It just Croc cope, his dream still is become king of the pirates, miss goldenweek painting revealed that
and not forget that he in that douglas bullet movie he was trying to get the log pose to laugh tale.
Yes, but at the same time Croc himself said he has no interest in the treasure at the time.
The first step has been utopia for the past two years amassing money and power after that he may go claim the one piece but that’s not his current goal or dream.
Just like despite Mihawk also showing up in stampede and Oda saying he also once dreamed of op he has no desire for the treasure anymore.