Crocodile is one of the most iconic characters in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece. Introduced to the fans during the Arabasta Saga, Crocodile went on to become a major villain in one of the greatest story arcs in the story. While he was eventually defeated by Luffy, Crocodile's importance to the plot still remains to this day. He was once again relevant during the Paramount War Saga where, in a weird twist of fate, he ended up aiding Luffy.
Two years later, after the Wano country arc, Crocodile has, once again, returned to the scene, this time, more menacing than ever before. While fans expected to see him at some point in the future, the really surprising part was the bounty placed on his head. As revealed in One Piece 1058, Crocodile's current bounty is 1,965,000,000 berries. While at first sight, this might seem a bit too high, there is a perfectly valid reason for why the reward on his head amounts to that much.
Crocodile's Old Bounty
To understand why Crocodile's current bounty is so high, fans need to take a look at the first bounty that was issued for him. At one point, Crocodile was quite a menacing pirate in the New World and even challenged the likes of Whitebeard. His activities earned him a bounty of 80 million berries. However, this amount was soon frozen as Crocodile was offered the position of Shichibukai. As such, his bounty during the Arabasta arc didn't reflect his actual strength.
Crocodile continued to grow in both power and influence while the position of Shichibukai covered everything up for him. Clearly, his real bounty should have been way higher in the Arabasta arc. In his fight against Luffy, Crocodile was outsmarted and ended up paying the price for underestimating his opponent. He successfully managed to defeat Luffy twice and had he finished the job properly, he would not have lost the battle. Unfortunately for him, he ended up losing his third fight to Luffy and was then locked and Impel Down by the Navy. Oda often likes to make his old villains stronger with time and Crocodile was no exception to his. After his defeat, he has now become much more powerful.
Crocodile During The Paramount War
When Luffy broke into Impel Down to free his brother, Portgas D. Ace, he ended up freeing Crocodile in the process as well. Along with him, Jinbe, who eventually went on to join Luffy's crew, and many other prisoners were freed as well. Crocodile, in particular, was one of the most dangerous prisoners in Impel Down. By this time, he had grown much stronger than he was during the Arabasta arc and this was evident from his showing in both Impel Down and, later, Marineford. He had no trouble keeping up with Luffy's Gear Second techniques and, later on, when the Paramount War began, he even tried to attack Whitebeard.
Crocodile stood up to the likes of Doflamingo and, later on, also clashed against Dracule Mihawk. Towards the end of the war, he even managed to stop Akainu in his tracks and didn't hesitate to challenge the strongest of Marines. Evidently, Crocodile had grown significantly in strength by this point. What's more, him playing a part in the Paramount war and even saving Luffy at one point, certainly added to his notoriety. Following the Paramount war, he headed to the most dangerous of all seas, the New World.
Crocodile's Current Bounty
For 2 years, Crocodile has been working alone in the New World and, just as he got stronger during the time between Arabasta and Impel Down, he most certainly has also gained a tremendous amount of strength in these two years. Having already been beaten by the waters of the New World, it is expected for him to have leveled up significantly to face it better. Now, Crocodile is stronger than ever before and he has a bounty to show for it. In One Piece 1058, it was revealed that the Marines have placed a 1,965,000,000 berries bounty on his head.
While this bounty might look inflated to some, it is certainly an amount that he deserves currently. Fans need to realize that Crocodile has grown tremendously powerful in the past two years. At the same time, the Marines went on to mention his Devil Fruit control as one of the biggest reasons why his bounty is so high. According to them, his mighty Logia power is enough to give him such a high reward. However, that's not all. Crocodile is also known to be extremely cunning and this also plays a significant role in him earning a high reward. That, when added to the fact that the Cross Guild is openly putting bounties on Marine heads and hunting them down, makes Crocodile a very wanted man.