One Piece Finally Reveals Imu's Biggest Weakness, But Exploiting It Is Seriously Dark

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Published Mar 8, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

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One Piece's latest chapter finally gave the Straw Hat Pirates a much-needed advantage in their desperate fight against Imu. This advantage has officially turned the tide in their favor, giving the heroes and fans alike hope in this previously one-sided battle.

Ever since the Elbaph arc started, One Piece's heroes have been fighting a losing battle. Imu held onto absolute control over the battlefield by turning nearly every giant on the island into relentless demons. But One Piece Chapter #1176 exposes a game-changing loophole in Imu's dark power. Unfortunately, exploiting this weakness is still seriously dark.

One Piece Finally Reveals The Secret To Breaking Imu's Curse

In One Piece Chapter 1176, “With Pride,” the demon-turned Dorry and Brogy finally come to their senses after resisting Imu’s demon curse, Domi Reversi. The guilt of harming their comrades and disrespecting Elder Jarul becomes so severe that the two warriors decide to kill each other to preserve their honor.

However, what follows is completely unexpected. After beheading one another, the giants break free from Imu's curse, regenerating completely unharmed as if nothing ever happened. This shocking twist reveals a massive loophole: if someone under the Domi Reversi effect is killed, the curse is broken.

Given that Imu ranks among One Piece's strongest characters, this loophole is a huge development.

Dorry And Brogy’s Recovery Perfectly Explains The Reversi Rules

Dorry and Brogy From The Egghead Island Arc

This whole situation proves that Oda is tying Imu’s curse to the classic board game, Reversi. In this game of two, capturing a piece doesn't lead to removing it from the board, but instead, it flips over to the other color. That’s exactly what goes down with Dorry and Brogy.

Imu from one piece in the center with a warm glow behind him, with saturn in his yokai form to the left and ju peter in his human form to the right in the background

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At first, the curse flipped them to their "dark" or demon side. So, when they ended up taking each other's lives, they were essentially getting "captured.” However, when they took one another's lives by beheading, this Reversi effect flipped them right back over to their normal, "light" selves.

It turns out that defeating someone who is cursed is the exact trigger needed to break the spell. This also explains how Rocks was still alive even after taking such a massive blow from Garp and Roger. Their combined attack technically only "killed" his demon form, which reverted him to his normal self, right before Figarland Garling stepped in to finish him off.

Exploiting Imu’s Reversi Weakness Won't Be That Easy

With the secret of Domi Reversi finally revealed, the fight in Elbaph is essentially playing out like an intense board game. Similar to the rules of Reversi, Dorry and Brogy aren't out of the woods permanently, as if they end up surrounded by the rest of Imu's demon giants, they could easily be flipped back to the dark side.

To prevent Imu from causing another massive chain reaction, the heroes would have to use a brutal but totally necessary "board-clearing" strategy. So, going into the next chapter, Zoro, Hajrudin, and the recovered giant captains will have to systematically strike down the demon giants to save them from Imu's curse.

It perfectly sets up an intense race against time to turn all of Imu's remaining pieces before the mastermind can make their next move. However, pulling off this strategy is easier said than done as One Piece speeds toward its grand finale.

It takes immense willpower to resist Imu's control, so other victims aren't going to willingly offer up their lives to break the spell like Dorry and Brogy did. On top of that, these demon forms possess terrifying regenerative abilities. This means One Piece's Straw Hats and their allies will have to take them out with one definitive, one-shot kill before the demons can heal.

Release Date October 20, 1999

Network Fuji TV

Directors Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Writers Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda