Kind of a possible "eureka" moment I had in trying to understand what exactly Rocks was trying to do with God Valley.
Shanks originally claims he's from West Blue, and yet he is conspicuously found as a baby from Roger at God Valley. But one thing people seem to not realize is that God Valley has never been mentioned to be anywhere in Grand Line. It could have easily been located in West Blue 38 years ago.
More importantly is the fact that God Valley entirely "vanished" from maps. Now people have come to the conclusion that God Valley met the same fate as Lulusia because of that scene in 1060, but what if this IS God Valley? A literal island weapon, otherwise known as Uranus?
I mean, it's shadow is literally the size of, if not larger than Lulusia:
IMO, Vegapunk has a futuristic mind, but he's not THAT advanced in his knowledge. He could not even power the ancient robot hidden at Egghead. The fact that Egghead has been used as a home base for him to better understand ancient energy and tech from 800 years ago is pretty telling that things like this may not be from his own creation. Plus, 38 years ago, he was not with the World Government, so he ideally should not have been able to "create" the weapon, especially one the size of an island, even within that timeframe. Imu and the Elders speak of "Mother Flame" as if its the first time it ever been used, and there's no direct indication that God Valley was destroyed, just "gone from maps" as Sengoku states.
Even this scene implies that Imu and the WG has had the weapon, but could not "use" it until now, essentially until Vegapunk was able to provide the means (i.e. Mother Flame?). Vegapunk physically creating a weapon of mass destruction does not seem anything like him, especially of all his talk about "free energy for the world to use"
Why "wait" until now to use it? Because they couldn't before.
Finally, just think about Rocks' goal as a pirate. He wanted to be "King of the World". Oda specifically didn't have him go after a mermaid princess in Fishman Island for Poseidon, nor did he have him find out about Pluton in Wano, but he DID have him go to God Valley for "something". It was not explicitly stated he was there to attack CD's even, and Sengoku himself mentions that knowing why this incident occurred is even taboo. Of the things that we know can help someone achieve world domination, Ancient Weapons seem to be the key. Why "destroy" God Valley if there was nothing there for Rocks to obtain? How could it have been "destroyed" even if Vegapunk wasn't around at the time with the WG?
So what realistically could have been at God Valley if not Uranus? What if God Valley actually was Uranus, and eventually was activated (i.e. disappeared/moved from West Blue). What if the WG needed Vegapunk's fuel source (unbeknownst to VP) to actually fire it? What if his general investigation led him to the Mother Flame? Remember that while he states he could not "reverse engineer" the actual fuel source of the Ancient Robot, but it does not mean he does not have other means for producing energy sources like this. Additionally, if Uranus is already flying, it is powered by "something" ancient. The means to fire it may not need an ancient power source, just something extremely powerful (this Mother Flame).
After all, this scene exists for a reason:
The whole island runs on "fire". If there were such a thing as an eternal "flame". Vegapunk's Mother "Flame". This really does not sound like coincidence at all.
So to kind of put it down on a "rough" timeline (pure speculation):
- The World Government found out the existence of Uranus, aka a little known island in West Blue.
- The Figarland family were assigned to guard the island and investigate a means to use it. They called this island "God Valley" and claimed it sacred land.
- Rocks D. Xebec eventually caught wind of this weapon (however he did isn't important, just that he targeted God Valley for a reason.)
- After amassing his crew, he intended to take over this island by slaughtering the CD's there.
- Somehow Roger and Garp caught wind of this plot separately, and together with the CD's, put a stop to Rocks and his crew.
- The WG after eventually found out how to "move" the island by getting it to work. They could not however, use it the way it was meant to be used.
- In comes Vegapunk, desperate for research funding, joins the WG at their advantage.
- After investigating many fuel sources, the WG finally had a source that worked, albeit limited fashion.
- After at least 38 years, they finally used Mother Flame to power Uranus and destroy Lulusia.
Tldr: God Valley is the flying ancient weapon Uranus. Shanks was not lying about being born in West Blue, it originally was in West Blue when Roger found him. Rocks wanted this power after finding out about it, but was stopped by Roger, Garp and the CD's powerful enough to fight there. It then "disappeared" from maps because it was activated, but could not be fired without Vegapunk's fuel source.
