Thread by @newworldartur

COULD NEFERTARI LILY HAVE BECOME IMU-SAMA? - 🧵

#OnePiece 1084 brought up the mystery of Lily's disappearance, but the possibility of her having secretly become Imu is a lot more likely than you might first think, so let's explore this idea together 👉 (1/12)

So Nefertari Lily of Alabasta never returned from Mary Geoise at the end of the Void Century. The easiest answer to this is that she had a change of heart against Imu and thus was killed in turn, but managed to divulge the secrets she discovered in a letter to her family (2/12)

This would explain why the Gorosei consider the Nefertari to be "traitors", though we lack a lot of context there. But while this answer seems like the most logical and safe option, how about we think of the far more fun and interesting possibility? 👀 (3/12)

We know Alabasta is based in part on ancient Egypt, and in their mythology, the "lily" was represented under the form of the deity "Nefertem", evidently the source of the name "Nefertari", depicted as nature itself arising from the primordial sea as a blue lily flower (4/12)

This makes me wonder if Lily is connected to the mythical figure in One Piece of the "Mother of Nature Umi (the Sea)", representing nature itself born of the sea as a flower, a "lily". This would even explain why the Nefertari have blue hair just like the sea (5/12)

This might be a stretch, but if the goddess Umi was the mythological figure depicted on Kuma's Bible as some speculated, then it would make perfect sense why she looks almost identical to Vivi's mother, Nefertari Titi (6/12)

As I previously speculated, I believe that Umi became Imu, and this could explain why Lily never pledged her sword to the Empty Throne, because the swords were pledged to her. In fact, we can see what might be that 20th sword with Imu in the chamber of flowers (7/12)

Speaking of which, that chamber is filled with what seem to be lily flowers. Imu also appears to draw butterflies to them, just like butterflies would be drawn to a flower, which would make sense if she is the Mother of Nature, named after a flower (8/12)

There's also been a lot of theories that Vivi is Uranus, but then that would make Lily the original Uranus from the Void Century, and if she survived until the present, that would explain why she now possesses ancient weapon-like power capable of destroying an island (9/12)

The only major issue in this theory is the Gorosei calling the Nefertari "traitors", which suggests the first idea of Lily having been killed by Imu for being a "traitor". Though it could also be possible that Imu completely abandoned the title "Nefertari" long ago (10/12)

My only doubt with this is why would the Gorosei try so desperately to hide what would've been a simple execution for insubordination, to the same level they've been hiding Imu's identity. At the very least if not, Lily must have discovered some big secret (11/12)

This could be why the Nefertari hid a poneglyph in Alabasta, though on the flipside you could also say that Lily had it hidden to ensure none could find it, as it was hinted at in that arc that the Nefertari's purpose was not to protect the poneglyph, but to hide it (12/12)

Though the first option is more likely, the possibility of Lily having become Imu is so enticing! What do you think happened to Lily?

For an even more in-depth look into the topic, check out my video about it!