- [Man] So there was once very fascinating theory
that the word Rocks itself was in fact an anagram.
With each letter representing
the name of a member of the crew.
Such as C for Charlotte Linlin, K for Kaido,
or even S for subscribe to the grand line review
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Hello and welcome to the grand line review,
a source for everything one piece.
And today we have a rather exciting topic
as we will be endeavoring to examine
everything we know about one of the most influential
and insane pirate crews in the history of the world
being the Rocks Pirates.
And just in case you've missed it in the video title,
there is a spoiler warning in place for this video
because if you are an anime only watcher
or just not up to our my free of 101 a manga
you might, just might want to think twice
about watching this.
Because there is some pretty groundbreaking stuff
that we will be going into.
So feel free to just casually hit that subscribe button
and come back at a later date.
But for everyone else, we have a fairly epic journey
of insight to embark on.
And of course everything commences with our very first
mention of the word Rocks, which occurred in chapter 907
as part of a banquet of revelations
that was the reverie arc.
Now slight etymological note here.
Rocks was originally translated as rox as in r o x
by the official English translation,
as well as several scan groups.
However, this was later amended when the Rocks name
was reminisced in a manga
and its official spelling is now r o c k s.
So I don't wanna be seeing any of this r o x nonsense.
But what even are Rocks?
Well, they came up in conversation as the Marines
became aware that two of the four Emperors,
being Big Mom and Kaido,
signaled the potential of an alliance.
A very worrying factor that prompted Rear Admiral Hina
to ask, "But Garp speaking of Big Mom and Kaido,
isn't that the reason why you're considered a naval hero?"
At which point Monkey D Garp interjects with,
"Oh, you mean Rocks.
I figured you were too young to know about that Hina.
Before Roger it was their era.
But that was over 40 years ago."
And with this one mind the Rocks Pirates
were born in our minds and pretty much changed everything
we thought we knew about the One Piece World.
Well, maybe that's an exaggeration,
but it did give us a pretty brilliant insight
into a time before Roger,
which is something that I never even knew I needed
before it was presented to us.
One piece is a primarily generational story after all.
With the core focus on Roger's generation,
Shanks' generation and of course, Luffy's generation.
So to hear of a time before Roger's cohort fully took over
was pretty endlessly exciting and still very much is.
However, the big implication here was that both Big Mom
and Kaido were part of the same pirate crew.
Which seemed nigh on unimaginable
by our modern views of them.
But little did we know that was just a taste
of the sheer insanity to come.
And we wouldn't have to wait too long
to discover more pivotal information on this crew,
which would come in the form of chapter 957.
When Fleet Admiral Sengoku expanded on their background
with the following.
The Rocks Pirates were a collection of individuals
who came together on the pirate island of Fullalead
years ago to make one big score.
They were a fiery bunch constantly killing one another
within the group.
He then went on to say that they were captained
by a man named Rocks D Xebec.
Adding yet another character to the roster
of those wielding the mighty D.
But not only that, for the first time we also had
a parallel drawn to another famed D holder
being Marshall D teach.
Prior to this moment he was very much the black sheep
or awkward uncle of the D clan, as he was the antithesis
of every other member that we'd met.
But the existence of Xebec went on to show that Blackbeard
is not as much of an aberration as we may think.
And this parallel only becomes stronger
because a nice fun fact that was dropped
prior to introducing Xebec into the series
was the name of Blackbeard's current flagship,
the Sabre of Xebec.
Very, very strongly hinting that Blackbeard
has the inherited will of Xebec
in much the same way that Luffy does with Roger.
Furthermore, Blackbeard's home base
is currently Fullalead island
which is where the Rocks Pirates were formed.
And just as a side note,
this island is called Hachinosu in Japanese
and it's one of those things
that just doesn't quite translate nicely into English.
I mean, Hachinosu directly translated means beehive.
But it's a colloquial term to refer
to riddling someone with bullets.
Hence why it's called Fullalead
as in full of lead in English.
But with that side story over,
to add to the idea of Xebec and Roger
corresponding to Blackbeard and Luffy,
Xebec was also labeled as Roger's first
and perhaps greatest foe, which is a pretty big claim.
Considering the pirate king had the likes of Garp
and Whitebeard to deal with during his time.
