Rowan stared blankly at Nico Robin as she kept talking.
Wasn't he just an ordinary guy who liked traveling and good food? So why, in Robin's eyes, had he somehow become some kind of monster with an enormous power base, someone who could stand against the World Government head-on?
Wasn't there something wrong with that picture?
And just as Rowan was starting to wonder whether there had been some kind of misunderstanding, Robin kept going.
"Boss, Shiki may be arrogant, but he's already lost both his legs, and he's still walking around with a ship's wheel stuck in his head. He's long since become unstable. If you help restore him, he'll naturally submit."
"Whitebeard is old and declining. If he wants to repair his body, he'll need your help too."
"As for Big Mom, that's even more obvious. If she wants to build a multi-racial family, she can't do it without your help."
"Fujitora is kind-hearted. If he learns that you want to save the world, he'll definitely join us."
"And Gild Tesoro is even easier. That man loved Stella deeply. If you can bring Stella back to life, he'll kneel before you and offer up everything he has."
"As for Ryokugyu, that one's more troublesome. He worships the Celestial Dragons, so honestly, we should just kill him."
"Zephyr already despises the World Government, otherwise he wouldn't have left the Marines. Bringing him in would be easy too."
"Garp may be stubborn, but if he learns the World Government intends to destroy the world, there's no way he'll stand with them."
"We could even use Garp to persuade Aokiji and bring him into our camp as well."
"Kizaru is close friends with Vegapunk. If we can win over Vegapunk, it's possible we could persuade Kizaru to turn too."
"And there are plenty of decent people in the Marines—Vice Admiral Tsuru, Momousagi Gion, all of them are potential targets for recruitment."
"Alright, alright, enough."
Seeing Robin go on and on, Rowan hurriedly cut her off, scratching his head.
"Are you sure any of that would actually work? Listening to you, it sounds like every top-tier fighter in the world is someone we can recruit."
Robin smiled lightly. "That's thanks to the World Government. If they hadn't spent the last eight hundred years consistently refusing to act like human beings, I wouldn't be able to pull this many people over."
"In short, according to my plan, opposing the World Government isn't impossible."
"But all of this depends on your help, Boss."
"Only if you personally step in can I make this plan work."
Robin looked straight at Rowan.
Rowan said, "You do realize I'm not from this world, right?"
Robin nodded. "I know."
"The life or death of this world doesn't really have anything to do with me."
Robin nodded again. "I know that too."
"If you know all that, why are you still asking me to help?"
Robin kept nodding. "Because I know you're someone who values peace, Boss. I've been to your world. I've used the internet there. I know what kind of world it is."
"And I also know that you like traveling and good food, and that you have no interest in fighting and killing."
"But the problem is, Boss—if our world is destroyed…"
"Where are you going to travel?"
"And where are you going to go to enjoy our world's food?"
"You wouldn't want to lose a beautiful world like this either, would you?"
Rowan: …
Come on, Miss Nico Robin. That argument is getting a little too manipulative.
Still, there was one thing she was right about. Rowan really did like this world's food. If the World Government really dragged the whole world into ruin and he lost access to all these amazing dishes, that really would be a huge loss.
"Fine, I get it."
Rowan was finally persuaded. "I'll help you with this. But how to carry it out, how to recruit these people—that's on you. I'll just back you up."
"No problem." Robin agreed immediately. "Then from today onward, I'll call you Boss."
"Suit yourself." Rowan asked curiously, "So who's the first person you want to recruit?"
"Naturally," Robin said, "my former boss. Crocodile."
Rowan looked disgusted. After all, Crocodile was no good guy. For the sake of the ancient weapon Pluton, he had orchestrated the whole Dance Powder crisis in Alabasta and indirectly caused countless deaths.
If someone like that existed in Rowan's world, getting executed once wouldn't even be enough—he'd deserve to be executed for five straight minutes.
Still, since the people Crocodile had ruined weren't from Rowan's world, he didn't feel like saying too much about it.
"Oh?" Robin noticed. "Boss, you don't seem to like him very much."
Rowan nodded. "I don't like what he did. In our world, what Crocodile did would be called ruining a nation and destroying its people. He'd deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces and cursed for all time."
"Then forget him."
Robin dropped Crocodile without a second thought.
In the world of One Piece, the captain of a pirate crew was the absolute authority on the ship.
You could give advice. You could offer suggestions. But you absolutely could not openly oppose the captain or go against their will. That was ironclad law.
In the original story, Usopp had nearly been kicked out of the Straw Hat crew for crossing that line.
Robin understood perfectly well that if she wanted to save the One Piece world and overthrow the World Government, she needed Rowan's strength.
That meant Rowan's likes and dislikes came first.
Since Rowan disliked Crocodile, then Crocodile was out.
And Robin didn't mind. The One Piece world had no shortage of strong people. Losing one Crocodile meant nothing.
Rowan was honestly a little surprised. He hadn't expected Robin to take his opinion so seriously. Just because he disliked Crocodile, she had dropped him immediately.
That feeling—being respected, even deferred to like this… it actually felt kind of good.
No wonder so many people liked being above others.
And no wonder the Celestial Dragons all carried themselves like they were born to stand above the world. If people bowed to you long enough, you'd naturally start to believe you really were the only sky above everyone else.
And the longer that went on, the less you cared about anyone else—or about life itself.
No wonder wise rulers had always been rare throughout history, while tyrants were everywhere.
Rowan coughed lightly and said, "You don't need to care that much about my preferences. To be fair, Crocodile's strength is decent. Later on, he ends up with a bounty of 1.9 billion, which means he gets his Haki back. He does count as a high-level combatant."
Robin said calmly, "We're not lacking in high-level combatants. As long as you're willing to grant people the ability to extract chakra, we can mass-produce high-level fighters."
Chakra was just too convenient.
After Robin gained chakra, her strength had skyrocketed.
And what about Ryuma? Kaido?
If people like them gained the ability to extract chakra, how strong would they become? It was almost impossible to imagine.
So in Robin's eyes, one Crocodile simply didn't matter.
What mattered most was what Rowan liked.