And once again I still don't own One Piece and I am still working on that, one day I will own it, or at least Zoro, well maybe a Zoro figure but I will own something! Anyway this is One Piece and Cinderella, I am probably going to do a ton of fairy tales like this beacuse I like fairy tales and one piece. So it took me a while to write this so please review. It will probably be like four chapters but I will let you know when I finish writing the story and fully develop the plot and all that. Yes this is a ZoNa story and romance will come later, probably will stay rated T

Brushing her short red hair out of her eyes the 18 year old sighed at her reflection bathed in the early morning light. Noticing that bags under her eyes she wished that she could turn back the clock to when she could sleep in, but she knew that time was long passed. She remembered her happy childhood as the only child of her mother and father and how she had been treated like a princess. She was pulled out of her fantasy world by a dinging sound that meant he step-mother wanted her for something. Quickly changing into her thin dress she rushed down the stairs from the attic to the room of the impatient dragon woman.

"Yes mother," she said as sweetly as she could muster as she stepped into what used to be her parents bed chamber.

"Close my blinds," the woman growled in response, "the light is keeping me from my sleep." Scowling at being ordered around the girl complied, she didn't really have any other choice. "Now leave me to my sleep," the woman demanded.

"Yes mother," the girl replied before walking out of the room as quietly as she could and resisting the urge to slam the door behind her. Sighing in frustration she made her way down to the kitchen to start breakfast. She wasn't the best cook and they knew it but insisted that she do everything around the house, it was cheaper than hiring a cook and made her life worse. She entered the kitchen and peered around to take stock of what they had left.

"I'll have to go shopping again," to herself, it would be difficult to be able to convince them to give her money or to be able to leave the house, though if she pointed out how she was doing it for their benefit they would most likely let her go. Finally deciding that they would live with eggs this morning she took a small amount of money out of the food budget jar to buy muffins from the baker and pay for milk from the milkman. Grabbing the thin coat that they had allowed her to keep she stepped out the back door and shivered.

She walked briskly down the path and to the village where she could step into a shop to warm up. As she approached the village she saw the bookstore and decided to stop, her best, and well to be honest only friend, worked there, and well she was cold.

"Nami!" Habille exclaimed happily as Nami walked in the door to the bookshop. Nami waved at her friend with a smile. She enjoyed her bookworm friend. Habille quickly put the book she was holding on the shelf and rushing over to her friend. Laughing Nami caught her friends glasses as the slipped off her face, it was a common occurrence. "How are you?"

"Oh you know, same as usual." She loved her friend, she seemed so reserved until you got to know her. "I just stopped in to get warm, I have to go buy muffins from the baker and some milk."

"Oh, would you mind if I joined? I have to get something from there as well." She looked to excited for Nami to say no and soon they were on their way to the baker. They hurried because of the cold and soon they had reached their destination. Rushing into the warm shop the girls began to look at all of the delicious looking pastries that were on display, Nami wished she could buy them but she knew she could never get away with it and went to go look at the boxes of muffins. Her step-mother and step-sisters always wanted a muffin to go with their breakfast and they only came in boxes of four meaning Nami could take one for herself as well.

"May I please have these," she said to the baker as she set the muffins on the counter. He nodded and took her money before handing her change. After finishing her task she looked around for her friend, she had to get home soon but she couldn't just leave Habille behind.

"Nami are you ready to go?" a voice asked her from behind. She jumped slightly after being startled but quickly regained her composure as she turned to face the younger girl. "Here I got you one too," Habille said as she held a tasty looking tart out. Nami looked at it, then back up at her friend, before finally taking it. The girls left the shop and bit into the lemon tarts that Habille had purchased. Nami wished they could stay like this forever, shopping with her friend was her favorite part of the day, but she knew she had to hurry back to the house before she was missed.

"Habille I have to go," Nami said as they approached the bookstore again, "I have more shopping to do, most likely this afternoon so I will stop by again then." The girls waved goodbye and Nami rushed back to her home just in time to meet the milkman. After buying the milk she rushed out of the cold and began to cook eggs for the breakfast of her well you could basically call them jailers.

