Hey! First things first, even though this IS a school fic, it is not primarily about school life and sorts. It's more of friendship (hence the genre specified), and most of it occurs OUTSIDE the school. xP I have deviated quite a bit from the OP universe in terms of ages, for instance instead of Luffy being younger than Sanji and Zoro, he's of the same age. Ace isn't three years older than Luffy, but only one year, and Franky isn't in his 30s.

Also, there are probably gonna be other pairings other than Zosan in this fic, though I won't mention any yet. :P AND this might be quite a long fic, though I'm not too sure. I've already drafted up till the 4th chapter of now, so I sort of know where the story's going already. They will be a BIT of spoilers at the 4th chapter IF you haven't reached the latest manga arc, which is Punk Hazard.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE. Only the awesome Oda does.

Chapter 1 || Rendezvous

Damn it, he was running late. Why the hell was he running late anyway? It was his first day of school! And it was literally his first day of school. He had never went to school before, had always been home-schooled, and now he was running late? It was ridiculous.

Considering that it was his very first time attending school, he hadn't known what to bring, so he brought nothing at all. He had never given much thought to what to bring before; he had been home-schooled, and everything was just where he left it at home.

He ran quickly into the school, his long legs covering wide stretches of distances easily and with barely a minute to spare, he made it to class, his hair slightly dishevelled, his breathing a bit uneven, but otherwise he looked, and seemed, completely normal.

"Oh, this must be the new transfer student," The bespectacled teacher, Kame-sensei, said, "Please introduce yourself." He told the blond, inviting him into the classroom.

Introduce himself..? "I'm Sanji," He said, his gaze flitting across the room, noting every new face in the class – his new classmates. The word felt unfamiliar on his lips.

"Oh… have you not bought any school books yet?" The sensei asked. School books..? It was only then that Sanji realized that almost all of his classmates had books placed on their tables and his…

"At home," He explained simply. The sensei frowned.

"Why haven't you brought it?"

"… I didn't know I needed to," He answered stoically. This resulted in a burst of giggles from his classmates.

"Y-You…" The sensei glared at him, thinking that his honest words were a sign of rudeness and insolence. "Never mind," He gave up, "Go sit by Luffy, that's the only empty seat left."

"Who's Luffy?" Sanji asked the class, and an overzealous raven-haired young man bounded up to his feet, waving.

"Here! I'm Luffy!" The guy said, a straw hat bouncing merrily behind his back. The blond let out a deep sigh. He didn't like the thought of sitting next to some overly-enthusiastic guy like Luffy apparently was. He definitely wouldn't be able to get any peace and quiet. However, he still made his way to his designated seat anyway. "I'm Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy! What about you?" The raven-haired guy immediately asked upon Sanji's arrival… obviously he hadn't heard Sanji's name when he introduced himself at the front of the classroom.

"Sanji," The blond answered. Luffy frowned at him, tilting his head slightly towards the left.

"You're weird."

"Why?" Sanji knew what Luffy was going to say anyway, but he still asked.

"Your eyebrow is curly." Luffy stated, and then added hastily, "Do you only have one eye? What happened to your other eye?"

"Nothing happened, it's just… a hairstyle," Sanji answered, mentally cursing that old man Zeff for forcing him to keep this hairstyle. Even though the blond would like nothing more than to turn away from the overly enthusiastic straw hat boy, he knew that going to school was about making friends, so he decided to give it a shot. After all, he did come here for a normal life. "What about your straw hat?"

"It's important! Shanks gave it to me!" Luffy proclaimed proudly.

"Shanks..?"

"He was an important friend of mine!" Luffy elaborated, "But he moved away from here to go somewhere else. He didn't want to tell me where, but he gave me this straw hat!" He grinned brightly, "It's my most important possession!"

"Ah, I see," Sanji nodded his head, wondering who the hell actually wore straw hats.

"Sanji! You wanna join my team?" Luffy asked suddenly.

"Team?" Sanji echoed.

"Yep! Actually I don't know what it is… well, actually what I meant was, you wanna join me and my group of friends during break today? You'll love them!" Luffy invited. "There are a few of them in this class already. Well, there's Nami over there, you know, the girl with the long bright orange hair?" He jumped up to his feet and pointed at the pretty girl named Nami, who was seated at the back of the class. The fiery-haired girl gave Luffy a sharp glance before turning away. "And that's Usopp, the one with the long nose." Without Luffy's guidance, Sanji knew immediately who Usopp was – without a doubt, it had to be that tan-skinned man seated at the front of the class with a long nose and a head of curly, untidy hair.

"Oh…"

"There are more! There's Franky, an upperclassman – he's very old! He never graduated! And also, there's Zoro… he skipped class again today," Luffy pouted. "I bet he's still practising at the dojo… anyway, there's also Brook, but he's not from this school. He's an underground musician, and he's awesome! I assure you!"

"Oh, there's also this junior called Chopper, he's one of those weird ones," Luffy said. Sanji understood immediately. Some people were naturally born with a weird kind of genetic mutation, where they ended up looking… unusual. Nobody thought much of it when they see such people roaming the streets, though – it had become quite a common sight. "He's a reindeer!"

"That's cool," Sanji replied, nodding his head.

"Oh, there's also," Luffy looked around, and then whispered softly in Sanji's ear, "Nico Robin… you can't let anyone know that she's with us!"

"Why?"

"Because she's a sensei," Luffy hissed. "It's not right for sensei to mingle with students, that's what she said! You'll see her soon! She's our history teacher, but she's not only a history teacher! Nami told me that she's also an archaeologist, and she has invested in a lot of things so she's really powerful and rich! Robin's incredible!" Luffy said brightly.

