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The adage 'The past is recorded by the winners' is a key motif that Eiichiro Oda's epic creator Eiichiro Oda has long integrated into the story. Legends frequently fail to convey the complete truth, including the most powerful characters in this story's intricate past. Kozuki Oden was no foolish performer dancing through the streets of Wano; he behaved out of honor and conviction. Kuma was not a ruthless villain who separated the Straw Hats, as well; he was helping them. Similarly, the Davy Jones legend meant more than a buccaneer's game in search of flags and crews.

In chapter #1164 of One Piece, we see the peak of this idea. The entire Divine Isle narrative acts as a warning story, instructing readers not to evaluate the individuals too hastily.

Myths frequently fail to capture the full reality, even for the most powerful figures.

The series's most recent look back, chronicling the God Valley incident, represents one of the story's best storylines to now. Beyond the excitement of seeing legends in their peak, it's compelling to see them prior to when they turned into symbols — when their fame had yet to surpass their human nature. The past, as written by the World Government and retold through hearsay tales, shaped our understanding of individuals like Gol D. Roger, Xebec, and even Monkey D. Garp. But both the regime's accounts and the stories of those who were acquainted with them prove unreliable, showing only pieces of who these men truly were.

The Man Prior to the Legend

Gol D. Roger may have been driven by mission and the daring attitude that ignited a new age of buccaneering, but before he became the Pirate King, he was a youth governed by emotion and wanderlust. When individuals discuss his myth, they typically refer to his second voyage, the epic quest in search of the guide stones that lead to the final island. However little is understood about his initial travels, the one that shaped him before fame found him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger was largely unaware of the globe's hidden history. His affection for the barkeep guided him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's most sinister realities: the genocidal "games," the monstrous forms of the Gorosei, and even the presence of the planet's hidden ruler, the mysterious leader. We haven't seen Gol D. Roger's reflections about everything occurring in the Divine Isle, but maybe discovering the child of a God's Knight on his vessel 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

Before this recollection, what we were aware of of Xebec was derived mostly from Sengoku's version, each to the audience and to new Marines. He depicted Xebec as a despicable, power-hungry man bent on world domination, someone so threatening that Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to join forces to overcome him. But as it transpires, Sengoku wasn't even there at God Valley; he was only echoing the World Government's approved narrative of occurrences, the exact story the sovereign authorized to bury 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 overthrow Imu and dismantle the decadent World Government. We don't know if he was guided by lust for power, retribution for his family, or a wish for fairness, but when he found out the government's plan to annihilate the land where his kin lived, he abandoned his ambitions of domination to rescue them.

This love for his relatives proved to be his undoing. Upon facing Imu, he forfeited his will and liberty, turning into a marionette enslaved to their power. Currently, with what limited consciousness is left, he begs with Roger and Monkey D. Garp to end his life — believing that death would be a mercy compared to the living hell he suffers. The reality of Rocks D. Xebec is thus very different from the story told by Sengoku, and the comic shows him in a favorable manner during the God Valley events.

Is He Living Today?

But was Rocks D. Xebec actually meet his end? An interesting theory is that he is even now a slave to Imu in the current timeline, acting as the scarred individual, keeping the Global Authority's last ancient stone in constant transit to prevent the One Piece from being discovered.

The Hero's Hidden Defiance

A further key figure of the God Valley event is Monkey D. Garp, who has endured backlash from followers for a long time for standing by as Akainu killed Portgas D. Ace. That feeling became even stronger after the timeskip, when he endangered all to rescue the young Marine at Hachinosu, leading many to question why he was unable to do the same for his own grandchild. Similar questions have now reemerged with the Divine Isle recollection: how can Monkey D. Garp work for the Marines, aware the Global Authority treats genocide and enslavement as sport for the upper class?

The truth uncovers something different. The instant Monkey D. Garp witnessed the Gorosei's monstrous forms, he struck without hesitation. His alliance with Roger wasn't to vanquish some villainous Rocks D. Xebec, but a courageous act of rebellion, an attempt to stop the sovereign, who was using Rocks D. Xebec as a tool to eliminate all in God Valley, even apparently, including the World Nobles themselves. This incident is probably the reason Garp despises the Celestial Dragons in the current era and why he never desired to be promoted to Fleet Admiral, reporting straight to them.

History's Untrustworthy Narrators

Although the readers are viewing the God Valley event through a recollection narrated by the giant, covering perspectives and occurrences he clearly was absent for, I think we can treat this account as completely accurate. The series may offer an explanation in the future, maybe linked to Loki's still mysterious Devil Fruit. Nevertheless, the Divine Isle incident excellently embodies the idea that the past is written by the victors. This attitude is {