"Where is my breakfast?" rang a shrill voice just as Nami finished placing the plates on her tray.

"I am coming sister dearest," Nami called sickened by the false sweetness that coated her own tone.

"Well hurry up," an even shriller voice called. Sighing Nami rushed up the stairs to serve the egoists that ruled her once happy home. She went into her mother's room first and set down the tray meant for the dragon lady, noticing that she was still asleep and couldn't be bothered. Next she entered the room of her older sister only to have to dodge a pillow that had been thrown the moment she had opened the door.

"Took you long enough," the long nosed girl chided.

"I'm sorry Porche-chan," Nami said doing her best to sound like she meant it as she set down the tray.

"Well don't let it happen again," the blue haired girl replied snottily. Nami nodded then hurried out of the self proclaimed idol's room. She then carefully entered the room of her oldest sister, she had to be careful with this one, she was much more dangerous than the annoying Porche.

"Put it on the desk and get out," a woman with long blonde hair and glasses directed as Nami entered the room mentally sighing with relief that Kalifa was in a good mood. She did as directed and was soon out of the room and hurried back down to the kitchen to write a list of what she needed to buy on her shopping trip later that day. A few minutes later she heard the doorbell ring and hurried to answer it.

"I have a proclamation from the king," the stout man at the door stated with an air of importance. "It is necessary that every member of this household hears it, go get them." The man obviously thought she was a servant and felt that she was beneath him but at this time in her life she was in no position to argue with that. She scowled then hurried to comply with his demands knowing full well that the dragon lady would not take well to being awakened at this hour.

"Mother," Nami said as she knocked on her door, "there is a man here with a proclamation from the king." She heard the dragon lady growl from under the covers.

"HOW DARE YOU WAKE ME UP THIS EARLY!" the woman screeched as she leapt from beneath the covers with her metal club aimed right at the red head.

"I'm sorry but he said it was urgent news from the king." Nami said as she prepared to avid the fearsome club that her step-mother insisted on carrying.

"News from the king?" the woman stopped in her tracks, "has he finally realized that I, Alvida, am the most beautiful woman in the kingdom and has decided to take me for him new bride? That must be it, Nami," she barked, "wake your sisters and tell them to get downstairs this instant to her what this messenger has to say." Nami nodded then hurried away. Soon all of them were standing in the entrance hall of their mansion to listen to what the proclamation said.

"Uh hem," the man started turning his nose into the air as he began to read, though it just made him look quite silly, especially since he was over a head shorter than anyone else present. "Here thee here thee, I the king of this land do hereby proclaim that every eligible lady in this land must attend a ball thrown in honor of my son's twentieth birthday so he may choose a bride. This celebration will last for seven nights allowing for a bride to be chosen to become the future queen of this kingdom. It begins at seven o'clock tomorrow night." The man rolled up the parchment he had read and handed them a letter containing what he had read and more details before leaving.

"Ooh mommy," Porche exclaimed, "isn't this just perfect, he will obviously chose me and then we can all live in the palace with servants who actually know there job," she threw a glare in Nami's direction before giving her very distinct nasally laugh. Using all of her self control Nami resisted bashing her head in but it was a hard battle.

"It says here that every girl between the ages of 15 and 30 must attend," Nami said as she scanned the letter the man had handed her.

"And?" the dragon woman asked leaning on her club.

"That means me," she responed causing her step-mother and Porche to laugh and Kalifa to give her an are you serious look.

"Of course they wouldn't mean you," her mother stated, "they said eligible and that doesn't include people without proper breeding like yourself."

"You seem to forget that my father was a lord and my mother a lady." Nami retorted causing a vein to pop in the dragon's head.

"You're not going and that's final," she hissed, "you would do well never to speak that sentence again." With that she stalked off with her daughters in her wake. Nami glared after them, if it hadn't been for her father marrying that dragon then they wouldn't have been invited at all and she would be the one who would have danced the night away instead of that prissy Porche and Kalifa, who was more likely to kill the prince than marry him. It wasn't as if she liked balls or wanted to marry someone that she had no feelings for but she couldn't stand giving them satisfaction. Growling Nami picked up her list and left the house, she would talk this over with Habille, that always made her feel better.

