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The adage 'The past is written by the victors' serves as a central motif that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has long woven into the story. Popular tales frequently fail to convey the complete reality, even for the most powerful characters in this story's intricate past. Oden was no foolish showman prancing through the roads of Wano; he behaved out of duty and conviction. Bartholomew Kuma wasn't a ruthless antagonist who separated the Straw Hats, either; he was doing them a favor. Similarly, the Davy Jones legend signified beyond just a buccaneer's game in pursuit of emblems and followers.

In chapter #1164 of the manga, we witness the peak of this theme. The whole Divine Isle story acts as a warning story, instructing audiences not to evaluate the individuals too quickly.

Legends often fail to capture the full truth, including the most powerful characters.

The series's latest look back, chronicling the Divine Isle incident, stands as one of the story's best arcs to now. Apart from the thrill of seeing legends in their peak, it's gripping to observe them before they turned into icons — when their reputation had yet to surpass their humanity. The past, as written by the World Government and retold through hearsay tales, shaped our perception of figures like Gol D. Roger, Rocks D. Xebec, and including Garp. But both the government's accounts and the stories of those who knew them turn out to be untrustworthy, revealing only pieces of who these individuals truly were.

The Individual Before the Myth

Gol D. Roger may have been driven by mission and the daring attitude that ignited a fresh era of piracy, but prior to he was known as the King of the Pirates, he was a youth ruled by emotion and wanderlust. When individuals speak of his myth, they usually mean his second voyage, the grand quest in pursuit of the Road Poneglyphs that point toward the final island. Yet little is known about his first journey, the one that shaped him prior to fame found him.

At that time, Gol D. Roger knew little of the globe's hidden history. His affection for Shakky led him to the Divine Isle, where he uncovered the Global Authority's most sinister truths: the extermination "games," the grotesque appearances of the Five Elders, and including the presence of the planet's hidden sovereign, Imu. We haven't seen Gol D. Roger's reflections about everything happening in God Valley, but maybe finding the child of a God's Knight on his vessel will lead him to understand his place in the globe and seek the reality he caught a glimpse of from Rocks D. Xebec's situation.

The Reality About The Infamous Captain

Prior to this flashback, what we were aware of of Xebec was derived almost entirely from the former Fleet Admiral's version, each to the viewers and to young Marines. He painted Rocks D. Xebec as a vile, power-hungry man bent on global control, someone so threatening that Gol D. Roger and Garp had to join forces to defeat him. But as it transpires, Sengoku was not there at the Divine Isle; he was merely repeating the World Government's approved version of events, the very narrative the sovereign approved to bury the reality about Xebec and the event itself.

In reality, Rocks D. Xebec, whose true name was Davy D. Xebec, was a principled man who sought to overthrow Imu and dismantle the decadent World Government. We are unsure if he was motivated by ambition, retribution for his clan, or a wish for justice, but when he found out the government's scheme to annihilate the island where his kin resided, he gave up his dreams of conquest to save them.

This devotion for his family proved to be his downfall. Upon confronting the sovereign, he forfeited his will and freedom, turning into a marionette enslaved to their power. Now, with what limited consciousness is left, he begs with Roger and Monkey D. Garp to kill him — believing that dying would be a mercy in contrast to the torment he suffers. The truth of Rocks is thus very different from the story told by the former Fleet Admiral, and the manga shows him in a favorable manner during the Divine Isle events.

Is He Still Alive Today?

But was Rocks D. Xebec really meet his end? An intriguing theory is that he is still a slave to Imu in the current timeline, serving as The Man Marked By Flames, keeping the World Government's last Poneglyph in constant transit to prevent the One Piece from being found.

Garp's Secret Rebellion

A further protagonist of the Divine Isle event is Monkey D. Garp, who has faced criticism from followers for a long time for doing nothing as Akainu killed Ace. That feeling became even more intense after the timeskip, when he endangered everything to rescue the young Marine at Hachinosu, causing many to question why he couldn't do the same for his own grandson. Similar doubts have recently resurfaced with the Divine Isle flashback: how can Monkey D. Garp work for the Navy, aware the Global Authority treats genocide and enslavement as entertainment for the elite?

The truth reveals something different. The instant Monkey D. Garp saw the Gorosei's monstrous forms, he struck immediately. His partnership with Roger was not meant to defeat some villainous Xebec, but a bold act of defiance, an effort to halt Imu, who was manipulating Rocks D. Xebec as a tool to eliminate all in the Divine Isle, even apparently, even the World Nobles themselves. This event is probably the cause Monkey D. Garp detests the Celestial Dragons in the current era and why he not once wanted to be elevated to Fleet Admiral, answering straight to them.

History's Untrustworthy Narrators

Although the audience are seeing the Divine Isle event through a flashback narrated by Loki, including perspectives and occurrences he obviously was absent for, I think we can treat this version as entirely accurate. The series may offer an explanation in the future, maybe linked to the giant's still mysterious paramecia ability. Still, the God Valley event perfectly embodies the notion that the past is recorded by the winners. This mindset is {