🔗 Share this article

The adage 'History is written by the winners' serves as a key motif that Eiichiro Oda's epic author Eiichiro Oda has long woven into the narrative. Legends often do not capture the complete reality, including the most influential figures in this story's complex past. Kozuki Oden wasn't a silly showman dancing through the streets of Wano Country; he acted out of duty and principle. Kuma was not a ruthless antagonist who separated the Straw Hats, as well; he was doing them a favor. Similarly, the Davy Jones legend meant beyond just a pirate's game in pursuit of emblems and followers.

In chapter #1164 of One Piece, we witness the peak of this idea. The whole God Valley narrative serves as a cautionary tale, advising readers not to judge the individuals too quickly.

Legends frequently fail to capture the complete truth, including the most influential characters.

The series's most recent flashback, detailing the God Valley incident, represents one of the story's finest arcs to now. Apart from the excitement of seeing legends in their peak, it's compelling to see them before they became icons — when their fame had yet to surpass their human nature. History, as written by the World Government and recounted through hearsay stories, painted our understanding of figures like Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and even Garp. But both the regime's records and the narratives of those who were acquainted with them turn out to be unreliable, revealing only fragments of who these men really were.

The Man Prior to the Myth

Gol D. Roger may have been guided by purpose and the bold attitude that ignited a new age of piracy, but before he became the Pirate King, he was a young man governed by passion and the desire to explore. When people discuss his myth, they usually refer to his later journey, the epic expedition in pursuit of the guide stones that lead to the final island. Yet not much is known about his first journey, the one that shaped him before fame discovered him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger knew little of the world's hidden past. His love for the barkeep led him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's most sinister realities: the extermination "games," the monstrous forms of the Gorosei, and even the presence of the world's unseen ruler, the mysterious leader. We haven't seen Gol D. Roger's reflections about all that's happening in the Divine Isle, but perhaps discovering the son of a Holy Knight on his vessel will make him realize his place in the globe and seek the reality he caught a glimpse of from Rocks D. Xebec's predicament.

The Reality About The Infamous Captain

Before this flashback, what we knew of Rocks D. Xebec came almost entirely from the former Fleet Admiral's version, both to the viewers and to young Marines. He painted Rocks D. Xebec as a vile, ambitious man determined to achieve global control, someone so dangerous that Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to join forces to overcome him. But as it turns out, the strategist was not there at God Valley; he was merely echoing the World Government's sanctioned narrative of occurrences, the very narrative the sovereign authorized to conceal the truth about Xebec and the incident itself.

In reality, Rocks D. Xebec, whose real name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who sought to topple the ruler and dismantle the corrupt Global Authority. We don't know if he was guided by ambition, revenge for his family, or a wish for fairness, but when he discovered the government's plan to annihilate the island where his kin resided, he gave up his ambitions of conquest to rescue them.

This devotion for his relatives became his undoing. Upon confronting the sovereign, he lost his determination and liberty, turning into a puppet enslaved to their power. Currently, with what limited consciousness remains, he pleads with Roger and Monkey D. Garp to end his life — thinking that death would be a mercy in contrast to the torment he suffers. The truth of Rocks is thus very different from the story narrated by the former Fleet Admiral, and the comic shows him in a favorable light during the God Valley incidents.

Is He Living Today?

But was Rocks actually die? An interesting idea is that he is even now a slave to the ruler in the present day, serving as the scarred individual, keeping the World Government's only remaining Poneglyph in continuous movement to keep the ultimate treasure from being found.

Garp's Hidden Defiance

A further key figure of the Divine Isle incident is Monkey D. Garp, who has faced criticism from fans for years for doing nothing as Admiral Akainu killed Portgas D. Ace. That feeling only grew stronger after the timeskip, when he risked everything to save the young Marine at Pirate Island, causing many to wonder why he couldn't do the same for his own grandson. Similar doubts have recently reemerged with the Divine Isle flashback: how could Garp serve the Navy, aware the World Government treats mass murder and enslavement as sport for the elite?

The truth reveals something distinct. The moment Monkey D. Garp saw the Elders' monstrous forms, he attacked immediately. His alliance with Gol D. Roger was not meant to vanquish some villainous Rocks D. Xebec, but a bold act of rebellion, an attempt to stop the sovereign, who was manipulating Xebec as a tool to eliminate everyone in God Valley, even it seems, including the World Nobles themselves. This incident is probably the reason Garp detests the World Nobles in the present day and why he not once desired to be promoted to Fleet Admiral, answering directly to them.

The Past's Unreliable Storytellers

Even though the readers are seeing the God Valley incident through a recollection recounted by the giant, covering perspectives and occurrences he obviously was absent for, I think we can treat this account as entirely truthful. The series may offer an explanation later, maybe linked to Loki's yet unknown Devil Fruit. Nevertheless, the Divine Isle incident perfectly embodies the idea that the past is recorded by the winners. This mindset is {