One Piece: Oda’s Hidden Clue Explains Why Imu Domi Reversi Won’t Work on Blackbeard

Imu keeps spamming Domi Reversi this arc, and honestly, the sheer horror of it has been worth the page count. Chapter 1163 even aims it at Rocks D. Xebec. Which naturally raises the next question: what happens if they try that on Blackbeard? My guess: maybe nothing.

Why Blackbeard might be the one person Domi Reversi can’t pin down

Blackbeard is the walking exception rule in One Piece. Two Devil Fruits (which should not be possible), zero sleep, personality shifts like a mood ring, and now the story positions him as the son of Rocks D. Xebec and a member of the Davy clan. If anyone is built to shrug off Imu’s favorite nightmare button, it’s this guy.

'Blackbeard never sleeps.'

That little bit of gossip comes up in Chapter 966, when Buggy tells Shanks he’s heard Teach doesn’t catch a wink — even after the three-day, three-night clash between the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates cooled into a truce. File that under: weird, and probably important.

• The three-souls theory
  - Way back in the Jaya Arc, Luffy and Zoro clock Blackbeard as 'they,' not 'him,' like they were sensing more than one presence under that coat.
  - The popular read is that he’s got three souls — which lines up a little too neatly with the man hunting a third Devil Fruit.
  - The 'never sleeps' thing suddenly makes sense if another soul takes the body’s night shift while the first one rests. Normal humans need sleep; Teach is reportedly skipping it entirely.
  - The mood swings track, too. He can pivot from menacing to disarmingly friendly on a dime. Now that we’ve seen who Rocks D. Xebec really was, a lot of fans think one of those souls might be Rocks himself living on in his son.
  - If Domi Reversi targets souls rather than flesh, Teach could just swap to an unaffected soul mid-cast. It’s a nasty loophole that would blunt Imu’s whole trick.
• The Yami Yami no Mi hard-counters it
  - Teach’s Yami Yami no Mi is a Logia that lets him create, control, and become darkness. He can generate black holes that drag targets in with gravity.
  - Its special sauce: it nullifies other Devil Fruits on contact. We’ve already seen him use that against Ace.
  - So if Domi Reversi is powered by a Devil Fruit — and not, say, because Imu is literally a demon — Blackbeard can smother it before it even ruffles a curl.
  - He chased the Yami Yami no Mi for decades and murdered Thatch to steal it, which always suggested there was more to his obsession than raw firepower.
  - Given what Imu and the World Government did at God Valley, the motive might have been protection. Domi Reversi turns the people you love into knives. The theory goes that Teach saw his father, Rocks D. Xebec, under its influence and watched him butcher Davy clan members — including Teach’s mother, Eris. If that’s what he grew up with, the Yami Yami no Mi becomes less a prize and more a safety blanket against ever being made into that kind of monster.

Quick catch-up: what Domi Reversi actually does

Imu has already fired off Domi Reversi multiple times in this one arc — way more activity than anyone expected from them this late in the game — and Chapter 1163 shows it aimed right at Rocks D. Xebec. The ability flips bonds, turning your allies and loved ones into enemies. It’s brutal, it’s personal, and it’s designed to break you before it kills you.

So, is Blackbeard immune?

Between the three-souls workaround and the darkness fruit’s nullification, he has two believable outs. If Domi Reversi locks onto souls, he could rotate to a clean one. If it’s Devil Fruit-based, he can snuff it. Either way, Teach might be the worst possible mark for Imu’s favorite move.

Do you buy that Blackbeard can no-sell Domi Reversi, or do you think Imu still has him dead to rights?

One Piece is available to read on VIZ Media and stream on Crunchyroll.