#(Namely everywhere. You turn your head and smack right into some big tiddy because Oda can't stop himself from drawing them)

[moongothic]

I'm not clear on why Crocodile couldn't have already been stealth trans before Ivankov transed his gender, like yeah Oda has a particular way he draws women that might be a little hard to disguise, but so many details in Crocodile's costume COULD be used to disguise even an hourglass and boobs, and real people have been stealth since long before HRT was a thing

You are right, Croc could've been stealth long before meeting Ivankov in theory. It's just that there's a few little things we would then need to considder that honestly makes Crocodile being openly trans an oddly more viable option, at least in my mind

For one, yeah, there is the issue of how Oda draws women. Like, let's be clear about one thing, Oda can and is 100% ABLE to draw female characters who aren't just his default hourglass figure big tiddy anime girls. Like that is the default, but he 100% can and DOES draw characters outside that trope (and yes, most exceptions to the trope tend to be older women, so just to name a few youngish-adult ladies, Miss Monday, Sandersonia and Marigold all break Oda's typical way of drawing adult women (and are all queens)) Another thing is that Oda can make character designs that can appear somewhat androgynous, Cavendish and Dellinger just to name at the top of my head (Dellinger was famously mistaken for a girl by fans when first introduced)

So theoretically it is possible Oda could make young, pre-t Crocodile a bit androgynous both in physical appearance and how he dressed himself (Oda did mention how he actually intentionally drew Nami and Robin with smaller tits during the first two arcs of Wano because women traditionally binded during the time, so it was for like historical accuracy. So he could give pre-t Croc a flatter chest and/or have him binding) (Sidenote the genderbent Croc from the SBS could be seen as post-pregnancy Croc; Pregnancy hormones do fuck up your body, so a pre-preg Croc and post-preg Croc could appear differently in that way too)

And let me tell you, nothing would make me happier than if pre-t Crocodile was like a reverse Cavendish (giving Sailor Uranus) instead of the default big tiddy anime lady Oda always does. The only reason I'm intentionally trying to kill my own hopes and dreams ahead of time is because we saw how Oda drew Yamato. Mind you, Yamato does not have to do jack shit, bind or do anything else, in order to pass as a man. He's a man regardless of how he presents himself, big tiddy or not. But because of how Oda drew Yamato, I don't want to hold onto any hope that he would draw pre-t Croc any different. Mainly because I don't want to end up disappointed. Like I said, it's theoretically possible, Oda could do it if he wanted to, I'm just not sure he would, so I'm basically just trying to brace myself for the worst lmao

(Sidenote though, I don't see any reason why pre-t Croc would've dressed any different from how he dresses now, based on how Oda makes character designs in general and Yamato too, how he dresses however the fuck he wants. Like I am 100% sure pre-t Croc would've worn his silly little waistcoats and pants just like he does now. Absolutely do not comprehend it whenever people draw him in a dress or a skirt, he would not have worn that I fucking promise you that)

The other big thing is how, if Crocodad Real, he would've had to have transitioned after giving birth at 27, and that begs the question of "why wouldn't he have transitioned before ever getting pregnant"

I know someone's going to argue "he just accepted his body for what it was and didn't need to transition to be considdered a real man", and while that's true as an overall statement about trans people in our world, like. If Crocodile was "fine with his body being the way it was and didn't want to transition" then why did he do it later in life then. Clearly he did want to transition. Why the fuck would you wait and go through extra years of dysphoria when you could just end it and enjoy euphoria instead.

And I can only think of two explanations; either Ivankov didn't get their Devil Fruit until around/after Crocodile got knocked up so he didn't have the possibility to transition until it was too late. Or, as I have discussed in the past; maybe Crocodile never figured his gender shit out until after getting knocked up.

I have discussed in the past how sometimes, the path of least resistance, the explanation that requires the least explaining, might be the most likely one. It's easier for me to assume Crocodile is openly trans and that he was Narnia-deep in the closet/in denial about his gender until he got pregnant and his dysphoria became unbearable (so much so it finally cracked his egg). Crocodile being stealth trans (and Oda will draw him in a way that the theory's viable) but wasn't able to transition until later in life because Ivankov hadn't eaten their DF yet is plausible, but I feel like I have to have higher hopes for that version to happen.

But that is just how I feel, what makes sense to me and what I feel like I could expect Oda to actually do in the story. And I could be 100% wrong, only time will tell

(Sidenote; theoretically it is also plausible Crocodile never even met Ivankov until during/after pregnancy but that could potentially go against the "rookie era" comment from Impel Down. Yes, I did just discuss how that one could be retconned in the previous ask, but as I presonally believe in hte "they met when Croc as in his early 20s but didn't transition until later" version, I felt like I should acknowledge that)