A ship, a flying island and a mermaid walk into a bar....
Some tags
Shanks originally claims he's from West Blue, and yet he is conspicuously found as a baby from Roger at God Valley. But one thing people seem to not realize is that God Valley has never been mentioned to be anywhere in Grand Line. It could have easily been located in West Blue 38 years ago.
More importantly is the fact that God Valley entirely "vanished" from maps. Now people have come to the conclusion that God Valley met the same fate as Lulusia because of that scene in 1060, but what if this IS God Valley? A literal island weapon, otherwise known as Uranus?
I mean, it's shadow is literally the size of, if not larger than Lulusia:
IMO, Vegapunk has a futuristic mind, but he's not THAT advanced in his knowledge. He could not even power the ancient robot hidden at Egghead. The fact that Egghead has been used as a home base for him to better understand ancient energy and tech from 800 years ago is pretty telling that things like this may not be from his own creation. Plus, 38 years ago, he was not with the World Government, so he ideally should not have been able to "create" the weapon, especially one the size of an island, even within that timeframe. Imu and the Elders speak of "Mother Flame" as if its the first time it ever been used, and there's no direct indication that God Valley was destroyed, just "gone from maps" as Sengoku states.
Even this scene implies that Imu and the WG has had the weapon, but could not "use" it until now, essentially until Vegapunk was able to provide the means (i.e. Mother Flame?). Vegapunk physically creating a weapon of mass destruction does not seem anything like him, especially of all his talk about "free energy for the world to use"
Why "wait" until now to use it? Because they couldn't before.
Finally, just think about Rocks' goal as a pirate. He wanted to be "King of the World". Oda specifically didn't have him go after a mermaid princess in Fishman Island for Poseidon, nor did he have him find out about Pluton in Wano, but he DID have him go to God Valley for "something". It was not explicitly stated he was there to attack CD's even, and Sengoku himself mentions that knowing why this incident occurred is even taboo. Of the things that we know can help someone achieve world domination, Ancient Weapons seem to be the key. Why "destroy" God Valley if there was nothing there for Rocks to obtain? How could it have been "destroyed" even if Vegapunk wasn't around at the time with the WG?
So what realistically could have been at God Valley if not Uranus? What if God Valley actually was Uranus, and eventually was activated (i.e. disappeared/moved from West Blue). What if the WG needed Vegapunk's fuel source (unbeknownst to VP) to actually fire it? What if his general investigation led him to the Mother Flame? Remember that while he states he could not "reverse engineer" the actual fuel source of the Ancient Robot, but it does not mean he does not have other means for producing energy sources like this. Additionally, if Uranus is already flying, it is powered by "something" ancient. The means to fire it may not need an ancient power source, just something extremely powerful (this Mother Flame).
After all, this scene exists for a reason:
The whole island runs on "fire". If there were such a thing as an eternal "flame". Vegapunk's Mother "Flame". This really does not sound like coincidence at all.
So to kind of put it down on a "rough" timeline (pure speculation):
- The World Government found out the existence of Uranus, aka a little known island in West Blue.
- The Figarland family were assigned to guard the island and investigate a means to use it. They called this island "God Valley" and claimed it sacred land.
- Rocks D. Xebec eventually caught wind of this weapon (however he did isn't important, just that he targeted God Valley for a reason.)
- After amassing his crew, he intended to take over this island by slaughtering the CD's there.
- Somehow Roger and Garp caught wind of this plot separately, and together with the CD's, put a stop to Rocks and his crew.
- The WG after eventually found out how to "move" the island by getting it to work. They could not however, use it the way it was meant to be used.
- In comes Vegapunk, desperate for research funding, joins the WG at their advantage.
- After investigating many fuel sources, the WG finally had a source that worked, albeit limited fashion.
- After at least 38 years, they finally used Mother Flame to power Uranus and destroy Lulusia.
Tldr: God Valley is the flying ancient weapon Uranus. Shanks was not lying about being born in West Blue, it originally was in West Blue when Roger found him. Rocks wanted this power after finding out about it, but was stopped by Roger, Garp and the CD's powerful enough to fight there. It then "disappeared" from maps because it was activated, but could not be fired without Vegapunk's fuel source.
A ship, a flying island and a mermaid walk into a bar....
Some tags
