Now that Cocoyasi Village had been saved by Rowan and the Arlong Pirates had been utterly erased by Hashirama Senju—so thoroughly that not even ashes remained—
Luffy had lost his big chance to score points with Nami.
Without that opportunity, getting Nami onto his ship had become much harder than usual.
Right in the middle of their tug-of-war, Nami suddenly spotted Rowan.
"Over here, over here!"
She instantly jumped up from her chair, darted over, and threw herself into Rowan's arms, wrapping both hands around his arm as she declared, "See this? He's my boyfriend—and the most famous pirate hunter in the East Blue."
"So if you keep bothering me, I'll have my boyfriend tie you up and hand you over to the Marines."
Zoro, standing beside Luffy: "???"
If your boyfriend is the most famous pirate hunter in the East Blue, then what the hell am I?
Since when did the East Blue have a pirate hunter more famous than me? How come I've never heard of him?
Then again… this guy looks strong.
Even though Rowan wasn't giving off any obvious aura of strength or pressure, for some reason Zoro had the distinct feeling that this guy was powerful.
The same animal-like instinct that always warned him of danger was telling him that if he made a move, he would lose.
He might even die.
That feeling made his body tremble instinctively.
Not from fear.
From excitement.
Because only by challenging strong opponents could he grow stronger himself.
Still, Zoro didn't act right away. One reason was that the other guy wasn't a swordsman, so he didn't fall into the category of people Zoro actively wanted to challenge. The other reason was that, for the moment, Rowan wasn't an enemy.
At least, until Rowan showed clear hostility, Zoro had no intention of making a move.
At the same time, Luffy looked at Nami clinging tightly to Rowan and finally let out a sigh.
"So that's how it is. You already have your own crew."
He gave up.
Stealing someone away from their companions was something he just couldn't do.
If Nami hadn't had anyone, he wouldn't have minded pestering her forever.
But since she already had companions, he couldn't just snatch her away.
Seeing that Luffy had finally given up, Nami gave a cold snort, tossed out a "Don't bother me again," and dragged Rowan away.
Once they returned to their table, Nami immediately started complaining about how unbelievably clingy Luffy was.
And while she was at it, she also threw a remark at Robin.
"Robin, you were just sitting there watching the show. You could've helped me out a little."
Robin smiled faintly. "By not saying anything, I was helping you."
"Huh?" Nami clearly wasn't buying that for a second.
But Rowan nodded solemnly. "She's right. Robin not saying anything really was helping you."
Nami: "???"
Rowan continued, "That guy may not look like much right now, but in the future he's going to be a major figure. If you really get on his ship, you'll be able to fulfill your dream of drawing a map of the entire world."
Nami didn't believe a word of it.
No matter how she looked at it, that clingy idiot did not look like some future big shot.
And besides, how could Rowan possibly know the future?
"Has it ever occurred to you that I might've eaten the Future-Future Fruit and become a man from the future who can see far ahead?"
"There's no way a fruit like that exists."
Nami shot back with a look that clearly said Who do you think you're fooling?
Rowan shrugged helplessly. Sure, he was joking about the fruit, but when he said Nami could fulfill her dream if she boarded Luffy's ship, he hadn't been lying.
The problem was that Nami didn't believe him at all, and there wasn't much he could do about that.
Robin covered her mouth and laughed softly.
This really was interesting.
Without Nami and without Robin, wouldn't Luffy's crew actually end up becoming nothing but a ship full of bachelors?
Come to think of it, the Red-Haired Pirates were basically all bachelors too.
Since Luffy had been influenced by Shanks and wanted to go out to sea as a pirate, wasn't it only natural that he would end up following the Red-Haired Pirates' example and form a bachelor pirate crew himself?
The more she thought about it, the funnier it got, and she couldn't stop smiling.
"By the way, how did things go in the other world?"
Robin asked. She had originally assumed Rowan would be gone for a long time, but he had come back far sooner than expected.
"All settled."
Rowan said, "I got lucky. The moment I opened the door, I ran into someone I recognized. So I figured out what kind of world it was right away and learned a completely new power."
"What power?"
"Magic."
"Oh, so the world you opened this time was another world with magic."
"Exactly." Rowan nodded. The world of Frieren really was a classic fantasy otherworld.
It had heroes, a Demon King, sages, mages, elves, and dwarves. It was basically a textbook fantasy world.
"And who did you meet? Don't tell me it was the heroine."
Robin naturally thought of herself. After all, when Rowan first entered the One Piece world, the first person he had met was her.
Even though she appeared relatively late in the story, no matter how you looked at it, she still counted as one of the female leads in One Piece.
"Not this time." Rowan shook his head. "This time it was the heroine's grandmaster. An ancient elf fossil who's been alive since the mythic age and has probably lived for thousands of years."
Robin: "...Well."
That definitely wasn't what she had expected.
The World Government had only existed for around eight hundred years, yet this person had lived for several thousand?
That was terrifying.
"So… she's very strong, then."
Robin genuinely couldn't imagine just how powerful this so-called ancient elf fossil must be.
"Hard to say exactly, because in the story, that old fossil barely ever fights on-screen."
Rowan rubbed his chin and said, "But judging from how the heroine fights, that fossil is definitely ridiculously strong. Soloing Mary Geoise probably wouldn't be a problem… maybe."
"Even if she couldn't win outright, she could at least get out safely."
Hearing that, Robin understood immediately.
Mary Geoise didn't just have the Five Elders. It also had the God's Knights, the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government's military forces… and the mysterious Lord Imu.
If someone could solo that place, then they were absurdly powerful.
For a brief moment, Robin had the thought that maybe they should simply ask that ancient elf to deal with the World Government.
Without Imu, the Five Elders, the God's Knights, and the Celestial Dragons, the world certainly wouldn't become more chaotic than it already was.
But the idea passed as quickly as it came, and Robin dismissed it.
That person wasn't from this world.
She had no relationship with Robin at all.
Why should she help save this world?
And Robin couldn't offer her a reward worthwhile enough.
Rather than relying on some mysterious outsider, it was better to rely on herself, or on the Revolutionary Army. Honestly, even relying on Rowan felt more dependable than relying on that ancient elf fossil.
"Wait a second—what are you two even talking about? Another world? An ancient elf fossil?"
At that moment, Nami finally cut in, looking at Rowan and Robin with complete confusion.
Even though they were all sitting at the same table, she suddenly had the distinct feeling that she was being left out.
~~~
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