Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original characters. One Piece belongs to Eichiro Oda and Toei Animation
Hello, my loyal readers. I am back from my Hiatus (aka my lazyness) A good fanfiction writer would finish the stories that they had already started. And I will (most likely at some point within my lifespan) But for now, here is another story. But this one is going to be a little different. I'll try to write a long and lengthy piece of work critiquing the human mindset and riddling it with humor and new revelations. But I'll probably stop after three to six chapters, no matter how determined I am. So what I will do this time, is to write a summary of my story. If you guys like it (please review and tell me) and want a more in-depth version, or have unanswered questions, I'll be happy to get to it. How's that?
This story is a prequel about Crocodile's life and the events that made him a ruthless shichibukai. I will try to stick to the canon timeline as much as possible, but if any of the more hawkeyed readers sees a continuity error, please tell me immediately, and I will take the restoring measures.
Our story begins about 32 years before the start of the current storyline...
West Blue
Crocodile is born to a wealthy family in the West Blue as a girl named Ghariella. Her father, Reptus III holds the position as the superintendent of public sales for a prestigious trading company (a position that has been handed down to the men of the family for generations) Although he is not exactly a noble, he has the wealth and status equal to the kingdom's, and is really only a fancy title short of being one. He takes his work very seriously, and couldn't make the superiority of it's prioritization over his personal life clearer if it was tatooed on his face. Ghariella's mother, Kay, however is a noble-born woman who despite having access to almost all of life's luxuries in her marriage (which was a politically-induced, buisness transaction between her husband and father) is resentful about marriage that she had no say in to someone below her station. Her hatred for her husband is not potent enough to cancel out her vicarious sexual appetite (she was quite the flirtatious coquette in her youth) and is frustrated with his disinterest and inability to keep up with her in bad. As a result, most of her time is divided between throwing vapid, insincere, social-climbing parties, drowning her misery in alcohol, and an affair with a younger servant.
Ghariella was initially one of a set of twins, the other of whom was a boy. However, eight months into the pregnancy, an ultrasound revealed that only one fetus was present. To everybody's horror and disgust, the doctor revealed that the female fetus must have consumed the male. This grotesque piece of information, as well as the lost opportunities for her parents (a male son would have given Reptus III a male heir to his job, continuing on the family buisness, and a chance for Kay to rise in status through his future marriage to someone high up on the social ladder) carve out a path of hatred and resentment for Ghariella. Reptus III satisfies the bare minimum required for a father (occaisionally expressing some awareness of her existence) and Kay uses every drinking period as an excuse to lash out at her verbally and physically. Ghariella tries to avoid her mother when she drinks and her father makes it incredibly difficult for her to interact with him. Since Kay is almost always drinking and Reptus is almost always working, she spends most of her time isolated from either.
At nine years old, Ghariella is an incredibly unnatractive child with a pallid skin tone and a frail, scrawny physical structure due to being plagued with a myriad of diseases for the first seven years of her life. Her existence is incredibly lonely and she struggles to remember a time in which she was happy. She is not schooled as her parents harbor too much resentment towards her to want to pay for an elite education, and are too conceited to send her to public school to mingle with common children. The servants treat her with a warity bordering on fear and disgust and many a time she overhears them making snide comments about her. One day, desperate for some form of human contact, she sneaks out of the mansion and goes into town. Upon finding some children, she attempts to befriend them. Unfortunately, they recognize her as a noble child and beat her up out of spite and envy. Broken and beadly bruised, she meets a girl named Rouge (who will be Ace's mother) and her stepbrother, Shanks. The two are part of a small time crew of cartographers who a textbook company pays to create updated versions of sea charts and maps all over the world. Rouge tends Ghariella's wounds and strikes up a friendly conversation with her. The two eventually become fast friends. It is through Rouge that Ghariella learns about Gol. , the current star of the press and an infamous pirate.
