The world of One Piece is filled with quite a lot of incredible mysteries and, over the years, one of the very biggest ones pertains to a legendary pirate who goes by the name of Rocks. Rocks was first introduced to fans during the Wano arc, between Act 2 and Act 3. This introduction came through the character of Sengoku and, immediately, it was made quite clear that this particular pirate was not an average one by any means.

In fact, fans were shocked to know that this pirate could have set a completely new benchmark for all others in the One Piece world, yet there is little to nothing that fans know about him. It was stressed upon quite a lot that Rocks died, but no visual confirmation of that was ever given and, to this day, fans have been wondering if that truly was the case.

Who Is Captain Rocks?

Rocks was a legendary pirate who existed in the world of One Piece several eras ago. He was one of the biggest powers on the seas nearly 40 years ago, which is when he was at the peak of his powers. Rocks was incredibly powerful and his skill was such that hardly anyone could even compete in battle against him. Rocks ruled the entire seas by himself and, to put that into perspective, one should note that the seas that Rocks ruled alone are now being watched over by Four Emperors. Now, that is not to say that Rocks was as strong as Yonko combined, but it certainly shows that his power and authority were significantly greater. Captain Rocks led a pirate crew named Rocks Pirates.

This pirate crew was incredibly powerful and consisted of some of the most outrageously overpowered members. In fact, these pirates were some of the strongest that fans had seen in the entirety of One Piece, many of which ended up defining eras of their own in the future. Notable members of the Rocks Pirates included Edward Newgate, who later came to be known as Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, who acquired the name of Big Mom, Shiki, the Flying Pirate, Kaido, the future strongest creature, Gloriosa, who fans snow to be an Elder with incredible wisdom, Captain John, and even the likes of Ochoku.

The Fate Of Captain Rocks

As mentioned earlier, fans do not know much about the life that Rocks led. Fans only know that he was an incredibly powerful force in the One Piece world and that he was involved in a major incident 38 years ago in the One Piece world. This incident, as many fans would know already, was the God Valley Incident. 38 years ago, on an island in West Blue, an event called the Native Hunting Games was being conducted. Essentially, these games saw to it that Celestial Dragons turned the entire population of an island unaffiliated with the World Government into targets. They then conducted a game to completely cleanse the island of its population and the winner of the game would get rewards in the form of powerful Devil Fruits.

This information was leaked out to the world and, thus, several powerful pirates were attracted to the island, among them the Rocks Pirates. When the Rocks Pirates arrived on the island, the Roger Pirates knew of their movements as well and Roger had his own score to settle with Rocks. Garp, knowing that Roger would be on the island, also arrived at God Valley. Furthermore, other powerful pirates from all over the world came to God Valley as well and this fight turned into a cataclysmic event the traces of which have been completely raised from history itself. Fans do not know what exactly happened on the island of God Valley on that day, however, according to reports, Captain Rocks fell at the hands of Roger and Garp. According to Sengoku, Rocks died on that day, however, fans did not actually get to see it happen and there are certainly major doubts over whether he actually died or not

Is Rocks D. Xebec Really Dead?

One of the most confusing aspects of Rocks’s story is the fact that it is being kept a secret. If Rocks was a character who simply died in God Valley 38 years ago, his story would not have needed to be kept a secret. For instance, fans have not even seen the face of the character Rocks even 5 years after he was first mentioned in the story. In fact, until One Piece chapter 1096, even a single dialogue from this character was not presented in One Piece and it is only recently that fans saw him issue his first command to his crew. Furthermore, Rocks’s fight against Garp and Roger was completely skipped over.

Usually, when Oda wants to skip a fight, fans do get to see the very first clash at the beginning and the rest of the fight is then completely skipped over to the aftermath. Oda, surprisingly, chose a very different strategy here and did not even let fans see the face of the character Rocks or any fight that he engaged in. Furthermore, nobody other than Sengoku has ever mentioned anything about the death of the character that is Rocks. Sengoku is the only confirmation that fans have that this character ended up dying, however, being a Marine, it might not be in their best interest to reveal this information, or what’s even worse is the fact that, since he wasn’t even there, perhaps even he could have been lied to by the higher-ups.

Big Mom, in Wano, suggested that Rocks fell on God Valley 38 years ago, however, it is quite clear from what little fans know of her activities in God Valley that she had no idea of where Rocks was. She stole Kaido’s Devil Fruit, gave it to him and, in the aftermath of the war, she was looking for Kaido, only to find him nowhere. Big Mom likely knew about his defeat from someone else and made her own way. Taking everything into consideration, it is quite clear that Rocks’s defeat was never confirmed in One Piece, nor was his death.

Rocks could very well have survived the God Valley Incident. Even if he lost to the collaborative force of Garp and Roger, he could still have gotten away or survived in some other way. There is absolutely no reason for Oda to not reveal this character or at least show him in the manga other than having elaborate plans for him in the future. What’s more, it is possible that Rocks actually succeeded in his goal on the island of God Valley 38 years ago. Fans know that the reward for the event being conducted on God Valley were two powerful Devil Fruits. However, in the previous chapter, there were clearly many Devil Fruit boxes in front of the Celestial Dragons. This means that Devil Fruit rewards were more than just two and, it is possible that he managed to eat one of them, which he wanted, and made his way. Fans will only find out more about Rocks’s death in the future when Oda throws more light on this very strange event.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1096, is set to be October 29, 2023.

Src: gamerant.com