Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSyDfAMfYFA

Cover

On the cover, we see Yamato, O-chou, and Kiku praying at the grave of the hero of Ringo, who we were told was born in the West Blue and lived in Ringo. Here we are told even further that this hero died protecting the village from Kaidou and that there was no trace of his body left behind. Once again, I’d like to suggest the idea that this is Jigoro, the zombie from Thriller Bark who was possessed by Zoro’s shadow, as he was said to be from West Blue but has a fairly Wano-like name. The fact there was “no trace of his body left behind” would make a lot of sense, as the corpse itself could’ve been stolen by Moria alongside Ryuma’s to be taken to Thriller Bark, so the people of Wano assumed the body was just not found. As a reminder, Ringo took a few years after Kaidou took over to properly fall, so the timeline would line up.

We see that Ochou is praying while kneeling, while Kiku is also praying with only one arm due to her circumstances. Yamato instead is praying with broader arms, doing it a bit more sloppily like a tourist would, as Yamato is still very sheltered from Wano’s culture, but the effort is appreciated. Meanwhile, at the base of the hill Ulti is making a snowman of what seems to be her adoptive father Kaidou while Page One looks on.

Raid on Foot Colony

The chapter opens at the International Charity Federation Temple (国際慈善連盟寺院), a place known as the Foot Colony (フットコロニー). As we are described, this is a temple run by monks that run the International Charity Federation, what appears to be a non-profit group raising funds across the world in the name of charity, to help children in need. Their headquarters here appropriately look like a buddhist temple, with its members appearing like buddhist monks, wielding staves. As Big Mom points out, however, it appears the entire charity is a sham, and they simply hoard money for themselves, so the Rocks Pirates plunder all their valuables. This explains the name, as “futokoro ni” is Japanese for “pocketing all the money”.

We see Ouchoku coordinating everyone, Ganzui and Barbel carrying large bags, Marlon gunning down people, Stussy running for it, and Linlin charging forward with Zeus and Prometheus by her side. Kaidou, Newgate, and Kyou are all in the basement, so Shiki throws them a bomb to screw them over, which as we can see he tosses as he is floating in mid-air, seemingly having already attained his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi (Float Float Fruit) powers. Shiki’s reaction to having forgotten about them is incredibly similar to his vivid expressions in Strong World, where it was shown he wasn’t just a cruel and scheming man, but also a bit of a goofball sometimes. In turn, however, Whitebeard tilts the entire island, using the exact same technique that he used to rampage Marineford, tossing Linlin, Stussy, Streusen, Ganzui, Marlon, Ouchoku, and Barbel all in the air, with a bonus shocked reaction from Zeus. The only one unscathed is Shiki, as obviously his fruit just lets him float, though Kyou takes beef with him for having betrayed him, as the two of them were rivals if you remember, with Shiki even teasing him by calling him “Kyou-kun”.

Whitebeard notes however that the arrival of the Marines is far too fast and fears that someone must’ve leaked their plans… you know what that means, it’s that time again to play a game of the traitor among us, and finding out which one of the Rocks Pirates betrayed the bunch for the sake of the Marines. Now, being completely honest, this is definitely not easy as it could’ve been… literally any of them, these men aren’t exactly trustworthy. But among them there is one candidate that I do think actually has quite a lot of potential for being a traitor: Kyou. Because as we brought up before, the theming of the X around him seems to tie him a lot with another character: X Drake. His family name is pronounced as “diez”, like the Spanish word for ten, but is written with the symbol X, the number ten in latin. Kyou similarly has Xs on his glasses, a scar on his chin very similar to Drake’s, and on the tattoo in his body, not to mention that his name, Kyou, is written with a kanji that literally has a massive X in it (凶), hence why Oda used this name.

Drake was a Marine turned pirate, though in reality that was all just an undercover role, whereas his father Diez Barrels was a Marine officer turned pirate, after he attained the Ope Ope no Mi but was killed by Doflamingo on Minion Island during the incident when Corazón stole it for Law, which was also the same incident where Drake escaped from his abusive father and joined the Marines. So perhaps the two are related in some way or another. Drake himself is 33 years old so Barrels was likely around Kyou’s age, so I think it’s more likely that Kyou could be an uncle or similar relative to Drake. But this could mean that both Kyou and Barrels joined the Marines at around the same time and as such Kyou is similarly to Drake an undercover pirate in a big crew trying to rat them out. But then again, anyone else in the crew is likely given how quick to betray they all are.