Unfortunately, the first spark of happiness of Ghariella's life is extinguished when Rouge's family finishes mapping out her town and moves away. With a tearful vow to meet again, Ghariella is forced to resume her life of solitude.
Some weeks later, she catches a man* breaking into her house in the middle of the night. The master thief is desperate to keep the little girl busy and persuades her to keep quiet in exchange for "a story" Ghariella, never having much entertainment thanks to her parent's attempts to "smother her will to live" cannot resist the prospect and willingly obliges. The thief tells her of his adventures on the Grand Line (including the new world) as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates. Ghariella is amazed by the numerous places in this world that she never thought existed, but what really piques her interest is the description of the relations between Whitebeard and his crew. She is enthralled by this makeshift family that would gladly give their lives for one another and it's freedom loving ideology. To a child starving for love and affection, it seems like everything that she could ever want. Upon asking why the thief would want to leave such a wonderful crew, he tells her that he disembarked on a quest to find his cure for an illness brought about by lead poisoning (that he got thanks to his excessive indulgence of sweeteners from a town in the North blue famous for the versatility of it's chief export, White lead) Ghariella urges the thief to somehow tell the World Government about his discovery of the toxins in white lead. The thief gives a cynical smile and says that there is no doubt that it knows about the risk, but the amount of profit cancels out the casualties. This is Ghariella's first exposure to the corruption of the World Government
A year later, Ghariella has shed her feminine appearance and has abandoned dresses in the name of pants and shirts and has cut off her long hair. A servant observes her and tells Kay and Reptus. Upon discovering this, they are apalled and demand an explanation. Ghariella proudly states that she has decided that she is going to start living her life as a boy in order to please them. Unfortunately, instead of being met with praise and happiness like expected, the resulting reactions are one of anger and disgust. Her parents ask her how selflish she has to be in order to disgrace her family by acting like some "deluded-cross-dressing freak" Ghariella's disbelief and sorrow at being unable to satisfy her mother and father reacts with the frustration and resentment accumulated over a decade to form a outburst. Ghariella shrieks that her whole life she's been considered a useless waste of space for her gender and upon finally changing it to the desired one, is pointless as well. "At least as a boy, I may have a chance" This only makes the matter worse and her father personally drags her into his study and disciplines her. That is the night that Ghariella runs away from home with the intent of sailing to the New World to join Whitebeard's crew. She manages to make it to the harbor. Coincidentally, she finds out that at the moment, the town is being ravaged by a pirate crew whose ship has docked in the harbor. Ghariella sneaks onto the ship while the pirates are out.
The Bluejam Pirates
Upon returning with their acquired loot, the pirates sail off with Ghariella. Upon making herself known (dressed as a boy), she begs them to let her join their crew and take her to the New world to meet Whitebeard, gong so far as to offer them money and jewels (stolen from her parents) The pirate captain, Bluejam is persuaded by the bribe to let Ghariella join the crew as a temporary cabin girl, on the grounds that she bring back a "plunder quota" from every town that they visit like the rest of the crew. He tells her that since him and his crew aren't strong enough to make it to the Grand Line, they have to hone their skills for a while and give themselves experience. However, the Bluejam pirates in reality have no interest in sailing to the dangerous and uncharted waters of the New World, content with plundering civilians. They find a source of twisted glee in shattering Ghariella's naivety and wide-eyed view of the world. In one instance, she is handed a pistol and forced to shoot a captured Marine in the head to 'prove you have what it takes' The event leaves Ghariella constantly trembling from the shock for days. Her comrades find her trauma to be amusing before tiring of it after her inability to function becomes inconvenient for them and one man, Porchemy goes as far as to beat her until she stops.
Having been a part of the crew for four years, Ghariella has travelled all over the West Blue with the Bluejam pirates. She has come to view them as her new family and contemplates forsakeing her quest to join Whitebeard's crew (having found what she was looking for) Unfortunately, her body has begun to develop as well and she cannot pass as a man anymore without her pre-pubescent qualities. Despite attempts to hide her feminine features, her true gender is discovered by Bluejam and his sense of brotherhood that she has established with them over the years turns to outrage at being tricked which is quickly overshadowed by the symptoms of a crew devoid of female companionship. Ghariella is brutally assaulted and humiliated by the people who she was finally beginning to think she could trust.
