"Is the past really more important than the future?"
That question hit Nico Robin like a blow to the head.
She might have been a historian, but she wasn't so obsessed that she would keep chasing the Void Century while the whole world was on the verge of destruction.
Rowan's reminder snapped her out of it at once.
That's right. How could she have forgotten something so important?
It was all because she had just learned Saul was still alive. She had been so happy that she forgot about the bigger issue.
"You're right. We have to save the world first."
Robin forced herself to calm down and started thinking about how to save the world.
But before long, she went numb.
Because she truly had no idea how to save the world of One Piece.
Vegapunk had already said it himself: in just a few years, the global sea level would keep rising, and the entire world would sink beneath the ocean.
In the face of that kind of catastrophe, individual strength was almost meaningless.
Even the Four Emperors couldn't stop something like that.
And she was just an archaeologist. What could she possibly do to stop it?
Left with no other choice, Robin turned to Rowan, about to ask him for help, only to realize that she didn't even know his name yet.
Rowan noticed her awkwardness and smiled faintly. "My name is Rowan. She's Tsunade."
Tsunade gave Robin a small nod.
Robin bowed slightly. "So it's Mr. Rowan, Miss Tsunade. I'm truly grateful to both of you for letting me learn the secrets of the World Government, and for telling me the truth about the world's coming destruction."
"But with my strength alone, saving the world is almost impossible."
"Do either of you have a way to save our world?"
Rowan said with a smile, "Did you forget where Kuma sent you in the story when you were at Sabaody?"
Robin answered immediately, "Tequila Wolf. The country of bridges."
Rowan nodded. "Seven hundred years ago, for some reason, the World Government began building a massive bridge in the East Blue to connect islands together. But the bridge was built extremely high."
"If you combine that with the fact that the world is about to sink beneath the sea, it becomes obvious that the bridge was never meant to connect islands at all. It was built in preparation for this disaster."
"That means the World Government has known for a long time that the world was going to sink."
"But rising sea levels won't drown every inch of the world."
"Some high-altitude places will remain."
"For example—"
"The Red Line." Before Rowan could finish, Robin reacted immediately. "The World Government built the Holy Land Mary Geoise on the Red Line not just to look down on the world, but also to avoid this disaster."
"The bridge was never meant to connect islands. It was meant to connect to the Red Line."
"If everyone is going to survive this catastrophe, then everyone has to be moved to the Red Line."
"Only by living on the Red Line can people avoid this disaster."
Rowan smiled faintly and snapped his fingers. "Exactly. The Red Line is the one path to survival in this catastrophe."
But Robin didn't stay hopeful for long. She quickly frowned again. "But would the World Government—would the Celestial Dragons—really allow everyone to live on the Red Line?"
"How could they?" Rowan let out a mocking laugh. "Those people kept the coming destruction of the world hidden from everyone else. It's obvious they were planning to use this disaster as a way to wipe out all resistance."
"Letting everyone live on the Red Line, in the same place as the Celestial Dragons? Do you really think they'd agree to that?"
Robin shook her head. She knew exactly what kind of people the Celestial Dragons were. There was no way they would allow the whole world's population to live on the Red Line.
Even if the Red Line was huge and could hold countless people.
There was no doubt about it: this was an irreconcilable contradiction.
And if they wanted to resolve that contradiction, one side would have to be wiped out.
After a long silence, Robin finally said slowly, "So if we want to save the entire world, we have to overthrow the Celestial Dragons. Only by toppling them, destroying the current World Government, and defeating that mysterious Imu, do we have any hope of surviving."
But that led straight to another problem.
After ruling the world for eight hundred years, the World Government's foundations were impossibly deep.
The Five Elders and the God's Knights all possessed immortality.
And the Imu behind them was even more unfathomable.
Eight hundred years ago, Joy Boy had failed in his war against the World Government.
More than thirty years ago, during the battle at God Valley, Rocks, Garp, Roger, Whitebeard, Linlin, and Kaido had joined forces to launch a powerful attack on Imu, and still failed to defeat Imu.
Even Rocks, the former overlord of the seas, ended up under Imu's control.
The strength of that monster was simply beyond imagination.
And on top of that, it had immortality.
Robin truly couldn't imagine how anyone could defeat Imu.
Rely on Luffy?
His growth really had been absurd. In just a few short years, he had already become one of the Four Emperors.
But could he really defeat Imu?
After all, even Joy Boy had failed eight hundred years ago. No matter how remarkable Luffy was, he was still only another Joy Boy.
Could he really surpass the original?
And even taking ten thousand steps back—even if Luffy really did keep growing, surpassed Joy Boy, and defeated Imu—would there still be enough time to move the entire world's population to the Red Line?
At the same time, Tsunade watched the increasingly conflicted look on Robin's face and immediately understood that this girl had fallen into the same confusion Tsunade herself had once known.
Back then, after finishing Boruto, Tsunade had worn exactly the same expression.
Could she really defeat the Ōtsutsuki with her own power?
Smack.
She raised her hand and slapped Robin heavily on the shoulder, jolting her out of her spiral.
Robin instantly felt half her body go numb.
What… ridiculous strength.
"Calm down," Tsunade said. "That Imu really is terrifying. In your world, it might feel impossible to deal with. But that doesn't mean it's the same in other worlds."
"Other worlds?"
"That's right." Tsunade spoke calmly. "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Tsunade. Like you, I'm not from this world. I'm a ninja from Konoha in the world of Naruto."
"My world has powerful enemies too. Your world only has Imu, but mine has a whole group of Ōtsutsuki. Every single one of them is even stronger than Imu."
"But Rowan told me that beyond one world lies another. The monsters who dominate your world might be nothing more than roadside nobodies in a different one."
To prove her point, Tsunade handed Robin two manga series: Naruto and Dragon Ball.
"You'll understand once you've read them."
~~~
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