Not long after, Rowan finished the call with Nico Robin, set down the Transponder Snail, and looked around at everyone present.
"You all heard that conversation just now. From now until tonight, you're free. What do you want to do?"
Hashirama answered without even thinking, "Since that girl Nico Robin invited us, let's go to Rain Dinners."
He was genuinely curious about the casinos in the world of One Piece, and the itch in his heart had already kicked in.
"I'm in too, I'm in too."
Tsunade's gambling addiction had been stirred up as well. Her mind was already halfway to Rain Dinners.
As for Shizune, there was no need to even mention it. As Tsunade's little attendant, wherever Tsunade went, she would naturally follow.
Orochimaru flicked out his tongue and said, "Kabuto and I are planning to look around this world a bit."
Kabuto nodded. He was just as curious about this other world.
When it came to Tobirama, he stepped right in front of Rowan without the slightest hesitation.
"I plan to stay with you."
He understood very clearly that Rowan was the core of everything.
If anything happened to Rowan—or if Rowan abandoned them in this world—then none of them would be able to return to the Naruto world. And if they couldn't return, then fighting the Ōtsutsuki and saving the ninja world would be out of the question.
So Rowan absolutely could not be allowed to come to harm.
He had to stay by Rowan's side at all times.
Rowan happened to be in need of a bodyguard anyway, so he readily agreed to Tobirama's suggestion.
And so the group split up.
At first, Rowan had assumed Nico Robin lived inside Rain Dinners itself. After all, in the anime, the casino was enormous, several stories tall, and easily large enough to house someone like Robin.
But when they walked out of the room, they found a hallway outside, and on the left side of that hallway was a small living room of just a few square meters.
So it turned out she didn't live inside Rain Dinners at all—she had rented a separate two-story villa nearby.
Thinking about it, Rowan didn't find that strange.
Nico Robin was a woman with almost no sense of security, and someone whose whole body seemed wrapped in secrets. There was no way she would choose to live under the same roof as Crocodile.
That said, the place wasn't far from Rain Dinners. Once they stepped outside, they could already see the sign for the casino.
The two places were only separated by a single street.
After everyone split up, Rowan and Tobirama walked side by side down the broad streets, looking around as they went.
Rainbase was located in the rainiest part of the Alabasta Kingdom.
In the story, Crocodile had used Dance Powder to plunge the entire kingdom into drought, while Rainbase alone escaped disaster.
It was the only city untouched by the drought, with abundant rainfall.
Because of that, it had become the dream city of Alabasta, incredibly prosperous and bustling.
Rowan had seen this city in the manga before, but "seeing it" and actually "being there" were two completely different things.
He had wandered around Konoha before too, but compared to Rainbase, Konoha felt like it was in a completely different league.
Rowan's first impression of this desert city was that it was huge.
His second impression was that it was thriving.
To withstand desert storms, most of Rainbase's buildings were made of brick, unlike Konoha, where most of the architecture was built from wood.
It wasn't that stone buildings didn't exist in Konoha, but they definitely weren't the norm.
"Lord Rowan."
While Rowan was wandering all over the city, getting a little tired, and had finally found a park to rest in, Tobirama—who had been following quietly at his side the whole time—suddenly spoke.
"What is it?" Rowan turned to look at him.
Tobirama considered his words for a few seconds, then asked seriously, "I have a question. Why are you helping us fight the Ōtsutsuki?"
From his point of view, Rowan had no ties to the Naruto world whatsoever, so he genuinely couldn't understand why Rowan was doing any of this.
Rowan looked at Tobirama in confusion and asked back, "When did I help you fight the Ōtsutsuki?"
Tobirama said, "Bringing us to this world—doesn't that count as helping?"
Rowan finally understood.
"Oh, that's what you meant. I thought you were talking about something else. This counts as helping?"
Tobirama asked, "Doesn't it?"
If it weren't for Rowan bringing them to this world, then with their own power, trying to fight the Ōtsutsuki would be incredibly difficult.
Chakra had been brought to the ninja world by the Ōtsutsuki in the first place. Trying to use chakra to fight them meant spinning around inside a ruleset they themselves had established. Overtaking them from outside that system was nearly impossible.
But Devil Fruits had given them that kind of chance.
So Tobirama really wanted to know why Rowan was willing to help their world.
After all, there was no such thing as love without a reason in this world.
Rowan said calmly, "When I first got this world-traveling ability, the first world I went to was yours. And the first person I met was Tsunade."
"You might not believe this, but the first time I met Tsunade, she was changing clothes."
"The moment she saw me, she used Body Flicker and appeared right in front of me with one hand on my head."
"With just a little force, she could've twisted my skull right off."
"That was the closest I've ever come to dying. I was damn near ready to piss myself."
"That's when I realized some worlds are dangerous. If I don't have enough strength, and I enter one of those worlds only to get casually killed by accident, that'd be way too tragic."
"So Tsunade made for a pretty great bodyguard. Big boobs, beautiful, and strong."
"But then the question becomes: Tsunade and I aren't related in any way, so why would she protect me?"
"So I told her the plot of Naruto."
"As long as Tsunade didn't want to just lie down and leave everything to Naruto Uzumaki, she would come with me. Because I'm the only one who can take her to other worlds and help her search for a way to save the ninja world."
"But all I can do is take her to those other worlds."
"What comes after that—how to research Devil Fruits, how to make yourselves stronger, how to save the ninja world—that's her business."
"All I do is open the door."
"Because I'm really not interested in fighting and killing."
"What I want most is travel and good food. And of course, if there are beautiful women around to keep me company, that's even better."
After hearing all that, Tobirama couldn't help muttering, "Sorry for not being a beautiful woman, I guess."
"It's fine." Rowan waved a hand and said calmly, "Safety comes first, after all. Even if you're not a beauty, your Flying Thunder God is more than enough to keep me safe."
Hearing that, Tobirama actually smiled, looking quite confident.
At the same time, he understood Rowan's reasoning and why he was helping them. His mind immediately began turning at high speed, already thinking about how to tie Rowan firmly to Konoha's war chariot.
He knew exactly how absurd Rowan's ability to travel across worlds really was.
It meant access to a vast flood of knowledge and power.
As long as Rowan was willing to bring Konoha along with him, then forget fighting the Ōtsutsuki—even surpassing them and unifying the ninja world wouldn't be impossible.
~~~
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