Of crocodiles and rings and a possible connection to a teased weakness
Crocodile is a guy that is real extra and dresses sharp and loves his bling bling, right? Heās a man of high standards, so of course, heās gotta wear bling to show that. Other bling loving characters are Capone Bege and Blackbeard for example. All three of them like to show off that bling. Now why do I mention the other two? Coz look at these three bling loving gentlemen, wearing rings on every finger and tell me where the difference lies. Iāll wait.
Exactly!
As opposed to Bege and Blackbeard, Crocodile doesnāt wear a ring on every finger. Obviously he cannot wear 10 rings coz he only got one hand with 5 fingers but he also never wears 5 rings. No, no. This guy, ladies and gentlemen, kinda makes it a point to always leave out one finger and thatās the ring finger. Ha- interesting.
Now, of course this could be mere coincidence. But letās be realistic here, itās Oda. He clearly has a reason for it as heās been true to this detail ever since Crocodile was introduced over a decade ago and the only real question isĀ āwhyā?
Why would Crocodile do that? He clearly loves wearing rings so why not wear them on every finger? Why leave out the ring finger for crying out loud? If one wanted to leave a finger without a ring, one would probably leave out the pinky or the thumb but who puts rings on every finger and leaves out the ring finger? I tell you who.
Crocodile. Thatās who.
If youāre one who believes in symbolism and all that stuff, then youād probably find it interesting that the ring finger symbolises releationships with others especially romantical ones as it is seen closest to the heart and therefore or because of it is the finger a wedding ring is worn on. In most cultures the engagement ring is worn on the right hand and the wedding ring on the left as the right hand is often the āphysicalā one and has a greater visibility. Itās probably interesting to note that the left hand is considered to represent your character and beliefs. Ha. Interesting that Crocodile is missing that one, huh? Anyhow, in Crocodileās case left or right hand doesnāt really matter as he only has one left (duh) so an argument can be made that sides donāt matter and the importance lies on the finger itself.
The way it looks right now is that heās making a statement leaving out the ring finger and there are a few possibilites here. Of course it could be a family ring and he could be from an important family but really, not only would that be a bit to similar to Doflamingo, it would also not make sense to not just replace the family ring on the occations heās not wearing it. But he never wears a ring on that finger so one can only come to the conclusion that thereās some sentimental thought behind that.
The most logical would be that there is a ring he believes should be on that finger. Either heās keeping it free for a future event coz he doesnāt have the ring yet (which I doubt) or heās keeping it free coz technically there already is a ring for the finger. This could be a ring he doesnāt have anymore and regrets it (like he lost it with his left hand or threw it away) or a ring he does have but decides not to wear for his own reasons. Whichever it is, it clearly has such an important value that he doesnāt just covers it up or replaces it.Ā
Now, given the ring finger and itās symbolism the thought of a wedding ring isnāt too far fetched. We donāt know enough about his past to say that he could never have been married so I think itās worth looking into.
Letās just imagine for a second, that the ring missing is indeed a wedding ring, what could that mean?
He could have had a wife but she died and even though heād technically not be married anymore, people who lost their partner almost always keep their wedding ring as a memento. If they move on, they donāt wear it anymore but they often keep it. This could give another perspective to theĀ āwoundsā Daz was referring to after Marineford as he was clearly not talking about Luffyās physical wounds but about the emotional wounds that came with losing a loved one.
Crocodile could have had a wife but she betrayed him and he took the ring off as to break the relationship and connection. Then the choice to not wear a ring on that finger in the future could serve as a reminder to himself not to trust people, not even those close to you. This could possibly explain his huge trust issues.
However, these two scenarios, while possible, donāt strike me as the most likely simply due to the two following scenes:
āIf you want to protect something, do it right!!āĀ
This could be totally random and only refer to the moment at hand but it could also indicate that he knows a thing or two about how to successfully protect someone. Which leads us to the infamous
āI know one of his weaknesses ...!! But if he cooperates with us ... then I wonāt say anything about it!!ā
Think about it, the biggest weakness ANY pirate of Crocodiles caliber could have is a loved one or people they care about and their identity and location to be known by the public or enemies (marines, pirates etc.) because no matter how powerful a pirate you are, if information like that was to spread and reach the wrong ears, this could have catastrophic consequences for you and the people you care about. Itās used over and over in OP stories like when the marines hunted down Gol D. Rogers offspring and slaughtered all newborn who could potentially have been Rogerās child or when the marines swore to kill Luffy for being Dragonās son or when Zeff was used as leverage to force Sanji to comply. I doubt anyone knows Usopp is Yasoppās son or that he had a woman and child in Syrup village otherwise someone would have probably attacked them to get back at Yasopp. Maybe thatās one of the reasons he left them. As to protect them.
Ivankov and Croc met years ago when Croc was still considered a rookie, so in his early/mid twenties. If there is indeed a ring to that finger and the person is still alive, Ivankov could know her identity or location and this could totally be the weakness Ivankov was refering to. Of course this only works if the person is still alive.Ā
Now I know,Ā youāre probably scratching your head, thinking I might be a bit nuts going this direction considering itās Crocodile weāre talking about but really, think about it. His choice of jewelry is mega weird so what could be the reaaon for it? Also itās hardly the weirdest theory out there (looking at you femCroc theorists).
This would also tie in neatly with why he decided to have his Baroque agents working in teams of two with male/female. I mean, unlike other characters, he clearly doesn't seem to see women as the weaker sex and him having his agents work in pairs has to be grounded somewhere. Maybe he was raised like that and his parents where a good example of how well men and women complement each other or maybe he made the experience himself. If so, I tend to think that he wasn't betrayed by the woman... or maybe he was and that's one of the reasons why he was so paranoid and basically expected Robin to betray him. All possible, really.
Itās also apparent that Oda incorporates marriages a lot more often nowadays than he did in the early years of One Piece. Mr 9 and Mrs Mondey got married on a cover page and have a baby, Capone got married and his henchman Gotty married too, Sai and Baby 5 married, Sanji and Pudding were meant to marry and letās not forget poor Senior Pinkās backstory.Ā
Last but not least, Iād like to point out a seemingly random fan question Oda answered in an SBS which seems just kinda odd once you consider everything I said above.
Now the question focuses onĀ āthey never had a childā andĀ āI wonder what faces their children would haveā, yet Oda starts withĀ āTheyāve been to weddings before ...ā ... WOW. Really? Why would he say that? XD No one even asked about weddings. Funny. So theyāve been to weddings, huh? As what? Guests? Grooms? You know? It doesnāt seem to mean anything but if you consider Crocodileās rings and such imo itās just a weird thing to say. Then the mysteriousĀ āI wouldnāt say whether they had children or not ...ā .....Ā
Note: Especially during Alabasta Oda often forgets to draw Crocās rings at all or accidentally leaves out the wrong finger but he is consistent with the rings since Impel Down. He still forgets them from time to time but he doesnāt switch the fingers anymore so one could reason that he had a vague idea of Crocodileās reasons behind the rings when he introduced him but only solidified it or gave it more details once Croc showed back up. The anime and games however often just leave out the wrong ring probably thinking that it doesnāt matter.
