Gear 5 was supposed to be unbeatable. Two chapters into the fight against Imu, it’s barely standing.
One Piece Chapter 1188 opened with the fight fans had waited years for, Luffy’s Nika form against the actual ruler of the world. It ended with Luffy skewered through the chest, blood pouring from his mouth, and Imu delivering a verdict that hit harder than the blade itself.
Chapter 1189 only made things worse, pinning Luffy to a tree and leaving him unable to so much as react when Imu mocked Ace and Sabo in front of him. For a character who fights with his whole heart, that silence says everything.
What Is Vohu, the Blade of Nothingness, in ‘One Piece’?
The weapon responsible is Vohu, the Blade of Nothingness, one of Imu’s Omen-summoned relics. Unlike a normal strike, Vohu doesn’t just wound. It drains life force directly, and the effect was visible almost instantly.
The branches of the Adam tree it grazed withered and died on contact, and when it pierced Luffy, Gear 5 Nika, a form that shrugged off Kaido and stood toe to toe with the Five Elders, went white-eyed and nearly powerless within moments.
Imu didn’t stop there. Chapter 1189 introduced a second weapon, Fragarach, used to pin Luffy against a tree so he couldn’t escape even if Gear 5’s elasticity returned. Vohu drains, Fragarach restrains. Together, they’ve neutralized Luffy’s strongest form without Imu needing to throw a single conventional attack
Related: Xingtian Axe Explained: The Real Myth Behind One Piece’s Newest Weapon.
Imu’s Joy Boy Comparison Explained
The physical damage isn’t the part fans are still reeling from. As Luffy hung on the blade, Imu delivered the line that reframed the entire fight:
“I know you are not Joyboy, and if you were Joyboy, you wouldn’t be this weak.”
It’s a devastating thing to hear from someone who actually lived through the Void Century and watched Joy Boy fight in person. Imu isn’t speculating or trash-talking; he’s comparing Luffy to a version of the Sun God’s power that we’ve never actually seen at full strength. That single line does more to establish Joy Boy’s ceiling than a hundred pages of lore dump could.
Gear 5 has been treated as the answer to almost everything since its debut. Watching it get completely outclassed, with Luffy unable to land a single hit, tells readers that the gap between Luffy and Imu isn’t about technique or willpower. It’s a raw power gap, and closing it might require something past Gear 5 entirely.
That’s the tension Chapter 1190 has to answer. Whether it’s Scopper Gaban buying Luffy time, another Straw Hat forcing a distraction, or Luffy finding a way to fight back from near total depletion, something has to give. One Piece Chapter 1190 releases Sunday, August 9.
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