Im is modeled on a god from Norse mythology.
And the relationship between Im and Joyboy? My hypothesis: 800 years of unresolved lovesickness.
Im’s Model Is Heimdall
Heimdall — the Norse god of light. The most beautiful of all the gods, possessing eyes that see everything and ears that hear everything. He knows the future.
Im similarly grasps information from across the world and controls everything through the Five Elders.
But Heimdall has one critical weakness: knowing the future doesn’t mean you can stop it. When enemies come, all he can do is blow his horn to warn the others — he can’t stop them himself.
Maybe Im is the same. “I knew Joyboy was coming — and I still couldn’t stop him.” If Im is written as someone who spent 800 years simply waiting for that moment to arrive, the parallel with Heimdall is exact.
Im’s Longing for Joyboy
Im places Luffy’s wanted poster on top of the pile, then gazes alone at the enormous straw hat kept in the vault.
It reads like someone lost in a memory — the way a person might visit the grave of someone they loved and lost.
So who did that straw hat originally belong to? Almost certainly Joyboy.
Joyboy appears in silhouette in Emeth’s memory — wearing a straw hat. His seated height appears level with Emeth’s helmet visor, which would put him around Emeth’s horns when standing. Four to five times Luffy’s height.
So Im has been keeping Joyboy’s straw hat in that vault for 800 years. What if you read that as holding onto a dead lover’s keepsake?
Luffy and Joyboy
Zunesha and Emeth recognized Luffy as Joyboy by hearing Nika’s heartbeat — DonDonTotto! DonDonTotto! Im recognized him differently: through Haki.
Im and Saint Saturn appear to communicate telepathically. This suggests Im and the Five Elders can share senses and thoughts through their shared abilities.
Sharing the Five Elders’ senses, Im felt Joyboy’s Haki — and became convinced Joyboy was right there. In reality, Luffy had only freed the binding ropes inside Emeth’s body. Joyboy himself was nowhere nearby.
And yet Saturn was punished for “letting Joyboy escape.”
This is almost identical to Big Mom having one of her craving fits and taking years off her son’s life. An homage, surely.
Big Mom’s episodes are called craving fits — a food obsession so extreme it warps her behavior. By the same logic, Im’s delusion-driven outburst is a lovesickness fit.
So here’s the hypothesis: Im fell in love with Joyboy 800 years ago, couldn’t accept his death, and has been in a state of lovesickness ever since.
When Im sensed Joyboy’s Haki through Luffy and reacted so violently — that’s the emotional explosion of someone whose 800-year wait had finally ended.
There’s a famous line from literature that describes exactly this: being unable to accept the loss of someone you love.
“It’s Too Early for a Gimlet”
The line comes from Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled novel The Long Goodbye.
Detective Marlowe meets a drunk named Terry Lennox one night and an unlikely friendship begins. Lennox has a shadowy past and a complicated relationship with his wealthy wife. One day he asks Marlowe to drive him to Mexico, fleeing a murder charge. Marlowe lies to the police to protect him — then gets word that Lennox “died by suicide” in Mexico. As Marlowe investigates a troubled writer couple, the threads lead back to Lennox and the corruption of the rich. In the end, the true meaning of “the long goodbye” becomes clear.
Hardboiled fiction. Detectives. That leads to Yusaku Matsuda — and Matsuda is the model for Kuzan/Aokiji. Oda was never going to leave the genre’s defining novel un-homaged.
Chapter 775: “For Lucian, With Love”
“That’s right… Lucian… The night I met you… the night you stopped smiling… it was pouring like this too…”
Señor Pink’s flashback begins without warning, using Franky’s barrage of punches as a stand-in for the pouring rain.
- Pink lied about being a banker to date Lucian, who hated pirates. They married and had a child.
- While Pink was away on a voyage, the child died. Lucian, devastated and furious, ran out into the pouring rain when he returned.
- She was caught in a landslide and left in a vegetative state — no emotion, no words.
- Pink visited every day, talking to her, hoping she’d smile or respond.
- One day he put on a baby’s bonnet. Lucian smiled.
- From that day on, he wore the bonnet — worth more than any expensive suit.
“The day I take this off is the day I forget Lucian. It’s too early to take off the bonnet.”
The line “it’s too early for a gimlet” from The Long Goodbye has many interpretations. Oda’s preferred reading seems to be: “He’s gone. But it’s too soon to forget him.”
When you forget someone, they truly die.
“It’s Too Early to Forget Joyboy”
Say Im was in love with Joyboy. Say the feeling was never returned, and Joyboy died anyway. Say the entire world forgot him completely.
If the ageless Im alone refused to forget Joyboy across centuries — then in a sense, Joyboy is still alive inside Im. You could even say that Im’s wish came true: Joyboy belongs only to Im now.
Im carries “it’s too early for a gimlet” close to heart — still chasing the ghost of Joyboy, 800 years on.
Returning the Hat Will Trigger the Final Battle
Shanks told Luffy: “Come back to return it.” If returning the straw hat is the moment Luffy’s dream is fulfilled —
Then the hat’s true owner is the one Im has kept in that vault for 800 years: Joyboy’s straw hat.
Luffy storms Mariejois and returns the hat. 800 years later, Joyboy and Im finally meet again. If that’s the scene — the final arc’s trigger isn’t a battle. It’s a reunion.