The Series' God Valley Flashback Reveals Why Myths Shouldn't Be Trusted Blindly

The adage 'History is recorded by the winners' is a key theme that Eiichiro Oda's epic creator Eiichiro Oda has long woven into the narrative. Popular tales frequently do not convey the full reality, even for the most powerful characters in this story's intricate history. Oden wasn't a foolish showman prancing through the roads of Wano; he behaved out of duty and principle. Bartholomew Kuma was not a merciless antagonist who separated the Straw Hats, either; he was helping them. Likewise, the Davy Jones legend meant beyond just a buccaneer's game in pursuit of emblems and followers.

In installment #1164 of the manga, we witness the culmination of this theme. The entire God Valley story acts as a cautionary tale, instructing readers not to judge the characters too quickly.

Myths often do not convey the full truth, including the most powerful characters.

The series's most recent flashback, detailing the Divine Isle event, stands as one of the story's finest storylines to date. Beyond the excitement of seeing legends in their peak, it's gripping to see them before they turned into symbols — when their fame had still not surpass their human nature. The past, as written by the World Government and recounted through hearsay stories, painted our understanding of figures like Roger, Xebec, and including Garp. But both the government's records and the stories of those who knew them turn out to be unreliable, showing only fragments of who these men really were.

The Individual Prior to the Myth

The future Pirate King may have been driven by mission and the daring 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 the desire to explore. When individuals speak of his legend, they usually mean his later journey, the epic expedition in search of the guide stones that lead to Laugh Tale. Yet little is understood about his initial travels, the one that shaped him before glory found him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger was largely unaware of the globe's secret history. His affection for the barkeep led him to the Divine Isle, where he uncovered the Global Authority's darkest truths: the genocidal "games," the monstrous forms of the Gorosei, and including the existence of the planet'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 ship will lead him to understand his place in the globe and seek the reality he caught a glimpse of from Rocks D. Xebec's predicament.

The Truth About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this recollection, what we knew of Rocks D. Xebec was derived almost entirely from the former Fleet Admiral's account, each to the viewers and to young Navy recruits. He depicted Xebec as a vile, power-hungry man bent on world domination, someone so threatening that Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to team up to defeat him. But as it turns out, Sengoku wasn't even present at God Valley; he was merely echoing the Global Authority's sanctioned version of events, the exact narrative Imu approved to conceal the truth about Xebec and the incident itself.

In reality, Rocks D. Xebec, whose true name was Davy D. Xebec, was a ethical man who aimed to topple Imu and dismantle the decadent World Government. We are unsure if he was guided by ambition, revenge for his clan, or a desire for fairness, but when he found out the government's scheme to annihilate the land where his kin resided, he gave up his dreams of domination to save them.

This love for his relatives became his undoing. Upon facing the sovereign, he lost his determination and freedom, becoming a puppet enslaved to their power. Currently, with what limited awareness is left, he pleads with Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp to kill him — thinking that death would be a mercy compared to the torment he suffers. The reality of Rocks D. Xebec is thus far from the story told by Sengoku, and the comic presents him in a positive manner during the Divine Isle incidents.

Is He Living Today?

But did Rocks really meet his end? An interesting theory is that he is still a servant to the ruler in the present day, serving as the scarred individual, maintaining the World Government's last Poneglyph in constant transit to prevent the One Piece from being found.

Garp's Hidden Defiance

A further key figure of the Divine Isle incident is Garp, who has faced criticism from fans for years for standing by as Akainu murdered Portgas D. Ace. That sentiment became even more intense after the timeskip, when he endangered everything to save the young Marine at Hachinosu, leading many to question why he was unable to do the identical for his own grandchild. Similar questions have recently reemerged with the Divine Isle flashback: how can Garp work for the Marines, aware the World Government considers mass murder and slavery as entertainment for the upper class?

The truth uncovers something distinct. The instant Garp saw the Gorosei's monstrous shapes, he attacked immediately. His partnership with Roger was not meant to defeat some evil Xebec, but a courageous act of rebellion, an effort to halt the sovereign, who was manipulating Xebec as a tool to wipe out everyone in God Valley, even apparently, even the Celestial Dragons themselves. This event is probably the cause Monkey D. Garp despises the World Nobles in the current era and why he never desired to be elevated to Admiral, reporting straight to them.

History's Untrustworthy Storytellers

Although the readers are seeing the God Valley incident through a recollection narrated by the giant, covering perspectives and events he obviously was absent for, I think we can consider this account as entirely accurate. The manga may offer an explanation later, maybe linked to the giant's yet unknown paramecia ability. Nevertheless, the God Valley event perfectly embodies the notion that the past is written by the victors. This attitude is {