After the assault is finished, one of the crew members brings out a devilfruit found on one of the islands they previously visited. The question of who should eat it (Bluejam had originally decided that it would be sold to the Tenryuubito) Nobody knows what power it holds, and none of the crewmembers want to risk their ability to swim for one that may not be worth it. However, one of the members suggest making Ghariella eat it, and drowning her in the ocean. An apple from the food-stores will be kept on standby for the fruit' reincarnation once Ghariella dies.
Despite keeping her mouth shut, Ghariella is pinned down and deprived of breathing through her nose until she opens her mouth. Ghariella decides that since it looks as though she's going to die, she may as well die on her own terms of suffocation. This feeble attempt at defiance is proven void when a crewmate forcible wrenches her mouth open and Bluejam stuffs the fruit down her throat. She tries to spit it out, but Bluejam puts a hand over her mouth. The disgusting taste of the fruit and her refusal to chew it into smaller pieces nearly causes Ghariella to choke to death on the vomit induced by her gag reflex. Yet in spite of it all, she manages to digest the fruit and survive. As the Bluejam pirates prepare to throw her overboard, she accidentally triggers her devil fruit power and rapidly absorbs all of the fluid in a crew member's body, reducing him to a pile of ashes in seconds. Everyone including her is alarmed by this, but Ghariella manages to calm herself down to use the pirate's hysteria to her advantage. Bluffing that she did that on purpose, she demands that the crew allow her to escape on one of the ship's rowboats with a quarter of their provisions. One particularly terrified a crewmember tries to shoot her, but her body changes to sand on reflex. Upon realizing that the devil fruit has rendered her 'invincible' the crew gives in to her demands. Ghariella departs the Bluejam Pirates angry at her naiivety and cynical about the world. Yet she still covets the love and acceptance that she hopes to find in the Whitebeard pirates, telling herself that "you can't fool yourself into thinking that you'll get the Whitebeard experience in some low-quality trash like Bluejam"
Ohara
Ghariella rows all the way to the island of Ohara where she collapses on the beach from exhaustion. She is found by a girl about her age and nursed back to health. She wakes up in the great tree of knowledge, where he meets the scholars of Ohara. The girl who saved Ghariella is apparently the apprentice of a scholar called Nico*. The scholars have several groups, one of which stays in Ohara, the others of which are scattered all over the world on a mission altough the scholars will not say what it is. Ghariella stays with Nico in his home and lives there for four years. During this time, she strikes up a tentative friendship with his apprentice, Kujaku* Nico and Kuja are actually part of a team ready to set out for Fishman Island due to recent decipherings of ancient texts that hint a breakthrough on Fishman island. Since Ghariella needs to enter the New World to find Whitebeard, she asks if she may come along for the voyage. With a lot of persuading, the scholars reluctantly agree, much to Ghariella and Kujaku's joy.
Paradise
Ghariella and the scholars have many adventures together on their journey to reverse mountain and through the first half of the grand line. It doesn't take long for her to discover the extent to which she can't control her powers (her right hand absorbs the moisture out of anything it touches whether she wants to or not, leading her to always wear a glove) When the scholars discover this, she is hysterical and begs them not to abandon her. To her absolute relief, the scholars are understanding of her ability and assure her that it does nothing to diminish the appreciation they have for her company. Ghariella is so grateful and relieved of the break of tradition (of being neglected upon discovery of her secrets) that she bursts into tears for the first time in nearly half a decade and Kujaku comforts her until she stops.
