The God Valley Incident is one of the most prominent historical events in the One Piece universe. Known as the fight that united longtime rivals, Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp, a union that saw the end of the reign of the infamous Rocks Pirates, this event also earned Garp his epithet as the “Hero of Marines.” But what actually happened in God Valley? Let’s discuss this.
Before we begin our discussion on the God Valley Incident, let us give our readers a spoiler alert for the content ahead.
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The God Valley Incident
Thirty-eight years before the current timeline, there was an incident that shook up the rest of the world and would later come to be known as the God Valley Incident. It started when the Celestial Dragons chose God Valley in the West Blue as the venue for the human-hunting game they played every three years.
For this hunting game, they went to any island they wanted and started hunting the residents and the slaves they brought with them.
The year God Valley was chosen as the venue for the game, Bartholomew Kuma, Emporio Ivankov, and Ginny were among the slaves brought from Mary Geoise to act as prey in the hunting game. Saint Figarland Garling, who was a Holy Knight at that time, was a participant in the game and its highest scorer.
There were also two powerful Devil Fruits on the island, possibly meant to be prizes for the winners. These two Devil Fruits were the Paramecia-type Nikyu Nikyu no Mi and the Mythical Zoan-type Uo Uo no Mi; Model: Seiryu.
Lured by these Devil Fruits, Rocks Pirates invaded God Valley, throwing the hunting game into chaos. The crew decided to have a competition among themselves to see who got the Devil Fruits first. While Charlotte Linlin, Shiki, Kaido, and Buckingham Stussy were excited about the competition, Whitebeard and Gloriosa were less so. Captain John, Shiki, and other crew members of the Rocks Pirates were also present.
The arrival of the Rocks Pirates on God Valley put the safety of the Celestial Dragons into question, even with the Holy Knights present to protect them. While this was going on inside the island, its news spread outside too. When Roger heard about it, he set his course toward God Valley to fight Rocks and his crew.
Vice-admiral Garp, who was vacationing at that time, got the news of the chaos in God Valley from Kong. Though he initially expressed disinterest in the safety of the Celestial Dragons, he rushed to the island with his team when he heard Roger would be there. These four forces clashed together in God Valley, resulting in a series of explosive battles that would result in the end of Rocks’ era, and known as the God Valley Incident.
Garp vs. Rocks Pirates vs. Roger Pirates vs. Holy Knights
While the God Valley Incident is famous in history, a lot of information is missing from the world. The truth of the incident is only revealed recently in Kuma’s backstory. Kuma, a child slave for the Celestial Dragons at that time, was present on the island and saw the beginning of the incident. He, along with Ivankov, even had an altercation with Big Mom over the Devil Fruits, resulting in Kuma eating the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi and the other Devil Fruit falling into Big Mom’s hands. She’d later give the fruit to her crewmate Kaido.
In history, the God Valley Incident is known as the incident where Roger joined forces with Garp to defeat Rocks Pirates. There is no mention of the Celestial Dragons or the hunting game. However, in Kuma’s memories, we see that the incident was not a three-way, but a four-way battle between Garp and his team, Roger Pirates, Rocks Pirates, and the Holy Knights.
Kuma escaped the island with Ivankov, Ginny, and the rest of the slaves to the Sorbet Kingdom with his newly acquired Nikyu Nikyu no Mi before Roger Pirates and Garp arrived on God Valley. This is why we only know the details of the beginning of the incident while the rest of it is left to our imagination.
The reason for the invasion of the Rocks Pirates on God Valley was that the World Government stole a certain treasure from the Pirate Island: Hachinosu. The Rocks Pirates came to God Valley to retrieve the treasure and extract vengeance from the World Nobles while Roger Pirates followed them for a confrontation. Garp also joined the fight to go up against Roger, his longtime rival. This led to the four-way battle on the island.
Known Characters Involved in the God Valley Incident
The God Valley Incident is one of the most prominent events in history and a lot of big names are associated with this incident. As mentioned before, we don’t know the entirety of the incident in detail, and thus, don’t know all the people who participated in the incident. But there are some confirmed characters who fought in the God Valley Incident.
Let’s see which characters were participants in the historic event:
Rocks Pirates
- Rocks D. Xebec
- Edward Newgate aka Whitebeard
- Charlotte Linlin aka Big Mom
- Kaido
- Shiki
- Miss Buckingham Stussy
- Gloriosa
- Captain John
Roger Pirates
- Gol D. Roger
- Silvers Rayleigh
- Scopper Gabban
- Millet Pine
- Sunbell
Garp’s Team
- Monkey D. Garp
- Bogard
- Marine officers
Holy Knights
- Saint Figarland Garling
- Two other Holy Knights (at least)
Who Fought Whom?
In the four-way battle between the Rocks Pirates, Roger Pirates, Garp’s team, and the Holy Knights, it’s unclear who actually fought whom. Every team had powerful members, some of them even legendary, so the fights must have been intense. Since we don’t know who fought whom in the God Valley Incident, all we can do is assume the fights from the bits and pieces of information we get throughout the story.
