Aokiji's feelings toward Taro were quite strange; since a long time ago, he had noticed that Taro could very easily see through the essence of an event,
yet, there were many other times when what he said was utterly baffling.
For instance, right now, shouldn't a normal person be surprised by the relationship between Crocodile and Whitebeard?
Who on earth would care about Crocodile's gender issues?
In fact, you really couldn't blame Taro; after all, the grievances and entanglements between Old Sand and Whitebeard were a hot topic in his past life.
Particularly after the Okama King Ivankov spoke about 'holding a weakness' over him, the theory that Crocodile was a woman became deeply ingrained in people's minds, reaching the point where everyone knew about it.
If there was any secret about Crocodile that Taro was most curious about, it was naturally the gender issue.
Crocodile stared at Taro with a cold gaze.
"Taro, from Alabasta to Impel Down, and then to here, you have humiliated me time and again. Do you truly think I don't dare to kill you?"
Well, you definitely dare, but whether you can or not is another matter!
Taro's mouth twitched as he waved his hand.
"I was just too shocked and had a slip of the tongue. Don't mind me, please continue!"
Even as he said this, his eyes meticulously scrutinized every detail of Crocodile's face.
Was Old Sand really not a girl before?
Taro was very puzzled; what exactly did Ivankov know?
Crocodile's brow furrowed tightly, and Taro's expression made the corner of his eye twitch violently; his anger was almost uncontrollable.
"Roar hahaha! You people still haven't made any progress! You deserve to be enslaved by the Celestial Dragons for hundreds of years!"
At this moment, after another fit of gasping, Rocks began to laugh, his words filled with a thick sense of superiority.
"Do you know why that fellow named Taro is different from you?"
"Because he and I are people from the same world!"
Marco and the others were confused, while only Aokiji and Crocodile seemed to have some realization.
Now Taro was also dumbfounded. He looked at Rocks and first said in Chinese,
"What did you just say?"
Then, he said in English,
"Are you kidding me?"
No one understood Taro's words; Rocks, Aokiji, and the others were collectively dumbfounded!
Taro spread his hands and laughed,
"See? Facts prove that he and I are not from the same world!"
However, Taro's proficient switching of languages only made people more suspicious.
As a former Marine Admiral, Aokiji knew many secrets. Thinking a bit deeper, he pondered for a moment before looking at Taro.
"Are you also a D?"
Crocodile, who had previously heard some things from Rocks' mouth, followed up by asking,
"Can you control the ancient weapons?"
Taro's mouth twitched. "Don't talk nonsense!"
He glanced at Marco and the others, then looked at Aokiji and whispered, "I have absolutely no relation to the d clan!"
Then he looked at Crocodile, somewhat surprised. "You haven't given up on searching for Dark King yet?"
Neither of them believed Taro's words.
Aokiji thought to himself: Dr. Vegapunk had once revealed a hint about Taro's situation. To be described as being from 'the same world,' it could only be the d clan, right?
A long time ago, ancient weapons existed in the world. This news was told to Crocodile by Rocks back then; it was just that initially, he hadn't thought about looking for those ethereal things that had disappeared for hundreds of years.
However, the experience of a crushing defeat while challenging Whitebeard forced him to try and find Dark King. After more than ten years of investigation, he finally obtained intelligence that Dark King might be in Alabasta.
After several more years of plotting, his plan to seize the country fell through at the final hurdle!
However, now Crocodile didn't have much interest in that thing anymore; he had come to terms with it.
He glanced at Mr. 1 beside him and shook his head.
"Whether that thing exists or where it's hidden, I'm not interested. It's just you who makes me very curious!"
Of the people present, there was probably no one who wasn't curious about Taro now.
With everyone's eyes focused on him, Taro felt uncomfortable all over. He twisted his neck unnaturally.
"Don't let this guy change the subject. He hasn't explained himself clearly yet, so why are you all looking at me?"
"If you keep looking at me, I'll finish him off, and you won't get to know anything!"
The crowd thought about it and felt he was right. Their gazes returned to Rocks and Crocodile.
"I am that old fellow's son, that's right!"
After a moment of silence, Crocodile admitted it openly, a flash of hatred in his eyes.
"That old fellow never treated me as his son!"
Taro, Marco, and the others couldn't understand. How could Whitebeard, someone who cherished family so much, possibly...?
"Heh..." Crocodile sneered and said hatefully, "That old fellow always advertises himself as someone who protects his family, yet he never cared whether I lived or died!"
"Cough, cough!" Taro was listening in a daze and coughed twice. "Um, get to the point!"
Crocodile was reminiscing about the past, his eyes full of hatred. Being interrupted by Taro made his gaze even more sinister.
Taro was speechless and waved his hand. "Fine, fine, tell it at your own pace!"
"Before the God Valley Incident, this guy suddenly came looking for me!"
Crocodile pointed at Rocks, who was frozen like a popsicle. "He said I wasn't actually an orphan and that I had a father!"
"It was only because I was too thin and small that I was abandoned. In this world, the weak have no room for choice!"
"Impossible! How could Pops abandon a son for such a ridiculous reason? This is slander!" Marco's expression was furious.
Taro's brow furrowed tightly. "With Whitebeard's strength, he should have been an absolute main force on Rocks' ship, right? What was the point of him sowing discord in your relationship?"
"Hmph, that fellow Newgate was never of one mind with us long ago!"
Rocks spoke up at this point. Although he was now at the end of his tether, he was still very disdainful of Whitebeard.
"An opportunity to make a huge fortune was right in front of him, yet that fellow said something about how what he wanted was a family!"
"Family and such things are truly laughable. In this world, only strength is eternal. As long as one gets the thing on God Valley, they can possess infinite power. At that time, everyone will submit!"
"He wanted a family, so I gave him a family, roar hahaha! I wanted him to know how laughable his ideas were!"
Rocks laughed like a madman, sounding very demented.
Crocodile stared at Rocks, hatred surging within him.
Rocks, however, became even more smug.
"Don't look at me like that. You hated Newgate for decades; isn't it good to keep hating him?"
"Just because he's dead, to transfer that hatred to me is simply too laughable!"
Crocodile's chest heaved violently.
"That old fellow is indeed hateful, but you piece of trash are just the same!"
Rocks struggled to curl the corner of his mouth and mocked,
"Didn't I give you the Suke Suke no Mi? I gave you the power to become a strong person. You losing a bit of flesh and blood to help me activate that thing—this deal is very fair!"
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