The Prince's pov one day earlier

He felt a vein appear on his forehead as he realized what his father had done now, he had been pestering him about getting married now that he was 20 but he hadn't thought that his father would go to these lengths to make sure he got his way. That old man had gone and thrown a seven day ball, inviting every eligible young woman in the kingdom and threatening to take away his swords if he didn't pick a wife by the end.

Growling he walked to the training courts, it was the best place for him to clear his head. He called to his friend Luffy and the two had a short training spar that left them both gasping for breath at the end. He felt better after putting all of his anger into the fight and almost didn't growl when his father's messenger came to get him for a fitting. He had to get seven different suits made for the ball! Meaning he had to waste a very large amount of time sitting there getting poked by needles without moving.

"Stop squirming," the dressmaker chided, he stopped momentarily but as he was never one to sit still was soon twitching again. "I will sew these pants to your leg if you don't stop shifting around, just stand still for three more minutes and I promise you can leave." He tried, he really did, but his impatience was just too much, finally she had to let him go just because he was moving too much for any work to get done. "Boys these days," she sighed, "well go to lunch then and we can try this again later," she saw the expression of horror that crossed his face, "don't think we are done, you may have gotten off for now but these do need to be finished and they need to fit well or your father will have my hide."

"ZORO," came a cry as a teenager with a straw hat came bursting into the room.

"Yes Luffy," the prince commented thankful for the excuse to leave.

"I'm hungry," the boy said as he slumped to the floor.

"Let's go," Zoro said as he started out the door, he was soon stopped by the dressmaker though.

"And where do you think you are going?" she asked sternly.

"To get lunch," Zoro replied agitatedly.

"Not while you're wearing that you're not," the large woman responded in a no nonsense tone. Zoro looked down to see that he was still wearing what was there of the suit. Cursing quietly Zoro moved behind the dressing screen where he quickly changed back into his normal white shirt and dark green pants before being dragged to the kitchen by Luffy.

"Hello Prince Zoro," a 28 year old woman with shoulder length black hair said as she looked up from the book she had been reading.

"Hello Robin," he responded before taking a seat next to her at the large table.

"Oi, Sanji," Luffy yelled as he plopped down next to Zoro at the table, "FOOD."

"One minute Luffy," a young blonde man about Zoro's age called as he moved around the kitchen making sure everything was perfect. "And here you go," he said as he set plates heaped with food in front of them. Luffy cheered quickly before almost inhaling the food before him, and one of the plates as well. Zoro shook his head at his friend before turning to his own food.

"I heard the king is having a ball for you to find a bride," Robin said as she closed her book. Zoro looked at the archeologist, he had almost forgotten about the detested ball that started the next night and went on for another seven nights after that.

"He wants me to have a wife and won't let me go any longer without one." Zoro responded bitterly.

"And how do you plan on getting out of it?" she asked. He looked at the woman that his father had once hoped he would marry and realized that she had him completely pegged.

"I will find a way to slip out once the ball is going."

"I doubt your father would let you out of his sight for one moment, he knows you just as well as I do."

"Arrrg," Zoro huffed irritatedly.

"I have a plan that you could try."

"What is it," he wanted a way out but was also suspicious of what the older woman would want him to do.

"Tell your father it should be a masquerade and masks should be taken off only on the last night, that way you could easily slip out, it's harder to recognize a person in a mask."

Nami's pov

Talking with Habille had helped but not in the way her mother would like. She had decided to go to the ball anyway. Habille had pointed out that it was a masquerade and therefore she could easily go without being noticed by her step-mother or step-sisters. Another thing she had found out was that every girl had been invited no matter what their background. She had approached Habille's house just to see a messenger leaving and when she had questioned Habille she had responded that every girl in the kingdom had been invited.

"So I can go," she said to herself, usually she would have no interest in a ball but since she had been forbidden from attending by the dragon lady or course she had to go. Next thing she had to do was get a dress, she had sneaked a few dollars here and there from the family but it wasn't nearly enough to buy a dress appropriate for the ball, and there was seven days of it! She hurried back to the house and rushed up to her room the moment she got there to count the money she had.

