Crocodile

Crocodile is the president of the secret criminal organization, Baroque Works, and the major antagonist of the Baroque Works Saga. He is the longest running primary villain of the series as well as the first villain to hand Luffy a complete and utter defeat. He was originally introduced as a Shichibukai but was stripped of his title after attempting to take control of the desert kingdom, Arabasta. Crocodile is usually mentioned when Luffy's reputation is mentioned, as defeating Crocodile was what caused the World Government to really start taking Luffy seriously. He is also commonly mentioned when the Shichibukai are mentioned.

Appearance
Crocodile is an enormous man, standing at almost twice Luffy's height which is 172cm (5'7½") and is clearly much taller than Robin who stands 188cm (6'2"), with a wide chest and broad, shoulders, comparatively thin arms and legs, and thick neck. He has flushed white skin, as well as dark purple hair, which is combed back but dangles loosely from the back of his head. Crocodile has various battle scars, most notably a long stitch above his nose that stretches across his whole face, as well as a missing left hand, which has been replaced with a large hook made from a tough gold alloy. He has sunken eyes and thin eyebrows. Crocodile speaks with a deep, relaxed voice, and he is usually seen smoking a thick, buck cigar produced by his company.

His theme of dress is meant to convey the idea of an Italian mafia boss; he sports a long, thick, dark black and gray fur coat (Two shades of green in manga and Movie 8), as well as polished Italian shoes with golden buckles. He wears various jewelry, including several golden rings with various rare gemstones on his fingers and a rectangular earring that clips onto his right earlobe. Crocodile wears an indigo velvet scarf, as well as a long-sleeve orange shirt, which are covered by a darker orange button-up vest adorned with a striped black pattern, and dark brown suit pants.

After he was incarcerated into Impel Down, he wore a stripped prisoner suit, like most other prisoners. He was permitted to keep his gold hook. After joining Luffy and Jinbei to save Ace, he dons something similar to his old attire from Arabasta.

Every Shichibukai member has a animal theme. His animal theme is the crocodile, which reflects in his name, the Bananawani he kept as pets and his large scar (which resembles a "crocodile's smile") are reflections of his theme.

Personality
Like many villains Luffy has met, Crocodile is confident in himself and in his abilities (although unlike previous villains such as Don Krieg, Crocodile's confidence comes from skill and power. His power is shown when he beats Luffy twice, nearly killing him both times). However, due to his confidence, he underestimated Luffy's willpower, which eventually led him to his defeat. His willingness to kill displays his cold-hearted nature and will not think twice about sentencing another to death. He is also very quick to anger if someone insults him in any way as seen when Sanji insults him over his Den Den Mushi and comments that anyone who has ever insulted him he has killed. This is also shown latter in his first fight with Luffy, when Luffy calls him stupid he bites his cigar in half and threatens to kill Robin for laughing at the comment.

He also lacks almost any code of honor and does not see the point in offering those who about to die a chance of dying honorably. One of the few signs of honor he displayed at all was in his third fight with Luffy; he states that Luffy deserves an honorable death from his venomous hook. However, due to the situation at the time of battle, this could be considered more an act of cruelty than honor. However, it's also possible that due to the fact that he almost never fights with his poison hook, it is a tribute to Luffy's tenacity, as he stated himself. He also has a habit of often using the term "worthless" to refer to the desperate struggles of his enemies.

Crocodile has shown to be extremely cynical and cold-hearted. He displays complete disregard of the "romantic" pirate lifestyle, stating that all the things the Pirate King once had mean nothing to him. He places more importance in military power, and believes that only ignorant fools declare their grandiose dreams. Several times, he refers to trust and faith in others as idiotic, and has stated that he has done away with countless people like that. He goes so far as to mock those who fight for others, making their defeats to him all the more harsh.

If Crocodile is extremely angry or annoyed with his victim, he will rarely kill them outright, often leaving them for dead and suffering. This proves to be a bad habit of his as it lead to his defeat. The first two times he fought Luffy, instead of killing him out right, he leaves him suffering, which allows Luffy to come back and finally defeat him. This habit is the only reason Luffy lived through any of his fights with Crocodile.

He may very well have been the same happy, carefree person as Luffy once. They even shared the same dream. Despite this, his time in the Grand Line has corrupted him and jaded his personality causing him to turn into the cruel person he is now and let go of his dream.

Apparently, after losing to Luffy and stripped of his title of Shichibukai, Crocodile lost interest of the outside world, which caused him to not escape with the rest of his subordinates during the breakout, and eventually to his transfer to Impel Down. His only motivation to leave Impel Down was for a chance to kill Whitebeard.

Crew
Crocodile's connection to Robin was a strictly business-related one; he did not consider her a friend, only a tool for his own ambitions. He never once showed her compassion; she was just expected to follow orders. He held no pity for her when she failed to deliver Pluton and didn't think twice about striking her, although he did admit she had been a good partner to him moments beforehand.

