Something I don't really see in speculations about Crocodile's past is is his aversion to trust.
When Crocodile is introduced in Alabasta one of his defining personality traits is his distrust of others. But where does this distrust come from?
We know Crocodile once used to be a dreamer/chased the One Piece until he challenged White Beard and was defeated, his dream crushed. After this he became cynical and presumably distrustful. But how does one defeat create such distrust? We've seen other characters defeated and they've not lost their trust in others.
-Moria was horribly defeated by Kaido and had his whole crew killed which lead him to become cynical and let zombies fight for him instead because then he didn't have to suffer the pain of loosing people he cared about. But even then he still had a few close people he trusted.
-Ace fought White Beard and lost but was accepted into the "family" along with his crew.
This makes me wonder, what happened to Crocodile's old crew? He should have had one. I don't think he made a Mihawk and traveled alone, every other pirate has a crew. So what happened with his crew? Were they all killed? Possibly, but then why doesn't he mention it in his "lecture" to Luffy when they fought? That having a crew only ends up with them being killed, but no he focuses on the trust part.
My theory then is that Crocodile's old crew wasn't killed, but rather abandoned him. The people Crocodile had assembled and put his trust in abandoned him when it mattered most. Maybe it was during the White Beard fight? When the crew saw that their captain was about to lose or after he had lost the crew just left. If something like that happened I can completely understand why he doesn't trust anyone anymore. He was betrayed by those he trusted most.
Because of Crocodile's aversion to trusting people I find his relationship with Mr. 1/Daz bones interesting.
In Alabasta Crocodile did not care about Mr. 1 at all. He was just another agent whose life didn't matter. However in Impel Down Crocodile specifically frees Daz when escaping and later saves his life during Marineford. What changed?
I think the answer is in Miss Goldenweek's coverstory. In it, it is shown that both Crocodile and Mr. 1 were given the opportunity to escape prison. Crocodile decided to stay and Mr. 1 chose to stay behind with him. Daz Bones was given the option to leave but chose to stay with Crocodile even though it didn't benefit him at all. He simply stayed out of loyalty. And I think that loyalty touched Crocodile and made him accept him as a genuine crew member.
But these are just some of my thoughts.
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