I know the other two partner fics that go along with this are pure trails of thought. But this one is Zoro's POV, and it's kinda hard to do a trail of thought for him because, well, um, it's Zoro. So this is going to have the occasional thinking bit but is mainly going to be the bits in between the thinking, like, the story line of what actually happened… oh you'll understand when you read it. (Because you're smart :D)

"Stupid ero-cook. He ponces around like he owns the place. How come he is here anyway? Suppose it's not like the love-cook to miss a thing like this, a ball… Why am I here? Oh yeah, the grog, free grog, and Luffy made me keep an eye on him. Why does he annoy me so much? Just watching him flirt with every woman in sight is enough to make me sick, he has no idea what damage he is doing. And he says he respects women." Thought Zoro as he watched Sanji take yet another different woman to the dance floor, "Why the hell does he flirt if he never goes home with any of them? It's pointless."

By the time Zoro had finished his beer Sanji had finished his dance. He approached the table where Zoro sat alone.

"Hey marimo, you going to sit alone in the corner for the whole night? You can only go unnoticed for so long, someone is bound to smell you eventually." Sanji said with a smirk, he sat down and poured himself a glass of wine.

"Better to go unnoticed then make a fool of myself on the dance floor. And besides, you're the one who smells."

"That smell, moss-head, is soap, maybe you should try it sometime."

"It makes you smell like a girl" Zoro retorted.

"The ladies like it." Sanji said with a grin, trying to stir up his comrade.

"At least they like something about you then."

Sanji ignored him, sighed and took a sip of the wine then scanned the room, he was starting to feel slightly fatigue from all the dancing.

"Are you looking for your next victim Romeo?" Zoro asked sarcastically.

"Wow," Sanji said with mocked amazement "and I thought you knew nothing about Shakespeare."

Just then a pretty young lady in a pale blue dress came over to the table. Before Sanji could even begin to pour sweet words from his mouth she spoke, and much to Sanji's shock, not to him.

"I noticed you sitting here alone for most of the evening." she said.

"I'm just here in case dartboard-eyebrow here gets himself into trouble." Zoro said.

She gave a little laugh, "Maybe you would like to join me for a dance?" She suggested as she twirled a lock of long blonde hair around her finger.

Sanji was stunned that a girl was asking Zoro for a dance.

"Ah you look so beautiful my dear," Sanji said as he stood up and took her hands, "If you are looking for a dance then it is a good thing you came past me." He guided her out onto the dance floor where they danced to the upbeat music.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Is there anything he won't do?" he thought, secretly glad he didn't have to dance.

Zoro turned his gaze to his beer glass which was now empty, after considering drinking the wine he thought better. He rose from his seat and made his way around the dancers to the buffèt table to see if there was any grog there. After discovering a few bottles, he loaded them into his arms and made his way back to the table only to find Sanji was there.

"Could you look like less of an embarrassment when in public, just once?

"What?" Zoro said as he stood there with as many bottles of grog he could possible carry in his arms.

Sanji sighed as Zoro started to put them down on the table.

"If you're so embarrassed why don't you go sit somewhere else?" Zoro said as he flipped the cap of a bottle. "Besides, I have to put up with you ogling every woman here."

"I don't ogle. I admire." Sanji retorted. "There is a difference."

"Doesn't look any different."

"There is. Of course one as unsophisticated as yourself would be unable to depict the beauty of the features of any woman here."

"I don't need to" Zoro said bluntly.

"Look, in the pink and red dress, what do you see?" Sanji gestured to a woman who was standing and talking to her friends.

"I see a woman."

"No…" Sanji was trying to get a point across.

"Bloody hell what else could I see? It's not a man."

Sanji saw how he might be able to try and get Zoro to look at a woman the way he did, and make him understand.

"Why isn't it a man?" Sanji quizzed.

"What! Surely you can tell the differencebetween a man and a woman yourself."

"Just answer the question."

"Suppose if I answer he'll leave me alone for the night, but by hell I am going to beat him up afterwards" Zoro thought. "She looks like a woman, she's got the figure of a woman and has the chest and legs and waistline of one, actually rather beauti-" Zoro cut himself short.

"You were going to say beautiful weren't you?" Sanji teased.

"No."

Sanji sighed, "That's how I see all women all the time, beautiful."

"Geez shit-cook, come back to reality, you're so full of sap."

"Sometimes you just need romance, or as you call it 'sap', to get to a woman's heart."

"There is still no point to swoon them unless you're going to take one home. I bet you haven't even had any more than just a dance with any woman in this room."

"Gentlemen don't kiss and tell." Sanji grinned as he thought of that one particular lady he had kissed on the balcony.

"We're going." Zoro stood up.

"Fine go, I'll be back at the ship later."

"No, Luffy made me tag along because he doesn't want to lose his chef, you're coming too. I'm not leaving you alone here."

A curly eyebrow rose.

"If you don't want to leave me alone here, you better stay because I'm not leaving yet."

They glared at each other.

"That's it." Zoro said.

Zoro grabbed Sanji by the collar and began to drag him out.

"But all the beautiful women!" Sanji protested.

Sanji made to kick Zoro in the head but he dodged. Zoro threw Sanji out over the balcony and jumped down after him, drawing his swords as he went.

"You just don't understand the beauty of women!" Sanji kicked Zoro on the head.

Zoro blocked a kick with his swords. "I don't need to."

Whups :P just realised there are no disclaimers in the other two partner fics for this. Oh well, what are you gonna do you smelly disclaimer hunters out there! If you really do exist! And you don't!

Mwah ha ha ha haaa… REVIEW!

love Jade