The reason Rowan asked that, naturally, was because he wanted to pin down the One Piece timeline.
When Nico Robin heard his question, she was a little surprised. This guy had already barged into her room, yet he did not even know where this place was?
Then she noticed the scene behind him.
It looked like some kind of unusual living room.
But as far as she remembered, outside her door should have been a wide corridor.
Could it be that he had used some kind of Devil Fruit power to stitch two separate spaces together?
So that was why they did not know where they were?
Robin's mind worked quickly, but what she said aloud was, "This is indeed the Kingdom of Alabasta."
"And have you heard of the Straw Hat Pirates?" Rowan asked again.
Robin shook her head. "No. I've never heard of them."
"What year is it in the Sea Circle Calendar right now?"
This time, Robin was genuinely shocked. Not knowing where you were was one thing, but not even knowing what year it was?
Could he really be from another world?
But in the next second, she rejected that idea.
No, if he were really from another world, how could he possibly know about the Kingdom of Alabasta?
Robin was more inclined to believe he had been trapped somewhere isolated from the rest of the world, and that was why he did not know the current year.
People like that were not unheard of.
The sea was simply too vast.
Anything could happen.
"It's the year 1520 in the Sea Circle Calendar."
1520.
Rowan raised a brow. If he remembered correctly, that was the year Luffy set out to sea.
But Robin said she had never heard of the Straw Hat Pirates.
That meant Luffy had not set sail yet. The main story had not begun.
Of course, there was another possibility: Luffy had already gone to sea, but his name had not yet spread to the Grand Line, so it would be normal for Robin not to know about the Straw Hat Pirates.
And there was one more possibility: Robin was lying.
But that did not seem likely. After all, the current Robin did not know the Straw Hat Pirates, nor did she know Luffy. There was no reason for her to lie on behalf of someone she did not even know.
"Thank you for answering, Miss Nico Robin."
Rowan smiled and nodded at her. "Now I need you to come with me to a place."
He walked into Robin's bedroom and closed the door.
When he opened it again, the other side no longer connected to the Senju clan compound, but to his own room.
Robin's eyes flickered. "Does this count as kidnapping?"
Even as she spoke, she had already prepared herself for the worst.
"No, this is an invitation," Rowan said. "Don't you want to know the secrets of the World Government, and the Void Century from eight hundred years ago?"
"You know?" Robin was instantly tempted.
"I don't," Rowan replied. "But I know someone who does."
"Who?"
"Eiichiro Oda."
"Who is that?"
"Come with me and you'll find out."
Rowan strolled through the door and returned to his room.
Robin looked at his back, uneasy but tempted. Reason told her this was very likely a trap, but the secrets of the World Government and the Void Century of eight hundred years were impossible for her to resist.
And with that blonde woman beside him watching her like a hawk, it felt as though refusal was not really an option anyway.
After thinking it over again and again, Robin still failed to resist the temptation, and stepped into Rowan's room.
Rowan casually tossed a volume of the One Piece manga in front of her.
"Read."
Robin looked baffled. You dragged me all the way here… just to read manga?
Yes, the world of One Piece had manga too.
The most famous one was the serialized comic published in the World Economic Journal: Sora, Warrior of the Sea.
It told the adventure of the warrior Sora, a heroic figure based on a real famous marine, leading his companions against the evil army Germa 66.
That manga was especially famous in the North Blue, and Trafalgar D. Water Law, the user of the Op-Op Fruit, was one of its readers.
Robin was hardly unfamiliar with manga.
Smiling, Rowan said, "The secrets of the World Government are in there. You'll understand once you read it."
Half doubtful, Robin opened the One Piece manga and started reading.
The moment she did, she realized something was off.
The manga was written in a kind of square script she had never seen before.
But strangely enough, she could understand exactly what it meant.
What kind of Devil Fruit ability was this now?
With that small spark of curiosity, Nico Robin kept reading, and before long, she was completely absorbed.
At first, Robin did not think much of it. It just seemed like a fictional story about a pirate named Luffy.
But once the Straw Hat crew was formed, she started to feel something was odd.
Because this man had already asked her earlier about the Straw Hat Pirates.
Then later, when the Alabasta arc appeared and Robin saw that she herself showed up in the manga, her expression changed abruptly.
This was wrong.
This was not fiction.
She looked up at Rowan, but he seemed to know exactly what she wanted to say and replied with a smile, "Keep reading. You'll understand."
Robin's gaze flickered. In the end, she said nothing, forcibly suppressing the storm in her heart as she continued reading.
The Alabasta arc ended with Straw Hat captain Luffy defeating Crocodile.
Robin found it almost impossible to believe.
Crocodile had actually lost to a rookie.
That was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a man powerful enough to destroy an entire country on his own.
And yet someone like that had been beaten by a newcomer. It was simply unbelievable.
Were rookies these days really that monstrous?
But then came Skypiea and Enies Lobby, and Robin realized this rookie was not just strong, he was also an idiot—he had actually dared to make an enemy of the World Government for a woman like her.
Then, in Thriller Bark, Luffy defeated another Warlord of the Sea, Gecko Moria, which made Robin feel that perhaps this man really could carve out a place for himself on the seas.
But the Sabaody Archipelago incident threw the Straw Hat crew into the greatest crisis they had ever faced. The crew was scattered.
Luffy had no choice but to infiltrate Impel Down alone and charge headlong into the war at Marineford.
Unfortunately, he was still too weak at that point. He simply did not qualify to stand on that battlefield.
But two years later, after training under Rayleigh, Luffy regrouped his crew and set sail again.
He landed on Fish-Man Island, turned Dressrosa upside down, defeated the Heavenly Yaksha Doflamingo, and even went straight up against one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, just to bring Sanji back—then somehow got his entire crew safely out of Totto Land.
Morgans, the president of the World Economic Journal, even hyped him up as the Fifth Emperor of the Sea.
All of it made one thing clear:
Luffy had changed enormously over those two years.
And every bit of it left Nico Robin stunned.