🔗 Share this article

The adage 'History is recorded by the winners' serves as a key motif that One Piece author Eiichiro Oda has for some time integrated into the narrative. Popular tales frequently do not convey the complete truth, including the most influential figures in this story's complex past. Oden wasn't a silly performer dancing through the streets of Wano; he acted out of honor and conviction. Kuma was not a merciless villain who separated the Straw Hat Pirates, as well; he was doing them a favor. Similarly, the Davy Jones legend meant beyond just a buccaneer's contest in pursuit of flags and followers.

In chapter #1164 of the manga, we see the culmination of this idea. The whole Divine Isle narrative acts as a warning story, instructing readers not to evaluate the characters too hastily.

Myths often fail to capture the complete truth, even for the most powerful figures.

The series's most recent flashback, detailing the God Valley incident, stands as one of the story's best storylines to now. Beyond the excitement of witnessing legends in their peak, it's compelling to see them prior to when they turned into symbols — when their fame had yet to surpass their humanity. History, as written by the Global Authority and retold through secondhand tales, painted our understanding of individuals 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 really were.

The Individual Before the Legend

The future Pirate King may have been guided by purpose and the bold spirit that sparked a new age of piracy, but before he became the King of the Pirates, he was a young man ruled by passion and the desire to explore. When individuals speak of his legend, they usually refer to his later journey, the epic quest in search of the guide stones that point toward the final island. Yet not much is understood about his initial travels, the one that molded him before glory discovered him.

Back then, Gol D. Roger knew little of the globe's hidden history. His affection for Shakky led him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's darkest realities: the extermination "games," the monstrous forms of the Gorosei, and including the existence of the planet's unseen ruler, Imu. We haven't seen Roger's thoughts about everything occurring in the Divine Isle, but maybe discovering the son of a God's Knight on his vessel will make him realize his role in the globe and pursue the reality he glimpsed from Xebec's predicament.

The Truth About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this flashback, what we knew of Rocks D. Xebec was derived mostly from the former Fleet Admiral's version, each to the viewers and to young Navy recruits. He painted Xebec as a vile, ambitious man determined to achieve global control, someone so dangerous that Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to team up to defeat him. But as it turns out, Sengoku was not there at God Valley; he was merely repeating the World Government's approved version of occurrences, the exact narrative the sovereign approved to conceal the truth about Xebec and the event itself.

In truth, The captain, whose real name was Davy D. Xebec, was a ethical man who aimed to topple Imu and dismantle the decadent Global Authority. We are unsure if he was motivated by ambition, revenge for his family, or a desire for fairness, but when he found out the regime's scheme to annihilate the land where his family resided, he gave up his dreams of conquest to save them.

This love for his family became his undoing. Upon facing Imu, he forfeited his determination and liberty, becoming a puppet controlled to their power. Currently, with what limited consciousness is left, he pleads with Gol D. Roger and Garp to end his life — believing that death would be a mercy compared to the torment he suffers. The reality of Rocks is thus very different from the story told by Sengoku, and the manga shows him in a positive manner during the Divine Isle incidents.

Could He Be Still Alive Today?

But was Rocks D. Xebec really meet his end? An intriguing theory is that he is still a slave to the ruler in the present day, serving as The Man Marked By Flames, maintaining the World Government's last ancient stone in constant transit to prevent the ultimate treasure from being found.

Garp's Hidden Defiance

A further key figure of the Divine Isle incident is Garp, who has endured criticism from fans for a long time for standing by as Admiral Akainu killed Portgas D. Ace. That sentiment only grew more intense after the timeskip, when he endangered all to save Koby at Pirate Island, leading many to wonder why he was unable to do the identical for his biological grandchild. Comparable doubts have now reemerged with the God Valley flashback: how can Monkey D. Garp serve the Marines, aware the World Government considers mass murder and slavery as sport for the elite?

The reality uncovers something different. The moment Garp saw the Elders' grotesque forms, he attacked without hesitation. His alliance with Gol D. Roger was not meant to defeat some evil Rocks D. Xebec, but a bold act of defiance, an attempt to stop Imu, who was using Xebec as a pawn to eliminate everyone in God Valley, even it seems, even the World Nobles themselves. This event is probably the cause Garp despises the World Nobles in the present day and why he never wanted to be elevated to Fleet Admiral, answering directly to them.

The Past's Unreliable Narrators

Even though the audience are viewing the God Valley incident through a flashback narrated by Loki, including perspectives and events he obviously was absent for, I think we can consider this version as completely accurate. The manga may provide an explanation later, maybe linked to Loki's yet unknown Devil Fruit. Nevertheless, the God Valley event perfectly embodies the notion that history is written by the winners. This mindset is {