The following message contains spoilers for the manga “One Piece” until chapter 1165.
Author Eiichiro Oda is one of the best fiction writers and artists working today. Whenever you want to feel even more frustrated by the apparent lack of progress on the upcoming “A Song of Ice and Fire”, consider that Oda has been releasing new chapters of “One Piece” every week virtually continuously since 1997, with a few exceptions and never for more than a month at a time. This is part of what makes “One Piece” such a legendary manga, one of the best-selling books of all time, and an equally legendary anime. Sure, the sheer number of chapters/episodes can be intimidating, but it makes this story a true epic that’s worth jumping into as it just keeps getting better with the years.
In this era, Oda mastered the art of reminder and reward, planting little seeds that take years, even decades, to bear fruit – like, say, a stupid Marco Polo joke. Indeed, now that “One Piece” is coming to an end after nearly 30 years, we’re starting to see some pretty spectacular results, from the definitive introduction of Elbaph 26 years after his first mention, the reveal of Shanks’ origin story and much more. Arguably, the greatest feat of the current flashback to Elbaph’s story arc is how it introduced arguably the greatest character after 28 years and made him unforgettable in just a few chapters.
We’re talking, of course, about Rocks D.
A legendary pirate named Rocks
“One Piece” readers first heard the name Rocks in Chapter 907 (published in 2018) when Navy Rear Admiral Hina mentions the Rocks Pirates during a conversation with Monkey D. Luffy’s grandfather Garp as an ancient group active decades before the start of the story. A little later, in Chapter 957, former Fleet Admiral Sengoku instructs some recruits on the history of the legendary pirates and explains who the Rocks Pirates were, describing them as an incredibly strong group of legendary individuals, some of whom became Emperors of the Sea – Big Mom, Whitebeard, and Kaido. Sengoku described their captain, Rocks, as someone fearful enough to keep these powerful pirates in check, saying the group was so violent that they often fought to the death on their own ship.
At the time, it was only known that Rocks was so feared, so strong, that only the combined forces of Garp and the future pirate king, Gol D. Roger, were enough to defeat him. Rocks was considered so strong, so legendary, that we probably wouldn’t meet him properly, and we didn’t until a full seven years after his name was first introduced.
When we first met Rocks, he was still an antagonistic character, idolized by the giant prince Loki as a small child (whom Rocks later beat in a fight when the young giant asked to join Rocks’ crew). But Oda quickly shifted gears and transformed Rocks into a complicated character, having much more in common with Luffy than readers expected, starting with the news that Rocks killed a Marine admiral, a feat we haven’t heard anyone accomplish in “One Piece” before.
Rocks is a tragic character
Sure, Rocks was still a violent and ruthless pirate who conquered and destroyed kingdoms and entire islands, but he was also a man whose specific goal was to overthrow the ultimate villain of “One Piece”: the World Government. Not only that, but Rocks was also revealed to be the only person we know to confront the mysterious and overpowered government leader and live to tell the tale.
If Blackbeard was once considered the truest pirate in “One Piece,” not only because he’s the closest to the archetype of a pirate (minus the eyepatch that continues to elude the story), but because of the chaos he unleashed, Rocks (who happens to be his father) is even more the ultimate pirate – or at least the idea of being one. Rocks not only fought against authority, trying to shake up the world, but also against someone funny enough to literally gather a crew by playing the stupidest game in “One Piece”, the Davy Back Fight, in which pirate crews play stupid games, the winner of which wins a member of the losing team. He plundered and plundered, but he also had fun sailing the seas, befriending giants, and even creating a true pirate republic like Nassau.
That’s what makes Rocks’ downfall so tragic, that we knew it was coming, but the context didn’t. We knew Rocks would need the other two strongest men in the world to take him down, but when the time came to show Rocks literally begging his rivals to kill him after being possessed by a demonic entity, Rocks went from the ultimate villain to one of the most tragic characters in “One Piece,” which is saying something.