In exchange for revealing her secret, Kujaku promises to 'even the score' by revealing one of her own. She is the descendant of one of the former empresses of Amazon Lily, the legendary, All-female island on the Grand Line who left the island after faking her death to be with her beloved. Ghariella feels her face begin to flush as Kujaku tells the story, but brushes it aside as nothing. A popular ceremony among the girls is to swap secrets with each other. Eventually Kujaku reveals the nature of the mission; to find a series of large stone cubes with ancient history inscribed on them. It is said that they will reveal the past of a century of which nobody has any idea of what occurred within it. The ancient texts are the keys to deciphering the writing on these ponoglyphs as well as determining their locations. Nico's research has led to the theory of a ponoglyph being located in Fishman Island. Gariella asks Kujaku why this research is kept incredibly secret. The reason is that the government has banned it on the premise of the danger of reviving a weapon of mass destruction called the Pluton. Kujaku also says that many of the researchers who have gone on expeditions before have never come back, leading her to believe the world government is shooting their ships down. Ghariella wonders if the scholars have a double agent in their midst.
The girl's friendship becomes stronger and stronger with each passing day. An influnetial factor in their bond's development is their shared hatred (and exchange of reasons to hate) the world government for it's corruption. Kujaku theorizes that the ancient weapons are false pretenses for the ban on ponoglyph research. She thinks that the world government has an incredibly immoral foundation and was created at the expense of an ancient kingdom (though she doesn't know how) and if word of it's sketchy start-out got out, then the public would be incredibly disillusioned and cynical about the organization in power, and future generations might lead to a change in the government's structure.
Kujaku's dream is to actually revive the Pluton and use it to take down the world government. Then, she hopes to create a new form of government, which is built on honest and just principles and hopefully "reset the world's moral compass" Ghariella is awed at the determination and scale of her dream in comparison to her own.
The two girls work together to try to control Ghariella's sand powers and Kujaku's patience, confidence, and encouragement lead Ghariella to discover that she is falling for her. She tries to surppress it, considering it highly unlikely that Kujaku would ever be interested in another girl. When the duo get into a fight, over Kujaku's refusal to teach Ghariella how to read the ponoglyphs, she accidentally blurts out "how can you just expect me to someone I love in danger like that!"Ghariella is shocked to realize that she means that much to Kuja (what with people only tolerating her before out of reluctant obligation) and she is overjoyed to know that her feelings match her own. The two are overwhelmed by the intensity of their feelings for each other and their relationship becomes romantic from that point on* For the first time in her life, Ghariella feels loved and wanted.
Monkey D. Dragon
The researchers are captured by Marines at some point on their journey. The vice admiral boarding the ship hunting them down is a newly promoted Vice Admiral, son of the legendary Monkey D. Garp. Although everybody expects him to be a younger version of his father, who butts heads with the rapidly increasing in infamy, Roger on a daily basis, the rookie Vice Admiral is unsure about whether he wants to be a 'foot soldier of the government' and is suspicious of his mission. He listens to what Nico has to say about the forbidden research and his curiosity overpowers his sense of justice. He has always been curious about his middle initial and has a theory of the blank century being connected to the 'key to his fate' The marine and Nico form a top secret alliance in which the former will pretend that Nico evaded his grasp each time he was cornered, who in turn will keep him posted about his findings. This charade carries on for a while until the government catches wind of it thanks to their inside man* (an agent of cp9 who was indeed working undercover as a researcher) On Sabaody Archipelago, the local marines manage to ambush the archaeologist's ship after it has been coated. The marines are unable to follow the ship after it has been submerged, but the archaeologists have been dealt many casualties and many of the wounded succumb to their injuries underwater, including Nico.
Fishman Island
By the time the ship reaches Fishman Island, the only two survivors are Ghariella and Kuja. The duo manage to find the ponoglyph there. On it is Joy boy's apology for his failure to help Posieden bring Fishman Island to the surface. It is there that the two decide to part ways. Although both love each other very much, they do not want either to have to abandon their goals for their sake. Kuja decides to continue investigating the ponoglyphs (as she is now a wanted criminal, she return to Ohara for fear of endangering everyone) ad carry on Joy Boy's will by helping Otohime, a spunky young mermaid who is a passionate promoter of Fishman-Human relations in her campaign to promote coexistence between the species. Ghariella will go to the New World and find Whitebeard. After a night of making love* the two have a very tearful and emotional goodbye.
