Before a certain man named Gol D. Roger took the Seas by storm, there was a pirate crew who supposedly stood above all other pirate crews. The Rocks Pirates!
We first found out about their existence in chapter 907, stating that Big Mom and Kaido where members of this crew.
There are a lot of theories about other possible members of their crew and the connections to other characters. Shakky is one of those potential members. Some people also brought Whitebeard into the mix. But other than Kaido and Big Mom, there is no confirmation about other characters being a part of the Rocks.
This theory thereby aims to discuss some possible relations the Rocks had with other characters from today. Furthermore, I will try to bring up the captain of the crew as a possible father of certain pirates.
To fully shed a light on the Rocks pirates, we have to take a rather long step back in history. At least 40 years, to be precise. It was the year 1484 when this famous pirate crew disappeared or even got defeated.
Monkey D. Garp was named the hero of the marines for his efforts against the Rocks.
In the same year a man called Marshall D. Teach was born and a few months later Shanks entered the world. Two men who would later become famous pirates as well. Apart from Kaido and Big Mom being a part of the Rocks, this is all we know. Given the time, Whitebeard, Rayleigh and even Roger could have also been a part of the Rocks.
Discussion
1-The Name of the Crew
I have seen two possible spellings for the name of the pirate crew so far with most of the sources tending to the name Rocks. For the sake of this theory, I will continue using Rocks when talking about the crew since Rox is still pronounced like Rocks.
In my opinion, there could be two reasons why Oda would call the pirate crew Rocks:
1. A rock is some kind of a symbol for something old. Given the time when they were active, it would make sense to refer to them as Rocks. Almost like a foundation for the future style of pirates.
2. Mines/Rocks were often used to farm some sort of minerals. Three of those being gold, silver and copper. See where I am going? We know the Rocks came before Roger and his crew. And what where the names of Rogers crew mates? Gol(D)Roger, Silvers Rayleigh and Scopper Gaban. When the Rock is destroyed, you may find gold, silver or copper.
It could be a possibility that Roger’s crew used those “ranks” as an honor to the former “Pirate Kings”.
2-The Members of the Crew
There is also a theory that the name Rocks stems from the members of the crew. Kaido would be the K and Big Mom aka Charlotte Linlin would be the C, but I feel like there is already enough speculation about the possible members of the Rocks Pirates. For now, I won´t talk about possible members, since it would be false to take credit for that. Instead, I want to discuss the roles of Kaido and Big Mom in the crew.
So we know that Kaido owes Big Mom a big favor from a past time. What if this favor has something to do with the fall of their leader? Who tells us that Garp overcame the Rocks all by himself? What if there were some inside rats that rebelled against their captain? Kaido could have had some beef with the captain and Big Mom came in and used her devil fruit to reduce the captain’s lifespan to a minimum or she simply rescued Kaido before he joined the crew. But the reason for the favor is rather irrelevant. Fact is, mutiny was a big thing in the real world, so why not embed it in One Piece? The betrayal could have happened before their Captain was defeated (as mentioned above) or even after he got defeated. Maybe he escaped and Big Mom + Kaido killed him/did not support him afterwards. It is a possibility that Whitebeard was in the crew too and saw what happened inside it. He could have decided to not let this happen again when he became captain. Therefore he established a family pirate crew where he treated his mates like his sons.
3-The Captain/Leader of the Crew
Going back to the information given in chapter 907 and considering the Rocks split up 40 years ago, I feel like there could be a strong relation to the captain and Shanks or Blackbeard, maybe he could have been/is the father of one of them.
Let us start with Shanks:
·Shanks was born ~1 year after the Rocks disbanded. Even if the captain of the Rocks died in a fight against Garp,he could still be his father. Completely the same like Roger and Ace. Maybe he found shelter in Rogers crew.
·In Chapter 907 Shanks wanted to talk about a certain pirate with the Gorosei. Of course it could be Luffy/Blackbeard or another pirate, but Shanks serious attitude and the word “certain” make it seem personal. “Certain” like, you (the Gorosei) know who it is.
Now to Blackbeard:
·As I said, Blackbeard was born in the same year as the Rocks “disappeared”. The story about him being the son of the Rocks captain can be said about Blackbeard too, since the age checks out.
·Blackbeard seemed to bee a lonely and sad child. Maybe because his father lived on the ship/run all the time or even died.
Ok, those points can be said about a lot of other pirates too, but there is a thing that could consolidate my theory about Blackbeard being the son of the captain. That being the mutiny theory above.
What if Kaido and Big Mom betrayed Blackbeard’s father? He sure would be destined to go after them. And if Whitebeard was in the crew, he would have already crossed out that target at Marineford. There is still a lot of speculation about Blackbeard possibly going to Wano and stealing Big Mom’s or Kaido’s devil fruit.
Furthermore, Blackbeard seems to have quite some knowledge about different things. Whilst Shanks got his knowledge from Roger and his crew, Blackbeard could have gotten his from his father. Either from talks with him (if he was still alive) or through books he left behind. The captain could potentially be inspired by Benjamin Hornigold, who was basically the captain and mentor of the real Blackbeard.
Closing out with the mutiny theory again, there is only one similar case in the history of One Piece that we know of. And that, of course is the murder of Thatch by no other than Marshall D. Teach. A guy who’s father has been betrayed, betrays his own captain. Wouldn’t that be tragic?
*Theory by FRaSp