So Xebec would appear to be something else entirely.
And according to Sengoku, Xebec's ambition was to become
the king of the world.
Which is kind of like becoming the anti Pirate King.
Where the pirate king is the individual
with the most freedom, the king of the world
would be the individual with the most control.
So it seems only natural that figures
such as Xebec and Roger would come to clash in that regard.
Although with what we currently know
that would make Xebec's greatest enemy
the world government itself.
As he and his crew would have acted
sort of like a super evil revolutionary army.
In fact, Sengoku stated that the Rocks Pirates
directed hostilities against world government
like some kind of terrorist organization.
So they were pretty damn serious
about this whole world domination angle.
And while it might seem like an absurd idea
for one pirate crew to be capable of such thing,
when we do expand on its members,
all of a sudden it seems pretty exceptionally possible.
So under the command of Xebec, as mentioned before,
we had Big Mom and Kaido.
Very notably though this was a much younger
Big Mom and Kaido.
I mean, we don't know exactly when the crew was formed,
but it was at least 38 years ago.
Which would have put
Charlotte Linlin in her late 20s or very early 30s.
Which is known by fans as the,
"Oh my god Big Mom is hot time period."
Meanwhile, Kaido's age is currently unknown,
so it's very difficult to place him.
However, believe it or not,
he was an apprentice pirate on this crew.
Meaning that he was very much the lowest ranking member.
And this might also indicate
that he was quite quite young at the time.
He was also nowhere near as powerful as his modern day form.
But still any crew sporting even a baby Kaido
is not to be taken lightly.
That factor only becomes more apparent
as we examine its other members
which also included one Edward Newgate, aka Whitebeard,
the individual who would go on to become known
as the strongest man in the world.
And he would have been in his early to mid 30s,
back in the times when he was sporting
his luscious blonde locks.
But with this presence, the Rocks Pirates have turned
from a serious threat into an insane global catastrophe.
Because three members of this crew would go on
to become emperors of the sea.
And other big names also featured include very surprisingly
Golden Lion Shiki.
Surprising because he is of course,
the main antagonist of one piece film strong world.
And to this day remains the only primary film villain
ever inserted into the canon of the series.
Mostly thanks to chapter zero
and a bit of a name drop here and there.
However, it should always be noted
that the events of strong world itself are still not canon.
But that is another massive heavy hitter
because Shiki was yet another rival of Roger
who almost got the better of him on at least one occasion
but as is fate things ultimately did not go Shiki's way.
Another intriguing member is the blandly named Captain John.
Although I suppose he wasn't a captain at the time.
Regardless, he was a moderately famous pirate.
So much so that Buggy the Clown has been on the hunt
for Captain John's treasure in the series.
Which he may very well have actually found
thanks to Luffy giving him the armband map
during the Impel Down Arc.
Which might also explain how Buggy
funded his pirate dispatch squad.
In any case, what's cooler is that we have actually seen
Captain John in the series.
Or at least what remains of Captain John,
as get Gekko Moria was able to acquire his corpse
and turn him into a zombie.
Although after Moria's defeat
he became a lifeless corpse once more.
And at this stage there were only two other
confirmed members of the Rocks Pirates,
one being the very vaguely named Silver Axe,
as well as another known as Wang Zhi, also known as Ochoku,
the latter of which is based
on a real life Chinese pirate from the 1500s.
However, we currently have no other information
on either of these figures.
But with all of these heavy hitters and future captains,
you might be asking yourselves, how did they all get along?
And the answer is simply that they didn't.
Which is a big part of why the name Rocks
isn't terribly well known in the current day.
Sengoku posited the explanation that
while they got long so terribly
that none of them actually wanted to tell the tale.
And this went on to more or less be confirmed
by Whitebeard himself in chapter 964.
When Kozuki Oden requested to join his crew in a flashback
and Whitebeard basically told Oden,
"You're not the type of person who serves someone else.
And I know what happens when you get people like that
together in a group.
Had plenty of bad experiences with my last crew."
And in fact, I even brought up before that Sengoku
claimed the Rocks Pirates were consistently
killing one another within the crew itself.
So it seemed like a very survival of the fittest
sort of scenario.
