One Piece's Final Villain Might Be a Harry Potter Wannabe. Here's Why

With the flashback finally wrapped up, One Piece is finally ready to dive back into the action and the ongoing fight against Imu on Elbaph. That said, long as it may have been, One Piece's latest flashback has done much more than redeem Loki and give him a reason to fight Imu and the Holy Knights.

Harald's flashback not only explained a lot about how Imu's covenants and contracts work, but it may have also revealed Imu's biggest weakness and the way to defeat him. And surprisingly enough, it seems like Imu could be One Piece's version of Voldemort from Harry Potter.

One Piece Hints Imu Contracts Could Be His Biggest Weakness

Chapter #1171 of One Piece sees Imu heavily affected by Harald's death. The severed contract clearly leaves Imu huffing and puffing, and the chapter curiously goes on to reveal that the covenants also come at a cost for Imu.

It's unclear what exactly this cost is, but Imu's reluctance to send more Holy Knights to their deaths suggests that severing more of the covenants could take a huge toll on Imu, potentially even weakening him enough to defeat him.

With this revelation, an interesting theory about Imu's covenants has emerged, and it suggests that the Holy Knights and the Five Elders combined could be like Horcruxes from Harry Potter. In Harry Potter, Voldemort, the series' main antagonist, attained immortality through splitting his soul into seven fragments and storing them in various objects and people.

It's possible Imu has done something similar with his covenants, specifically, those who have formed the abyssal and depths covenants with Imu, which are the Five Elders and the Holy Knights, respectively. Considering how much like magic Imu's abilities are, it wouldn't seem completely out of place for this to be true.

This theory could also potentially explain why these two tiers of the covenants are reserved for a total of only thirteen individuals at any given time, as Imu may only be able to split his soul into these many fragments.

One Piece's Endgame Has Just Been Revealed

If the Five Elders and the Holy Knights indeed function like Horcruxes for Imu, then One Piece's endgame might already be decided. Much like Voldemort's Horcruxes needed to be destroyed, One Piece's Final Saga may see the Straw Hats forced to take down the Holy Knights and eventually the Five Elders to then defeat Imu.

Considering the Revolutionary Army is also making its move at long last, thinning out the Holy Knights' ranks may not fall entirely on the Straw Hats. That said, Loki, Gaban, and the Straw Hats are currently the only ones who seem to know that Conqueror's Haki is the key to defeating the Holy Knights and getting past their immortality and regeneration.

At the same time, there's also the question of Gunko, who seems to have some kind of connection to Brook. Gunko also seemed like she could be on the path to redemption, but it's unclear whether there is a way to annul the contract without killing her.

Of course, Imu did annul the covenant with Saint Saturn back on Egghead, but doing so instantly reduced Saturn to dust and bones, which suggests a tragic fate awaiting Gunko either way.

All in all, there's plenty of merit to the theory about Imu's Horcruxes, especially since Eiichiro Oda has been known to have a penchant for drawing inspiration from pop culture. That said, it might be tricky pulling it off without making One Piece's final villain look like a Voldemort wannabe.