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The adage 'History is recorded by the winners' serves as a central motif that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has for some time integrated into the story. Popular tales often fail to capture the full truth, including the most influential characters in this world's intricate past. Oden was no foolish performer prancing through the roads of Wano; he acted out of honor and principle. Bartholomew Kuma was not a ruthless antagonist who separated the Straw Hat Pirates, either; he was helping them. Likewise, Davy Jones meant more than a buccaneer's contest in pursuit of emblems and crews.

In chapter #1164 of the manga, we see the peak of this idea. The entire God Valley story serves as a warning story, instructing readers not to evaluate the individuals too hastily.

Myths frequently fail to convey the complete reality, including the most influential figures.

The series's latest look back, detailing the Divine Isle incident, stands as one of the story's best storylines to date. Apart from the thrill of witnessing icons in their peak, it's gripping to observe them before they turned into icons — when their reputation had still not surpass their human nature. History, as recorded by the Global Authority and retold through secondhand tales, painted our understanding of individuals like Gol D. Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and including Garp. But both the regime's records and the narratives of those who knew them turn out to be untrustworthy, showing only pieces of who these individuals really were.

The Individual Before the Legend

Gol D. Roger may have been driven by mission and the bold spirit that ignited a new age of buccaneering, but before he was known as the Pirate King, he was a young man ruled by emotion and the desire to explore. When people discuss his myth, they usually refer to his later journey, the grand quest in pursuit of the guide stones that point toward Laugh Tale. However little is known about his first journey, the one that molded him prior to fame found him.

At that time, Roger was largely unaware of the world's hidden past. His affection for Shakky led him to God Valley, where he discovered the World Government's darkest truths: the extermination "contests," the grotesque appearances of the Gorosei, and including the existence of the planet's hidden ruler, Imu. We haven't seen Gol D. Roger's reflections about everything happening in the Divine Isle, but maybe discovering the son of a God's Knight on his vessel will lead him to understand his place in the world and seek the reality he caught a glimpse of from Xebec's predicament.

The Truth About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this recollection, what we were aware of of Xebec was derived almost entirely from the former Fleet Admiral's account, each to the audience and to new Navy recruits. He painted Rocks D. Xebec as a despicable, ambitious man bent on global control, someone so dangerous that Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to join forces to defeat him. But as it turns out, Sengoku was not present at God Valley; he was merely echoing the World Government's sanctioned version of occurrences, the very story Imu authorized to bury the truth about Rocks D. Xebec and the event itself.

In truth, Rocks D. Xebec, whose true name was Davy D. Xebec, was a ethical man who sought to topple Imu and dismantle the corrupt Global Authority. We are unsure if he was motivated by ambition, revenge for his clan, or a desire for justice, but when he discovered the government's scheme to annihilate the land where his family lived, he gave up his dreams of conquest to save them.

This love for his family became his undoing. Upon facing the sovereign, he lost his will and liberty, becoming a puppet enslaved to their authority. Currently, with what little awareness remains, he begs with Roger and Monkey D. Garp to end his life — thinking that death would be a mercy in contrast to the torment he suffers. The reality of Rocks is thus far from the story narrated by the former Fleet Admiral, and the manga shows him in a favorable manner during the Divine Isle incidents.

Is He Living Today?

But did Rocks D. Xebec actually die? An intriguing idea is that he is still a servant to Imu in the present day, serving as the scarred individual, keeping the World Government's only remaining Poneglyph in continuous movement to prevent the One Piece from being found.

The Hero's Hidden Defiance

A further protagonist of the God Valley event is Garp, who has endured backlash from followers for a long time for doing nothing as Admiral Akainu killed Ace. That feeling became even more intense after the timeskip, when he endangered all to rescue the young Marine at Pirate Island, causing many to question why he couldn't do the same for his own grandson. Comparable questions have now resurfaced with the God Valley recollection: how can Monkey D. Garp work for the Marines, knowing the Global Authority considers mass murder and slavery as entertainment for the elite?

The truth uncovers something different. The instant Garp saw the Elders' monstrous shapes, he struck immediately. His alliance with Roger was not meant to defeat some villainous Rocks D. Xebec, but a bold act of rebellion, an attempt to halt Imu, who was using Rocks D. Xebec as a tool to wipe out everyone in God Valley, including it seems, even the World Nobles themselves. This incident is probably the reason Monkey D. Garp despises the Celestial Dragons in the current era and why he not once wanted to be elevated to Fleet Admiral, reporting directly to them.

The Past's Unreliable Narrators

Although the readers are viewing the Divine Isle event through a flashback narrated by the giant, covering perspectives and occurrences he obviously was absent for, I think we can consider this account as entirely accurate. The series may provide an reason in the future, perhaps connected to the giant's still mysterious paramecia ability. Still, the God Valley event excellently exemplifies the notion that history is written by the winners. This attitude is {