Although it is a testament to theIr leader Xebec
that this crew was able to function
in any way, shape or form.
But another big reason why the Rocks Pirates aren't much
more well known is because oddly enough,
the world government itself covered up much of their deeds.
Now there could be any number of reasons for this.
One of which is that they simply
did not want to glorify piracy.
Which we have seen in the modern day
happen with Luffy actually.
However, there is another much more impactful reason
for their cover up.
And this has to do with the ultimate fall
of the Rocks Pirates.
Which occurred on a mysterious island known as God Valley.
38 years ago, God Valley marked the final stand
of the Rocks Pirates who were wiped out in one fell swoop
by Monkey D Garp.
Which is the act that earned him the title
"The hero of the Marines."
Or at least that's how it was reported.
Because in reality, Garp was unable to defeat
this group on his own.
And instead, he formed a temporary alliance
with Gol D Roger himself.
And together the two of them managed to defeat
the Rocks Pirates.
And while we aren't exactly sure of what part
they played in all of this, weirdly enough,
both Roger and Garp fought in some way
to defend the world nobles.
Which seems quite out of character for both of them.
What with Roger being a pirate
and directly opposed to their rule,
and Garp just possessing a strong distaste for them.
So much so that he has refused the rank of admiral
so as to not be under their direct control.
But the presence of the world nobles
most certainly has something to do
with why the world government has kept
the Rocks pirates name so secretive,
as well as God Valley itself actually.
In fact, in the modern day you won't find many people
who have heard this name because according to Sengoku,
that's because you won't find any map
featuring an island called God Valley.
As a matter of fact, God Valley itself
vanished without a trace.
Of course, implying that the world government had something
to do with this erasure.
Whether that be via rubustical
or through hiding knowledge of it from the world.
Kind of like Laugh Tale really.
One of the many, many mysteries
we still have yet to solve in this series.
In any case, following this, the Rocks Pirates disbanded.
Although what became of Xebec himself is currently unknown.
However, he is said to have died, allegedly.
Whether this was in battle or not,
once again, we don't know.
And as for everyone else,
well, we're well and truly aware
of the impact that they would go on to have in this world.
Meaning that most of what we know
about the modern piracy system did spawn directly
from this singular crew,
which is pretty wild to think about.
And at this stage I should also say that there are several
other characters who are speculated
to have been members of the Rocks Pirates.
One of which would be Miss Bakkin,
the mother of Edward Weevil
and self proclaimed former lover of Whitebeard.
Bakkin was said by Mako to have sailed
on the same ship as Whitebeard close to 40 years ago.
Which would all but confirm
that she was a member of the Rocks Pirates,
although it still has yet to be explicitly stated.
And in a similar vein, you could potentially maybe
assume that Stroisan was a member of the Rocks pirates,
since he teamed up with big mom when she was five years old.
Although there's nothing to say that Big Mom
didn't temporarily leave their growing Empire
to go and do her own thing.
Meanwhile, it's also very possible that Shakky
was a member of the Rocks pirates.
But this is much more speculation
based on Ethan Buck and Stroison.
Essentially, Shakky has stated
that she was a pirate once chased by Garp
and that she gave up piracy 40 years ago.
Which is that magic Rocks time period number.
However, it needs to be noted that Shakky
said this pre time skip
meaning that she retired from piracy 42 years ago now.
A much more awkward number.
Because that leaves a four year gap
between Shakky leaving piracy
and the disbandment of the Rocks.
So it doesn't line up particularly nicely
and I guess it is still technically possible
that she was a member.
But Shakky could have just as easily
been a prominent pirate elsewhere
somewhere not Rocks related.
But even without Shakky the Rocks pirates are undoubtedly
the most stacked powerhouse crew
we have ever heard of in this series,
and probably will ever hear of.
Featuring an all star lineup of truly terrifying figures
whose influence still and always has been
paramount in the story of one piece.
In fact, at the time of this recording,
we have our hands full Amano dealing
with two of their former members,
one of which being the apprentice Kaido.
And we still have so much left to learn about this group.
Making me infinitely hyped
for a hopeful eventual Rocks flashback.
But for now, I'm afraid that's everything we know
about the Rocks pirates.
But what do you guys think?
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