One Piece: Oda Hints Someone With the Will of D. Escaped Impel Down Before Luffy
One Piece chapter 1166 spoilers crack open fresh secrets from the God Valley Incident, hinting Luffy may not be the only Will of D. to have escaped Impel Down. The chapter also suggests Dragon was once arrested, setting up a potential bombshell in the series’ lore.
Heads up: spoilers for One Piece chapter 1166 below.
The latest leaks swing back to the God Valley mess and drop a pretty big twist: Dragon may have quietly beaten Luffy to one of his most brag-worthy feats. If these spoilers hold, Dragon didn’t just break ranks at God Valley — he also ended up in Impel Down and slipped out with some very familiar help.
The Dragon twist: from Marine to most wanted, fast
Back at God Valley, Dragon was serving in the Marines. What he reportedly did there would get anyone erased by the World Government, let alone a Marine:
- He deserted his unit mid-incident.
- He helped Shanks and Shamrock get out of harm’s way.
- He tranquilized a World Noble who was about to shoot a young Kuma.
That last one alone is basically a death sentence in this world. According to the chapter 1166 spoilers, Dragon’s actions were found out after the incident. He was arrested and, while the leaks don’t name the facility outright, the implication is hard to miss: they likely sent him to Impel Down, the underwater hole reserved for the worst of the worst. The kicker? Garp visited him there and busted him out. If true, that would make Dragon the first known member of the Will of D. to escape Impel Down — with Luffy later repeating the family tradition in his own very Luffy way.
So why didn’t Garp do the same for Ace?
This is where the theory cleans up a long-standing sore spot. If Garp really pulled strings (and doors) to free Dragon once, he would’ve been under heavy scrutiny afterward. Impel Down isn’t exactly a come-and-go-as-you-please situation; anyone who gets in the door is watched. Try that trick twice and you don’t just risk your career — you put your entire squad in the crosshairs. The spoilers suggest Garp understood that and made the call he could live with, even if it was brutal: don’t replicate the Dragon rescue for Ace, or more people die.
There’s another piece here: Garp had every reason to expect Whitebeard to mount a rescue. He could place some faith in the Yonko’s strength and the allied forces gathering for the war. The variable nobody planned for was Blackbeard, whose chaos rewrote the board. In other words, Garp gambled on the pirates to pull it off and weighed that as the lesser risk compared to personally blowing up Impel Down security a second time.
Big picture
If these chapter 1166 spoilers pan out, they don’t just add texture to God Valley — they reframe Dragon’s legend and Garp’s worst day. It’s a neat, very deep-cut bit of series logic that makes the Ace non-rescue sting a little less like plot armor and more like a calculated (and costly) decision.
Curious where you land on this: do you buy Dragon being sent to Impel Down and Garp springing him, or is that a bridge too far?
The One Piece manga is available on Viz Media. The anime streams on Crunchyroll.