🔗 Share this article

The saying 'The past is recorded by the winners' serves as a key theme that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has long integrated into the narrative. Legends often fail to convey the full truth, even for the most powerful characters in this story's complex past. Oden was no foolish showman prancing through the roads of Wano; he acted out of honor and principle. Kuma wasn't a merciless villain who separated the Straw Hats, as well; he was helping them. Likewise, the Davy Jones legend meant more than a buccaneer's game in search of emblems and crews.

In installment #1164 of the manga, we witness the culmination of this theme. The entire God Valley narrative serves as a cautionary tale, advising readers not to evaluate the characters too hastily.

Legends frequently fail to convey the complete reality, even for the most influential figures.

The series's most recent look back, chronicling the Divine Isle incident, represents one of the story's finest arcs to date. Beyond the thrill of witnessing legends in their peak, it's compelling to observe them prior to when they turned into symbols — when their fame had still not surpass their human nature. History, as written by the World Government and recounted through hearsay tales, shaped our perception of individuals like Roger, Xebec, and including Monkey D. Garp. But both the regime's accounts and the stories of those who were acquainted with them prove unreliable, showing only fragments of who these individuals really were.

The Man Before the Legend

Gol D. Roger may have been guided by mission and the daring spirit that ignited a new age of buccaneering, but before he became the Pirate King, he was a youth ruled by passion and wanderlust. When people discuss his myth, they usually refer to his later journey, the grand expedition in search of the guide stones that lead to Laugh Tale. Yet little is known about his initial travels, the one that molded him before glory discovered him.

Back then, Gol D. Roger was largely unaware of the world's secret past. His affection for Shakky guided him to the Divine Isle, where he discovered the World Government's most sinister realities: the extermination "games," the grotesque forms of the Five Elders, and including the presence of the world's hidden ruler, Imu. We are yet to witness Roger's thoughts about everything happening in God Valley, but perhaps discovering the child of a God's Knight on his vessel will lead him to understand his role in the globe and pursue the reality he caught a glimpse of from Xebec's situation.

The Reality About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this flashback, what we knew of Xebec came mostly from the former Fleet Admiral's account, each to the audience and to new Marines. He painted Xebec as a despicable, ambitious man determined to achieve world domination, someone so threatening that Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to join forces to overcome him. But as it transpires, the strategist was not there at God Valley; he was merely repeating the Global Authority's approved version of occurrences, the exact narrative Imu authorized to conceal the reality about Rocks D. Xebec and the event itself.

In reality, Rocks D. Xebec, whose real name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who aimed to topple Imu and dismantle the corrupt Global Authority. We are unsure if he was motivated by ambition, revenge for his family, or a wish for fairness, but when he discovered the regime's scheme to annihilate the land where his kin lived, he abandoned his ambitions of conquest to rescue them.

This love for his family proved to be his downfall. Upon facing Imu, he lost his will and liberty, turning into a marionette enslaved to their power. Currently, with what limited awareness remains, he begs with Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp to kill him — thinking that dying would be a mercy compared to the living hell he endures. The reality of Rocks D. Xebec is thus very different from the tale told by the former Fleet Admiral, and the comic shows him in a favorable manner during the Divine Isle incidents.

Is He Still Alive Today?

But did Rocks D. Xebec really die? An interesting theory is that he is even now a servant to Imu in the current timeline, acting as the scarred individual, keeping the World Government's last Poneglyph in constant movement to keep the One Piece from being found.

Garp's Hidden Defiance

A further protagonist of the God Valley event is Garp, who has endured backlash from fans for a long time for doing nothing as Admiral Akainu murdered Ace. That sentiment became even more intense after the time jump, when he risked all to rescue the young Marine at Hachinosu, causing many to wonder why he was unable to do the same for his own grandson. Comparable doubts have now resurfaced with the God Valley recollection: how could Monkey D. Garp work for the Navy, knowing the Global Authority considers mass murder and slavery as entertainment for the upper class?

The reality reveals something distinct. The instant Monkey D. Garp saw the Gorosei's grotesque forms, he struck immediately. His partnership with Roger was not meant to vanquish some villainous Rocks D. Xebec, but a bold act of rebellion, an effort to stop Imu, who was manipulating Xebec as a tool to wipe out everyone in God Valley, including apparently, even the Celestial Dragons themselves. This event is probably the cause Garp despises the World Nobles in the present day and why he not once desired to be elevated to Admiral, reporting straight to them.

The Past's Unreliable Narrators

Although the readers are seeing the Divine Isle event through a flashback recounted by the giant, covering viewpoints and events he clearly was absent for, I believe we can consider this account as entirely accurate. The manga may provide an explanation later, maybe linked to the giant's still mysterious Devil Fruit. Still, the God Valley incident perfectly embodies the idea that the past is recorded by the victors. This mindset is {