The New World
Ghariella has many misadventures in the New world. Fortunately, the years she spent with Kuja and Nico have taught her how to survive on stormy waters. Instead of using a ship, she travels via her devil fruit power. After two years of searching, she meets Whitebeard and his crew. Coincedentally, she arrives at the same time that Roger and his crew are meeting with them, and it is then, through eavesdropping on Roger and Whitebeard's conversation that she learns about the will of D. She also sees that Shanks is with the Roger pirates (although she doesn't speak to him)
Once Roger leaves, Ghariella approaches Whitebeard and she begs him to let her join his crew. However, to her utter horror, he refuses to accept her for the simple reason that he does not allow women in his crew. Upon being asked why, he simply responds with "I have no interest in daughters. A family of sons is more than enough for me" Thinking that Whitebeard considers women to be too weak for his crew, Ghariella attacks him to prove how strong she is. Unfortunately, Whitebeard is able to wear out every last inch of strength in her body without landing so much as a single blow. Rather than admit defeat, Ghariella leaves the New World with more determination than ever, vowing to become strong enough to defeat Whitebeard and prove that she has what it takes.
The next year is spent vigorously training and fighting, honing her skills to become stronger. During her training, she discovers that Roger has been captured and is to be executed in Loguetown. Upon returning to Loguetown (in the form of sand) she meets the heartbroken Shanks who is furious with the world government and vows revenge. Ghariella returns to the Grand Line, excited at the prospect of a new era. During her training, she hears the story of a monarch of an island in the middle of the Grand line that can supposedly switch people's genders. With much searching, she finally discovers the kingdom ruled by him. It is Kamabakka kingdom and the person she seeks is Ivankov. She requests that the Okama Queen change her into a man. Initially, he refuses, thinking that her intentions are too petty. However, Ghariella cries out that all her life, her gender has been nothing but a burden for her and that if she is to ever have any hope of joining the one place where she knows that she will belong, then it is absolutely imperative that she become a man. It is the only thing standing between her and her dream, and she didn't make it as close as she is now to let her sex get in hr way. Iva is impressed with her resolve to join the crew, but warns her that changing for others without taking one's own opinion can be harmful. Ivankov's horm-horm fruit changes Ghariella into the man we all know and love, and from this point on she is referred to as Crocodile.
Crocodile returns to Whitebeard's ship (after another lengthy search) and expects to be welcomed with open arms. To her horror, he finds that not only does Whitebeard still refuse to accept him, but he is disgusted by what he's done. The entire crew dennounces him for changing himself simply to be allowed to join a crew, and Whitebeard goes so far as to call him a "spineless dog with no instinct other than to be submissive" With Crocodile's dream dashed into thousands of pieces, he is anguished and enraged. Years of frustration and anger rise to the surface and he lashes out at Whitebeard with molten fury. Despite all of his training, he is still utterly defeated and left with his trademark scar. He leaves the Grand Line in defeat, too humiliated to ask for his gender to be reversed. With nowhere to go, he takes all of his frustrations out on wandering pirate ships, totally obliterating entire vessels in a frenzied rage. His actions lead him to be noticed by the World government and he is offered the title of a Shichibukai. Crocodile apathetically accepts. He still hates the World Government, but he vaguely reasons that his privileges as a warlord may be useful one day.
