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One Piece Chapter 1163 Review/Recap

How did Rocks D. Xebec die? When we first learned about Rocks from Sengoku, he said that he fell at the God Valley Incident at the hands of Gol D. Roger and Garp working together. Most of us, myself included, were focused on the fact that there was someone so tough that the future Pirate King and Hero of the Marines had to work together to beat him, but the context still had us shaking our heads. We know that the cover-up that they did it to save some Celestial Dragons was sus, but it turns out that Oda has already given us the answer to Rocks’ death. More importantly, it likely explains King Harald’s own death. They both died because of Imu and their technique, Domi Reversi.

Recap

With Saturn now possessed by Imu, the shadow ruler of the world wastes no time in clearing the field. They proceed to slaughter any unlucky Marines who saw them, sending most of them and the remaining pirate running for the hills. Garp, on the other hand, decides to charge straight in, not caring who Saturn is.

While the other Rocks pirates keep fighting for the treasure, Dragon almost makes it to a Marine ship with Shanks. Sadly, he gets knocked out and drops Shanks, who crawls into a treasure chest.

In the middle of everything, Rocks defiantly calls Imu the king of the bilge rats, while Imu calls him Davy Jones before the two begin fighting. Then Kaido wants a piece of the action, and Big Mom tries to attack him for stealing the fruit. The next thing we know, Rocks, Roger, Garp, Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaido all hit Imu with their strongest attacks at once.

It doesn’t work. Worse, Imu sees Eris and Teach trying to escape, enraging Rocks. But instead of going after them themselves, Imu decides to make Rocks end his own bloodline. Ensnared in Imu’s tentacles, Rocks is subjected to Domi Reversi, and begins to make a terrifying transformation.

Review

It’s official, you guys: One Piece is doing Rocks dirty. I don’t need to be a prophet or see the future to know how this is going to end for him. Imu is going to force Rocks to try and kill his wife and child, and then Roger and Garp will have to put him out of his misery. What an ignominious way to end the story of the man who ruled the seas before Roger came along. So, Sengoku might be right all along: Rocks falls at the hands of Garp and Roger, but not for the reasons he and others who weren’t there were told. It was a cover-up on top of a cover-up to keep the Marines from learning about the existence of Imu. More importantly, it was a way for Imu to keep the free-spirited and morally just Garp working with the Marines. Making him out as their hero would make it impossible for him to abandon them even after learning about Imu, and it would prevent anyone else from learning.

Beyond that, though, did you see how awesome that double-page spread was?!? Six of the strongest people in the world at the time hit Imu with their strongest attacks! That is something that we haven’t seen before or since! If it had been anyone else, they would likely be dead! Unfortunately, Imu isn’t anyone else. In fact, I’m not even sure if they’re human! The fact that Imu was able to take their hits and keep fighting, though, bodes ill for the Straw Hats. If the future King of the Pirates, Rocks, Garp, and three of the four future Yonko couldn’t do any damage, then the Straw Hats are in for it.

Domi Reversi is Truly Horrifying

The most terrifying aspect about this chapter, though, is what Imu does to Rocks. Rocks was someone who could fight on par with Roger and Harald, two of the strongest people in the entire series. Yet not even he was able to resist Domi Reversi. If someone like him is capable of falling to that technique, then what does that mean for Luffy and the others? It’s possible that Luffy might be an exception due to being the next Joy Boy, but I don’t want to risk seeing it.

This chapter does at least confirm something that I’ve already suspected: Imu is responsible for King Harald’s death. He must have used Dommi Reversi on Harald to turn him into a demon, forcing the Giants guarding him to kill him in self-defense. Loki would end up getting blamed for it since everyone already thought the worst about him, and the rest is history. All the more reason why Imu cannot conquer Elbaph, though.

This was a really great chapter. And I mean a really great chapter. We got to see just how terrifying Imu is thanks to scaling them against people many consider monsters. More importantly, we learn how Shanks found his way to Roger, as well as some world-building by showing the powers of the other Rocks Pirates. These next few chapters are going to be heart-breaking, though.

I Give “God Valley Battle Royale” a 4.5/5

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