An Important Mission

Something seemed wrong with Crocodile.

"Xia... Le?"

Crocodile repeated the name. It seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

After a moment of silence, he looked up blankly again.

"Then who am I?"

Xia Le froze. He could tell Crocodile wasn't pretending.

To be absolutely sure, he glanced at Evens, who was cleaning a gun nearby. Evens nodded gravely.

"Did I break his brain with that punch?"

Xia Le was stunned.

Then he laughed.

This might be even better!

"Listen up, kid!"

He looked back at the bewildered Crocodile.

"I rescued you from pirates. And now you're..."

"An Apprentice Marine aboard my ship!"

Crocodile looked around.

Everyone else was watching him curiously.

"I, Crocodile..."

"Am an Apprentice Marine?"

Crocodile repeated the words under his breath.

He seemed to have lost his memories of who he was, but everything else remained intact. He understood perfectly well what an Apprentice Marine was.

Crocodile slowly closed his eyes. A figure surfaced in his mind, making him recoil in instinctive fear.

He struggled to remember. There had been a billowing white cloak and a fist clad in a black glove.

When he opened his eyes again, he looked at Xia Le's right hand. Its black glove was identical to the one in his memory.

Maybe he's telling the truth!

I only remember a few things about him. I must have admired him a lot.

That was what he told himself.

And so, from that day on, Crocodile—whose brain had taken a beating before he could make his mark—happily lived as an Apprentice Marine aboard Xia Le's ship.

Within five days, the young Crocodile had grown close to Rosinante, T Bone, Evens, and the others.

His Sand-Sand Fruit Powers also fascinated everyone aboard.

"Whoa, that power is amazing!"

"Physical attacks can't even hurt you? That's incredible!"

"You're really strong, Crocodile! You can fight Evens up close without even using your Devil Fruit Powers!"

Rosinante exclaimed at every turn.

At twelve years old, Rosinante was the life of the ship, lively and cheerful as ever.

Meanwhile, T Bone sparred with Yagyu Hyoe using swords. The two quickly found a kindred spirit in each other and became good friends.

Xia Le stood with his arms crossed, watching Crocodile make friends with everyone so quickly. A faint smile touched his lips.

Crocodile after losing his memories...

Looks like he's discovering a new kind of happiness.

Maybe he'll thank me for that punch someday.

An Important Mission

With Crocodile joining Xia Le's squad, their combat strength soared.

Over the following half month, Crocodile demonstrated the formidable offensive power of a Logia Devil Fruit User, sweeping aside nearly every pirate crew they targeted.

He could summon a sandstorm at will and conjure sand tornadoes with a casual gesture. The moment his right hand touched someone, he could drain every drop of moisture from their body.

The Sand-Sand Fruit possessed terrifying offensive power, with an especially vicious ability to rob its victims of water.

Yet this former Crocodile, a Great Pirate whose name had recently spread across the seas, now showed a personality utterly unlike his old one.

He was cautious and perceptive, gentle and polite with his comrades. When missions brought him into contact with civilian children, he showed them genuine kindness.

T Bone, Evens, and the others couldn't stop marveling at it.

Who could have imagined that a notorious Great Pirate would become a different person after losing his memories, as though born anew?

Of course, everyone aboard had an unspoken understanding: no one would tell him anything about his past.

One day, after completing a rescue mission and returning to the warship, Crocodile could no longer hold back. He summoned his courage, approached Xia Le from behind, and asked the question that had been troubling him lately.

"Superior Officer Xia Le!"

"Why did those pirates recognize me?"

"They said I'd betrayed what pirates stand for."

"Who was I before?"

Xia Le turned around. He didn't smile or answer. He simply stared into Crocodile's eyes.

Only after a long pause did he speak.

"Little Sand."

"Does the past really matter that much?"

"Whatever your past was, whoever you used to be, you're living in the present now, aren't you?"

"So who you are now—what kind of person you are now—that's what matters most!"

