The Grand Line.
The quiet port seemed to see little traffic.
The dry climate felt unpleasant.
A child with somewhat long hair was hammering on a wooden crate.
The child longed to set sail and someday change the fate of this world.
Unlike those ignorant fools who always boasted about how powerful they were and what they could change in the future.
He preferred to take things one step at a time. To that end, all the wooden crates he collected were arranged in specific positions. Only he knew how to follow his own system to find the hidden Beli, weapons, and food.
Across the seas that the Celestial Dragons so painstakingly maintained.
Nearly every island inhabited by humans had some abandoned areas.
The child lived here.
"Hey! Crocodile, you idiot, picking through trash again?"
"You're just a beggar, yet you still dream of setting sail someday. Pirates don't pick through trash. Look at the grime on your face. What a sight!"
"Hahahaha! This guy daydreams all day long. What a loser!"
Amid the laughter.
Crocodile's ear suddenly twitched.
He seemed to have heard something, but when he turned to look, nothing appeared.
Crocodile placed the crate in his little shelter.
Then he turned and walked toward the port in this abandoned area that hardly anyone visited.
To keep his spirit from fading, he came to gaze at the sea almost every day.
He had had enough of the bleak, hopeless life on this island. If he ever grew strong enough and saved up enough food, he would escape!
Suddenly.
An utterly terrifying sight appeared before Crocodile's eyes.
Something was wrong with the seawater offshore. It had actually sunk into a depression in the sea!
Yet no seawater flowed into the hollow on the surface. The bizarre sight simply remained