Elbaph Interlude

We change scenes to a new location in the New World known as “Enishi”. “Enishi” is an archaic phonetic spelling for the concept of a “chance encounter”, or a “destined encounter”, perhaps in relation to what is happening here. This is host to a country that is not affiliated with the World Government, and as such Government ships are plundering the inhabitants of the island as slaves to likely sell them off to World Nobles, other interested buyers, or serve the larger slave workforce of projects like the Wolf bridges. Harald stands in the way to protect the country but ruins his current bid to join the Government for better relations, which causes a big incident as the World Economic Newspaper frames him as usual. The presence of the newspaper at this time is quite interesting though, as we can assume this is still 42 years ago due to events later in the chapter. However, according to the Vivre Cards, it was Morgans himself who founded the World Economic Newspaper, but 42 years ago Morgans would’ve literally been 11, as he is currently 53 years old, so I wonder if this is a mistake that Oda might retcon. At the very least, Ivankov cited Morgans as the writer of the article on the God Valley Incident, at a time when Morgans was still young, so unless his age is a mistake, then Morgans was certainly quite the young journalist, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Oda pumps his age up another decade in the future to be canonically consistent.

Harald appears to have shaved his head, just as we saw him in later depictions, as an apology for the incident, but this has fallen on deaf ears. Later, as we know, he’d rip off his horns, so I wonder if that was towards the people of Elbaph or if it was towards the Government as well. He mentions talking with Garp, which shows that unsurprisingly they were acquainted too, and also mentions how John Giant and other giants from the giant squad joined the Marines, which as we know was thanks to Carmel’s efforts to connect Elbaph with the Government, or rather fundamentally selling its children to it. Outside the bar, we see Hajrudin and Loki refusing to talk to each other, while Mato tries to offer Loki something to drink.

Marine HQ Interlude

Switching to Marine Headquarters, we see the legendary figures of Garp, Sengoku, and Tsuru, who would go down in history as the trio that formed the “legends of the Marines”. Garp is wearing one of his traditional tropical aloha shirts while Sengoku is wearing a tank top, and this was at a time when Tsuru still had blue hair. The former two are enjoying sushi and tea as they are talking. They protest to Kong when the Government has refused to accept Elbaph for, well, racist reasons. At this time they were all Vice Admirals, while Kong was still a Marine Admiral, not yet Fleet Admiral, which is interesting because it means that whoever Rocks killed was potentially Kong’s peer (or potentially the one he replaced, given how that incident was already 14 years ago from this moment). Though certainly this doesn’t seem to separate him from the desk just like how his successor Sakazuki would be stuck with it. Now at present, Kong serves as the World Government Military Commander in Chief, essentially overseeing the military systems like the Marines and the Shichibukai from an administrational point, having been tasked with the succession of the next Fleet Admiral after Sengoku left. Garp as we know decided to stay as a Vice Admiral for more freedom, while Sengoku would become an Admiral and later Fleet Admiral before retiring to “Inspector General”. Tsuru on the other hand became the “Great Staff Officer”, essentially serving as an aide to Sengoku as an advisor.

Bar of Legends

Later that same year, 42 years ago in 1482, breaking news hit as Shakky has retired from being a pirate. This is consistent with her claims in Sabaody when she said that, four decades ago (which the Vivre Cards later confirmed to be 42 years ago), she quit being a pirate after being chased by Garp and others to just open up a bar. As we see here, this is indeed the case. Gloriosa was originally captain of the Kuja Pirates but quit after her unrequited love from Roger, jumping on the Rocks Pirates likely for a chance to cross paths with him again. This put Shakky briefly as captain for a few months, but she seemingly quit pretty quickly as well, wanting to retire and open up a bar, so she passed on the throne to Tritoma, who would then rule for a much longer time until Hancock would take over closer to the present 11 years ago, around or after Tritoma passed away due to love sickness, meaning she held the throne for basically three decades. As Gloriosa reacts to the news, you can also spot a young 6 year old Katakuri on Linlin’s shoulder as well as his triplet siblings Oven and Daifuku.

