What the Hell Is the Secret Behind God Valley in ‘One Piece’?

One of the most astonishing things about the iconic anime and manga series One Piece is that its mysteries somehow become more mysterious the more we learn about them. The first time we learned about the existence of the God Valley Incident was also when we learned about the existence of the Rocks Pirates. And since the Rocks Pirates were essentially a superstar group that contained younger versions of Big Mom, Kaido, and Whitebeard, most fans were too preoccupied with the question, “What the hell was up with the Rocks Pirates?!” to spare too much thought for “What’s the deal with God Valley?”

It’s only now, after chapter 1086, that “What’s the deal with God Valley?” has finally become a burning question. Now that we know one more piece of the puzzle, it’s become glaringly obvious how much we still don’t know. To understand exactly how much we don’t know (a lot), it’s best to back up and refresh on what we do know (very little).

This article will remain spoiler-free for anime watchers until the last section!

The God Valley Incident

We don’t know much about God Valley as a place. We really just know it as the setting for a major battle that occurred 38 years before the present day (ie, post-time-skip) of the series. What’s more, that battle—the appropriately named God Valley Incident—was between the Rocks Pirates and a temporary alliance between Marines led by Monkey D. Garp and (dun dun dun) the Roger Pirates.

Our limited knowledge of the God Valley Incident comes to us via Sengoku, during a meeting with the Navy in the aftermath of the announcement that Kaido and Big Mom have teamed up. According to Sengoku, Rocks D. Xebec, the captain of the Rocks Pirates, wanted to be “king of the world.” (Possible side question: did Rocks know about Imu?) His crew was openly hostile to the World Government—Sengoku equates them to “some kind of terrorist organization.”

Rocks amassed his pirate crew together to get “one big score.” Though not said explicitly, that score is probably what led the Rocks Pirates to God Valley. At the time, Celestial Dragons and their slaves were also present on the island. Garp’s Marine forces teamed up with Gol D. Roger and his pirate crew in order to protect the Celestial Dragons and their slaves (or so it seems). Together, the unlikely alliance wiped the Rocks Pirates out of existence.

Now, you might be wondering, doesn’t Garp despise the Celestial Dragons? Why the hell would a pirate, especially one with a moral compass like Roger, want to team up with the Navy to protect them? These are, indeed, the million-dollar questions. They hint that there’s more to this story than we know. My bet is that it probably has to do with what the “big score” was.

Regardless, we know that there were many multiple important outcomes of this battle. The Rocks Pirates were eradicated. Big Mom, at some point on that day, gave Kaido his Devil Fruit, which resulted in Kaido owing her a life debt. Thanks to information gleaned from promotional materials for One Piece Film: Red, we know that Roger and Silvers Rayleigh, took a treasure chest from God Valley which contained a baby Shanks. Which is probably ridiculously important. Ahem.

Furthermore, the island of God Valley itself “vanished without a trace” following the Incident. The island no longer exists, cannot be found on any maps, and has no mentions in official Government-sanctioned histories. In other words, God Valley was Ohara’d because something happened that the World Government really didn’t want people to know about.

Spoilers for One Piece chapter 1086 ahead!!

The former king and his family

Celestial Dragons are considered “gods” in the world of One Piece. This is seemingly where the “god” in “God Valley” comes from. What makes this truly interesting though, is that the former king of God Valley is not only a Celestial Dragon himself, but he’s also the “supreme commander” of the God’s Knights—an elite force of royal guards who act as the law enforcement in the holy land of Mary Geoise. And his name is St. Figarland Garling.

St. Figarland Garling no longer has land to rule over, but the fact that he was once the “ruler” of God Valley really makes you wonder what kind of place God Valley was, right? Since the Five Elders are also seemingly Celestial Dragons, it appears there’s a distinct chain of command even within the so-called “gods.” Still, that makes God Valley a place where one Celestial Dragon seemingly ruled over other Celestial Dragons. Even if it was just some kind of weird vacation spot. What’s up with that dynamic?

But if you’ve seen One Piece Film: Red, there’s another detail that might have caused you to downright faint. Because we learn in Red, in a nod to series canon, that we’re intimately familiar with someone who secretly bears the Figarland name: Shanks.

Remember how I said that Roger and Rayleigh finding Shanks in a treasure chest in God Valley was incredibly important? Yeah. Also, remember how Shanks was able to easily get an audience with the Five Elders during the Reverie, and everyone was like, “What the hell is up with that?!” Yeah. And how the primary silhouette within the God’s Knights bears a freaky resemblance to Shanks? Yeah.

Remember how right after that, we cut to this weird scene of Imu looking at a huge straw hat, which looks like a giant replica of the hat that Roger gave to Shanks, who then gave it to Luffy? Okay, I’m still pretty confused by that one. Especially since Roger had that hat as a wee rookie. But YEAH.

So. God’s Valley has a connection to the God’s Knights by way of St. Figarland Garling, who ruled God Valley and commands the God’s Knights. God Valley is also where Roger found Shanks, who sure seems like he’s continuing to play some role in this God’s Knights/God Valley lineage.

As I said: knowing more just reveals how little you actually know.

(featured image: Toei Animation)