Gotcha lol. As much as I think Oda suffers from world buildersโ disease, I think the introduction of Rox and other lurking legends in the new world (Wang Zhi and the burning man(?) as examples), is a great addition to the OP story.
For Rox, his character is nonexistent thus far but I actually like the idea that the Yonko had that Pirate figure that they could see and learn from in their youths. It makes them come off as less fanservicy and more human to me. Like they werenโt always just these exceptional kingly Pirates who built their empires from scratch, but at one point weโre just really strong noobs who just joined this random ship to get rich. Lol, idk.
It didn't really come across to me as like that. It came across far more like "Yoooooooo!!! Look at how humongously big testicled this Xebec bloke was!!!" which is weird if Xebec doesn't come back into the story somehow. I could accept that reasoning if Xebec was only the captain of Kaido and Linlin but he is also the captain of Whitebeard, Shiki and several other legendary dudes. That is completely overkill. Lol.
Whitebeard already had a short scene that humanized his past rookie self when he was on a different crew and talking about family.
The only other thing the Rocks gimmick did was form a basis for Kaido and Linlin working together ("Hey, we used to rock shit in the past. Let's do that again") but Oda could have just made them Shiki's subordinates (say his YC1/2 equivalents) instead of creating an entirely new mega, super, hyper, ultra pirate character that was so ridiculously powerful that nearly every notable pirate captain from one generation ago bar Roger was his bitch.
As for lurking legends in the New World, this shit makes the OP world feel bigger and more dangerous to me. I always like when Oda does things that emphasize how hard it is to survive and prosper in his world. Like even the Yonko are getting dunked on by rookies and such. And to me, introducing random top tiers (sparingly) who have no interest in forming their own crews or being the Pirate King, literally just camping out on some random island in the New World that even Yonko avoid, that shit makes the OP world feel more alive and emphasizes how even for top tier Pirates, the New World is a dangerous place lol.
Idk. I like this shit. If Oda were ever to introduce some garbage character who never seems to struggle or face adversity COUGH COUGH SHANKS COUGH COUGH, then I would condemn that trash with every fiber of my being. Lol
I might agree that it makes OP bigger if it wasn't for one thing.
This bloke is yet another Rocks stooge.
Having nearly every single, damn pirate be connected to Rocks just makes this world increasingly small to me.
Like I said, having so many notable characters be Xebec subordinates only serves to hype the guy himself and unless this guy is brought back from dead then I really don't see what the point is. Even then, he would be like a fourth final antagonist in this series when we already have Akainu, Blackbeard and Imu.
Also, petty talk speaking but his name completely sucks. "Xebec D. Rocks" sounds like something an A.I. random word generator would come up with. Lel.