However, shockingly, Shakky shows up on Hachinosu, in what is described as one of the biggest incidents in the island’s history, clearly rivaling even the likes of the dissolution of the Rocks or the Rocky Port Incident. Here is where Shakky would open the first instance of Shakky’s Bottakuri Bar, translating as Shakky’s Rip-Off Bar. Just as we were told, she opened a bar 42 years ago, but it turns out the one in Sabaody wasn’t the first one, as her first bar was located on Hachinosu, which the chapter title referr to as the “Bar of Legends”. This bar features a similar architecture to her final one in Grove 13, but without the large bubble-shaped dome that is more iconic of the Sabaody Archipelago. Her presence and beauty are unquestionable: her very splendor makes the hearts of every pirate flutter, even the likes of Rocks, to the point that even the heartthrob sound effect in the back of the panel sprouts heart eyes of its own in place of the dakuten lines of its katakana character. She’s likened to looking like an angel, fitting with the wings around her apron, which also bears the writing “Shakky” and the symbol of the kuja, the nine snakes. Here she’s even seen carrying the same earrings that Hancock would later wear.

However, there’s a statement here that completely reframes our understanding of the history of Rocks as we know it… and it’s the fact that Shakky came to be coveted as the “treasure” of Hachinosu, one that would eventually be stolen.

The Trigger of Goon Valley

Okay so it’s been a while, so let’s do a quick history refresher. In Chapter 1096 during the God Valley Incident, Kong called Garp during his vacation to tell him that they have received a tip that the Rocks Pirates are heading for God Valley, where the triennial Genocide Tournament is being held by the Celestial Dragons. This is likely due to the tip that Ginny sent out that led many pirates to head to the island, mobilizing the Marines as well after they began to see their movements. Kong asks Garp to help against the Rocks but Garp dismisses it by saying “Oh, you mean the Celestial Dragons’ school trip? Well, I warned you not to poke the beehive that is Hachinosu!! (a reference to the fact “Hachinosu” translates into Beehive) You’re underestimating how far they’d go, we’re talking about the treasure of Hachinosu!! Of course they’d come back to take it.”

This at the time indicates to us that the Government had stolen a certain thing called the “treasure of Hachinosu”, and this upset the Rocks Pirates so much that they went back to where the Government was after recieving the tip just to steal the treasure back. During that same chapter we see a shot of Hachinosu where the other pirates exclaim “The Rocks Pirates have already left!! They got the jump on us!! We gotta catch up! C’mon!! This is a massive incident for the pirate world!!!”, showing that not just the Rocks Pirates, but all the pirates on Hachinosu wanted to get their hands on this “treasure”.

And we see this as the incident begins where all kinds of pirates swarm the island, including the Rocks Pirates. The Marines are confused, wondering what is it they want from the island. As the Rocks Pirates disembark, we see each of them wishing to ascertain where the treasure is. Whitebeard claimed “I just know that fool Rocks will lose sight of our goal!! We have to be certain it’s safe first, quick!!!”. Stussy tells him “Oh, Newgate!! Not you too!!”, to which Gloriosa tells her “Don’t be so pathetic, Stussy”, while she replies back “Same to you, Gloriosa!”. Shiki exclaims “I assume it’s finders keepers”, claiming that he’ll get his hands on the treasure, but Big Mom exclaims, “I’ll take the treasure!!”. But Kaidou tells her “But there’s no point in you getting that treasure, Linlin!!”. She replies back by saying “Let’s just steal what we’re after and scram. You’re pathetic, all you dreamers with your heads in the clouds!!”. Kaidou however says “I hear Roger’s on the move. He’s the last man I’ll let…”; Linlin cuts him off, but it can be assumed he meant “Roger is the last man I’ll let steal that treasure”. Stussy believes this will be their final fight, and Gloriosa says they’ll “settle it once and for all”. Indeed, the Roger Pirates arrive. Roger feels frustration, claiming not to have seen someone for a whole year, while Gabin tells him “no special privileges for the captain”, implying that whoever finds the treasure keeps it and Rayleigh instead sighs “this is gonna be a mess…”. Garp joins the fray as well though in his case he’s simply interested in fighting Roger. We see Roger and Rocks clash as they exclaim “get back here Rocks!!!” and “outta my way, Roger!!!”, kickstarting the God Valley Incident, which was sadly cut off.