'Not enough,' she thought 'I could only get two really cheap ones or one semi nice one with this, nothing even close to ball worthy.' She stared at the small pile of money that she had collected over the years, she could easily sneak another few dollars but nothing drastic enough to change her situation. Thinking hard she realized that she could get by with buying one nice dress then scavenging the castle for money for the others. She quietly checked the house to find that her step-family was not home and she was free to get as much money as possible from the house without them being any wiser.

She was angry that they got to spend the money that was rightfully hers on dresses and accessories while she had to scavenge to take money that they wouldn't notice had disappeared for her own. She added her latest earnings to her pile and knew that she really didn't have enough for anything impressive. Grabbing what she had she left the house headed straight for a shop that sold premade dresses, any dress maker would be far too busy, expensive, and would increase the possibility of running into her family.

As she entered the shop she noticed that it was more crowded than it probably ever had been before and she understood why as she grabbed a few dresses off the racks and waited in line for her turn in the changing room. When she finally go in she quickly pulled off her maid outfit and threw on the first dress, it made her feel like a cupcake, the next one made her feel like a bride. She kept going through dresses until she came to the third to last one, she tried it on and it fit like a dream. It was tight and black with a low cut and a slit up to her thigh, most would say that it was to daring but for her it was perfect. She checked the price tag and was surprised to find that it was easily within her price range and left enough for her to get another dress, she assumed it was because it wasn't conservative enough for most.

She quickly tried on the last two dresses and discovered an aqua dress with poufy sleeves and a full skirt that looked good on her and fit in her budget. She bought both dresses and had just enough left over to buy a mask, she choose a full face cat mask, it seemed to fit her mission for there. She decided that she would steal shoes from her sisters wardrobes after they left and would be able to return them before they got home, she would have to leave after them and get home way before them anyway.

After she finished making her purchases she rushed back to the house and hid the dresses before her family returned, she couldn't have them seeing what she had bought and knowing that she was planning on going to the ball. She quickly grabbed a bucket of water and a rag and began to scrub the front hall so it would look like she had been busy the entire time they had been gone. When they finally returned she was almost finished with washing the floor and they just gave her the I am so much better than you look as they passed with their dress for the first day in their arms.

Zoro's pov

He had gotten roped into standing for the dress maker again when he could have been training. His father had discovered that he had left early from the first fitting and made sure that he couldn't leave this one by telling one of his advisors to stand in the room and give him a full report after. Zoro growled as he got stuck by another pin.

"Sorry sorry," the dressmaker mumbled without looking up from her work "now hold still while I finish this part and then we are done with all we can do for now." Zoro tried his best to stand as still as possible, he thought of it as a concentration training but he still couldn't help but feel a wave of relief as she said the final there and he was let go. He quickly changed back into his normal outfit and ran to the training grounds. When he got there he instantly took up a fight with one of the knights that was training there but beat him easily. Annoyed at the easy win Zoro fought knight after knight until he was panting for breath and they told him he should go to the doctor for the minor injuries that he had sustained.

"WHAT DID YOU DO ZORO?" Chopper yelled as he walked into the infirmary.

"I was just training."

"Ahh doctor, we need a doctor," Chopper exclaimed while running around franticly, "wait that's me." Zoro rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the doctor, did he have to forget that he was the doctor every single time? He sat through the first aid that Chopper applied and knew that he had better avoid his father or he was going to get it for getting injured right before the ball.

"And don't move too much and you should be healed by tomorrow night," Chopper said as he stepped back from his patient.

"Thanks Chopper," Zoro replied as he got up and left the room in favor of the kitchen for dinner.

"Oi, Zoro what happened?" Luffy shouted.

"I fought every knight on the training field," he replied.

"You got injured just from that you crappy swordsman," Sanji laughed as they entered the kitchen.

"Oi, let's see you do better you shitty cook," Zoro growled.

"FOOD!" screamed Luffy effectively shutting both of them up. Sanji dished out large helpings of food to the prince and his bottomless stomach friend before flirting with some of the female staff that had entered the kitchen for dinner. After dinner Zoro hurried to his room where he knew that his father would not bother him and went to sleep. He knew that he had to get as much sleep as possible that night so he wouldn't fall asleep during the ball and get an earful from his father about it.

