What Were Rocks And Roger Doing On God Valley In One Piece #1096?

one piece chapter 1096 rocks roger glhf (4)

It seems like a simple question, right? One Piece manga chapter #1096 continues a flashback of Kuma’s background and history, including a chunky section dedicated to one of the most speculated on locations in the One Piece mythos: God Valley. This island has been wiped from history in the present-day point in the story, but we know that this was where all of the most renowned and legendary figures in the One Piece world did battle. Now we’re finally getting a look at what actually happened on God Valley before it disappeared and, honestly, we’re still left with a lot of question. The biggest one, for me, is exactly what Rocks and Roger were there for.

The obvious answer is the treasures that had been gathered on God Valley. Six treasure chests awaited the winners of the “hunting game” that the Celestial Dragons were holding on the island. In reality, of course, was a sick ethnic cleansing, where all of the island’s inhabitants – and some additional undesirables – are to be eliminated. The promise is that they will be freed if they can survive for three weeks, but in the history of these games, nobody has ever survived. It’s a false hope, the only intention being to make the people attempt to survive, to flee, and make them more interesting to hunt.

We know that two of the chests contain rare devil fruits: specifically, the Paw-Paw Fruit which we now associate with Kuma, and the Mythical Fish-Fish Fruit Model Dragon which we of course know is Kaido’s. These are incredibly powerful abilities, and make for worthwhile prizes, even to the spoilt Celestial Dragons and Holy Knights.

Big Mom and Kaido definitely show a degree of interest in the devil fruits here, but the other members of the Rocks Pirates aren’t necessarily interested. Sure, Captain John says “That’s my treasure!” while drinking down some booze, but that might not be related to the devil fruits at all. Instead, we know that Captain John died and left behind something precious – Luffy gave Captain John’s Treasure Mark to Buggy during Impel Down – and in this chapter we also know that the World Government took something from Hachinosu, also known as Pirate Island.

If we assume the treasure stolen from Pirate Island is, in fact, Captain John’s treasure, the same one that Buggy is searching for pre-timeskip, then it can’t be either one of the devil fruits we know of. The point is that there’s more to plunder on this island than the two devil fruits that are the target for Ivankov and Kuma.

The biggest hint to Rocks’ true goal is what Whitebeard says. “I just know that fool Rocks will lose sight of the goal! We have to be certain first!” Certain of what, exactly? The best guess would be that someone or something is on the island.

Shiki replies to Whitebeard with “Stop actin’ like you’re the leader here! I’ll blow ‘em all up!” and with that we can probably guess that it’s an individual – or a group of individuals – and that Shiki would prefer them all to, um, die.

In fairness, the Rocks crew is scattered in their ideals and goals. They’ve come together because of a common cause and goal, not because they necessarily like one another. Big Mom is happier to steal some treasures and move on, while Kaido is more preoccupied with what Roger might do next. It also seems like the crew go on their own paths once they land on the island, with Big Mom beelining for the devil fruits to intercept Ivankov and Kuma. The group is scattershot, and so are their priorities, but Miss. Buckingham says that it’s the final battle – whatever has brought them together, the reason for it is on God Valley.

This is all followed up by Roger making land with his Silvers Rayleigh and Scopper Gabon in tow. Roger says “It’s been a whole year! Do you have any idea how I’ve felt all this time?!” This line is giving us a lot of questions. We don’t really know what could’ve happened to Roger a year prior to God Valley, but it’s likely an encounter with someone. The question is, was that encounter with Rocks, or someone else?

I have one more piece of evidence that I think points us towards an answer: the reason why Roger and Rocks are actually on the island. Ginny leaked the details of the Celestial Dragon’s sick game, and that’s why pirates are showing up there. This is no doubt at least partially because of the treasure stolen from Pirate Island – just like how the One Piece turned sailors into pirates because of their ambition, these pirates are flocking to God Valley to grab a valuable treasure for themselves.

But I don’t think that’s something that would interest Roger, and he has another reason to be here, a reason that ended up forcing him to oppose Rocks. Garp is on the way to the island, and we know that he’ll side with Roger in an event that sees them protecting the Celestial Dragons, but why, exactly? This isn’t just because Roger and Rocks wanted a scrap, as on a later page we see “Wait, Rocks!” followed by “Out of my way, Roger!” Rocks clearly isn’t here for Roger, but Roger just might be here to stop Rocks from accomplishing something.

What makes all of this even more mysterious is the relationship between Roger and the former members of the Rocks pirates later on. In supplemental material we see that Shiki’s respect for Roger had him attack Marineford by himself out of sheer outrage that a man of his stature would let himself get captured. In Oden’s flashback during the Wano arc, we see that although Whitebeard and Roger are rivals, they have great respect for one another, treating their battles more like a friendly rivalry than a true war. Finally, Gloriosa – who is better known as Amazon Lily’s Granny Nyon – is shown to have huge respect for Silvers Rayleigh and Roger, so much so that they would allow them onto Amazon Lily, an island that is intended to be exclusively for women.

This at least speaks to the fact that Rayleigh and Roger are not, and never have been, on the side of the Celestial Dragons. Roger may have inadvertently protected them with Garp on God Valley, but it wasn’t solely to protect them – even Garp himself had very little interest in that. Luffy was only welcome on Amazon Lily after he’d shown Conqueror’s Haki and they discovered that he assaulted a Celestial Dragon. Boa Hancock and her sisters lead Amazon Lily, and they detest the Celestial Dragons more than anything, so the fact that they’re all so amicable with Roger’s former crewmates indicates that Roger, at one point, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was no ally to the rulers of the world.

So there’s one question left, I think. Why did Rocks and Roger fight, if they originally had no intention to do so? Why did Roger and Garp both feel the need to step in and stop whatever Rocks was trying to accomplish? That remains a mystery, honestly, but if I’m to take a classic stab-in-the-dark, I’d say that it has something to do with the rare minerals on God Valley. In the non-canon One Piece Film Z, the concept of Dynastones was introduced: explosive material that can be harvested on rare islands. I’m not sure if Dynastones themselves are going to become relevant in the main story, but the concept of a dangerous, volatile, and valuable natural resource? Given that the rich natural resources of God Valley have already been mentioned in chapter #1096, I think this is a solid lock.

Pirates wouldn’t be coming here specifically for the natural resources, mind, but Rocks could potentially be planning to blow up the Celestial Dragons gathered on the island – as Shiki suggested – potentially as some act of revenge. Pirates hating the Celestial Dragons certainly doesn’t require stretching the imagination too much. Each member of the Rocks Pirates might have their own reasons to be on God Valley, but there is also a central goal, and even though Roger stepped in the way of it, Shiki, Whitebeard, and Gloriosa never held any animosity towards him.

Roger is a man who knows the value of doing something at the right time, in the right place, and Rocks is clearly hinted at being impulsive – a lot like Luffy, really. I think that whatever Rocks is setting out to do here, Roger has to step in, because it’s the wrong place, and the wrong time.

At least, that’s my working theory for now. All the talk of treasure almost seems like a distraction, because that’s clearly not the primary goal of Rocks or Roger – even if Roger is more than happy to leave the island with a few plundered chests. So, what were Rocks and Roger on God Valley for? I have no idea, but we with the evidence above, the answer is slowly becoming clearer.