Now, at the time, a couple years ago, we had only this information to work off of. And our biggest hint was Kaidou’s statement that “there’s no point in you getting that treasure, Linlin”, which means this is a treasure that Linlin cannot use. Many of us came to the conclusion this has to be a devil fruit, one that Linlin cannot use, as she already had Carmel’s devil fruit, transmitted to her after she ate her. This makes sense as the prizes of the Genocide Tournament included devil fruits, including the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, which Kuma stole, and the Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryuu, which Ivankov stole but Big Mom stole from him before he could eat it. The fact that Big Mom claimed to go after this treasure and then took Ivankov’s fruit seemed to suggest that one of these fruits, or a third one among the prizes, was the treasure of Hachinosu the Rocks wanted so badly, especially with Xebec’s claim of needing two fruits.

But here’s the thing… in this chapter we are told that the “treasure” of Hachinosu that was stolen… was actually Shakky. And this suddenly reframes everything we’ve just gone through.

Garp telling Kong that he’s underestimating how far the pirates will go for that treasure is how willing the pirates of Hachinosu would go to save Shakky. All the pirates of Hachinosu calling this a “huge incident” and setting sail to head to God Valley was for the sake of freeing Shakky. Whitebeard claiming they have to ascertain if the treasure is safe isn’t about finding an item in good conditions but making sure that Shakky isn’t hurt. And Stussy getting mad at Whitebeard is due to him simping after Shakky too, which is why Gloriosa calls her pathetic, but Stussy bites back at her as after all she too simped after someone, that being Roger. Shiki says finders keepers because he wants to be the one to heroically rescue back Shakky, but Linlin seemingly joins the fray just for the fun for it. And here we realize that Kaidou telling her that there’s no point in her getting the treasure isn’t because it’s some devil fruit she can’t eat or another reason… it’s because Big Mom isn’t gay. This is also why Linlin states that everyone is so “pathetic with their heads in the clouds” because she’s making fun of them for getting so crazy over just a woman. Kaidou also refuses to let Roger have the treasure because Roger is also interested in Shakky, and Gloriosa saying they’ll “settle this once and for all” isn’t as a fight but rather giving one last chance to Roger to make her fall for her. Similarly, Roger likely hadn’t seen Shakky in a year and Gabin was talking about Roger not getting any special privileges because he wanted to be the one to heroically rescue Shakky, all the while Rayleigh instead sighed about how this will be a mess because he realizes just how crazy for Shakky all the pirates heading there are.

Yes, this whole time we thought we were going to get the God Valley Incident, but instead we’ll be getting the Goon Valley Incident, as this simping of historic proportions served as the trigger of one of the biggest incidents in history. Her being the treasure makes a lot of sense though, as a national treasure can also be a living person, such as Doflamingo calling Imu the national treasure of Mary Geoise or Nami being called a national treasure by women of Wano.

This really seems to suggest we’ll see the incident now given how we’re seeing the trigger, as someone seemingly kidnapped Shakky to give her to the Government, maybe even to force some demands on the Rocks or simply on behalf of a Celestial Dragon in the same way Ginny was stolen, this likely done by whoever the traitor among us is, whether it’s Kyou or someone else. Which is why Shakky may have been at God Valley as one of the huntable prizes or just as an accompanying slave. Something that, more grimly, is a very fascinating parallel when Hancock would end up in a very similar position. So despite all the gooning, it’s actually a bit more wholesome when you consider the pirates were trying to basically rescue the darling of Pirate Island after she got turned into a slave since she became beloved by everyone in the island, even if some of them surely had some more impure reasons for wanting her back. Though keep in mind, we’re talking of the God Valley Incident happening 38 years ago, so we still have 4 years of history to go through before we get there.

Yet another curveball is thrown our way before we close however, as we cut to the Chamber of Authority where the Gorosei have finally agreed to let Elbaph join the World Government in exchange for one request: for Harald to kill Rocks. We’ll have to see how Harald has to face having to kill a close friend of his, particularly someone so strong as well, and I wonder if he refused, failed, or maybe even was involved somehow in the God Valley Incident… an incident that at this rate may very well become a reality for us readers to see.