Okay guys this is a speculation/theory about what Crocodile’s past was and why he’s ashamed of it. To cover up this speculation/theory I’ll need to explain how parallel Alabasta arc is with Dressrosa arc is.
Upon entering Alabasta we got 2 islands and upon entering Dressrosa we got 1 island
before hand to build up the arc.
– Upon entering Alabasta we got Little Garden (chapter 106-114) and Whiskey Peak (chapter 115-129) And after this we also got Drum Kingdom (130-154)
– Upon entering Dressrosa we got Punk Hazard although that arc was longer (chappter 655-699)
So the amount of chapters are pretty close upon built up to the actual arc (48 for Alabasta and 44 for Dressrosa) just a 4 chapter difference. Also there is very interesting connections you can say about both arcs build ups and along the arcs themselves:
• In Punk Hazard Zoro and Nami were put to sleep by the Yeti Brothers but in Whiskey Peak they were wide awake knowing they were gonna be attacked
• There was identity games (Mr.2’s face change Devil Fruit and Law’s heart replacements).
• In both arcs we got introduced to two silly characters right off the bat (1 male and 1 female) that the female ended up being an ally while the male stayed unimportant -> (Baby 5 ended up allying herself with her “lover” and Buffalo stayed unimportant. Vivi joined the straw hats along the journey and Mr. 9 stayed unimportant).
• Both arcs contained Smoker and Tashigi.
• Both arcs the warlords were praised even though they were very evil.
• Both Warlords had their strongest fighter be very serious and have the exact same haircut
(Daz Bones and Vergo)
• Both Warlords have furcoats
• In Whiskey Peak, Zoro knew they were in the Grand Line so they shouldn’t let their guard down and that’s why he didn’t allow himself to go to sleep. And in Punk Hazard Zoro told Luffy to get a grip since this is now the New World
• In Whiskey Peak everyone was shocked from Zoro’s insane power since hes taking everyone on alone. And in Alabasta everyones is shocked at his power when he cuts Pika in half.
• Little Garden had 2 giants and Punk Hazard had a dragon. So we were introduced to two very big and powerful beings.
• In Punk Hazard we spent the time in the snow part of the island while Alabasta was all Desert and hot.
• Both actual arcs contained the introductions to Luffy’s brothers, both brothers are parallel as Ace was Whitebeards 2nd commander and Sabo is No.2 in the revolutionary army.
• Both brothers leave behind a vivre card and give the exact same quote upon leaving.
• Both brothers use the powers of the mera-mera no mi.
• Both arcs contained a warlord in a kingdom.
• Alabasta the warlord tried to take over the country, meanwhile in Dressrosa the warlord already took over.
• Both arcs had the name Blackbeard mentioned.
• In Alabasta Zoro fought a Steel man (Daz Bones) and in Dressrosa he fought a Stone man (Pica)
• Zoro went through Daz Bones with many injuries barely winning and vs Pica went out without a scratch.
• Both arcs contained a navy soldier who is not corrupted, dislikes the warlord system, but in Alabasta the soldier (Smoker) had to take credit, meanwhile in Dressrosa the soldier (Fujitora) completely discredited himself.
• Upon entering the Island the straw hats went hidden (Alabasta they crossed deserts and in Dressrosa they wore disguises)
• Princess in distress, although in Alabasta the princess was respected and in Dressrosa she was disrespected.
• Both islands have very respectful kings.
• In both arcs the people originally disliked the kings (Alabasta there was a rebellion against Cobra) although in the end both were proven innocent. Cobra was blamed for stealing all the water of the desert to himself and Riku was blamed for murdering his own people.
• In both arcs we were revealed very important information (Alabasta – the existence of the poneglyphs and the existence of ancient weapons. Dressrosa – The will of D. and meaning to Devil Fruit awakenings).
• Both arcs contained an explosive devil fruit user who was one of the select members for Crocodile and Doflamingo (Tho they still were pretty weak compared to Luffy and Zoro) -> Mr.5 and Gladius.
These are many opposites or similar versions of both the arcs that i am sure you heard most of them but not all and these facts make both the arcs completely parallel to one another. And these were just off the top of my head I am sure I can completely find more if I continue to look into it. So from this we can understand Oda obviously was creating this connection between both these arcs. Now I want to get to the speculation of what can possibly be Crocodile’s past? What’s the secret hes ashamed of? And no I do not think he was a woman, because I feel thats kinda taking a very great character in the series and just saying “Fuck that character”. What I believe is this:
Remember the whole ordeal of Crocodile vs Doflamingo in Marinefold arc? You can watch if you need a fresh reminder:
So during the entire time Crocodile seems to really hate Doflamingo and Doflamingo seemed to really enjoy pissing him off. I believe that Crocodile and Doflamingo were rivals as rookies when they began their journey and that goes on both of their dreams being similar. Although Crocodile always had the upper hand during these fights by having a logia Devil Fruit. Although Crocodile got a bit cocky by winning so much and having a logia devil fruit (since we see many characters with logia fruits become cocky with it. For example: Ace, Eneru, Monet, Caribou) and Doflamingo got stronger and at one point they fought once again and Doflamingo just completely destroyed Crocodile, ripped off his hand (explains the hook) and he scared his face which explains the stitches that go around from his entire face which isn’t far from the ability of Doflamingo’s devil fruit power and that also explains why we never saw Crocodiles face during Rogers execution because he did not lose against Doffy and gain that scar on his face before the execution.
(during Rogers execution)
So overall i believe Crocodile was completely humiliated and destroyed by Doflamingo, and possibly something even more to that. Although he would blame himself for being too cocky not actually Doffy so he won’t have that huge of a grudge but would still carry one and that explains why he hated Doffy and kept shrugging him off until they had an epic clash and also why Doffy kept trolling Crocodile specifically the entire war. And that’s why Oda made both characters and their arcs so similar to foreshadow the past both of them had with one another.
*Theory by Wasabaki