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The saying 'The past is recorded by the winners' is a key theme that Eiichiro Oda's epic creator Eiichiro Oda has long integrated into the story. Legends frequently do not convey the complete truth, even for the most powerful figures in this story's complex past. Oden was no silly showman prancing through the streets of Wano; he behaved out of honor and conviction. Kuma was not a merciless antagonist who tore apart the Straw Hat Pirates, as well; he was doing them a favor. Similarly, Davy Jones meant more than a pirate's game in pursuit of flags and crews.

In installment #1164 of One Piece, we see the culmination of this idea. The entire Divine Isle narrative serves as a warning story, advising readers not to evaluate the characters too quickly.

Legends often do not convey the full reality, even for the most influential characters.

One Piece's latest flashback, chronicling the Divine Isle event, represents one of the series' best arcs to now. Apart from the excitement of seeing icons in their prime, it's compelling to observe them prior to when they became icons — when their reputation had still not surpass their human nature. History, as recorded by the Global Authority and retold through secondhand stories, painted our understanding of individuals like Roger, Xebec, and even Garp. But both the government's accounts and the narratives of those who were acquainted with them prove unreliable, showing only fragments of who these individuals truly were.

The Individual Prior to the Myth

Gol D. Roger may have been guided by mission and the daring spirit that ignited a fresh era of piracy, but prior to he was known as the King of the Pirates, he was a young man governed by emotion and wanderlust. When people discuss his myth, they typically mean his second voyage, the grand expedition in pursuit of the guide stones that point toward Laugh Tale. However not much is understood about his first journey, the one that shaped him before fame found him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger was largely unaware of the world's secret past. His love for the barkeep led him to God Valley, where he uncovered the Global Authority's darkest truths: the extermination "games," the grotesque appearances of the Five Elders, and even the existence of the planet's hidden ruler, the mysterious leader. We are yet to witness Roger's reflections about everything occurring in God Valley, but maybe finding the child of a God's Knight on his ship will lead him to understand his role in the world and pursue the truth he caught a glimpse of from Xebec's situation.

The Reality About The Infamous Captain

Before this recollection, what we knew of Xebec came almost entirely from Sengoku's account, each to the viewers and to new Marines. He painted Xebec as a despicable, ambitious man bent on global control, someone so threatening that Roger and Monkey D. Garp had to team up to defeat him. But as it turns out, the strategist was not present at God Valley; he was only repeating the World Government's sanctioned narrative of occurrences, the exact narrative the sovereign authorized to conceal the reality about Rocks D. Xebec and the incident itself.

In reality, The captain, whose real name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who aimed to overthrow the ruler and dismantle the corrupt World Government. We are unsure if he was guided by lust for power, retribution for his family, or a desire for fairness, but when he discovered the government's scheme to annihilate the land where his family lived, he abandoned his ambitions of domination to save them.

This devotion for his relatives became his undoing. Upon facing Imu, he lost his will and freedom, turning into a puppet controlled to their power. Currently, with what limited consciousness is left, he pleads with Roger and Monkey D. Garp to end his life — thinking that dying would be a kindness in contrast to the torment he suffers. The reality of Rocks D. Xebec is thus very different from the story narrated by Sengoku, and the manga presents him in a favorable manner during the Divine Isle events.

Could He Be Still Alive Today?

But did Rocks actually meet his end? An interesting theory is that he is even now a slave to Imu in the current timeline, acting as The Man Marked By Flames, maintaining the Global Authority's last Poneglyph in continuous movement to prevent the ultimate treasure from being discovered.

The Hero's Hidden Rebellion

A further protagonist of the God Valley incident is Garp, who has faced backlash from fans for a long time for doing nothing as Akainu killed Portgas D. Ace. That sentiment became even stronger after the timeskip, when he endangered all to save the young Marine at Hachinosu, leading many to question why he was unable to do the same for his biological grandson. Comparable questions have now resurfaced with the God Valley recollection: how can Garp serve the Marines, knowing the World Government considers genocide and enslavement as sport for the upper class?

The reality reveals something different. The moment Garp saw the Elders' monstrous shapes, he attacked immediately. His partnership with Roger was not meant to vanquish some villainous Xebec, but a bold act of defiance, an attempt to stop the sovereign, who was manipulating Xebec as a pawn to eliminate everyone in the Divine Isle, even apparently, even the World Nobles themselves. This event is likely the reason Monkey D. Garp despises the World Nobles in the current era and why he never desired to be elevated to Fleet Admiral, answering straight to them.

History's Untrustworthy Narrators

Even though the audience are seeing the Divine Isle event through a recollection narrated by the giant, including viewpoints and occurrences he clearly wasn't present for, I think we can consider this account as entirely truthful. The series may offer an explanation in the future, maybe linked to the giant's still mysterious paramecia ability. Still, the God Valley incident perfectly exemplifies the notion that history is recorded by the winners. This attitude is {