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The adage 'The past is recorded by the victors' is a key theme that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has for some time woven into the narrative. Legends frequently fail to capture the full truth, including the most influential figures in this story's complex past. Kozuki Oden wasn't a foolish showman prancing through the roads of Wano; he behaved out of honor and conviction. Kuma wasn't a ruthless antagonist who separated the Straw Hats, as well; he was helping them. Similarly, the Davy Jones legend meant beyond just a buccaneer's game 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 judge the characters too quickly.

Legends often fail to convey the complete truth, including the most powerful characters.

The series's latest flashback, detailing the God Valley incident, represents one of the series' finest arcs to now. Apart from the excitement of seeing legends in their peak, it's gripping to see them before they became icons — when their reputation had yet to surpass their human nature. The past, as written by the World Government and retold through secondhand stories, painted our understanding of individuals like Gol D. Roger, Xebec, and even Garp. But each of the regime's records and the stories of those who were acquainted with them turn out to be unreliable, revealing only fragments of who these men truly were.

The Man Before the Legend

Gol D. Roger may have been guided by purpose and the bold attitude that sparked a fresh era of buccaneering, but before he was known as the King of the Pirates, he was a youth governed by passion and wanderlust. When people speak of his legend, they usually mean his later journey, the grand quest in search of the Road Poneglyphs that point toward Laugh Tale. However not much is known about his initial travels, the one that molded him prior to fame found him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger was largely unaware of the globe's hidden history. His love for Shakky guided him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's most sinister realities: the extermination "contests," the monstrous appearances of the Five Elders, and including the existence of the planet's hidden ruler, Imu. We are yet to witness Gol D. Roger's reflections about everything occurring in God Valley, but perhaps finding the child of a Holy Knight on his ship will lead him to understand his place in the world and seek the reality he glimpsed from Xebec's predicament.

The Truth About Rocks D. Xebec

Before this recollection, what we were aware of of Xebec was derived almost entirely from Sengoku's version, both to the audience and to new Marines. He painted Rocks D. Xebec as a vile, ambitious man bent on global control, someone so threatening that Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to team up to overcome him. But as it turns out, Sengoku wasn't even present at God Valley; he was merely repeating the Global Authority's approved narrative of occurrences, the exact story Imu authorized to bury the reality about Xebec and the incident itself.

In truth, Rocks D. Xebec, whose real name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who aimed to topple the ruler and dismantle the decadent Global Authority. We don't know if he was guided by ambition, retribution for his clan, or a wish for fairness, but when he found out the regime's plan to annihilate the land where his kin lived, he abandoned his ambitions of conquest to rescue them.

This devotion for his relatives proved to be his undoing. After facing Imu, he lost his will and liberty, turning into a marionette controlled to their authority. Currently, with what little consciousness remains, he pleads with Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp to end his life — believing that death would be a mercy in contrast to the torment he endures. The reality of Rocks is thus far from the tale narrated by Sengoku, and the comic shows him in a favorable manner during the God Valley events.

Is He Living Today?

But did Rocks actually meet his end? An intriguing theory is that he is even now a slave to Imu in the present day, acting as the scarred individual, maintaining the World Government's only remaining Poneglyph in constant transit to keep the ultimate treasure from being discovered.

The Hero's Hidden Defiance

A further protagonist of the God Valley incident is Garp, who has endured criticism from followers for a long time for doing nothing as Admiral Akainu killed Portgas D. Ace. That sentiment only grew more intense after the timeskip, when he endangered everything to rescue the young Marine at Pirate Island, leading many to wonder why he was unable to do the same for his biological grandson. Similar questions have recently resurfaced with the God Valley flashback: how could Garp work for the Marines, aware the World Government considers mass murder and enslavement as sport for the elite?

The reality uncovers something different. The moment Garp witnessed the Elders' monstrous shapes, he attacked without hesitation. His alliance with Gol D. Roger wasn't to defeat some villainous Rocks D. Xebec, but a bold act of defiance, an effort to stop Imu, who was using Rocks D. Xebec as a tool to eliminate everyone in God Valley, even it seems, including the World Nobles themselves. This event is likely the cause Garp detests the Celestial Dragons in the current era and why he not once desired to be promoted to Admiral, reporting straight to them.

History's Untrustworthy Narrators

Although the readers are viewing the Divine Isle event through a recollection recounted by the giant, including viewpoints and events he obviously wasn't present for, I believe we can consider this account as completely truthful. The manga may offer an explanation in the future, maybe linked to Loki's still mysterious Devil Fruit. Nevertheless, the Divine Isle event perfectly embodies the idea that history is written by the victors. This mindset is {