He awoke the morning of the ball feeling refreshed, then he realized that he would be thrown into a room filled with egotistical girls and match maker mothers later that evening and all remnants of his good mood faded. He realized that there was someone knocking on his door.

"What?" he called out.

"Prince Zoro your father requests that you get dressed and come to the throne room immediately."

"Fine," Zoro replied unhappily, couldn't he even get the day for himself? He sighed and heaved himself out of bed to go and see what his father could possibly want from him already.

"You will go through a day of last minute lessons to make sure you are ready to pick a bride tonight. I have a dance tutor to review your lessons with, a manners master to make sure you know how to correctly treat every young lady, and a woman who will inform you of what ladies mean by how they act or what they say. You will begin at once, you will be eating breakfast with the manners master who will be sure to inform you of all the etiquette that you must use during the meals. Now off to the dining room with you." His father shooed him out of the throne room and he was escorted to the dining room by two attendants, he father must have known that he would try and slip away.

"First off you must always seem interested in what the lady is telling you," the manners master said nervously. He was an old man and he was a nervous man, especially around Zoro, many people were nervous around Zoro though. "Using the correct utensil must be second nature for you must be using most of your concentration to the lady and be sure to pay equal attention to all of the people surrounding you. Always be sure to know who is sitting to either side of you and have a base knowledge of a topic or two that interests them, you must never be at a loss for words or bore your neighbors during a meal." Zoro did his best to pay attention but frankly he didn't care how to impress a woman or how to treat her when they would be climbing all over him whether he liked it or not.

After he finally finished his breakfast, there had been much chiding from the manners master who felt the need to inform him how to hold his fork or spoon or which part of the plate to eat from first, Zoro was whisked away to a review dance class where he would stay until lunch. He was thrown with a girl who blushed too much and wouldn't talk as he clumsily attempted to get the steps right.

'why does it matter how I dance?' he thought ' they aren't going to care if I can do the waltz correctly as long as I am still the prince and they could gain fame and fortune from marrying me.' He still tried, but not very hard, to master the dance since there were messengers who reported his every move to his father present. At lunch he was thrown in with the manners master again and had to deal with him for an hour after as well before he was whisked away to spend an hour with the woman who would tell him what a girl meant by her every action. After that he was poked and prodded and scrubbed as he was bathed and dressed for the dance. Finally it was time for him to put on his mask and enter the ball room.

Nami's pov

She had woken up the day of the ball buzzed with excitement, she would be breaking the rules set forth by her step-family and would come home with enough money to pay for the rest of her dresses with accessories. She had a bounce in her step as she prepared breakfast and served it to her family. It was too late when she realized that they would suspect something from her good mood.

"What has you in a good mood?" the dragon lady asked suspiciously as her breakfast was delivered.

"Nothing mother dearest," Nami almost sang.

"Well, keep it up, servants are more effective when they are in a good mood and I need you to clean this entire house top to bottom before we return from the ball tonight. I also need the basement and attic to be organized, the wash done and folded, and all the mending to be done." Nami's smile fell farther with each task that was assigned to her, there was no way she could finish it all and still make it to the ball. "Oh and don't forget that you need to help us dress and undress for the ball, you may go now," the dragon shooed her out.

She finished delivering breakfast with a much sadder attitude, not even wanting to sigh when Kalifa told her that saying her name was sexual harassment. Sadly Nami began to work on the tasks that she was assigned. She worked quickly hoping that she might possibly be able to finish but all hope was dashed when she was called to help her step-family get ready for the ball and she was nowhere close to being done. She tried to put on a happy face as she help her sisters and mother into the dresses they had bought with the money that was supposed to be hers.

"When we return we will expect you to help us undress," her mother said as she was halfway out the door, "be sure to be awake and I expect all of your chores to be done by then." Nami nodded as they wrapped their shawls around them and left the house. She almost cried that she couldn't go to the ball when she heard a knock on the door, had they forgotten something?

"Yes," Nami said as she opened the door.

"I know they did something to keep you here," Habille said as she pushed past Nami into the house.

