u/Ok_Internet2705

I think we can all agree Luffy is not going to win against Imu here, at least not yet, due to narrative importance & Imu’s strength that’s been displayed so far.

However even with this in mind, I think I know how this fight will end; Luffy’s goal here isn’t to outright beat Imu, it’s as he said very upfront to Imu in chapter 1186: “YOU GET OUT… …OF ELBAPH… …RIGHT NOW!!” And he has (or at the very least knows) the best method how to do so; the Solo Sky Split.

One key & consistent trait of Luffy across the series is that he always takes notes of new Haki applications; Rayleigh & Hagoro with armament & its advanced applications, Katakuri with Future Sight & most recently, inferring of what he knows with Advanced Armament, Advanced Conquers Haki. Tldr: if Luffy sees a new haki technique he doesn’t know about or have, he’ll keep it in mind & later learn it & use it to his advantage.

The only haki technique he hasn’t learned is the Solo Sky Split, remember, unlike everyone else on Egghead, he saw what Joyboys Solo Sky Split did to the Gorosei; it forced them back to the Holy Land, or to Luffys knowledge, forced them to disappear. With this in mind & Gabans words, I think Luffy will reach the peak of Conqueror’s Haki in the climax of his fight with Imu to get him off of Elbaph. That way Luffys haki reaches his peak for the Final War & the only thing he’ll have to focus on is his mastery over his Awakening, which in turn will get him closer to becoming King of the Pirates.

I’ve seen people say how the title of Pirate King has no merit in powerscaling due to Roger being the only one in his era to care about the One Piece & the worlds history, along with being portrayed with virtually everyone despite never fighting them for the title.

And while I do think these views hold some merit, what it means to he Pirate King then is not what it means to be Pirate King now. Now you’ve have to deal with arguably the strongest version of the Marines at any point in history & contest with every pirate on the seas in the race for the One Piece, let alone going against the Four Emperors aka the four objective strongest crews of the era.

What I’m getting at is, in order to become King of the Pirates in this new era, you HAVE to become the strongest pirate alive and Luffy knows this, it’s why he says he’ll surpass you before declaring himself to be the man who will be King of the Pirates.

tldr; the title of Pirate King is an objective powerscaling title for this specific era of One Piece, and should be treated as such.

One thing that has been consistently shown throughout Post-Timeskip is that Luffy always takes notes of new Haki techniques & infers them with what training he’s had. First against Katakuri with Future Sight, taking note of what Rayleigh said during his 2 year training. Then Advanced Armament with his training with Hagoro & his failure to hurt Kaido in Kuri. And most recently with Advanced Conqueror’s, where inferring from both his training with Rayleigh & Hagoro he learnt how to infuse his attacks with it.

I think the solo sky split is gonna be next in line; he was one of the only people to see it be properly demonstrated, saw it disintegrate & drive away the Elders. With this and what I’ve stated before, I believe Luffy will learn how to do this with Imu, not only he’s the perfect opponent for it, as it’s the only thing he’s felt fear from, a tie in with Joyboy and the perfect payoff to Gaban telling him to be mindful of how he uses his Conquerors.

I get that it’s his major drawback, but you all exacerbate it way too much

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Rule 3: List only includes current or prime versions of a specific character, so no multiple versions of them to avoid the list from becoming bloated.

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