He also did not refrain from acts of cruelty towards the other Baroque Works Agents under his employment, especially those who failed him (ex. feeding Mr. 3 to his Bananawani), However unlike previous villains such as Kuro, he doesn't harm subordinates for no reason, he strikes out at them if they fail or if they betray him.

Despite his cruelty towards his subordinates, he still manages to get some level of loyalty out of them after his defeat, as demonstrated in Miss Goldenweek's attempt to save him and the other Baroque Works agents and in Mr. 1 staying with him in prison. He later reward this loyalty by releasing Mr. 1 from his cell when he escaped.

He was also acquainted with Emporio Ivankov during his rookie days. Ivankov is also knowledgeable enough of Crocodile to know his weakness.

Enemies
Crocodile is an enemy of Arabasta because of his attempt to conquer the country. He especially is on bad terms with Vivi for the chaos and crimes he committed towards her father and country. As of the end of Baroque Works he is now an enemy of the Marines and the World Government for potentially causing a rift to form in the balance of the 3 Great Powers of the world. He remains a major enemy of the Straw Hats and his defeat at their hands is considered one of their greatest achievements.

He also has some type of grudge against Whitebeard. Although not fully explained, he comments on how he wishes to go and fight Whitebeard himself so he could kill him.

When Crocodile was still a rookie, he met with Emporio Ivankov, who learned of a "precious weakness" of him.

Abilities and Powers
Crocodile is one of the strongest characters in the series, as well as a (former) Shichibukai. He was the Shichibukai with the second lowest bounty at the time, Hancock having the lowest, and they are likely the only one's known to have a bounty of less than 100,000,000 (excluding Blackbeard), although had his bounty represented his threat level at the time he met Luffy it would have more than doubled and broken the 100,000,000 mark.

Indeed, when Crocodile was stripped of his Shichibukai status, and was transferred to Impel Down, he was placed in Level 6, where the world's absolute worst criminals are kept. He is also one of the few people to be able to take a "baptizing" in boiling water in Impel Down without flinching, which is considered an impressive feat. During Luffy's breakout of Impel Down, Crocodile is the only one of the three (along with Luffy and Jinbei) who did not sweat from the intense heat of Level 4.

He is extremely intelligent and cunning (one of the smartest in the series) which is apparent from his ability to mastermind Baroque Works while at the same time keep the World Government completely in the dark about what he was doing while making himself a hero of the people. He also has a skill for making flawless plans and seeing things that most other people wouldn't notice and deduce a correct conclusion from nearly no information (ex. seeing the white wrapping on the Straw Hats arm and almost instantly figures out it is a safe guard against Mr. 2's infiltration).

Devil Fruit


He mastered the Devil Fruit Suna Suna no Mi to the point of perfection where he can turn into sand reflexively if attacked and while in a desert area his powers make him unbeatable. Crocodile has the ability to create huge sand storms, make multiple bladed weapons out of sand, create quicksand and, by using his hand, to suck all moisture out any object, dead or alive, even those that are inanimate.

Weapons
Despite being one of the few characters to master his Devil fruit, Crocodile is still formidable in hand-to-hand combat and can fight very effectively using his hook. For most of his third fight with Luffy, he only used his hook (This was arguably the sole reason for his loss). It was only at the end of the fight when he used his powers at which point it was too late for them to make a difference. His hook is mostly made out of an extremely tough golden alloy. The golden part of the hook is hollow and can be taken off to use a poisonous hook with powerful Scorpion venom strong enough to melt through rock. If the hook somehow breaks off, he has a knife hidden away in it that can be used in its place.

Early Years
Crocodile was once carefree and optimistic. It was stated by Crocodile himself that he was not much different from Luffy once, and he also wanted to become the Pirate King and have adventures. As time went by, he grew in power and experience and his once optimistic outlook faded. Crocodile came to let go of his dreams, eventually becoming one of the Shichibukai. At some point, either before he became one of the Shichibukai or after, Crocodile learned of a weapon called Pluton and became very interested in it.

During his time as a rookie, he had crossed paths with Emporio Ivankov, resulting in Ivankov knowing Crocodile's precious weakeness. The nature of their relationship, and the mentioned weakness is still unknown.

Baroque Works
Crocodile secretly started a mysterious group, called Baroque Works. Being careful not to attract too much attention to himself, he gathered some of the best bounty hunters in the world, and gave them code names based on power. His plan the whole time was to capture Arabasta and read the Poneglyph there to find the ancient weapon, Pluton, and gain what he desires, Military Power.

It is known that he found Nico Robin at the age of 24, and made a deal with her. He'll protect her and give her a home, and she can be his partner. In return Robin will read the Poneglyph and find the location of Pluton.