"What are you doing here?" Nami said in a shocked tone.

"I knew that you would need help getting ready for the ball," she responded.

"I can't go to the ball, they gave me so many chores that it will be hard to finish them by the time they get home."

"Well that won't do, I will help you get ready then you will go to the ball and leave the chores to me."

"I couldn't do that," Nami started.

"Oh hush and leave it to me, I don't want to go to the ball anyway, not really my thing."

"Habille your are my fairy god mother," Nami gushed and they hurried up stairs to get her ready. They chose the black dress for the first day, it was easier to move in for her to get money for her other dresses and accessories. She reached into her hidden stash of her mother's jewelry that she had kept hidden from her new family since she had first met them and pulled out a chain of black jewels. They put them on her neck and Habille put her hair up in a twist. Nami added her cat mask and they hurried to her sisters room to grab a pair of strappy black heels that went well with her dress. Finally she was ready but she suddenly realized that she didn't have a way to get to the castle.

"Oh don't worry about that," Habille responded when Nami told her the transportation problem. "Just look outside." Nami did as she was told and gasped.

"How… where… wha?" she gasped.

"It's my dads, he's had it for a while and gasped," Habille responded, "now get in and go." Nami nodded and got into the pure black carriage that Habille had lent her. She sat on the black leather seats and looked out the window to see the coach driver ready with the six black horses, he looked at her, she nodded and they were off.

She was thrilled as the castle came into sight and she made sure that her mask was secure, she couldn't let herself be recognized. The door was opened and a hand extended to help her out. She nodded in thanks to the man who had helped her then told her coach driver to be here at midnight on the dot to allow her time to get home. She took a deep breath and entered the ballroom.

She was immediately bombarded with colors and sounds swirling around her. She took in all the beautiful dresses and noticed how there seemed to be three females for every male. She thought about dancing for a moment before picking out a man at the refreshments table that she could corner and drain information about the palace out of.

"May I ask you to dance?" she asked the blonde haired man with a swirl mask on.

"Of course my fair lady," the man responded as he bent down to kiss her hand then whisked her out on the dance floor. Nami managed to get very little information out of him as he felt the need to spend almost the entire time complimenting her, that got old extremely fast. She felt glares on her back as she chose another guy and then another, her dress seemed to be a magnet to the limited number of guys there were. After her fourth dance partner she was annoyed with the lack of information that she had gained and decided to take a break on the balcony.

She leaned over on her arms and sighed as she took in the view, it was beautiful but she wished that she could find a way to get enough money from here to afford another dress. Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her and turned quickly to face whoever had joined her, it was a man with a sword mask.

"Tired of the ball?" Nami asked trying to make small talk to maybe wean information out of him.

"Yeah," he sighed, "you?"

"I couldn't stay in their for another moment."

"Didn't think that there would be a girl here that would ever get tired of one of those marriage pits," the man responded causing Nami to laugh.

"Well you could say I'm not normal," she replied.

"I can see that," he said, "you are out here aren't you?"

"Yeah, do you know much about the palace?" she asked changing the topic to try and get information.

"You could say that," he replied, "what do you want to know?"

"Oh it's just that my father was a banker and my mother handled antiques and they were both interested in the palace," she fed him her carefully rehearsed story, it wasn't even a total lie, they had done those things but more as hobbies. She noticed him tense for a moment and knew that she was walking on thin ice with his suspicion.

Zoro pov

"In my opinion it is over decorated but the people in high places seem to enjoy it," he replied to the sexily dressed woman suspicious of her intent. At first he had been drawn in by the fact that she had left the party and her dress had helped his decision to join her on the balcony. He might not be interested in the personalities of almost every woman he knew but he was still a guy and she had nice curves with a dress that accented them perfectly. He had been intrigued by her mask, it hid her face completely unlike the barely covering the area between their eyes ones that almost every girl had inside. The woman this afternoon had mentioned that is was because they felt that they were beautiful and wanted him to notice too.

"I can imagine it would be with all the extra tax money that they take in." Apparently she was bitter, she must have had a bad experience with taxes at some point in time, or maybe just hated that people had too much money.

