit deeper. This amalgam imagery extends to his clothing. A belt lined by fur is common fashion found in Elbaf (See Luffy and Loki), a large cloak with familial insignia (remisicent of Wano), spike arm cuffs (Oni race), three skulls (ancient giant fashion found on both Oars and Oars Jr). Oda does frequently make random and weird character design choices. One or two odd things is a coincidence, but here there seems to be a pattern. Oda is making a deliberate attempt to demonstrate IMU is a man of multiple roots connected to many species, locations, cultures, and aesthetics.

IMU'S ABILITIES

IMU seems to have a very large bag of random and unrelated abilities. The following are abilities we have seen him use.

• Regeneration/Immortality
• Transformations
• Domi-Reversi / Branding
• RIDICULOUS haki (no other One Piece character besides Joyboy has demonstrated the conquerors or armament feats Imu and the Gorosei have displayed)
• Teleportation
• Summoning
• Pocket Dimension
• Void Energy Stuff
• Possession (Could be part of branding contracts)

I also believe any and all abilities used by the Gorosei are abilities Imu himself has. This would include the animal transformations, stunning stare, etc. The relationship between the Gorosei and Imu is one of power and submission. I think Imu gives them ALL their power since they are likely non-combatants. How could Imu grant someone a power they themself don't have? That being said, for the sake of this part of the theory, I will not assume Imu has the powers of the gyuki, sand wyrm, etc.

IMU'S TRANSFORMATIONS

Imu seems to never transform but the little that has been demonstrated makes the following clear. Imu's transformations are extremely painful, very tiring, very powerful, and a complete last resort. This is unusual for any ability let alone a devil fruit ability. Additionally the way it is drawn, Oda makes it seem like something is BURSTING out of him as he screams in pain. So it is an ability that bursts out of Imu, is painful, powerful, and generally too much for his body to handle.

IT IS NOT HIS ABILITY

Or at least, it is not a normal or natural ability that was obtained in a normal way. We've seen many unnatural means of obtaining power (Smiles, artificial fruits, Bonney, etc), they have never displayed the characteristics that Imu's does.

THE "DEVIL" FRUIT

I need to address the canonical reveal of Imu's abilities. Imu is said to have the ability called "Devil's" Fruit. This is weird for two reasons. One, saying Imu has the powers of a devil can theoretically explain some of Imu's abilities but not enough to really make sense of why (Why does the devil fruit grant ridiculous haki, abnormal transformations, pocket dimensions, etc). And the second more important point is, devils do not exist in One Piece. At no point has the existence of a genuine Devil race been mentioned or hinted at. One Piece has taught us time and time again, that there is no such thing as Gods and Devils. What makes someone a god or a devil is entirely up to propaganda. So Devils suddenly existing would go against a lot of the themes of the series. So I do not think there can be actual devils. That being said, there does seem to be demonic stuff with Imu, so the devil imagery has to come from somewhere. For now, we will ignore the canonical "Devil's Fruit" ability name but we will come back to it as I believe there is a good explanation for all the demonic stuff Imu does.

THEORY INTRODUCTION

Theory: Nerona Imu has the ability of the Mythical Zoan Human-Human Fruit model 20 Kings

Ability Descriptions: This devil fruit grants the user access to all of the abilities (racial or species specific), haki, devil fruits, and consciousness of the original 20 founding kings. It also allows the user to transform into each of the 20 kings as well as access the "Abyss".

Why this works?

• Having access to ALL the haki of 20 supposedly powerful characters would explain the insane haki feats we see from Imu and the gorosei (large COC streaks, ridiculous armament haki, etc).
• This would also explain the large variety of abilities that Imu has. Analyzing Imu through this lens recontextualizes his combat style into one involving multiple devil fruits. It is his combination of fruits that makes his abilities difficult to deal with.
• Too much Power: As you can imagine, the Haki, abilities, and strength of 20 powerful people is far too much for a single person to handle. This explains the extreme pain and fatigue he feels when fighting. It also explains why Imu seems to like spreading his powers to Holy Knights and Gorosei. The less power held in his person, the lower the constant burden. That being said, he can take his power back whenever he wants but doing so causes him pain. Like I said, the more power Imu holds himself, the greater the burden, so all of the power Imu granted to Saturn suddenly rushing back to him hurt. I think the same thing happened in Egghead. Joyboy's haki forced the remaining Gorosei back to mariejois meaning ALL the power Imu granted them to fight in Egghead rushed back into him. (Think Yuji eating Sukuna fingers)
• The Abyss: I think the Abyss Imu uses for his attacks is the literal manifestation of the Void Century and the secrets of the elite. In the same way that Nika's free nature and desire to fight however he wants manifests a fruit that allows the user to shape themself or the world how they choose, I think the mysterious and ominous perception of the WG and kings manifested as a literal void that Imu can use in combat when he attained the ability. This could explain why only beings or objects directly related to the 20 kings (their weapons) or Imu himself could traverse it.
• The weird transformations: Imu's forms are very unique for two reasons

