Hello, how are you? I hope you're well!How do you think your story would be if Crocodile hadn't told Dragon he was pregnant?
I'm sure it would change a lot!
We would have to ask ourselves what the reason would be for him to keep the pregnancy from Dragon. If we’re talking about Stinky Child AU then Dragon and Crocodile both have the same goal. With the kind of background and relationship they have, a lot of reasons I can imagine for Crocodile not wanting to tell Dragon falls away. Dragon’s not just an ill-advised one-night stand, but a man he’s known and worked with for almost ten years. I think two scenarios are possible:
One, he doesn’t tell Dragon because he knows that they cannot realistically keep the child without endangering it and themselves. He wants to spare Dragon the grief of having to make the hard decision to let the kid grow up without them. If Dragon never knew there was a child, then he won’t have to worry. Where would he put the child though? Whitebeard? So he still grows up with a grandpa, but a lot of Luffy’s trajectory would change. And I don’t think Crocodile would be able to keep the secret forever without withdrawing from Dragon and I’m not sure if Dragon wouldn’t feel betrayed to not be told even if he understands why Crocodile did it.
Two, Crocodile doesn’t know how to tell him and then Luffy’s there before he could make up his mind what to say to Dragon. So Dragon won’t know he has a son until Crocodile shows up to their next scheduled meeting with a baby. And making decisions about giving the child up is probably harder when the baby looks up at them with his adorable little face.