The God Valley Incident? More Like the Goon Valley Incident

One Piece Chapter 1159 Review/Recap

The God Valley Incident. Ever since Oda name-dropped it back in the Wano Country Arc, he’s been slowly revealing why it’s one of the most important events in the entire series. When the Celestial Dragons came to hunt down the people of God Valley for cruel sport, the island became the site of a battle between the Navy, God’s Knights, and the toughest pirates in the world. Fans already figured out that this whole thing started because the World Nobles kidnapped Shakky; that much is certain. We also knew that this would somehow lead to Shanks, the child of a Celestial Dragon, to be adopted by Gol D. Roger. However, Oda has proceeded to drop two more bombshells about it with this chapter. This incident wasn’t just a canon event for Shanks, Kuma, and others. It was one for the future, Blackbeard, and one other character: Monkey D. Dragon!

Recap

Thirty-nine years ago, the entire world was thrown into chaos. In the middle of the night, someone had infiltrated Hachinosu and had kidnapped their beloved treasure, Shakky!

Pirates everywhere were wracked with rage and despair when they heard the news. It was so bad, the economy ground to a halt for weeks! But no trace of Shakky could be found.

A year later, Garling returned to God Valley and met his sons, Shanks and Shamrock, for the first time. However, he wasn’t there to visit his former flame. He was there to annex the island for the Human Hunting Tournament. So he stabbed the boys mother and left her for dead while the Marines came in to capture all the islanders while the other slaves were brought in. Yet thanks to Ginny and Ivankov, the news got leaked to a young Morgans, who then leaked it to pirates everywhere, including how Shakky was being offered as the grand prize! Outraged, the Rocks Pirates, the Roger Pirates, and most of the pirates at Hachinosu set sail for God Valley.

Before Rocks could make it to God Valley, though, he was intercepted by Harald, tasked by the Government with killing him. Taking him aside, Rocks revealed the real reason he was headed to God Valley: it was his hometown, and where he sent his son and his mother. Moreover, he revealed his real name: Davy D. Xebec, descendant of the legendary pirate, Davy D. Jones. The Government had been hunting his family for centuries, and now his wife and kid were in danger. After hearing this, Rocks and Harald “fight,” but Rocks wins and sails away.

Meanwhile, the Human Hunting Tournament is about to begin at God Valley, with Shakky being shown off as the grand prize, along with an announcement about members of the Davy Clan being targets. Meanwhile, Monkey D. Dragon, still a young Marine cadet, finds Shanks and Shamrock’s mother begging for someone not to let their father take them away.

And with that, the curtain rises on the God Valley Incident.

Review

If I’m being honest with you guys, when we started this flashback, I thought that this would just be about Loki’s life. I expected this to tell us more about Harald, as well. However, I never expected this to also give us more details about the legendary Rocks D. Xebec, or about the God Valley Incident. To be honest, I was hoping that Oda would save all of that for a spin-off prequel miniseries. The fact that he’s including all this now, though, can only mean one thing: he really is getting ready for the endgame. And that means he needs to tie up whatever loose ends that won’t be covered in the Final War. And the series is all the better for it. Especially since we now know that a big reason the God Valley Incident took place was because of simping.

Admit it: We all Knew Shakky was the Reason

Like I said earlier, most fans had already put two-and-two together the minute the story called Shakky the treasure of Hachinosu. We knew that this meant she was kidnapped by the World Government to be offered as a prize in the World Nobles’ genocidal tournament. Yet actually seeing what happened is even more hilarious than we thought. The fact that it wasn’t just most pirates, but the entire world, that was heartbroken over Shakky’s abduction is some god-tier levels of simping! And it only got funnier when you saw how almost all the big-name pirates at the time went on the warpath to get her back. Even Rayleigh, who is normally very composed, was ready to go to war. It’s hilarious, but also heartwarming, to see how much Shakky meant to all those people.

This chapter also all but confirms how Shakky got kidnapped: Ochoku sold her out to the World Government, and likely stayed behind. With Rocks out of the way, he would become the new ruler of Hachinosu until Blackbeard took over. Considering how the God Valley Incident led to Rocks’ apparent death, I’d call that belated karma.

This was a Canon Event for Dragon and Shanks

What makes the events about to take place a canon event isn’t just how it leads to the fall of Rocks, though. It’s about how it will define the story of two of the series biggest supporting characters, Dragon and Shanks.

We learned from Kuma’s memories that Dragon did try to follow his father’s footsteps in the Marines at first. But he left when he couldn’t tolerate how corrupt they and their masters were. I wasn’t expecting him to be among the Marines sent to annex God Valley, but him being there and seeing the evil the Celestial Dragons will likely be the turning point in his life. Most fans have already guessed that the God Valley Incident will lead to Dragon deserting the Marines in favor of trying to save Shanks and Shamrock. It’s highly possible that he was the one who ensured that the infant Shanks found his way to the Roger Pirates, and Roger basically adopted him as his son. Thanks to that, Shanks was able to grow up to be everything the Celestial Dragons aren’t: kind, selfless, humble, and strong. Yet Dragon’s inability to save Shamrock would put him down the path to becoming a revolutionary.

The Fans Were Right About the Davy Jones Connection to Blackbeard

Lastly, we need to talk about the big reveal about Rocks D. Xebec, or rather, Davy D. Xebec. Many fans have speculated that Oda would eventually include Davy Jones in One Piece. After all, Davy Jones is a mythical figure often associated with pirates. Given how Blackbeard, another legendary icon of piracy, is in One Piece, fans speculated that the two had a connection. They were right. Davy Jones was a D. carrier, and Rocks and Teach are his descendants. Rocks might think the Celestial Dragons targeting God Valley was a coincidence, but the readers know it isn’t. They did it on purpose as a trap.

In the last chapter, Garling said he found something at God Valley that Imu would be interested in. There’s no doubt that that had to be Teach and his mother. Given how Rocks is the only known outsider to make it to Imu’s inner sanctum, you can bet they would use this to their advantage. Thus, the tournament in God Valley was an elaborate trap to lure Rocks so that they could finally kill him and wipe out the bloodline of Davy D. Jones for good. And while we don’t know the full details, we know that their plan was only partly successful. Rocks would fall thanks to Garp and Roger, but he likely did so ensuring that his son would escape. Now that son has grown to become a threat to everyone in the world, with only Luffy able to stop him.

This is Gonna be Good!

When Oda first introduced the God Valley Incident, it was a means to provide context about how Big Mom and Kaido served on the same crew. In true Oda fashion, though, he’s turned it into one of the most important events in One Piece’s backstory. Now we may get to see just what happened, if only partly. There’s a good chance he’s saving the rest for Teach’s backstory, but with Shanks appearing in this flashback, there’s a good chance we’ll see how he got to safety. And I, for one, cannot wait to see what happens! This really is the Island of Destiny!!!

I Give “The Island of Destiny” a 4.5/5

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