🔗 Share this article

The saying 'History is written by the victors' serves as a key motif that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has for some time woven into the narrative. Legends often fail to capture the complete reality, including the most influential characters in this world's complex past. Oden wasn't a silly performer prancing through the streets of Wano Country; he acted out of honor and principle. Kuma was not a merciless villain who separated the Straw Hat Pirates, either; he was helping them. Similarly, Davy Jones signified more than a buccaneer's contest in pursuit of emblems and followers.

In chapter #1164 of the manga, we see the culmination of this theme. The whole God Valley story serves as a warning story, advising readers not to evaluate the individuals too quickly.

Legends often fail to capture the complete reality, including the most influential characters.

One Piece's latest look back, detailing the God Valley event, stands as one of the series' finest storylines to now. Beyond the excitement of seeing icons in their peak, it's compelling to see them prior to when they turned into symbols — when their fame had still not surpass their humanity. History, as written by the World Government and recounted through secondhand tales, shaped our perception of figures like Gol D. Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and including Garp. But each of the regime's records and the narratives of those who knew them turn out to be untrustworthy, revealing only pieces of who these individuals truly were.

The Individual Before the Legend

Gol D. Roger may have been driven by mission and the bold attitude that ignited a new age of piracy, but before he was known as the King of the Pirates, he was a young man governed by emotion and wanderlust. When people speak of his legend, they typically mean his second voyage, the grand expedition in pursuit of the guide stones that point toward the final island. Yet little is understood about his first journey, the one that molded him before fame discovered him.

Back then, Roger knew little of the globe's hidden history. His affection for the barkeep led him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's darkest realities: the extermination "games," the grotesque appearances of the Gorosei, and including the existence of the world's unseen ruler, the mysterious leader. We haven't seen Roger's thoughts about everything happening in God Valley, but maybe finding the son of a God's Knight on his ship will lead him to understand his role in the world and seek the reality he caught a glimpse of from Rocks D. Xebec's situation.

The Reality About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this recollection, what we knew of Xebec was derived almost entirely from Sengoku's version, each to the audience and to young Navy recruits. 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 defeat him. But as it transpires, the strategist was not present at God Valley; he was only echoing the Global Authority's approved narrative of events, the exact story the sovereign approved to bury the reality about Rocks D. Xebec and the event itself.

In reality, The captain, whose true name was Davy D. Xebec, was a ethical man who aimed to overthrow the ruler and dismantle the corrupt World Government. We don't know if he was guided by ambition, retribution for his clan, or a desire for fairness, but when he discovered the regime's plan to eliminate the island where his family lived, he gave up his ambitions of conquest to save them.

This devotion for his family became his downfall. Upon facing the sovereign, he forfeited his will and liberty, turning into a puppet enslaved to their authority. Currently, with what little awareness remains, he pleads with Roger and Garp to kill him — thinking that death would be a kindness in contrast to the torment he suffers. The reality of Rocks D. Xebec is thus far from the tale narrated by the former Fleet Admiral, and the manga shows him in a favorable manner during the God Valley events.

Is He Living Today?

But was Rocks really die? An interesting theory is that he is still a slave to the ruler in the present day, serving as the scarred individual, maintaining the Global Authority's only remaining ancient stone in constant transit to prevent the One Piece from being discovered.

Garp's Hidden Rebellion

Another protagonist of the God Valley incident is Monkey D. Garp, who has endured backlash from followers for years for standing by as Akainu killed Portgas D. Ace. That feeling only grew more intense after the timeskip, when he endangered everything to rescue Koby at Pirate Island, leading many to wonder why he was unable to do the identical for his own grandchild. Similar questions have recently resurfaced with the Divine Isle flashback: how can Monkey D. Garp work for the Marines, knowing the Global Authority considers genocide and slavery as sport for the elite?

The truth reveals something distinct. The moment Monkey D. Garp saw the Gorosei's grotesque shapes, he struck without hesitation. His alliance with Gol D. Roger wasn't to defeat some evil Rocks D. Xebec, but a courageous act of rebellion, an attempt to halt Imu, who was manipulating Xebec as a tool to wipe out all in the Divine Isle, even it seems, including the World Nobles themselves. This event is likely the reason Monkey D. Garp detests the World Nobles in the current era and why he never desired to be promoted to Admiral, reporting straight to them.

The Past's Untrustworthy Narrators

Although the audience are viewing the Divine Isle incident through a flashback narrated by the giant, covering perspectives and events he obviously wasn't present for, I believe we can treat this version as entirely truthful. The manga may provide an reason later, perhaps connected to Loki's still mysterious Devil Fruit. Nevertheless, the God Valley incident excellently exemplifies the idea that history is written by the victors. This mindset is {