  • Either Imu has two hybrid forms (highly doubt) or Imu's transformations don't follow the typical zoan structure (Base - Hybrid - Animal)

  • Imu currently has at least 4 transformations (base form we see in Mariejois, giant glob form we saw against Sabo, his first form, and his second bulkier form). The only zoan with this many transformations is Chopper and even then Chopper's form comes from experimentation. (Dont worry Chopper will come back up and this theory can also explain why he can reverse Domi-Reversi)

    I believe Imu has exactly 23 forms/transformations. One for each of the 20 kings + his base + glob form + one more for fun because I don't think the glob is his ultimate form and Oda is a Dragon Ball fan. As far as what they might look like, we've already seen two of the king transformations. I think each of the forms shown in Elbaf represent a different founding king. But why do they look so similar? It is a case similar to Chopper, where most of the characteristics remain across transformations but transforming allows him to change his physique for different purposes (Brain point vs Horn point vs Heavy point, etc). So for Imu, the first form we see seems to be a general jack of all trades form. But once Imu needs more power to put down Luffy and Gaban, he turns into a bulkier more physically powerful form. Considering he doubled in size, grew bigger horns, and more muscle, I am willing to say that he transformed into one of the 20 kings that was either an ancient giant or Oni.

Further Implications:

So if Imu can use the devil fruits of the original 20 kings, what devil fruit abilities can he use?

• The Soul-Soul fruit: This is what grants him the power to animate his surroundings and attacks. Many people have drawn parallels to Big Mom and I do not think it is a coincidence. Oda using the imagery of houses singing and making Imu's attack act very similarly to the homies is intentional.
• Human-Human fruit: This is Chopper's human-human fruit to be specific. One of the 20 kings had the human fruit and used it to its full potential along with awakening it. I think the basic Human-Human fruit is how Imu Domi-Reverses people. Domi-Reversi allows a person to completely dominate someones's will and grant them accelerated healing and strength as well as more willpower. As the current user of the Human-Human fruit, Chopper can undo these transformations. I do believe Imu is using this ability at its maximum level, but I think Chopper will gain the power to Domi-Reverse people. What better ability for the monster doctor that wants to cure every illness than the human ability to heal, strengthen, and reinvigorate anybody with a touch.
• The Gorosei's Fruit: I mentioned previously that you could assume that all abilities Imu grants are abilities he himself possesses. If we continue with this assumption, that would mean that the zoans possessed by the gorosei, are zoan abilities that belonged to the 20 kings. (5 gorosei + 1 for whatever Garling will have)
• Have fun: At this point you can just theorize what devil fruits explain the remaining powers Imu has (Door-Door for pocket dimension, Barrier-Barrier, Yami-Yami, Mud-Mud, Teleportation fruit, etc). The point is that it is likely Oda will give Imu a bunch of already existing or already encountered devil fruit abilities as that would be more impactful than giving him a bunch of unknown powers. And through Imu we can learn about the original kings.

LORE IMPLICATIONS

• Luffy vs Imu = Joyboy vs 20 kings. The most important rematch in history. Joyboy likely lost this fight and this was his largest failure. Luffy carrying Joyboy's will vs Imu carrying the will of the 20 kings, except this time Joyboy's will wins. This battle also represents a person corrupted and burdened by inherited will against someone who is strengthened by it.
• The 20 kings knew about Joyboy's plan to have someone inherit his will in future and continue what he's done. In response, the 20 kings planned to grant a boy immortality and channel all of their power into him (either through a devil fruit or other supernatural means) to stop Joyboy's plans from coming into fruition. "If the insects believe a Sun God will destroy everything we have built, then we shall create a Devil to stop him". This Devil is Imu Nerona.
• Crazy Theory Crafting. In ancient times, people were born with abilities. These abilities played a large role in the hierarchies throughout the world where the people gifted with the best abilities reached higher statuses. The ancient kingdom, as the progressive leaders in technology, uncovered the natural mechanisms that grant people abilities and started research into devil fruits to grant non-power havers abilities to address social instabilities. The 20 kings clearly did not like this. Joyboy was on the side of the Ancient Kingdom. Joyboy in realizing he will fail, assisted the ancient kingdom in releasing the devil fruit energy they had accumulated into the world. The 20 kings attempted to reverse engineer the research of the ancient kingdom and failed to a degree. But they ultimately found a way to imbue their abilities into a vessel.