Project Utopia
After years of planning, all the Baroque Works agents finally met Crocodile, and were given their final assignments. Crocodile, fighting and defeating Luffy twice (outside Rainbase and the Royal Palace respectively), nearly killing him each time, finally believed himself to be rid of Luffy, he however made the same mistake both times, leaving Luffy to die and not finish him off himself. Nico Robin and Crocodile were brought to the Poneglyph Chamber in the Royal Mausoleum Grounds by the king, Cobra, who was forced to lead them there. Crocodile was betrayed by Robin who reads off history she knows, of both Arabasta and other points in the world. Luffy caught up and a final battle commenced within the crumbling mausoleum (which was due to Cobra who was trying to kill Crocodile). Despite using a posion hook and managing to hit Luffy with it, Luffy's determination to help Vivi keeps him going and he finally defeats Crocodile with a super version of his Gatling Gun, Gomu Gomu no Storm. Throttling Crocodile severely, smashing him into and eventually through the bedrock of the mausoleum and into the air before he landed in the midst of the war he created. With that came the end of Baroque Works, and Crocodile.

After the truth of his actions was finally known before the rebels and royal guard, Tashigi, going by her own justice as Captain Smoker ordered, arrested Crocodile, who was stripped of all titles and permissions granted by the Marines and the World Government.

Life after Defeat
He was taken to a prison, and after all of the other Baroque Works members were broken out, he refused to go and instead stay behind enjoying one of his cigars smiling as he watches his former agents escape. On their way out, Miss Goldenweek uses her Rainbow Color Trap to transform his appearance based on his dream, making him appear as the Pirate King. Crocodile is notably surprised by this, Crocodile was then seen being sent to Impel Down, with a smile on his face. Along with him are Mr. 1, Mr. 2, and Mr. 3.

Current Events
Later in Impel Down, he is serving his sentence within Level 6, from a cage not too far from Jinbei and "Fire-Fist" Ace, commenting on the fact that Whitebeard's life was at risk due to the incoming war between him and the World Government, stating with a chuckle that several "Silver Medallists" (such as himself) would love to have their revenge on characters such as Whitebeard and Gold Roger, due to having only ever been defeated by the two in some way. He later doesn't comment when Boa Hancock comes to visit and is one of only three (the other two being Ace and Jinbei) who are unaffected by her beauty. When Luffy, Inazuma, and Ivankov are stuck on Level 6, Crocodile offers to help them get out if they release him. Luffy is defiant at first, as he has yet to forgive Crocodile for what he's done to Vivi and her country (to which Crocodile countered that he's no longer the least bit interested in Arabasta) but is convinced by Iva to let him work with them. He apparently just wants to kill Whitebeard, though Iva says he'll reveal Crocodile's weakness if he tries to betray them. After being released from his bonds, Jinbei warns Crocodile to lay off Whitebeard though Crocodile merely asks if Jinbei would just prefer to fight to the death immediately if that is the case.

After escaping from Level 6, he headed up all the way to Level 4, where he freed Mr. 1 to provide him some backup.

Major Battles

 * Crocodile vs. Puppuh
 * Crocodile vs. Luffy (Desert outside Rainbase)
 * Crocodile vs. Chaka
 * Crocodile vs. Luffy (Arabasta Palace)
 * Crocodile vs. Nico Robin
 * Crocodile vs. Luffy (Tomb of the Kings Masoleum)

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids dub, Crocodile suffered a few edits. After his first fight with Luffy, Crocodile was edited so that instead of impaling Luffy with his hook, he instead dangles him upside down by it. Strangely, in the next episode of the dub, Luffy was right-side up with Crocodile's hook being around his neck, but was still hanging upside-down in some shots. Another edit Crocodile suffered was that instead of being weakened by Luffy's blood in the final fight, he was instead weakened by his sweat. Also, in the hidden tomb with Nico Robin, in the 4Kids dub he merely hit her in the back, while in the original he impaled her through the back.

Additionally, scenes with Crocodile smoking cigars were cut, however, in one episode, 4Kids forgot to edit his cigar at one point.

Cultural References

 * In a mock-movie in the anime series Gintama, a Crocodile lookalike is seen charging towards one of the characters to fight. He is knocked away by a "Gomu Gomu" move pulled off by one of the characters.

Trivia

 * In a Cover Story Mini-Arc, Crocodile was originally drawn with both hands, and no hook. This was corrected for the release of the volume and is now published with the hook correctly placed on his left arm.
 * In a recent Japanese Fan Poll, Crocodile is currently ranked the 28th most popular character in One Piece.
 * Crocodile's design may have been inspired by Captain Hook from the story Peter Pan.
 * The soundtrack playing during Crocodile's defeat is the Czech symphony Dvorak's New World Symphony.
 * Miss Goldenweek's Rainbow Colour Trap reveals that his dream was to become the Pirate King.
 * When Igaram first mentioned Crocodile's former bounty, he said it was [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]80,000,000 . However, when Crocodile was introduced in person, his infobox said his bounty was [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]81,000,000.
 * It was noted that if the World Government had known Crocodile was head of Baroque Works, his bounty would be at least [[Image:Bsymbol.gif|Belli]]162,000,000.
 * Crocodile has a Laughter Style that starts with "Kua" (i.e. Kuahahahaha!).
 * Crocodile, Gecko Moria and Boa Hancock have reptile based themes (a crocodile, a gecko and a snake, respectively).

Related Articles

 * Luffy
 * Shichibukai
 * Pluton
 * Nico Robin
 * Pirate King