A/N: yo! Just wanna tell you that I've finished with my prologues, and the moment this chapter goes live I'll be uploading the others. It may take a day before you see it since they have to pass the screening test set up by RR, so pls be patient. Thx for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Also: yes, I'm having these two's familiar relationship and history happen off-screen. This both solves the often realistic and slow-burning pace love needs to blossom and the need for me to write the long, drawn-out and often boring day to day activities of the pair before they finally meet and get to the "action"(secret: this is the reason why romance books and stories are so often unrealistic. Romance fiction has to be rushed because love can't be. It requires more than that, and therefore becomes very difficult for us authors to write simultaneously good and realistic romances.).

In conclusion, I have performed what can be called a pro gamer move: I have a bank of two years of unmentioned experience which I can refer to, to show that: yes, she is madly in love and no, he's still loyal to Hinata while also side-stepping that whole "realistic love" dilemma. And finally, this is an action-adventure story first and foremost, so I don't think you guys want slow burn romance anyway.

"W-What? Ponegly— waitwaitwait… Don't get me wrong: I'm not gonna hurt you!" She watched on with wide eyes as the feared and infamous "False Sage" struggled to explain himself to her.

Could he… be telling the truth?

'No! Don't hold strangers to the same standards as them! T-They're just outliers… but what if…?' Her thoughts involuntarily flicked to the boy with the strawhat, and his trusting smile... and she was convinced.

"Anyway, what is with people calling me that stupid nickname? It's even worse than the one Teme gave—"

"Stay away from me,"

"What?"

She took multiple steps back before she answered, "If you truly don't intend to hurt me, or find out my secrets, leave me alone. Please,"

She turned to leave, focused on putting one frigid foot in front of the other while trying her best to ignore the panicked footsteps that beat against the snow to get to her.

"W-Wait Robin!" She felt his hand press on her shoulder, gently pushing her down in what she knew was a silent plead for her to just stop and turn around so they could talk rather than trying to forcefully obstruct her movements, but she didn't care.

No one but them could touch her.

Whirling around with thunderous exuberance, Robin whipped her hand out, her open palm hitting his cheek with a satisfying -slap!- that sent him gasping and reeling on the floor, wriggling like a worm. She stood over him, also hard of breath from the sheer effort she had to dispense in order to slap him that hard.

Still, she couldn't help but feel a little tingly. It felt… strange. Good, but strange. Too strange perhaps, since she couldn't help but look down at her trembling right hand. After what seemed like minutes of staring, she finally let out a shaky breath before turning back round to make her way to the canteen.

Robin didn't cover much ground, though, before he appeared reappeared by her side, "Damn, that's the hardest slap I've ever felt in my life! Hell, you probably hit harder than Sakura when she's drunk!" Albeit with an extra handprint displayed prominently on his left cheek.

Again, Robin turned back to face him. She had a strange expression on her face when their eyes met— not quite as annoyed as she was intrigued. Intrigued at his laxness. Intrigued with his cheerfulness. Really, she was fascinated at about everything when it came to the nebulous, strange, eccentric mix of a man standing before her.

"Stop following me." She said, "you'll be caught by the guards sooner or later, and for what? I have nothing meaningful to offer you," Fully expecting him to finally see reason and vanish from her sight.

But he just sent her an enigmatic smile, like he was making fun of her for missing something important that would've cleared up everything. And at that moment, she truly— and Robin knew it was from the bottom of her heart— wanted nothing more than to plop Naruto onto an operating table and dissect him open to see what made him tick.

Eventually, she gave up trying to understand him and continued her usual routine, except this time with a world-class outlaw in tow...

When they arrived at the canteen, much to her surprise, no one seemed to be able to see Naruto.

'Hm?' And it wasn't by coincidence: multiple people— from guards to fellow workers— seemed to walk by without a care. Robin looked around furtively; even she wasn't entirely sure how Naruto got past.

"Curious?" Robin jumped a little when she felt his hot breath tickle the insides of her ear. She glared as discreetly as possible though she was sure at least one or two passersby would've noticed the bridge of her nose and cheeks being enveloped by a light pink blush.

