Sasuke's gaze first focused on Yamato for a moment, then shifted to Viola's face beside her.
"... If you don't put her down soon, she's going to vomit on you."
These words directly broke the previously somewhat tense atmosphere between the two.
"Huh? Oh! Sorry, sorry! I wasn't paying attention just now."
Well, mystery solved.
Yamato indeed wasn't being deliberate earlier.
She somewhat flusteredly put Viola down.
This ill-fated violet flower, who hadn't died in the sudden snake-people disaster, nearly withered in the whirlwind.
"Ugh... I... I'm fine. Thank you for saving me earlier."
Viola gestured that she was okay, but couldn't help covering her mouth.
After vomiting for a bit, she finally lifted her head again, looking around.
"Ah! It's you!"
Viola immediately reacted upon seeing Sasuke.
Even though Sasuke no longer looked like Kakashi, Viola had already seen his true appearance using her Giro Giro no Mi before, so she could still recognize him.
Seeing that the other recognized him, Sasuke didn't bother pretending anymore, his expression turning cold again.
"Someone from the Donquixote Family. I let you off earlier, and now you come delivering yourself to me?"
"Do you really think I won't kill?"
Although his words said this, Yamato couldn't sense any killing intent from Sasuke. Because of this, she didn't choose to intervene. Instead, she looked at Viola beside her.
"He says you're from the Donquixote Family?"
Unlike Sasuke, Yamato said this without any malice on her face, but the kanabo in her hand had already struck the ground with a thud.
"..."
Viola was silent for a second. She wanted to deny it, but then recalled all the dirty deeds she had indeed done for the Donquixote Family over the years.
Although she had constantly hypnotized herself with reasons like 'enduring humiliation' and 'this is the price of revenge', she truly couldn't claim to be innocent.
"So that's how it is?"
Boom!
A strong gust of wind directly blew Viola's hair into disarray. The kanabo now lay horizontally in front of Viola.
On the kanabo, besides Yamato's hand, there was another large hand covered in black fur with sharp nails.
"Why stop me?"
Yamato tilted her head, looking at Sasuke, her face still devoid of malice.
As if the one about to smash Viola's head with a kanabo wasn't her.
"Let her finish speaking."
Sasuke felt the immense force transmitted from the kanabo, reaffirming his earlier judgment in his heart.
'This woman was indeed very strong.'
In contrast, Yamato was much more relaxed, not even having entered her human-beast transformation.
—Of course, this was also because she wasn't going all out.
Only then did Viola belatedly realize she had almost died.
Died at the hands of the person who had just saved her.
Instead, the man she had tried to ambush saved her.
"Someone once told me."
"If something can be explained clearly with words, don't make it so awkward."
"Otherwise, it leads to many unnecessary misunderstandings, ending up with bloodshed in the end."
Recalling his different experiences in the Ninja World and this world, Sasuke gained a new understanding of Naruto's words.
Unlike the Ninja World, most people in this world were straightforward, the type to say what they meant.
But there were still a small portion of individuals even more awkward than those in the Ninja World who would often say things like 'bear one's own sins silently'.
The expression this person showed was exactly like those people.
For such people, if you don't make them willingly speak clearly, they can always tie themselves in knots.
Like just now… if he hadn't intervened, Viola would have been gone.
"... My name is Viola, Riku Viola, daughter of the former King Riku Doldo III."
The terror between life and death finally diluted the inner conflict in Viola.
Of course, perhaps the miserable state of Dressrosa today also played a part.
She stopped agonizing over her past actions, fully revealing everything she knew about the Donquixote Family and the inside story of the current situation.
Including how Doflamingo took Dressrosa back from the Riku Family over a decade ago and how he used the Hobi Hobi no Mi to continuously eliminate unstable elements.
During this, Viola didn't avoid mentioning the 'evil deeds' she had done under Doflamingo.
In the process of maintaining the Donquixote Family's rule, she had indeed played a part.
Later, Viola brought up Orochimaru.
"Ever since Doflamingo left last time, he hasn't returned. On the surface, Dressrosa is still managed by the Donquixote Family, but the real leadership has actually fallen into the hands of that 'Orochimaru'."
Recalling the scenes she had seen earlier, Viola's tone became more serious.
"That Orochimaru is definitely not someone easy to deal with. Even Trebol and the others are under his coercion."
"I've heard a bit about his troublesome nature."
Hearing this, Sasuke nodded. He was, of course, referring not to Orochimaru MK-II in this world, but the old snake back in the Ninja World who had orchestrated a series of schemes.
'Next time I go back, I need to deal with that snake too.'
After mentally marking Orochimaru MK-I with a cross, Sasuke heard Yamato speak.
"Orochimaru? Come to think of it, that slimy guy also mentioned that name."
"That he's the one behind all this or something."
Yamato crossed her arms, committing the name Orochimaru to memory.
It definitely didn't sound like a good person.
"As long as we find this Orochimaru, we can solve the current situation, right?"
Faced with Yamato's question, Viola didn't give a definite answer.
"This... I can only say he definitely understands this stuff better than we do. At the very least, it's our chance to save this country."
Hearing words like 'save', Yamato's eyes immediately lit up.
She directly placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Hey, bro, what do you say? Interested in going together?"
Nonchalantly brushing off Yamato's hand, Sasuke turned and said without looking back.
"I can handle that guy alone."
"Oh, right. A few little people calling themselves the Tontatta Tribe came by earlier. They said if we find their princess, we might be able to save this place."
Hearing this, Viola immediately looked up.
"Princess Mansherry! Yes! And Princess Mansherry!"
With Viola's Giro Giro no Mi, almost nothing could hide from her sight.
Plus, having been in the Donquixote Family for so long, she naturally knew about the imprisoned Princess Mansherry.
But when she looked at the opposite side with surprise, she realized that not only Sasuke, but even Yamato beside him had already walked far toward the direction of the castle.
"Hey, bro, I'm called 'Yamato'. Not to boast, but I'm quite a famous hero around Wano Country."
Yamato seemed to have a pretty good impression of Sasuke, constantly trying to put an arm around his shoulder.
It's just that Sasuke still maintained that aloof, keep-your-distance demeanor.
"... Uchiha Sasuke. A Ninja."
"A Ninja? Come to think of it, I know quite a few ninjas too!"
"They're not like me."
Sasuke had also heard from Naruto about those unreliable 'ninjas' in Wano Country.
"Oh oh! Tell me more..."
Although the two seemed to be having an awkward conversation, one cold, one warm, Sasuke responded to every sentence, clearly not having a bad first impression of Yamato.
In contrast, Viola, left behind by the two amidst a crowd of sleeping snake-people, seemed somewhat redundant.
'Huh?'
'Weren't you just asking me?'
'Who am I?'
'Why am I here?'
Filled with question marks, Viola looked at the surrounding snake-people. After thinking for a few seconds, she decisively chased after the direction the two had left.