In One Piece, as Hashirama Senju

[19] An Unexpected Encounter?

Chapter 19: An Unexpected Encounter?

—

Rain Base was a huge city. Nearly as big as Alubarna itself, Hashirama noted. The main eye-catcher was the pyramid-shaped, golden building in the middlemost part of the city—a casino, that also served as Sir Crocodile's main base.

Obviously, Crocodile wasn't here at the moment, so Hashirama was in a chilling mood as he made his way to a nearby Call Booth to contact his sister. It was nearly 10-AM and it had been more than 16 hours since Tsunade departed.

Beside him was Mikita, and she was wearing a long jacket over her sun dress to cover her body and face. Many people knew her in this place, as she was a regular in the casino nearby, and the secret Baroque Work members around these parts were also familiar with her identity, so hiding it like this was a must.

The call booth here was, as Hashirama remembered from his previous life, a rectangular 'room' beside the street with a telephone attached inside it. Except, in this world, a Den Den Mushi was replacing the work of the telephone.

Hashirama entered the booth, pulling Mikita in as well—gaining quite a stare from the nearby crowd—as Mikita's body shivered.

"Eugh, it's hot as it is, but you made me wear this long coat, and now you are bringing this sweaty me in such a tight place. I feel gross." Mikita complained.

"Keep quiet," Hashirama poked her in the ribs with his elbow, making her grunt softly. Ignoring her, he started to dial a number on the Den Den Mushi, instead.

"Can't I just stare outside? I mea— wait, what's this? This is not Miss All Sunday's number, though? Who are you calling- ak!"

"I said keep quiet." Hashirama looked at her dryly after elbowing her again. "I am calling my beloved sister; I will call Sunday after this."

Mikita held back from clicking her tongue and stood silently, while Hashirama finished dialing the number and called.

The call rang once, twice, and then thrice as he braced for what was to come. Tsunade must be so mad for not receiving a call from him earlier than this. So much so that she hadn't yet called him herself—clone Hashirama had checked so in his personal Den Den Mushi back in Alubarna.

After a few more seconds of ringing, Hashirama's heart skipped a beat when the call was picked up and the caller Snail's facial expression changed to that of Tsunade.

– Mhm? Hello, who is this?

Tsunade's voice, crisp and clear, came out of the snail's lips; that made Hashirama smile involuntarily.

"Sis, it's me, Hashirama."

– Ah- Shira?! What's up, why are you calling from an unknown number? No wait, first of all—sorry, I couldn't call last night. A situation that was both... surprising and interesting happened last night.

"Ah," Hashirama blinked, recognizing that he wasn't in trouble. "Ha... ha ha, it's fine, I don't mind. I was busy myself with something, so I didn't get to call too-

– Wait, you didn't call me yourself? Wait, right, now that I recall it, you never called me. What the fuck?! Hey kid, did you just forget your sister after just half a day? What's so important that you had to pause on calling me, huh? Hey, why aren't you talking?!

"...."

Hashirama was stunned. Didn't she do the exact same thing? How... Did that make sense?

From the side, Mikita softly patted Hashirama's shoulders.

* * *

Later on, when Tsunade calmed down—refusing that she did the same thing that she was accusing him of—she cleared her throat and explained what she meant when she said something 'surprising but interesting' came up.