Since he had already been seen through by Nico Robin, Dragon stopped trying to hide his intentions.
"That's right. I do have that in mind. Miss Robin, I wonder if you'd be willing to introduce me to your boss."
Robin looked up at Rowan. He shook his head.
Understanding immediately, Robin replied, "I'm sorry, but my boss doesn't seem interested in meeting you right now. That said, you can rest assured, Mr. Dragon—my boss has absolutely no goodwill toward the World Government."
"When the time is right, you'll naturally have a chance to meet."
Dragon also understood that some things couldn't be rushed, so he said steadily, "In that case, please pass on to your boss that I look forward to the day we meet. As for Cosette, I agree."
"Where would you like her sent, Miss Robin? Back to Alabasta?"
"No." Robin shook her head. "To the East Blue. Loguetown."
She would have preferred to have Kuma send Cosette directly to the uninhabited island where they were, but unfortunately, it was just that—an unnamed, deserted island.
There were probably dozens upon dozens of islands like that in the East Blue. Kuma might not even know this one existed.
So sending her to Loguetown was the safest option.
After all, Loguetown was famous throughout the world because of the Pirate King. There was no way Kuma wouldn't know it.
"I understand," Dragon said with a nod. "I'll have Cosette sent to Loguetown's harbor."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Dragon."
The two chatted a bit more, then Robin politely ended the call and turned to Rowan with a smile.
"From what I know of Dragon, Cosette should be delivered to Loguetown in no more than two days."
Rowan stood up and said decisively, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go to Loguetown."
He had only come to this deserted island to train Conqueror's Coating.
Now that he had already learned it, it was time to head back to Loguetown.
That same afternoon, Rowan and the others rode the waves back to Loguetown, and while they were at it, they treated themselves to a good meal at the town's most famous restaurant.
Robin could cook too, of course, but her food still couldn't compare to a real master chef's.
Rowan naturally had no intention of making himself suffer.
After eating and drinking their fill, Rowan returned to the ship and began extracting chakra.
Back then, Tsunade had said his body had too few cells. If he forcibly extracted chakra, he might never even reach the level of a Konoha genin in his entire life, and he could even damage his body in the process.
So Rowan had always kept a respectful distance from chakra as a supernatural power.
Chakra was nice, sure, but his life was more important.
But things were different now.
Ever since discovering that his physique was gradually becoming more like that of a person from the One Piece world, Rowan had started extracting chakra boldly and without hesitation.
The people of the One Piece world had terrifyingly powerful cellular energy. On top of that, they had access to abundant food to replenish themselves, so they simply weren't afraid of squeezing their cells.
You could tell just by looking at the ages of the monsters in that world.
In Naruto, Hiruzen Sarutobi was only in his sixties, and he was already visibly old and worn down.
But Garp was in his seventies and still absurdly powerful, tossing out big attacks without even losing his breath.
Among the Four Emperors, Whitebeard was in his seventies, Charlotte Linlin was in her sixties, and Kaido was in his fifties—yet each one of them was still monstrously strong.
The same went for the Admirals.
Kizaru was in his fifties. Akainu was in his fifties. Aokiji was nearly fifty.
Even Fujitora and Ryokugyu, who later rose straight to Admiral rank through the World Military Draft, weren't young either.
Fujitora was fifty. Ryokugyu was a little younger, but still in his forties.
In either Earth or the Naruto world, people that age would already be considered middle-aged or elderly.
But in the One Piece world, they were practically still in their prime.
And why was that so absurd?
Because their physical energy was overflowing, and their cells were bursting with vitality. That was why people in their forties and fifties could still stand among the strongest in the world.
That was also why Rowan now dared to extract chakra.
His physical condition hadn't yet reached the point of being monstrously strong, but he was already clearly walking down that path.
You could tell just from how much his appetite had grown.
With that much nutrition feeding his cells, their vitality had soared.
So for Rowan, extracting chakra for half an hour a day no longer harmed his body at all.
And as his stamina improved and his physical condition continued to rise, the amount of time he could spend extracting chakra could be extended accordingly.
Take Nico Robin, for example.
Ever since she learned chakra extraction, she had been extracting chakra for three solid hours every single day without fail, and her body was perfectly fine.
Every time, the amount of chakra she produced was several times—or even more than ten times—what Rowan could manage.
At this point, Robin's chakra reserves were already comparable to those of a Konoha elite chūnin.
And it had only been a few days.
At this rate, Rowan estimated that in less than a month, Robin's chakra would catch up to Tsunade's.
And Tsunade had needed decades to get where she was.
Then again, Naruto Uzumaki had already saved the ninja world at seventeen.
Son Goku set out to find the Dragon Balls at twelve, entered the World Martial Arts Tournament at fifteen, defeated King Piccolo and saved Earth, suppressed Piccolo Jr. at eighteen, and turned Super Saiyan at twenty-three to kill Frieza, the tyrant of the universe.
All of which just proved that the gap between people could be bigger than the gap between people and dogs.
After finishing his chakra extraction, the bloated, overfull feeling in Rowan's stomach was gone, and his chakra had increased a little.
Enough for him to use the Transformation Technique once.
And speaking of that, Rowan had learned the Transformation Technique from Hashirama, but actually using it was a pain.
Just forming the hand seals took several seconds.
There was no helping it. He wasn't a Flower-Flower Fruit user, so he couldn't just sprout extra arms. He had to rely on his own two hands, which made his speed absolutely pathetic.
He couldn't compare to Robin at all.
Fortunately, Rowan didn't really care.
Across the countless worlds, there were endless combat styles that didn't require hand seals at all.
He had no intention of relying on ninjutsu in battle anyway. The only reason he was extracting chakra and learning ninjutsu at all was to gain access to the Transformation Technique and the Clone Technique.
Those two were just too useful.
After practicing ninjutsu for a while, night fell.
During dinner, Robin asked, "Are we going to the Naruto world tonight?"
"Yes."
Rowan had already spent several days in the One Piece world, and he estimated that Tsunade and the others had probably made a lot of progress by now. It was about time he went back to see them.
After dinner, Rowan found a random door, pushed it open, and returned to the Naruto world.
The destination was still Orochimaru's secret base.
The moment he stepped through, he saw Tobirama Senju talking to a red-haired woman.
She was frighteningly thin, and her face was pale to the point of having no color at all.
Beside her stood a young girl.
That girl was the orphan of the Uzumaki clan—
Karin.
~~~
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