As Crocodile landed on the ship, Taro followed closely behind.
"Mr. 1, you go ahead first!"
When Old Sand brought Mr. 1 out, he had sensed the icy coldness welling up from the depths of Mr. 1's heart and knew he was barely holding on.
By now, Mr. 1 naturally stopped forcing himself and quickly darted into the ship's cabin.
Taro gave Crocodile a strange look, then laughed,
"Crocodile, you've really changed a lot, haven't you? Was that concern just now? I never thought you'd actually...!"
Crocodile glanced coldly at Taro.
"Did you come just to mock me?"
Taro chuckled lightly, "How about I mention a secret only you and I know to liven things up?"
Crocodile's breathing grew heavy, his face turning cold and gloomy. After a long while, he finally spoke in a deep voice,
"Since I've decided to return to the New World, it means that'scar' has already healed!"
The smile on Taro's face widened.
"Really? If it's healed, why didn't you want me to say it out loud just a little while ago?"
Crocodile's expression grew even icier, his eyes narrowing as he glared sidelong at Taro.
Unfazed, Taro laughed and said,
"That sidelong glare of yours right now is quite similar to Whitebeard's!"
As he spoke, he waved his hand before Crocodile could get angry.
"Alright, I'll stop! Seriously, for a man, it's normal to have some strange quirks or 'odd' thoughts sometimes! I can under...!"
"Swoosh!"
Crocodile swung his arm, his entire limb transforming into a sand blade that slashed towards Taro.
"Clang!"
thunderstorm flew out, blocking Taro's attack.
"Haha, alright, I absolutely won't say any more this time!"
After blocking Crocodile's attack, Taro jumped back a distance and leaned against the ship's railing.
"Let's get this straight upfront: Jianghu rules, one-for-one exchange!"
Crocodile stared at Taro for a good while before his sandified arm returned to normal.
"Do you ask first, or do I?"
"You first, but now it's my turn!" Taro blinked. "That last sentence counts as a question!"
"Are you messing with me?" Crocodile instantly flared up in anger!
"Hahahaha!" Taro laughed heartily.
Crocodile let out a heavy breath, clenched his fist, and just as his lips moved, Taro spoke again,
"Also, the questions can't be too vague. Otherwise, they can't be answered, got it?"
"Got it! Now it's my turn again!" Crocodile stared at Taro haughtily.
"Your last sentence also counts as a question!"
Taro's mouth twitched, revealing a hint of a smile.
"You learn pretty fast! Alright, ask away!"
Crocodile stared at Taro for a long time.
"Laugh Tale, the One Piece, Rocks D. Xebec, Gol D. Roger, Marshall D. Teach, and you, Dai D. Zhou Ze. Blackbeard inherited Rocks's will, you inherited Joy Boy's will..."
"The so-called 'Pirate King' is just a 'dedicated toy' passed down through generations of your d clan, yet you gave us pirates 'dreams'. What exactly are you trying to do?"
Crocodile's former dream was also to become the Pirate King. He even felt that after smoothing over his'scar' and making up his mind to settle things here, he would continue to charge towards the goal of 'Pirate King'.
However, Taro's appearance steered things in a strange direction!
What Pirate King, what One Piece—in the end, it's just a game played by a bunch of people with the name D.
The One Piece was left behind by the d clan's leader at the time, Joy Boy. The great pirates who stirred up the world's situation all bore the name D.
Now, the contemporary leader of the d clan, Taro, has personally entered the game!
You set the prize, you made the rules, and then you join the game yourself?
Then what are we? What about all those who died?
Sparring partners?
Crocodile was furious!
Taro hadn't expected Crocodile to ask such a question. He thought Old Sand would ask about Whitebeard, the ancient weapons, or Taro's own secrets.
How the hell would I know what we... oh, wait, what they want to do?
After a long silence, Taro finally spoke.
"I'm not a pirate. I don't know what becoming the 'Pirate King' truly means. However, I probably know a bit about the answer you're looking for. They want 'dawn'; they want to bring the light of dawn to this world!"
In Taro's view, it was incredibly jarring that a selfish pirate like Crocodile would ask such a question!
Shaking his head, Taro looked at Crocodile.
"Now it's my turn! As far as I know, after the God Valley Incident, the Rocks Pirates continued to exist for a while before officially disbanding. That's very illogical for a pirate crew where everyone had their own agenda!"
"Why exactly was that?"
Crocodile's expression changed. "Who did you hear that from?"
"You're breaking the rules. It's not your turn to ask yet!" Taro stared at Crocodile, his tone stiff.
After pondering for a moment, Crocodile slowly began to speak.
"Because Whitebeard, Big Mom, Golden Lion, and Kaido all returned to Hachinosu to search for something!"
"You're from the East Blue. I don't know if you've heard, but there's a 'Bridge Kingdom' in the East Blue—Tequliquepol. That thing is related to the secret of the World Government building massive bridges connecting islands in the East Blue!"
"However, I don't know what it specifically is or what it records!"
Taro raised an eyebrow. The Bridge Kingdom was the country where Robin was sent flying by Kuma. Bridges had been under construction there for 700 years, still unfinished to this day.
Taro had initially thought bridge-building was just the World Government's method of persecuting non-affiliated countries. Now, it seemed it wasn't that simple?
Thinking carefully, there did seem to be some issues.
The bridge-building order was directly issued by the Celestial Dragons. If they wanted to persecute the people of non-affiliated countries, there were countless methods; there was no need to choose 'forced labor'!
Moreover, forced labor didn't fit the nature of the Celestial Dragons, who were more accustomed to solving problems through slaughter!
More crucially, many countries and civilians weren't even aware this project existed, which was simply absurd!
That was a full 700 years! Even a snail could have spread some news by now.
Right, and the Revolutionary Army—they were also infiltrating there. Was it merely to rescue the suffering masses?
Monkey D. Dragon, you know a lot!
Taro's gaze grew distant, shifting several times.
Crocodile waited quietly for a while, giving Taro space to think. Only when a flash of understanding appeared in Taro's eyes did he speak again.
"Now it's my turn!"
"Hiding such a deep identity, infiltrating the Marines... Taro, what is your intention?"
Taro stared at Crocodile and smiled silently.
"It wouldn't hurt to tell you. After all, once I'm off this ship, I won't admit to it!"
"I want to change the color of this world!"
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.