>>281966073
Unless the flashback is helping set up Rocks for this very arc. Think about it. The children that were traded to the world government by Mother Caramel? Sold through the underworld traders. The wood of the Adam tree Franky mentioned being bought from the Underworld? Adam wood comes from Elbaf.

This is important because Man Marked by Flames is an underworld smuggler, disregarding the fact that Elbaf itself has a realm called Underworld. But how do you think that shit gets traded around?

The high summit of the west was mentioned to be how people reached Skypiea nowadays by Gan Fall. This is an import because the name implies it is a high summit. What summit would be higher than the Adam tree? Coincidentally the top of the Adam tree starts becoming white and covered in clouds. If you know about Norse mythology, the World Tree is a massive tree that divides the realms and the branches span through the heavens.

The Adam Tree IS the High Summit of the West and you can take sky islands to and from it. This is likely how smugglers get around. The Adam Wood and Caramel's orphaned children were smuggled from Elbaf through it.

If there was ever a time to bring an Underworld trader like Man Marked by Flames in, it'd be Elbaf. Therefore the purpose of revealing Rocks was simply to set him up for the Man Marked by Flames reveal.