Rocks Pirates vs. Roger Pirates
The most obvious fight is between the Roger Pirates and the Rocks Pirates. Aside from their prominent members, both crews had a large number of lackeys who undoubtedly clashed against each other. There were also the Marine soldiers who were enemies of both pirate crews. So, there must have been a three-way chaotic fight among the weaker members of each team.
The Holy Knights, on the other hand, are a proud bunch who would never engage with weaklings. Every Holy Knight present must have only fought prominent members of the Rocks Pirates.
Here are some of the probable fights that might have happened in the God Valley Incident. There is no official confirmation on these, they are just theories of what could have happened in God Valley at that point in time. Some of these theories are based on connecting dots with various statements from characters and some are purely probable conjectures.
Whitebeard vs. Garling
A popular theory about the God Valley Incident is that Whitebeard clashed against Garling in the historic event. This theory came to be when Garling was introduced in One Piece Chapter 1086. Currently serving as the Supreme Commander of the Holy Knights, his introduction mentioned him as the ruler of God Valley once upon a time.
However, in Chapter 1095, Garling was revealed to be never the king of God Valley but one of the participants and the top scorer of the hunting game on the island. It was also during this game that Rocks Pirates invaded God Valley and the two forces clashed. It’s entirely possible that Garling fought Whitebeard during this encounter.
Another statement that many fans took as a clue to this theory was during Whitebeard’s meeting with Shanks. The older pirate told Shanks that whenever he saw his face, the old wound he’d gotten from “that guy” ached. At that time, everyone believed “that guy” Whitebeard spoke about was Roger, Shanks’ old captain.
However, after the introduction of Garling, fans began to connect the dots between the Celestial Dragon and Shanks. Garling is from the Figarland family and so is Uta, Shanks’ adopted daughter. Given the mystery around Shanks and his connection to the World Government, many believed there must be more to the relationship between Garling, Shanks, and Uta than revealed until now.
Shanks was also found as a baby by Roger in the aftermath of the God Valley Incident which is a very curious coincidence. Because of all these plot threads connecting Shanks and Garling, a section of fans theorize that Shanks is actually the son of Garling and “that guy” Whitebeard was referring to is not Roger, but Garling.
There is no proof of this match-up, but given the timing and the similar power levels of the characters, it’s quite possible.
Rocks vs. Roger and Garp
The most obvious yet unconfirmed fight in the God Valley Incident is Rocks D. Xebec vs. Roger and Garp. Rocks was the captain of the Rocks Pirates as well as one of the most infamous pirates of his time. He was a rival to both Roger and Garp and it’s said that it took the both of them to team up to defeat Rocks Pirates.
However, there is no mention of which one of them fought Rocks in the concluding battle or whether they teamed up against him in a two-vs.-one fight. It could be possible that it was Roger who fought and defeated Rocks since he became the most prolific pirate in the world after the God Valley Incident. But it could also be Garp who earned the title of “the Hero of the Marines” after this incident.
The two could also have teamed up against Rocks which would imply that the fallen pirate was stronger than either of them. But whatever the case was, it’s irrefutable that Rocks was one of the strongest characters of the series.
Legacy
Cited as one of the most prominent historic events, the God Valley Incident has a significant legacy. This incident saw the end of an era where Rocks and his crew terrorized the seas. Roger instead became the most prominent pirate of his time, earning the highest bounty revealed in the story as of yet and eventually becoming the King of the Pirates.
The God Valley Incident was also the trigger for the birth of many prolific pirate crews which would eventually become one of the strongest forces in the world. Former members of the Rocks Pirates started their own crews.
- After the disbandment of the Rocks Pirates in the aftermath of the God Valley Incident, Whitebeard formed the Whitebeard Pirates to fulfill his want of a family. Whitebeard would eventually come to be known as the “strongest man in the world” after the death of Roger and one of the four Yonko.
- Charlotte Linlin would later also form Big Mom Pirates, consisted entirely of her children, and become a Yonko. The same goes for Kaido, the Governor-General of Beast Pirates and another future Yonko, called the “strongest creature in the world.” Shiki would form the Golden Lion Pirates and eventually become the first inmate of Impel Down.
- It’s unknown what happened to the rest of the crew after the incident but the future of some of them are revealed. Gloriosa would eventually return to Amazon Lily and she currently serves as an elder advisor to Boa Hancock, the current empress of the Kuja tribe. She’s now known as Elder Nyon.
- Buckingham Stussy would eventually end up with a clone created by Vegapunk. She is currently known as Buckin and claims to be the mother of Whitebeard’s son, Edward Weevil. Together with her son, she looks for the treasure left by Whitebeard and hunts down his remaining crew.
- The most mysterious legacy of the God Valley Incident is none other than Shanks himself. Roger found Shanks as a baby in God Valley with no knowledge of his parentage and took the baby in. Shanks’ true identity is one of the greatest mysteries of One Piece and the God Valley Incident is an important part of it.
Conclusion
This is where we conclude our discussion on what actually happened in the God Valley Incident. Thanks to Kuma’s memories, we only know the beginning and legacy of the incident. Hopefully, we’ll eventually see the entirety of it in the future. Until then, keep reading One Piece, and don’t forget to check out Otakus’ Notes for more content like this.
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Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.
