 The One Piece world has no shortage of monsters, impossibly strong cannibals, unkillable dragon demons, as well as unstoppable crescent mustaches. But then, beyond all of that, there's an even greater monster, a devil capable of striking fear into each and every one of them. And its name is rocks. Hello and welcome to the Grand Line reviewer source for everything One Piece. And today our mission is to explore one of the most chilling pieces of One Piece world history. A time when the very fate of the planet really did hang in the balance, dangling quite delicately at the mercy of one rock's D. Zabeck, quite possibly a literal devil given the whole middle initial D thing, or at least that's how he definitely be viewed by those who rule over the world. And in fact, with that in mind, you could say that one of the greatest tricks the world government has ever pulled was convincing the world that this particular devil never existed. However, I'm afraid that Zabeck was terrifyingly real and his continued effect on creation does remain to this very day. And in order to protect yourself from the will of rocks, my suggestion would be to activate a barrier by pressing the subscribe button for the Grand Line review. As doing so will mean that when rocks comes to get you, he will instead be distracted by regular One Piece content uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. This is the only known method to stop him. So please do comment down below if you have decided to thoroughly protect yourself by joining the Grand Fleet. Welcome. But our rocks related journey very much begins in the modern day. A relatively peaceful time, well, the exception of all of the piracy, a global revolutionary uprising and rampant government corruption other than that, it's pretty peaceful though. However, this status of sort of peace is currently under threat by the news that two of the four emperors have now formed an alliance Charlotte Linlin and Kaido, who is just Kaido. And this certainly is cause for alarm because such an alliance would annihilate the balance of global power and put everything we know and love at risk. However, the Marines and the world government see something more alarming than even that. An event that has been referred to as the birth of the most dangerous pirate crew in the world as well as the return of the rocks. And this is a thought that sends a jolt of terror through the bodies of all who know the meaning behind this name. Meanwhile, it sends a jolt of profound confusion and bewilderment into those who do not. They have a lucky summer children who have never known exactly how close they came to complete destruction. And this is because a mere four decades ago on an island known as Hachinosu, a profound group was formed under highly mysterious circumstances, gathering of some of the world's most powerful and influential pirates at the time occurred. And the result of which was the decision for all of them to join forces under one banner, thus forming what we know as the rocks pirates. And I really cannot understate just what an absurd effort this would have been to pull off. The three members I alluded to in the intro, being Big Mum, Kido, and Whitebeard are all incredibly distinct personalities and very much born for leadership rather than subservience, which is also indicated by the fact that all three of them possess conqueror's hockey. And in age, genetic traits are only to be bestowed upon those destined to rule over others in some form or another. And so you've really got to think to yourself exactly what kind of person is able to take these figures and successfully command them. Well, that is the great enigma of Rock's Dizabek. Whether it was charisma, superior conqueror's hockey, or simply raw strength, Rock's was capable of wrangling these monsters. Although that isn't to say he made them completely subservient. One of the more troubling facts regarding the makeup and practices of the rocks pirates is that as a group, they were extraordinarily volatile and would not hesitate to initiate violence or even kill their fellow crew members, which is quite interesting because unlike most of the greatest pirate crews that we know of, there doesn't appear to have been any sense of fellowship amongst the rocks. And it does bring up many, many questions, such as this one from Chris Keele. I'm more surprised that someone like Whitebeard was part of this crew. He seems out of place to me. And yeah, he really does. Everything we know of Edward Newgate would paint him as an upstanding human being, not at all the cruel natured creature that many of the other Rock's pirates have been portrayed as. But Whitebeard could have been persuaded to join in many other ways, especially during his younger times. For example, he could have been on board to gather large quantities of cash money to send back to his orphan village. Because really, in many ways, you could more accurately describe this crew as a group of captains, each with their own individual pursuits of wealth, fame, and power. Many of whom would also later go on to have the direct desire to become the pirate king, following the death of Goldie Roger. However, at this point in time, Rocks was able to unite them. And in the words of former fleet Admiral Sengoku, the purpose of this crew was to make one big score. Now, as very exactly what this score was, it's very difficult to tell because Zabeck was invoking the use of the sponsor of this video, NordVPN. Now, VPN is essentially a service that protects your online privacy by securing and encrypting your internet traffic whilst changing your original IP address. And I know that's a lot of crazy, non-one piece sounding words there. But to put it a bit more bluntly, VPN basically protects your data from those trying to spy on and or acquire it. And in this case, that would be the world government sending sneaky Cypher poll agents to spy on all of your illicit online activities. I don't know if they're illicit or not, but they probably are knowing you. Yeah, I'm talking about you. With that said, right now, NordVPN is having a special deal with a discounted two-year plan plus an additional one month for free. This also has a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you decide that you're not a fan of privacy, then you can resume your exhibitionist lifestyle at no extra cost. Or any cost, no cost, that's what money-back means. But all one needs to do is go to this rather funky link here, nordvpn.com slash grandline and use the coupon code, which is rather conveniently also grandline. So looks Zabeck definitely had the right idea here. Unfortunately, as a result, we have very limited information regarding the goal of the crew as a whole. However, Zabeck himself was a bit more liberal with his personal ambition, which was to allegedly become the king of the world, which in many ways is quite a stereotypical goal in media to take over the world and such. However, in One Piece, this is actually quite a rarity. Main draw antagonists in One Piece do think big, but many of them are driven by the idea of becoming a pirate