She cleared her throat, "Yes, but I assume you won't tell?"

Naruto snickered, "Very good. For a historian, you truly are a jack-of-all-trades!" He bopped her playfully on the nose.

"..." She tried her best not to bitch slap him again, but he truly made it hard for her to withstand the temptation...

Still, she recovered fairly quickly, and by the time dinner was being handed out, she was back to her neutral self. Walking towards the line of people waiting for their food, she picked up a red tray from the numerous piles tucked neatly in one corner of the room and joined them.

Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting comfortably on one of the canteen benches. His expression was inscrutable as his eyes constantly tracked Robin's movements.

'She's not ready yet. I don't think anybody on the crew is...' He was hopeful at first: maybe the crew could surprise him; have the talent and the strength and the resources necessary to assist in his mission.

It was vainglorious to hope for so much.

They were just upstarts. Sure, one or two might've managed to gain worldwide notoriety, but that was it. The "Strawhat Pirates" were merely one in a long line of youngsters that had dreams too big for their reality. To put it bluntly: they had no substance, no foundation, not even a barricade to hold them through a rough patch.

And to fight both the Yonko and the Admirals, he needed Atlas himself to hold up the sky…

He sighed and shook his head, 'Well, no point crying over spilt milk. I'll work with what I have,' Naruto shifted his gaze over at the black-haired woman encroaching upon him, "Starting with this one,"

When Robin was finally situated, he began:

"Nico Robin. You're a smart woman, and I assume you're someone who cares just as deeply for your crew as Luffy, right?"

It took a moment, but she answered with a nod.

"Then I have a question," He leaned forward slowly like he was deliberating what to do next, and with his right hand, he pointed straight at her, "Why are you still here?"

She furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you've already seen Luffy's message," She nodded, "Then I assume you know that the rest of the crew is working under a time limit?"

"...Yes,"

"Then I feel like I should repeat myself: what are you doing here?"

"..." She didn't reply.

However, she didn't need to:

-Step! Step! Step!-

"Pardon me, but I believe I may have an answer to that,"

"Oh?" Naruto lifted an eyebrow as he turned to stare at the speaker.

Walking out of the shadows, with a cloak covering most of his person, was a man. Eyeballing it, Naruto approximated him to be about 180 centimetres, and from his formal tone, it wasn't likely this mysterious figure was just speaking out of his ass.

Oh, and there was also the fact that Robin recognized him.

"It's you!" She acknowledged him with an unsure glance.

He, however, just smiled reassuredly and bowed, "Greetings, miss Robin," When he was finished, the man regained his formal demeanour and turned to Naruto.

"Greetings, False Sage-Sama," He bowed lower this time, and with his arms to his side instead of his chest.

Naruto naturally recognized the distanced salutation and reciprocated it with a slight nod. When he stood back up, Naruto spoke:

"So, you said you had an answer to our problem?" He looked on expectantly at the man.

"Yes, well—" But before he could reveal anything, Robin intervened:

"Wait! Are you sure you can reveal this information so easily?"

At this, the man's face contorted into one of stark confusion, as if he was witnessing the birth of a new type of animal.

'Oh shoot! I forgot she doesn't know! Hahahaha! Too bad everyone else with half a brain and some say does,'

"Um… Miss Robin, do you perchance... Are you saying… you don't know?" Now he just felt bad for the guy. Tough luck being stuck with the job of making someone look like a total idiot.

"What don't I know?"

"Eurgh..."

"What don't I know?"

His eyes darted back and forth between Robin and Naruto like he was pleading for him to intervene and take the blame. Hah! No siree! This boy's been getting the short end o' the stick for too long, and he's sick of it!

Ultimately, when he realized that help was not coming, and instead was enjoying the heck out of his misfortune(Who wouldn't? Eh? You? Oh… w-well you don't count! Hah! Take that!), the man just sucked it up and open his mouth:

"According to my intel, Mister Naruto Uzumaki is… a part of the Strawhat Pirates."

3!

2~!

1...

"E-Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!"