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The adage 'History is written by the winners' is a key motif that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has for some time integrated into the narrative. Legends often do not capture the complete reality, including the most influential characters in this story's complex past. Oden wasn't a foolish showman dancing through the roads of Wano; he behaved out of honor and principle. Kuma was not a ruthless villain who tore apart the Straw Hats, as well; he was helping them. Likewise, Davy Jones meant more than a buccaneer's contest in search of flags and followers.

In installment #1164 of One Piece, we witness the culmination of this theme. The entire God Valley narrative serves as a warning story, instructing audiences not to evaluate the individuals too hastily.

Legends frequently do not convey the full reality, even for the most powerful characters.

One Piece's most recent look back, detailing the Divine Isle event, stands as one of the story's best storylines to now. Beyond the thrill of seeing legends in their prime, it's gripping to observe them prior to when they turned into symbols — when their reputation had still not surpass their humanity. The past, as written by the World Government and recounted through secondhand tales, shaped our perception of figures like Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and including Monkey D. Garp. But both the regime's accounts and the narratives of those who were acquainted with them prove unreliable, showing only fragments of who these individuals really were.

The Individual Before the Myth

Gol D. Roger may have been guided by mission and the bold attitude that ignited a fresh era of buccaneering, but prior to he became the Pirate King, he was a youth governed by emotion and the desire to explore. When individuals discuss his myth, they typically mean his second voyage, the grand expedition in search of the guide stones that point toward Laugh Tale. However little is understood about his first journey, the one that molded him before fame found him.

At that time, Roger knew little of the globe's hidden history. His affection for the barkeep guided him to God Valley, where he discovered the Global Authority's most sinister realities: the extermination "games," the grotesque forms of the Gorosei, and including the existence of the world's unseen ruler, Imu. We are yet to witness Roger's reflections about everything happening in God Valley, but maybe discovering the son of a Holy Knight on his ship will make him realize his role in the world and pursue the reality he glimpsed from Xebec's predicament.

The Truth About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this recollection, what we were aware of of Xebec came mostly from the former Fleet Admiral's version, both to the viewers and to young Navy recruits. He depicted Xebec as a vile, ambitious man determined to achieve world domination, someone so threatening that Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to team up to overcome him. But as it transpires, Sengoku wasn't even present at God Valley; he was only repeating the Global Authority's approved version of events, the very story the sovereign approved to conceal the reality about Xebec and the event itself.

In reality, The captain, whose real name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who aimed to topple the ruler and dismantle the corrupt Global Authority. We don't know if he was motivated by ambition, revenge for his family, or a wish for fairness, but when he found out the government's scheme to eliminate the island where his kin resided, he gave up his ambitions of conquest to rescue them.

This devotion for his relatives became his undoing. After facing the sovereign, he forfeited his determination and freedom, turning into a puppet controlled to their power. Currently, with what little consciousness remains, he pleads with Roger and Monkey D. Garp to kill him — believing that death would be a kindness compared to the living hell he suffers. The truth of Rocks is thus very different from the story told by the former Fleet Admiral, and the comic presents him in a positive light during the God Valley events.

Is He Still Alive Today?

But was Rocks D. Xebec actually meet his end? An interesting theory is that he is still a slave to Imu in the current timeline, serving as the scarred individual, maintaining the Global Authority's only remaining ancient stone in constant transit to prevent the ultimate treasure from being discovered.

Garp's Hidden Rebellion

Another key figure of the God Valley event is Monkey D. Garp, who has faced criticism from fans for years for doing nothing as Akainu murdered Portgas D. Ace. That feeling only grew stronger after the timeskip, when he endangered everything to rescue the young Marine at Pirate Island, leading many to question why he couldn't do the same for his own grandchild. Comparable questions have recently reemerged with the God Valley recollection: how could Monkey D. Garp serve the Navy, aware the Global Authority treats genocide and enslavement as entertainment for the upper class?

The reality reveals something different. The moment Monkey D. Garp witnessed the Gorosei's monstrous forms, he attacked immediately. His partnership with Roger was not meant to defeat some evil Xebec, but a courageous act of defiance, an effort to stop the sovereign, who was using Xebec as a tool to wipe out everyone in the Divine Isle, even apparently, even the Celestial Dragons themselves. This incident is likely the cause Monkey D. Garp detests the Celestial Dragons in the current era and why he never desired to be elevated to Fleet Admiral, answering straight to them.

History's Unreliable Narrators

Although the audience are seeing the Divine Isle event through a recollection narrated by Loki, including perspectives and occurrences he clearly wasn't present for, I think we can treat this account as entirely truthful. The series may offer an reason in the future, maybe connected to the giant's yet unknown Devil Fruit. Still, the Divine Isle incident perfectly embodies the idea that history is written by the winners. This mindset is {