The Elbaf arc of One Piece has done incredibly well to dive deep into the lore of Devil Fruits by introducing Nerona Imu, the King of the World, in One Piece Chapter 1179, which was released on April 5, 2026, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #19. Since then, the lore of the Devil Fruits has been expanded significantly, primarily through the King of the World.
In One Piece chapter 1191, which was officially released on August 23, 2026, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #39, Eiichiro Oda expanded our understanding of Devil Fruits even further by unveiling the primordial Devil Fruit awakening through Nerona Imu. Following his battle against Scopper Gaban, Imu took to utilizing a brand-new Devil Fruit ability, which is most likely his primordial awakening. We absolutely cannot wait to see the full scale of its powers in the manga as the story returns with chapter 1192 on September 6, 2026.
One Piece Chapter 1191 Shows Akuma No Mi’s Primordial Awakening
When Nerona Imu first arrived in One Piece chapter 1179 on April 5, 2026, he immediately took to using his Akuma no Mi powers. At the time, we were surprised to learn that Imu’s Devil Fruit did not follow the standard fruit logic in One Piece. For instance, the vast majority of Devil Fruits have a double naming pattern as well as a standard classification; however, Nerona Imu’s Akuma no Mi follows none of these logics. Imu’s Akuma no Mi literally translates to “The Devil’s Fruit” and, in other words, is the primordial Devil Fruit of the One Piece world.
Creator of the World Government (One of the First 20)
Power: Akuma no Mi (The Devil’s Fruit)
King of the World, St. Nerona Imu
• Imu’s introduction box, One Piece Chapter #1179
At the same time, it has no classification either, and Eiichiro Oda has purposely left it without one. In other words, Imu’s Devil Fruit can fit any of these categories. An even better way of putting that would be that Imu’s fruit fits into none of these categories, and that is precisely why this fruit is the primordial Devil Fruit. In One Piece chapter 1191, Nerona Imu took his Akuma no Mi powers to a whole new level by unveiling a new transformation, which is akin to an awakening form. In other words, this is Imu’s primordial awakening of the Akuma no Mi, and it is bound to bring out way more power from this incredibly overpowered Devil Fruit ability.
How Imu’s New Form Boosts His Strength
Immediately upon utilizing his Akuma no Mi transformation in One Piece chapter 1191 on August 23, Nerona Imu grew in terms of size. The black flames of Omen, which Imu calls his military might, coated his arms, and his ring of black flames moved from behind his back to surround his torso as well as his arms. Imu also sprouted giant wings, and his hair took a flaming pattern similar to Monkey D. Luffy’s Snakeman. In terms of strength and speed, Imu showed a sharp rise, and according to his own words, his strikes became much more powerful as well. Imu believed that he was so powerful in this form that he could have killed Scopper Gaban in his next blow, wielding a legendary blade from the era of the Void Century, called Honebami Toshiro, which belonged to one of the 19 Kings.
Imu: An impressive feat! To escape Honebami’s wrath with losing only one arm. There will be nothing left of thee after the next one!
Luffy: Is that him? But he looks very different?
— Luffy comments on Imu’s New Primordial Form, One Piece Chapter #1191
Nerona Imu also saw a boost in terms of Haki in this new form, and this makes perfect sense when looking at the concept of Supreme King Haki, which was officially introduced to us in One Piece Chapter 597 on August 30, 2010, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #39. In this chapter, Rayleigh explained to us that Supreme King Haki cannot be trained directly. It grows as the user grows stronger. In other words, when Imu’s new transformation makes him stronger, his Supreme King Haki grows as well.
All things considered, Imu is at the peak of his powers in this new form, both in terms of raw strength as well as the power of his Haki. This is precisely what makes defeating him even more difficult for Luffy and all the others in Elbaf.
Nerona Imu’s New Form Is Unbeatable In Elbaf
As things stand, Nerona Imu’s defeat in Elbaf is looking increasingly unlikely. One Piece Chapter 1192, which is set for release on September 6, 2026, is going to continue Imu’s battle against the trio of Luffy, Loki, and Hajrudin, with Scopper Gaban there to aid as well. Even with the strongest of Elbaf having lined up to fight the King of the World, defeating him is not going to be easy. Given Nerona Imu’s new primordial Akuma no Mi awakening, which we saw in One Piece Chapter 1191, his powers are now on a completely different scale. Imu already defeated all the other characters previously, and with even greater power, he can do much more than just defeat them. There is a big death flag hanging on the heads of all these characters, and we are intrigued to see what pathway Oda takes from here onwards.
“Crew of the King of the Pirates! I failed to foresee what would become of those mere children at God Valley! I should’ve eliminated all of it on God Valley, along with Rocks, on that day, years ago!” — Imu, surprised at seeing Gaban’s power, One Piece Chapter #1191
That said, at the end of the day, Nerona Imu has to be kicked out of Elbaf one way or another, and that is where Luffy’s Wings come in. At this point, they have the biggest responsibility of all characters in the entirety of Elbaf, since they are up against the Holy Knights. In One Piece Chapter 1170, Nerona Imu stated quite clearly that each Covenant comes with a huge price to pay for him. In other words, if Sommers and Killingham were to lose their lives in the battle against Zoro and Sanji, Imu would take quite a heavy blow and would be weakened tremendously.
This would then be the perfect opening for the likes of Luffy, Loki, Hajrudin, and Scopper Gaban to put him down temporarily and send him back. Without all the physical nerfs that were put on Nerona Imu, which were officially confirmed to us in One Piece Chapter 1182 on May 10, 2026, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #24, as well as the nerf that would come with the loss of Sommers and Killingham, beating Imu might just be impossible. As things stand, he can be sent back to Marijoa, and that is what we are eagerly waiting to see.
All the chapters of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
