D: I have a question for Odacchi. In “The White City”, chapter 762 of volume 76, during the scene where Law stabs Cora-san, I found Crocodile printed on the paper Cora-san was reading.
So what was that article about? P.N. Yamamoto・Sugiyama・Hori
O: Yes. I’m quite impressed you found this one~. As you’ve pointed out, if you look really closely, you can find Crocodile there.
This was from the time when Law was 10 and Doflamingo was 25; 16 years ago from now. Crocodile was 30 at the time.
Similar to Luffy, back when he was young, Crocodile’s name spread across the seas with incredible momentum, but soon after he was admitted into the Shichibukai in his mid-20’s, he tried to fight Whitebeard and was completely and utterly crushed by him.
Though he seemingly calmed down at this point, his eyes became set on the kingdom of Alabasta, and it happened to be precisely during this time period that he was being featured in the papers as a hero who hunted down pirates. In other words, that was an article reporting the acts of heroism by Crocodile at the time!
Sabo’s dream involves traveling around the world as a pirate. This is in order to write a book containing the story of everything he would see and every place he would visit during his journey. One of the reasons behind all this could be the “segregation” that envelopes so much of the Goa Kingdom, a thing that could easily stir a freedom-loving spirit like Sabo’s to ask himself what the world was really like outside the walls of High Town, and outside the island itself. However, he was ready to cast aside his dream for the sake of his loved ones. Sabo was loyal to his friends and, in this case his two “brothers”, to the point that he would give in to the demands of his father, becoming miserable and “alone” in order to save both Luffy and Ace. After reawakening his memories, Sabo did not leave the Revolutionary Army to resume his dream as a free-sailing pirate, as he seems to remain convicted to the Army’s causes.
O: I keep saying this, but I’m just bringing the young boys’ dreams to life! All of humanity on earth! I command your breasts to grow~!
Garp had high expectations for Luffy, but to Garp’s dismay, Luffy did not share his grandfather’s plans for his future. However, Garp respects Luffy as a great person, even if he is a pirate. He often brags about Luffy to his superior Sengoku, laughing whenever Luffy does something audacious and is prone to saying “That’s my grandson” much to Sengoku’s exasperation.
When Sengoku was talking with Garp and Kuma, Garp said that Luffy is not the type of person to brag about defeating someone, arguing that Bartholomew Kuma did not need to kill Luffy to keep Moria’s defeat a secret. When Luffy entered the battle of Marineford, Garp recognized him and looked shocked and horrified at the sight of his grandson entering the fearsome battle. Later, as the battle rages on, Garp merely looks resigned as his grandson furiously makes his way to the execution platform. When Luffy came close to the platform, Garp stands in his way in the name of his Marine duties. However, in the end, Garp chose family over his duties as he allowed Luffy to hit him and reach the execution platform to save Ace. He also tried to attack Admiral Akainu when Ace was killed by the admiral and Luffy was on the verge of being killed as well, but was stopped by Sengoku.
As Garp has resigned from the Marines, he and Luffy are no longer enemies by law.