🔗 Share this article

The adage 'The past is written by the winners' serves as a key motif that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has long woven into the narrative. Legends often fail to capture the full truth, even for the most influential characters in this world's intricate past. Oden wasn't a foolish showman dancing through the streets of Wano Country; he acted out of duty and conviction. Bartholomew Kuma was not a ruthless villain who tore apart the Straw Hats, either; he was helping them. Likewise, the Davy Jones legend meant more than a buccaneer's game in pursuit of flags and followers.

In installment #1164 of the manga, we see the culmination of this idea. The whole God Valley story acts as a warning story, instructing audiences not to evaluate the characters too quickly.

Myths frequently do not capture the full truth, including the most influential characters.

One Piece's most recent look back, detailing the God Valley event, represents one of the story's finest storylines to now. Apart from the excitement of seeing icons in their prime, it's compelling to see them prior to when they became symbols — when their fame had still not surpass their human nature. The past, as recorded by the World Government and recounted through secondhand tales, shaped our understanding of figures like Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and including Garp. But both the government's accounts and the stories of those who knew them prove unreliable, revealing only fragments of who these individuals truly were.

The Man Before the Legend

The future Pirate King may have been guided by purpose and the bold attitude that ignited a new age of buccaneering, but before he became the King of the Pirates, he was a youth ruled by emotion and wanderlust. When people speak of his legend, they typically mean his second voyage, the grand quest in pursuit of the Road Poneglyphs that lead to the final island. Yet little is understood about his initial travels, the one that shaped him prior to glory discovered him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger knew little of the globe's hidden past. His affection for the barkeep led him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's most sinister truths: the extermination "contests," the monstrous appearances of the Five Elders, and even the existence of the planet's unseen sovereign, Imu. We haven't seen Roger's reflections about everything occurring in the Divine Isle, but maybe discovering the child of a Holy Knight on his vessel will lead him to understand his role in the globe and pursue the truth he glimpsed from Xebec's situation.

The Reality About Rocks D. Xebec

Prior to this recollection, what we were aware of of Xebec came almost entirely from the former Fleet Admiral's version, both to the viewers and to young Navy recruits. He depicted Rocks D. Xebec as a despicable, ambitious man bent on world domination, someone so threatening that Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to join forces to overcome him. But as it transpires, Sengoku was not there at the Divine Isle; he was only repeating the Global Authority's approved narrative of events, the very narrative Imu authorized to bury the reality about Rocks D. Xebec and the incident itself.

In reality, Rocks D. Xebec, whose true name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who aimed to overthrow Imu and dismantle the decadent World Government. We are unsure if he was motivated by lust for power, retribution for his family, or a wish for justice, but when he discovered the government's plan to annihilate the land where his family lived, he gave up his ambitions of domination to save them.

This love for his relatives proved to be his undoing. Upon confronting Imu, he lost his determination and liberty, turning into a marionette enslaved to their authority. Currently, with what limited consciousness remains, he begs with Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp to end his life — believing that dying would be a kindness compared to the torment he endures. The reality of Rocks is thus far from the story told by Sengoku, and the comic presents him in a favorable manner during the God Valley incidents.

Is He Still Alive Today?

But was Rocks really meet his end? An intriguing idea is that he is even now a slave to the ruler in the current timeline, acting as The Man Marked By Flames, maintaining the World Government's last ancient stone in constant movement to prevent the ultimate treasure from being discovered.

Garp's Secret Rebellion

Another key figure of the God Valley incident is Garp, who has endured backlash from fans for a long time for standing by as Admiral Akainu murdered Ace. That sentiment only grew more intense after the time jump, when he endangered everything to rescue the young Marine at Pirate Island, causing many to wonder why he couldn't do the same for his own grandchild. Similar questions have recently resurfaced with the Divine Isle flashback: how can Monkey D. Garp work for the Navy, knowing the World Government treats mass murder and slavery as entertainment for the upper class?

The truth reveals something distinct. The instant Garp witnessed the Elders' monstrous forms, he attacked without hesitation. His alliance with Gol D. Roger wasn't to defeat some evil Xebec, but a courageous act of rebellion, an attempt to stop the sovereign, who was manipulating Xebec as a pawn to eliminate all in God Valley, even it seems, including the Celestial Dragons themselves. This event is probably the reason Garp detests the World Nobles in the current era and why he never wanted to be elevated to Admiral, answering directly to them.

History's Unreliable Storytellers

Even though the audience are viewing the Divine Isle event through a recollection narrated by Loki, covering perspectives and events he clearly was absent for, I believe we can consider this version as completely truthful. The manga may provide an explanation later, maybe connected to Loki's still mysterious Devil Fruit. Nevertheless, the Divine Isle incident excellently exemplifies the notion that the past is recorded by the victors. This mindset is {