Xia Le paused, a trace of emotion entering his eyes.

"The truth is, I'm just like you. I don't know a thing about what happened to me before I turned seventeen!"

"But I'm doing just fine now, aren't I?"

Crocodile froze. He stared at the superior officer he treasured, trusted, and respected above all others. "You... forgot your past too?"

"Live in the present!"

"Little Sand!"

Xia Le smiled.

The confusion vanished from Crocodile's eyes. He nodded solemnly. "Yes, sir!"

"Go train. Your physical strength and Hand-to-Hand Combat still need work!"

"Logia Devil Fruit Powers may be powerful, but when experts clash, your own strength decides the outcome."

Xia Le reached out and patted his shoulder.

Crocodile turned without hesitation, joined Rosinante and the others, and resumed the day's training.

Time passed. In the blink of an eye, another two months had gone by.

Much had happened at sea that year. Roger's rise to Pirate King had driven countless pirates into a frenzy.

As Xia Le's squad suppressed those pirates, they often heard news of Kuzan and Sakazuki. Like Xia Le, both were active across the seas, having grown from fresh-faced graduates into seasoned Rear Admirals.

Borsalino, meanwhile, seemed to have been assigned by headquarters as deputy commander of a fortress. He had begun a life of clocking in and out.

The squad's strength also rose rapidly through training and constant battle.

Notably, after months of experimentation, Xia Le had finally drawn out the Armament Haki hidden within his body and brought it fully under his control.

There was only a trace of it, but it was enough to appear on his panel.

Armament Haki, lv0+.

That simple line brought a smile to Xia Le's face.

It meant he could put points into it.

Between his time at Navy Academy and his battles since then, he had saved up fifty-eight system points.

Without the slightest hesitation, he put them all into Armament Haki.

His Armament Haki instantly rose to level fifty-eight.

In that instant, a strange awareness of his body and the energy around him swept through Xia Le. With a mere thought, a layer of Haki covered his glove, then spread rapidly until it coated his entire arm.

"Armament Haki."

Xia Le laughed.

Armament Haki was less effective than Seastone at suppressing Devil Fruit Users, but it enhanced both attack and defense. More importantly, it allowed him to strike Logia Devil Fruit Users.

At level fifty-eight, his Armament Haki could already coat him from his head down past his chest and across his arms.

Xia Le also discovered that he could use Ryuo, an advanced application of Armament Haki, in a rudimentary way.

For now, though, it worked only when it felt like it.

"That gives me more ways to deal with Devil Fruit Users—and better ones, too."

Xia Le smiled as he spoke.

Elsewhere, Crocodile was chatting with Rosinante, a smile on his face, when his mind suddenly went blank. Broken images flashed through his head.

He saw himself running barefoot as a child, setting sail aboard a ship in a rush of excitement, and eating a strange fruit.

The images were fragmented and disconnected.

But Crocodile knew at once that they were memories of his past.

My memories are coming back?

They're so fragmented, though!

Rosinante noticed something was wrong and asked curiously, "What's up, Crocodile?"

"Nothing!"

Crocodile shook his head and smiled.

"Come to think of it, we've fought in so many battles as apprentices. We should be made full Marines soon, right?"

Mina asked curiously.

The five of them had been pirates once, but life as Marines suited them well. Most importantly, they liked the way their superior officer treated civilians and the way he treated them. They felt at ease with him.

Evens had once said in private that their superior officer was one of them at heart.

"That would be great."

Crocodile grinned.

"I like the Justice Cloak Superior Officer Xia Le wears."

Evens smiled. "For some people, the justice on their cloak is a lie. But the justice Xia Le wears is True Justice."

Crocodile smiled. "If I had that cloak, mine would be True Justice too."

"Same here!"

Rosinante shouted.

Everyone burst out laughing. The mood was lively.

Clearly, everyone aboard the warship held Xia Le in high regard.

That respect came from what they saw on their missions: the stark difference between how he treated civilians and how he treated certain detestable nobles.