king in the case of pirates or achieving some sort of peace or justice in the case of the Marines. So it's a very, very rare figure who embarks on a mission of world domination and it's an even rarer figure who actually comes within grasp of making that desire a reality. And for the majority of their reign, the rocks pirates under the command of Zabeck were completely unstoppable, which does make sense because many of these pirates were already insurmountable challenges even on their own. But as a collective, they were on a whole new level of piracy. In fact, the rocks pirates became a faction that openly declared war on the world government and they have been described as functioning as more of a terroristic organization, with their actions specifically designed to impact the world government and having a much bigger game plan in mind than your standard band of sea ruffians. In fact, the actions of the rocks pirates were so calculated and devastating that the world government even saw fit to actively hide many of their deeds, so as to minimize the spread of terror throughout the planet. Very much like the meme of the dog in the burning house saying, this is fine. But in reality, it's not fine because Zabeck was actively threatening to burn down the entire institution, but the world government was at least able to convince its citizens that everything was under control. However, the plot of Zabeck would come to a head on the equally as legendary location of God Valley, which if you'd like to know more about, I have an entire video detailing everything we know about that fascinating island. But for the purposes of the rocks, this is where the legend would come to an abrupt halt. Here, Zabeck and his crew were confronted by an unexpected alliance between marine legend, Monkey-D-Garp and the future pirate king, Goldie Roger. And what's more unexpected is that both of them teamed up in order to at least partially protect the world nobles on God Valley at the time, which is quite intriguing because from the perspective of the world nobles, this was essentially a battle between three devils, a fierce clash of fate between those who had been chosen by the will of D and one that ultimately saw the defeat of Rocks D. Zabeck. However, this is the part of the story where things become even more unclear than they already sort of were. In addition to the entire island of God Valley, Zabeck himself appears to have vanished from history after this event. And although Sengoku has stated that Zabeck is no longer alive, the circumstances of this alleged death were never expanded upon. It's unknown if he may have been killed in battle by Roger and Garp or perhaps even by the remainder of his own crew. Given their methods of operation, it certainly would not be unusual for the other members of the Rocks Pirates to deliver a swift death to their defeated captain or perhaps Rocks was killed by an unknown third factor. Either way, following this incident, the Rocks Pirates officially dissolved with each member going their separate ways. And with many of them going on to become some of the most famous pirates to have ever lived. Meanwhile, in terms of the Marines, officially Garp was fully credited with the victory in this incident. And he then became known as the hero of the Marines. This was primarily in order to hide the filthy taboo of joining forces with the pirate, even if it was in order to overcome one of the greatest threats this fault has ever faced. And really to the best of our knowledge, this is the hardest battle that Garp has ever fought. Although I would like to clear up one thing that the anime has brought up because when this flashback was adapted, there was a lot of filler added to it, much of which was introducing these fine gents as miscellaneous filler pirates. And according to the anime portrayal, they are all members of the Rocks. Canonically, however, this is not the case. These are not the Rocks Pirates. These are the Rocks Pirates. And I only go to the trouble to point that out because I think that adding the filler pirates significantly downplays the threat that the Rocks Pirates presented to the world at large. Every known member of this crew went on to become a superpower or super name in their own right. And other Rocks alumni include Golden Lion Sheiky, a man who nearly defeated Roger in warfare, as well as led a one-man assault on Marineford. Then there's also the legendary Captain John who we best know as one of the corpses that Gekko Mori was able to acquire and other named figures who we have yet to see a visual of such as Silver Axe and Wang Zi. But this takes us to the legacy of Zabeck. His life in this world may very well be over, but his influence and will well and truly live on to this day. I would actually go so far as to call Zabeck quite possibly the most influential pirate in the history of the series, even more so than Roger because the remnants of his crew went on to inform the entire piracy power structure that we see in the modern day. Big Mom, Kido, and Whitebeard all went on to become recognized emperors of the sea. And now that two of them have formed an alliance, that act in and of itself is being hailed as the return of the Rocks. However, there is a much more sinister legacy lurking in the shadows behind all of that. A perhaps much more potent inheritance of will presented in the figure of Marshall Deteech, who himself is now also recognized as an emperor of the sea. But if there was any single figure in one piece who best embodies the legacy of Rocks, then it would most certainly be Blackbeard. Firstly, because Blackbeard is not only another elusive wielder of the middle initial D, but in addition to that, he is also an aberration of the will of D. A figure who does not fit the patents presented by our other known members. With the exception of Zabeck, of course, who is also an aberration. In addition to this, Blackbeard has also inherited Hachinosu, the birthplace of the Rocks pirates and has chosen to use it as the base of his empire. But the fact that most clearly and powerfully solidifies Blackbeard's connection to Zabeck is simply the name of his flagship, which is the Sabre of Zabeck. And whilst this ship has never been seen, thus far anyway, its name was revealed in the one piece of your card data book prior to the revelation of Rocks D. Zabeck in the series actually. And in the same way that the will of Roger is present within Luffy, it is now very clear that the will of Zabeck is well and truly present within Blackbeard. Meaning that the demon of Zabeck still has yet to be completely vanquished. And whilst the world is currently focused on the threat of the remnants of the Rocks pirates, this is merely a distraction for an even greater darkness to emerge and take the planet by storm. But if you'd like to know more about the Rocks pirates then I highly recommend checking out my video on the God Valley incident. But please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join the discussion on our Discord server. But for now, this has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.