"I suppose," he responded, he was even more suspicious that she might want money now. He wanted to keep an eye on her but he knew that his absence would soon be noticed. His father had eaten up the masquerade idea but had made sure that he had an original mask and could be easily recognized.

"Could you please direct me to the nearest bathroom?" the girl asked cutting into his thoughts.

"I will escort you there," he responded, glad that she had given him an excuse to both keep an eye on her and get out of the ball for a short period of time.

"There is no need for that, if you can just point me in the correct direction I am sure I could find my way."

"I insist," he had to maintain his politeness but he would soon get his way, he had been extremely surprised that she had refused, didn't she want to be showered with affection? Especially since he might be the prince that every girl was here for a chance to marry and become the queen of this kingdom.

"I don't want to impose, and you must have so many girls just dying to dance with you just within those doors," she obviously wanted to get rid of him and there was an annoyed tone hidden behind her polite words.

"It would be no inconvenience," he replied stubbornly unused to being refused by a woman, the ones that knew he was a prince would just fall all over him whether he wanted them to or not, even a smile could start a rave.

"I'm afraid I must…"

"This isn't going anywhere," Zoro cut in as she began to refuse him once more, "I suggest that you just agree with my proposition."

"Why do you even care?" she shot back all pleasantries aside.

"I want an excuse to get out of that ball, if I am seen escorting a lady they won't have anything to complain about."

"So now I am an excuse, how wonderful, isn't that just every girls dream."

"Arrrg I should have paid more attention in that manners class this morning, I'm sorry, will you please let me escort you to the bathroom so I can leave the pit of matchmakers and gold diggers?"

"Well since you put it that way I will let you, but only escort me it is already 11:30 and I have to leave at midnight so there is no reason for you to wait since I will not be re entering the ball."

"Fine," Zoro agreed as he held out his arm for her to take and when she did he escorted her around the edges of the ballroom doing his best to only be seen by one messenger assigned to make sure he was doing his duty and then left the room. He took her through a few halls and soon they were at the bathroom. "I do believe this is where we will part," he said as he took her hand and kissed it, that was something he remembered from the manners class.

"Well I do believe there is a gentleman in you yet," the woman said with a slight laugh, "now leave me, we will not meet again tonight." With that she entered the room leaving him alone in the hall.

Nami pov

She listened at the door until she heard his footsteps retreating away, she was annoyed that he had followed her all the way here but he had left know and she was alone in the halls with the perfect chance to steal a few trinkets and get out of there. She opened the door a crack and saw that the hallway was empty, she quietly left the room and moved towards the direction of where the treasury would most likely be. She had been here a few times as a child and had a faint memory of the time she had found the place where they kept the tax money that had yet to be counted. She crept down the hall like a cat burglar and soon enough she realized that once again her memory had not failed her and she was indeed at the treasury.

She peaked inside the door and found it empty but full of money, any girls dream. She then slipped in and began to stuff rolls of cash in her bra, it was a great spot to hide stuff and no one would think to check there, if they did she could pull a Kalifa and scream sexual harassment. When she knew she had taken enough to pay for the rest of the dresses she would wear with accessories she slipped back into the hallway and made her way to the main door to leave. She didn't see another soul during her walk but made sure she had her story of she had gotten lost in her mind until she exited the door and made her way into the carriage and from there home.

When she arrived she hurried up to her room to change into her maid dress noticing along the way that Habille had made everything spotless just like she had promised. She smiled as she entered her room to find Habille fast asleep in her bed and gently shook her to wake her up. She thanked her friend then sent her home before changing and making hot chocolate in the kitchen for when the rest of her family returned home. When they did arrive her mother and Porche were talking quite loudly alerting Nami to their presence before they even got to the door. She opened the door for them and presented them with the hot drink before they went up to bed with her following to help them undress. When she had finished that task Nami went into her own bedroom to change into a night gown, she put the cash from her bra under the floor boards and went to sleep with a smile on her face, for once excited about what the next day would bring.

Once again please review, it feeds me and motivates me to update faster, I am in finals week though so next update may be slow and I am working on my other ZoNa story at the same time so may be a while, but a shorter while if you review and make me happy :D