East Blue
Four years have passed and now crocodile has built up a reputation as a fearsome, heroic warlord, despite remaining isolated from the goings-on in the world. He recieves a vivre card in the form of a letter from Kuja, telling him that she wants to see him again, having founnd information crucial to the ancient weapons. The vivre card takes him to the East Blue, where he finds Kuja's base. She is shocked and dismayed to find out that the girl she loved is now a man, and an ally of the world government, but still loves him all the same. She tearfully reveals to Crocodile that the island of Ohara was obliterated by a buster call and that the sole survivor. Apparently, the marine who helped their research team evade the government all those years ago has defacted from the marines after the incident of Ohara, and is establishing an army to take down the world government. She is now a member of this army (along with one of her friends from fishman island*), and her job is to keep researching the ponoglyphs to find out what exactly happened in the Blank century, as well as how to revive the Pluton. She is currently in the East Blue because of the discovery of a new ponoglyph there, which she has been deciphering. Her research has concluded that the ponoglyph that reveals where to find the latter points to it being in Alabasta, although she doesn't know the exact location. She admits that part of the reason that she invited him here was to celebrate her findings with, since inviting any member from the Revolutionary Army would be too risky and frivolous, and also because she missed him. Eventually she reveals another secret. She is pregnant with the child of Monkey D. Dragon, the leader of the revolutionaries. Crocodile feels hurt and betrayed, but she assures him that what happened was a one-time affair that both parties regretted immediately and that she has no intention of ever telling Dragon that he's the father. She cannot bring herself to terminate the pregnancy, but if word got out that the leader of the revolutionaries had a child, then that would give the WG a dangerous hold over him, which she doesn't want to burden him with. Kuja does not want Garp to know about the baby either, as he would do everything in his power to try and mold him into a 'government slave'. She wants to give the child to a friend of hers living in a small village nearby to raise. Kuja knows that her friend loves children and an obscure little village in the weakest of all four seas would be the best place for her baby to grow up without attracting the World Government's attention. Crocodile begrudgingly agrees to stay with her until the birth of the child. Their relationship has been severely damaged, but it slowly begins to heal.
Seven months into the pregnancy, the World Government bursts in on the newly reformed couple and attempts to arrest Kuja. With the help of his sand-sand fruit powers, he and Kuja are able to escape in the nick of time. Unfortunately, the shock sends Kuja into pre-mature labor. In a bit of a darkly comical scene, Crocodile is able to deliver the baby, but it is at the cost of Kuja's own life. In her last moments, she tells Crocodile how to get to Foosha village (the home of her friend, Makino) and the name she decided for her baby boy (Luffy). Crocodile manages to give her some assuring comfort and she dies in his arms after one last kiss. Crocodile proceeds to turn Kuja's body into dust so as to keep the authorities from finding it and realizing that the child was born, and putting her DNA into the criminal system to match up with her son's if they ever get their hands on him. He takes the child to Foosha village and gives him to Makino. He is incredibly jaded and bitter now, and the hatred in his heart harbored towards Whitebeard and the World Government, is not extended to the boy and himself (both of which he blames for taking away the only good thing in his 'miserable excuse for a life') Nevertheless he leaves Foosha Village with a warning. "If anything ever happens to the little bastard, you'd better pray I don't get wind of it"
*the master thief is Dr. Hiriluk, Chopper's adopted father.
*Robin's father
*Kujaku is Japanese for Peacock. The peacock is said to be a reincarnation of the phoenix on earth according to Chinese myth. Legend also says that the dragon and the phoenix are said to be married to each other and have something of a yin/yang motif. But I read somewhere that if a phoenix ever tries to have a dragon's child it will die.I would have gone with Phoenix being her name. But then when you take Marco into account...there's already a phoenix in OP and I try not to mess with canon
* The empress who was ruling Amazon Lily before Gloriosa was said to have been affected by the "love sickness"
*If anybody is interested, I'll write out a scene where Ghariella touches Kuja's face with her right hand to test the effects of their training, and she is overjoyed when nothing happens. Very smutty and fluffy
*Implied to be Spandine, Spandam's father.
* If anybody wants me to, I'll be happy to write a slashfic detailing the night of farewell ;)
*Hack
*Whew*Okay, so what did you think? Did you like it? Do you wanna know what happens next? If this was a fleshed out series of chapters, would you read it? Please review, even if you hated it. Just tell me what you think!