Hearing Nico Robin's voice, Rowan came back to himself and said, "I was thinking about something."
"Oh? I wonder what could make you so serious, Rowan." Robin asked with a smile, her curiosity growing.
Rowan said, "I was thinking about whether I should find a cook to handle our daily meals."
Robin: "..."
For a moment, she didn't even know how to respond. She had assumed he was thinking about something important, but after all that deep thought, he had simply been pondering whether to hire a cook.
Was that really worth putting on such a serious, contemplative face?
"Your way of thinking really is something else, Rowan," Robin said, making a small jab at him.
Rowan could hear what she meant, but didn't care. "I finally got the chance to travel across worlds. I don't want to mistreat myself. What's wrong with finding a beautiful chef who's also great at cooking?"
Robin rolled her eyes. "Of course that sounds nice. So, have you picked anyone yet?"
"I'm considering either Fairy Bei or Erina Nakiri."
"I take it those two aren't from this world."
At the very least, Robin had never seen either of them appear in One Piece.
Rowan nodded. "They're not. Fairy Pai is a Fairy of Cuisine from the world of Cooking Master Boy, and Erina Nakiri is the God Tongue from Food Wars."
"The latter isn't as good as the former, but she's got an excellent palate and improves very quickly."
"She should be enough to satisfy us."
Robin listened to Rowan's analysis and only asked one question.
"Can you go to their worlds right now?"
"Uh..."
Rowan shook his head. "No."
"In that case, why don't we deal with something more practical first and find a chef from this world to satisfy your appetite for now?"
Robin offered a compromise.
Rowan thought it over and agreed. "That works. The One Piece world has plenty of beautiful women, but beautiful female chefs are ridiculously rare. The only one I remember is Carmen from the East Blue—the one who beat every East Blue chef except Sanji."
"I can't think of anyone else."
"And while Carmen's fine, she's not really my type."
Robin rolled her eyes again. She hadn't expected him to be that picky.
"If you really want a beautiful female chef, I do have someone in mind."
"Oh? Who?"
"Cosette."
"Cosette? Who's that?" Rowan looked blank. Had there really been a character like that in the original story?
Robin used her Transformation Technique and turned into Cosette's appearance. "You've probably forgotten. Cosette is the head chef of the Vinsmoke family in the Germa Kingdom. Even Sanji praised her cooking."
After Robin reminded him, Rowan went back and checked the original story again. Only then did he finally remember Cosette.
The reason he had forgotten her was simple: she was a minor character among minor characters.
Her screentime was practically on the level of a nameless extra.
In the story, after the Vinsmoke family gathered together, Cosette was responsible for preparing the royal family's meals. One of the dishes she made, braised potatoes with meat, displeased Niji so much that he couldn't even swallow it.
Sanji, angry that his brother was wasting food so casually, scolded Niji. Niji then took his anger out on Cosette, the one who had prepared the meal, and was about to throw the plate at her when Sanji blocked it.
During the conflict that followed, Sanji didn't dodge Niji's attack because he was trying to protect Cosette, and the force of the kick ended up hitting her too.
After Sanji said the dish had been perfectly seasoned, Cosette was deeply moved and shed tears of gratitude.
Later, when chaos broke out within the Vinsmoke family, Cosette hurriedly tried to flee. But afterward, Niji beat her so badly that she collapsed unconscious, critically injured.
And that was basically her exit from the story.
All in all, she was a female extra with a pretty miserable fate.
Still, she was more than qualified to be his cook. After all, she had at least been the head chef of the Vinsmoke family.
If she didn't have real skill, there was no way she could have held that position.
The only trouble was that taking Cosette away would mean coming into conflict with the Vinsmoke family.
That wasn't because Rowan was afraid of them.
He didn't even take the Celestial Dragons seriously, so why would he fear a mere Vinsmoke family?
The real issue was that he only had Nico Robin and Hashirama with him. With just the three of them, barging into the Germa Kingdom and taking Cosette away wouldn't be easy.
"We don't have to do it ourselves."
Once Robin understood Rowan's concern, she smiled. "I can contact the Revolutionary Army and have Kuma send her over."
Hearing that, Rowan's eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers. "That's actually a great idea."
The Germa Kingdom certainly had some strength, but compared to Kuma, it was nowhere close.
And with the Paw-Paw Fruit's offense, defense, and mobility, Kuma could break into the Germa Kingdom, send Cosette away, and leave again without any difficulty at all.
There was no way the Germa Kingdom could stop him.
And with the Vinsmoke family's personality—always putting profit first—they would never go to war with Kuma over a single chef.
So having Kuma handle it really was the best option.
After getting Rowan's permission, Robin immediately contacted Dragon and explained what they wanted.
After hearing the request, Dragon neither refused nor agreed right away. Instead, he asked curiously, "May I ask what relationship Miss Robin has with this Cosette?"
"None at all."
Robin calmly glanced at Rowan and said, "My boss just wants a beautiful chef with excellent cooking skills."
"Boss?" Dragon sounded surprised.
Robin smiled. "Surely you didn't think I managed to dig up all that information about the Revolutionary Army and the World Government by myself, Mr. Dragon."
Dragon found that entirely reasonable.
He knew it. There was no way Nico Robin alone could have such ability. If she really could do that, the World Government would never have been able to chase her around so badly all these years.
So there really was some mysterious boss standing behind her.
Of course, Dragon was extremely interested in who that boss was, and why that person knew so much.
"Miss Robin, would I perhaps be fortunate enough to meet your boss?"
Robin asked with a smile, "Mr. Dragon, are you trying to recruit my boss into the Revolutionary Army?"
Dragon laughed awkwardly a few times. He hadn't expected Robin to see through him so easily.
He admitted that he really did want to bring this person into the Revolutionary Army.
With such a mysterious intelligence broker helping them, the benefits to overthrowing the World Government would be enormous.
~~~
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