One Piece: Luffy’s Next Foe Before Imu Is Hiding in Plain Sight — Beating This Enemy Could Crown Him the Strongest Pirate Alive

For almost three decades, One Piece has basically run on Luffy picking fights with monsters and walking away stronger. Crocodile, Doflamingo, you know the list. Each one leveled him up. Which is why, if Luffy is going to be ready for the endgame villain Imu, he needs one more opponent who can teach him something he can’t just punch his way into. And, yes, the best candidate is the red-haired elephant in the room: Shanks.

Why Shanks makes the most sense right now

The Elbaf arc has not been subtle about how scary Imu is. We’re talking weird, almost supernatural stuff: an ability called Domi Reversi that turns people into demons, plus the power to hijack bodies inside the World Government ranks and even among the Holy Knights. Luffy’s Gear 5 is incredible, but against that? It might not be enough.

The story has also hinted, through a flashback, that Conqueror’s Haki — and its advanced variations — can blunt or outright counter some of Imu’s tricks. So if Luffy wants a real shot, his Conqueror’s Haki needs a serious upgrade.

Enter Shanks. He’s Luffy’s original north star and one of the Emperors of the Sea, but more importantly, he’s the guy with the best Conqueror’s Haki in the current timeline. Characters even compare his Haki to Joy Boy’s. If Luffy’s going to push past his current ceiling, a clash with Shanks isn’t just fan-service — it’s the straightest line to mastering the one thing that can level the playing field against Imu.

What Luffy still needs to unlock

Conqueror’s Haki has evolved fast, and not all of its forms have been stamped as official by Eiichiro Oda on the page. But the manga has tossed out enough teases — and a few outright demonstrations — to make the roadmap pretty clear. A handful of top-shelf characters can use these, and Shanks is very likely one of them:

• Shutting down immortals by canceling their regeneration: First shown by Gaban, and arguably the most game-changing Conqueror’s Haki application we’ve seen teased.
• Negating Advanced Conqueror’s Haki attacks: A newer wrinkle in the manga, and exactly the kind of arms race you expect this late in the story.
• Haki projection: Shanks did this to Ryokugyu in Wano — projecting crushing Haki across distance without laying a finger. Terrifying and efficient.
• Haki sealing: A uniquely nasty technique that locks an opponent’s Haki down, which is as rude as it sounds and could be decisive against someone like Imu.

So do Luffy and Shanks actually have to fight?

I know, a Luffy vs. Shanks throwdown sounds like heresy. But if the goal is to sharpen Luffy’s Conqueror’s Haki to Joy Boy-adjacent levels, there’s no better teacher than the guy who already lives there. A real fight — not a friendly spar — is probably what it takes for Luffy to break through his current limits and learn the tools he needs.

Will he master all of that in time to use it against Imu? That’s the big question. The setup is there, the stakes are there, and the path runs straight through Shanks.

One Piece is currently available to read on Viz Media.