One Piece's God Valley Flashback Reveals Why Myths Shouldn't Be Trusted Blindly

The saying 'The past is recorded by the winners' is a central motif that Eiichiro Oda's epic creator Eiichiro Oda has long woven into the narrative. Legends frequently fail to capture the full reality, including the most influential characters in this story's complex past. Oden was no foolish showman prancing through the streets of Wano; he acted out of honor and conviction. Bartholomew Kuma wasn't a merciless villain who separated the Straw Hats, either; he was doing them a favor. Likewise, Davy Jones meant beyond just a buccaneer's game in pursuit of emblems and followers.

In installment #1164 of One Piece, we witness the peak of this theme. The whole Divine Isle story acts as a cautionary tale, instructing readers not to evaluate the characters too hastily.

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

One Piece's most recent look back, detailing the God Valley incident, represents one of the series' best storylines to date. Beyond the excitement of witnessing icons in their prime, it's compelling to see them before they turned into icons — when their fame had yet to outgrow their human nature. The past, as recorded by the Global Authority and recounted through hearsay tales, shaped our understanding of individuals like Gol D. Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and including Monkey D. Garp. But both the government's accounts and the stories of those who were acquainted with them turn out to be untrustworthy, revealing only pieces of who these individuals really were.

The Man Before the Myth

The future Pirate King may have been guided by mission and the bold spirit that sparked a new age of buccaneering, but before he became the King of the Pirates, he was a young man governed by emotion and wanderlust. When individuals discuss his legend, they typically refer to his second voyage, the grand quest in pursuit of the Road Poneglyphs that point toward the final island. Yet not much is understood about his first journey, the one that shaped him prior to glory discovered him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger knew little of the world's hidden history. His affection for Shakky led him to God Valley, where he uncovered the Global Authority's most sinister truths: the extermination "games," the monstrous forms of the Gorosei, and even the presence of the world's hidden sovereign, the mysterious leader. We haven't seen Roger's reflections about all that's happening in the Divine Isle, but perhaps discovering the child of a God's Knight on his ship will make him realize his role in the globe and seek the truth he glimpsed from Rocks D. Xebec's predicament.

The Reality About Rocks D. Xebec

Prior to this flashback, what we knew of Rocks D. Xebec was derived almost entirely from Sengoku's account, both to the viewers and to young Marines. He depicted Rocks D. Xebec as a despicable, power-hungry man determined to achieve world domination, someone so dangerous that Roger and Garp had to join forces to overcome him. But as it turns out, Sengoku wasn't even there at God Valley; he was only repeating the World Government's sanctioned narrative of occurrences, the very narrative Imu approved to conceal the reality about Rocks D. Xebec and the event itself.

In truth, The captain, whose true name was Davy D. Xebec, was a ethical man who aimed to overthrow Imu and dismantle the decadent Global Authority. We are unsure if he was motivated by lust for power, retribution for his family, or a desire for fairness, but when he found out the regime's plan to eliminate the land where his family resided, he gave up his ambitions of domination to save them.

This love for his family proved to be his downfall. Upon confronting the sovereign, he forfeited his will and liberty, becoming a puppet enslaved to their power. Currently, with what little awareness remains, he pleads with Roger and Garp to end his life — thinking that death would be a kindness compared to the torment he endures. The reality of Rocks is thus very different from the tale narrated by Sengoku, and the manga shows him in a favorable manner during the God Valley events.

Is He Living Today?

But did Rocks D. Xebec really die? An interesting theory is that he is still a slave to Imu in the present day, serving as The Man Marked By Flames, maintaining the Global Authority's only remaining Poneglyph in continuous transit to keep the ultimate treasure from being found.

Garp's Secret Defiance

Another key figure of the Divine Isle event is Garp, who has endured backlash from followers for a long time for doing nothing as Akainu murdered Ace. That sentiment became even stronger after the timeskip, when he risked all to save the young Marine at Hachinosu, causing many to wonder why he was unable to do the same for his biological grandchild. Comparable doubts have recently resurfaced with the God Valley flashback: how can Monkey D. Garp work for the Navy, aware the World Government treats genocide and slavery as entertainment for the upper class?

The reality uncovers something different. The moment Monkey D. Garp saw the Elders' grotesque shapes, he struck without hesitation. His partnership with Gol D. Roger was not meant to defeat some evil Xebec, but a courageous act of defiance, an attempt to halt the sovereign, who was manipulating Xebec as a pawn to eliminate all in the Divine Isle, including apparently, even the Celestial Dragons themselves. This incident is likely the reason Garp despises the Celestial Dragons in the present day and why he not once wanted to be promoted to Fleet Admiral, reporting directly to them.

The Past's Untrustworthy Narrators

Although the readers are seeing the Divine Isle incident through a flashback recounted by the giant, including viewpoints and occurrences he clearly was absent for, I think we can treat this account as entirely truthful. The manga may provide an explanation later, perhaps linked to the giant's yet unknown paramecia ability. Still, the Divine Isle event excellently exemplifies the idea that the past is written by the winners. This mindset is {