Imu crept into the dusty armory, sneezing as a century of dust attacked his nose. "Ugh,I forgot how much I hate cleaning in my previous life," he muttered, waving a hand in front of his face. His eyes landed on the sword on the stone table, wrapped in black silk. "Alright, Reidai Kitetsu(Kitestsu-0), The real first kitetsu sword."
He unsheathing it. The blade was dark red in color, It was a black blade indeed imu is great swordsman. "Whoa, this is indeed good sword." He gave it an experimental swing. WHOOSH The air screamed. Imu yelped as the blade sliced clean through a nearby stone pillar. Dust rained down.which surprise the imu "Okay! This body is so strong i did not even tried."
As he held it, Memories hit him hard, like something out of a Fiction. He saw old Imu using the sword to... cut a really big cake? No, wait, that was a mountain. He saw old Imu sitting on the throne, looking bored during a super long meeting with gorosei. "Wow," Imu whispered, "the original me was kind of a young master in which appear in cultivation novels with anger issues."
He leaned on the table, the sword feeling heavy. "Okay, so I know how to do all advance version Haki now... and I know the Poneglyphs are basically ancient Yelp reviews for islands? Weird." He felt the fear, but also the old Imu's grumpy determination. It was like having a grumpy, overpowered ghost sharing his head.
Then he saw the clothes: simple pants, a soft blue shirt, a vest, boots. "Oh, thank goodness!" He ripped off the heavy, itchy robes. "I swear, these things weigh more than I do!" Pulling on the soft shirt felt like heaven. "Ahhh, yeah. That's the stuff. Like wearing my favorite old hoodie." He spun around, enjoying the freedom. "Okay, conquering the world later. Right now, I just want to nap in these."
His eyes drifted to a large, plush bed draped in rich velvet in the corner of the armory clearly a relic from some long forgotten royal visit. "Ooh, bed." He practically dove onto it, sinking into the ridiculously soft mattress. "Whoa. This is amazing. Better than my old bed, easy." He wriggled happily, burying his face in a pillow. "Man, the cost of this baby must be insane. Like, buy a small kingdom insane. Worth it though. Totally worth it." He sighed contentedly, momentarily forgetting about world domination, cursed swords, and imminent teleportation. Just pure, unadulterated comfort.
Few hours later
Imu snored softly, face buried in the ridiculously plush velvet pillow. A small, happy smile played on his lips. This bed... worth all the world domination stress... just five more minutes...
"Imu-sama."
The voice cut through his peaceful doze. Imu groaned, rolling over and blinking blearily. Gunko and Shamrock stood at the foot of the absurdly comfortable bed, looking like two very stern, very out of place statues.
"Ahhh, best nap ever," Imu sighed, stretching like a cat. "Okay, okay, I'm up. Time to go steal some science." He swung his legs off the bed, the simple blue shirt and vest feeling wonderfully comfortable. He grabbed Reidai Kitetsu, the dark red blade humming faintly as he buckled it on. "Alright, Time to destroy a tech bro."
He strode to the center of the armory, away from temptation. Dark energy bled from his fingertips, spreading across the stone floor. Lines etched themselves into a massive, glowing purple pentagram. The air hummed with power. "Germa Kingdom. Let's...."
"Imu sama"
The voice wasn't Gunko or Shamrock. It was deeper, colder, laced with centuries of authority. Imu froze, mid gesture. The purple light of the pentagram flickered.
Standing at the Room entrance were the Five Elders. Saint Marcus Mars, Saint Topman Warcury, Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, and Saint Jaygarcia Saturn. They hadn't been there seconds ago. Their presence filled the room, an oppressive weight far heavier than the dust or the lingering comfort of the bed. Their eyes, ancient and unreadable, were fixed on Imu and the fading teleportation circle.
Mars stepped forward slightly, his silhouette imposing. "Imu sama," he began, his voice a dry rasp. "We must question the necessity of this… personal excursion. To Germa Kingdom. Such risks are beneath your station. Allow us to handle Judge Vinsmoke. The resources of the World Government are at your command. Why expose yourself?"
Warcury nodded, his massive frame radiating disapproval. "Indeed, IMU sama. Your identity is more important. This mission can be accomplished through proxies. Through us."
The words hung in the air. 'Why expose yourself?' , 'Let us handle it.' The implication was clear: they doubted his judgment, his capability. They saw him as fragile, needing protect his identity. The fear that had been coiled in Imu's gut since awakening ignited, not into panic, but into cold, white-hot fury. How dare they? After decades of their failures?
The temperature in the armory plummeted. Frost crackled across the stone floor. The very air seemed to thicken, pressing down with impossible weight. Imu didn't move. He didn't raise his voice. He simply looked at them.
And unleashed his will.
BOOM
An invisible tsunami of pure, crushing authority erupted from Imu. It wasn't sound; it was his presence. It was the weight of the Empty Throne, the accumulated power of centuries, distilled into a single, overwhelming wave of Conqueror's Haki. It slammed into the Five Elders like a physical blow.
THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.
Five knees hit the cold stone floor simultaneously. Mars, Warcury, Nusjuro, Ju Peter, Saturn – the Five absolute rulers of the World Government in all but name were driven to their knees, gasping for breath as if the air itself had turned to lead. Their faces, usually masks of serene authority, were contorted in shock and terror. Their eyes widened, pupils dilating as they stared at the figure standing before them, radiating a power they had only ever felt directed outwards, never at them.
Gunko and Shamrock, standing slightly behind Imu, staggered but remained upright. Gunko's cold eyes widened almost imperceptibly behind her face, a flicker of awe raw, terrifying awe replacing her usual analytical calm. Shamrock's masked face snapped towards Imu, his entire body rigid, not just from the Haki's pressure, but from the sheer, unprecedented display he thought 'so this is Imu sama's strength… his power…'
Imu's voice, when it came, was low, quiet, yet it cut through the suffocating pressure like a shard of ice. It echoed with the resonance of the Empty Throne itself.
"Why?" he repeated, the word dripping with contempt. "Why expose myself? Why not leave it to you guys ?" He took a slow step towards the kneeling Elders, Reidai Kitetsu seeming to pulse with dark energy at his side. "Let us review your sterling record of success, shall we?"
He stopped before Saint Marcus Mars. "Dragon. The Revolutionary Army. Born under your watch. Nurtured in the shadows you failed to police. Now he threatens to burn everything we built. A failure of surveillance. A failure of containment."
He shifted his gaze to Saint Topman Warcury. "Enies Lobby. The Straw Hat Luffy. A boy with a rubber body and a loud mouth. He invaded your impregnable fortress. He burned our flag. He declared war on us. And he walked away. Where was your absolute power then? Where was the fear you inspire?"
His eyes locked onto Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro. "Nico Robin. The key to the Void Century. Captured? Yes. Held? Briefly. Then lost to the very same Straw Hat crew on your doorstep. The Poneglyphs remain unread, our greatest vulnerability exposed because you couldn't hold one woman."
He turned to Saint Shepherd Ju Peter. "The Pluton Blueprints. Franky of Water Seven. Possessed them for years. Right under your noses. When you finally moved, he destroyed them rather than let you have them. Our ultimate weapon, lost because of your arrogance and slow action."
Finally, his burning gaze fell upon Saint Jaygarcia Saturn. "And the Lunarians. A race thought extinct, their power legendary. One survives. King. Where is he? Serving as Kaido's right-hand man! The Beast Pirates' strongest commander! A living relic of immense power, allied with our greatest enemy, and you didn't even know he existed until it was far too late to do anything about it!"
Imu paused, letting the litany of failures sink in, each one a hammer blow to their pride. His voice dropped even lower, becoming a venomous whisper that carried terrifying weight.
"And the grandest failure of all? Gol D. Roger. The Pirate King. You planned his execution at Loguetown. A public spectacle. A warning. An end to the Great Pirate Age before it truly began. And what happened? His last words ignited the very inferno you sought to extinguish! 'My treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it! Seek it out! I left all of it at that place!' You didn't end the age; you birthed it! You turned a man into a legend and unleashed a thousand pirates upon the seas! A backfire so catastrophic, so utterly stupid, it defines your entire legacy of incompetence!"
He stood over them, the Conqueror's Haki still pressing down, making it difficult for them to even breathe. Their faces were ashen, their bodies trembling. Mars looked defiant but terrified. Warcury stared at the floor, shame warring with fury. Nusjuro's jaw was clenched so tight it might crack. Ju Peter's eyes were wide with dawning horror at the scale of their failures. Saturn simply looked broken, his analytical mind unable to refute the devastating truth.
"With this… track record," Imu spat the words, his voice rising again, echoing with power, "you ask me why I must act personally? You ask why I don't leave the fate of the world, the acquisition of technology vital to our survival, to you? Because you have proven, time and time again, that you cannot be trusted! You are failures. Disgraces. And I will not let your incompetence doom us all!"
He turned his back on the kneeling Elders, dismissing them as utterly as they had dismissed him moments before. The purple pentagram on the floor flared back to life, brighter and more violent than before. He addressed Gunko and Shamrock without looking back.
"We leave. Now."
Gunko and Shamrock didn't hesitate. They strode into the glowing circle, their earlier discomfort forgotten in the face of Imu's terrifying display of power and authority. They moved with renewed purpose, their loyalty burning brighter than ever.
Imu stepped into the center of the pentagram, his back still to the Five Elders. He raised one hand.
he commanded, his voice ringing with finality. "Let's go, before i lose my mind and kill all five of you."
The purple light exploded outward, consuming Imu, Gunko, and Shamrock in a blinding flash. When it faded, they were gone.
The armory was silent, save for the ragged, gasping breaths of the Five Elders as they struggled to rise from their knees, the crushing weight of Imu's power and his damning words lingering in the air like a poison. They had questioned their sovereign. He had answered. And the answer had shattered them.