Michael had to admit, this world had gone completely off the rails—far beyond what he could have ever imagined.
Crocodile said that back when he was a woman, his surname was Nefertari.
That meant… he was once part of the royal family of Alabasta.
Judging by age...
"You... are you Cobra's younger sister? Or some other relative?"
"Do I really look that much like that guy Cobra?"
"I didn't think so earlier," Michael frowned, "but now that you mention it—if I ignore the scars on your face, your features are almost identical to his."
"Heh, well, he is my big brother. After changing from a woman into a man, it's only natural that we'd still look somewhat alike."
Crocodile didn't try to hide anything. He admitted it directly and freely.
He confirmed he was Cobra's younger sister—which meant that he had once been...
The princess of Alabasta.
Michael suddenly felt a flash of enlightenment. Questions from the original story that never quite made sense now all came together.
In the original Alabasta arc, it was clearly shown that the secrets of the ancient weapon Pluton and the Poneglyph were absolute state secrets of Alabasta.
Even young Princess Vivi didn't know about them. The only one in the entire country who knew was King Cobra.
That meant this information was so tightly guarded, it was likely passed down only orally between generations of monarchs.
And if that's the case...
How did a pirate learn these secrets?
Crocodile not only knew about Pluton—he even had knowledge of the Poneglyphs.
Aside from him being a member of the Alabasta royal family, there really was no better explanation.
After all, Cobra was so cautious he didn't even tell his own daughter.
As for why he changed gender and identity...
Michael couldn't guess.
What exactly happened in the middle had never been addressed in the original story.
After all, the canon couldn't possibly cover every single event in the entire world.
"So, you knew about Pluton and the Poneglyphs simply because you used to be the Princess of Alabasta?"
"'Princess'... That's a title I haven't heard in a long time." Crocodile seemed dazed for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "That's right. Our father once told both of us the secrets passed down through generations of that kingdom."
"Then why did you choose to change your gender and leave Alabasta?" Michael frowned. "More precisely, the people Ivankov mentioned earlier—those who were 'targeting your body'—who were they?"
"I don't know." Crocodile shook his head, regret and unease clouding his expression. "I just know that a group of strange people suddenly appeared in Alabasta and started hunting me down… During my escape, I ate a Devil Fruit I came across by chance—the Suna Suna no Mi—just to survive."
"I ended up using my Logia powers to vanish deep into the desert, hiding there for a long time. When my body was on the verge of collapse, I ran into Ivankov, who was traveling the Grand Line. He healed me, and at my request, he used the Horm-Horm Fruit to perform gender reassignment surgery."
Strange people?
Michael's breath caught sharply. In that instant, a terrifying possibility flashed through his mind.
"Women of the Alabasta royal family—don't they all have blue hair?"
"That's right. Only the women inherit that hair color."
"...The people who were hunting you back then—were they all dressed in nearly pure white clothes and wearing different masks?"
"How do you know that?" Crocodile suddenly turned around and grabbed Michael by the shoulders. "Don't tell me—you know something!?"
"I only know a little." Michael shook his head, his expression unusually serious. "They're called CP0. It's a spy organization directly under the Celestial Dragons."
Looks like all Nefertari women end up getting targeted by that guy called 'Im' once they come of age.
"All I can say is... you were extremely lucky." Michael brushed Crocodile's hands off his shoulders.
"The fact that you managed to escape with your life thanks to the Suna Suna no Mi—apart from the convenient desert terrain of Alabasta, your luck was downright outrageous."
Even though Crocodile didn't know about CP0, just hearing the words "Celestial Dragons" was enough for him to understand the general idea.
"What does it matter?" Crocodile clenched his fists tightly, then slowly relaxed. "I can never return to my homeland as my original self again..."
Michael grinned. If this world followed the same trajectory as the original, then he probably understood why Crocodile harbored such a strange animosity toward Cobra.
As siblings, one became a secure king, while the other was forced to wander the seas as a pirate.
Anyone would be twisted by that.
Not to mention, Crocodile had originally been a woman—more prone to emotion—and not just any woman, but Alabasta's beloved and pampered princess...
But from Crocodile's perspective, this was perhaps fate's way of forging him for a greater mission.
Putting together all the current intel, it was highly likely that the only way to bring Pluton back into the light...
Was through the awakened powers of the Suna Suna no Mi.
Pluton was hidden in Wano.
And in the original story, Kozuki Sukiyaki had made it very clear: in order to release Pluton, the enormous rock wall surrounding Wano must be completely destroyed.
And the only thing capable of doing that... would be a fully awakened Suna Suna no Mi. It could draw moisture from matter and reduce buildings—or even the land itself—into sand.
The Gura Gura no Mi... probably wouldn't work.
Forget the fact that the rock walls of Wano looked way more solid than the Navy's barricades at Marineford—even if the Gura Gura no Mi had the power to break them, how would you guarantee that its indiscriminate shockwaves wouldn't destroy Pluton too?
So unless something unexpected happened, the Suna Suna no Mi...
Was actually the key to unleashing Pluton.
Crocodile, who had spent his entire life chasing Pluton, just so happened to possess the key.
Everything—every encounter and twist—had been arranged by fate.
...
"Are you two done chatting?" Ivankov had stopped in front of a room in the southeast corner of Baltigo. "Crocodile, are you... sure you want to undergo the surgery again?"
"I told you—I don't have a choice. And..." Crocodile suddenly turned to look at Michael. "Following this guy... maybe I'll see a new possibility... who knows."
With that, he walked into the room.
Outside the door, Crocodile looked back at Ivankov with a smile and said:
"Oh, right, Ivankov, do me a favor..."
"Don't forget to restore my original hair color."
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