"She must be really smart." The blond commented, looking out the window. He caught sight of a green-headed man leaning against the trunk of a tree, fast asleep – wait, green-headed? He had got to be wrong. He turned his attention back to Luffy. "You want me to join you?"

"Yeah, say yes! Come on!" Luffy begged. "You'll be awesome!"

The blond gave a non-committal shrug, and then turned to look out the window once again.

Luffy may not have known it, but those words meant a lot to him. Nobody had ever tried to make friends with him before. Where he lived, he was barred even such simple things…

Sanji ran a hand through his hair. Perhaps deciding to go to school was a good choice after all. He came here to lead a normal life, and now he'd have what he had always longed for.

...

"So this is Sanji," Luffy introduced briefly. "Only Robin, Brook and Zoro aren't here… ah well, you'll get to know them soon enough." The moment Sanji caught sight of Nami, his eyes practically turned into heart-shapes.

"Nami-swan! Your beauty is so mesmerizing," Sanji leapt to his feet, landing in front of the bright caramel-haired lady, who raised an eyebrow at his actions, "Would you care to have dinner with me?"

"Uh, Luffy, you've brought another weird one!" The long-nosed man named Usopp complained, "Look at him!" Luffy just laughed.

"Nami-sis, you've got another admirer! But most of them prefer to admire you afar… since they don't want to ignite your wrath! Hahahaha," A man with striking blue hair, styled up high above his head, commented, and Nami shot him a glare. The man, Sanji had realized, was called Franky – he had a terrifyingly huge body, but with oddly skinny legs that were disproportionate to his big torso. Apparently he was a mechanic, a technician – he could repair and build practically anything, as Chopper had told Sanji.

"Oh no, even though I don't know you, I don't want you to get killed!" Chopper said, using his hooves to cover his eyes, "I'm not going to look!" The reindeer turned away. Nami crossed her arms at Sanji's absurd request, until the corners of her lips tugged upwards to form a sneaky smile.

"Okay," Nami answered.

"WHAT?" Usopp and Chopper chorused.

"But on one condition," Nami grinned.

"Oh no, this is even worse than Nami murdering you! This is Nami… scheming! She's up to no good! Sanji, you'd better run," Usopp said, trying to push Sanji away from Nami, but somehow he couldn't manage to get the blond to budge.

"Anything you say, Nami-swan!"

"Sanji's getting along with everyone already, isn't he?" Luffy continued to laugh. "I knew he would!"

"Luffy! Your new friend's gonna get killed by Nami! Save him!" Chopper begged, holding onto Luffy's arm, but Luffy just continued to laugh.

"Nah, he can't get killed so easily, he's strong," Luffy answered.

"How do you know?" Nami frowned. The man looked tall and lean, but he didn't seem to have an ounce of muscle in him. She compared him to Zoro, and chuckled. There was no way this man could be considered strong. But Luffy had an uncanny tendency to be… correct.

"I just know," Luffy replied. "He seems strong, doesn't he?"

"No, not at all," Usopp and Chopper answered together again, and then shook their heads. "No, this is no use, we can't get through to him – we have to count on ourselves to save the new student!" Usopp proclaimed, raising his fist in the air.

"Yes!" Chopper squealed.

"Sanji-san," Nami cooed, beckoning him to come closer. After Luffy's statement, she felt very… curious about the man's strength. If Luffy thought that Sanji was strong, he had to be strong.

"Yes, Nami-swan~?" The blond approached her gaily. "What would you like?"

"I'll have dinner with you… only if you're willing to fight Zoro."

"ZORO..?" Usopp nearly fainted in shock.

"Swordsman-bro?" Franky shouted, completely aghast.

"Z-Z-Zoro..?" Chopper hid behind Luffy.

"Ahahaha, Zoro?" Luffy laughed good-naturedly. "Zoro will be happy to have someone to fight with. After his loss to Ace, he got really upset, didn't he?"

"Not only upset, but freaking murderous, that's what it is!" Usopp grabbed Luffy by the shoulders, "I mean, Ace was stronger than Zoro and all, and he accepted that, but since that, Zoro has become freaking crazy!"

"Yeah, he's always holding this competition at the dojo, right? So far he's got all the sports leaders to fight him, and none of them won! He's trying to get anyone who seems strong enough to fight, so that he can win! Sanji can't win against him!" Chopper protested, "Nami, don't send him to his death! Only Ace can win Zoro!"

"Sanji's strong, I'm sure nothing will happen to him," Luffy stated so confidently, even Sanji looked perplexed by Luffy's complete and unfounded confidence in his strength, even though the guy barely knew him.

"Why do you keep saying that?" The blond asked, but the only reply he got was the sound of Luffy's laughter.

"So, do you accept?" Nami said to Sanji, ignoring the protests of her friends.

"Yes, anything for you, Nami-swan!" Sanji agreed, and Usopp's, Chopper's, and Franky's jaws dropped to the ground.

"Did you not hear a word we just said?" Usopp yelled into Sanji's ears.

"Don't do it! Not for Nami, she's not worth it!" Chopper screamed, which resulted in him getting hit on the head by a fuming Nami.

"Nami-sis is going overboard; you don't have to entertain her requests!" Franky said, wiping tears from his eyes. "Don't fight Zoro!"

"But if you lose," Nami continued, "You…"

"TREAT US ALL TO DINNER!" Luffy shouted.

"No," Nami dismissed him with a wave of her hand, "You're gonna –"

"TREAT US ALL TO DINNER!" Luffy shouted again.

"Oh, shut up, Luffy, you're not getting that." Nami sighed. "ANYWAY, before I was so rudely interrupted… if you lose, you shall –"

"TREAT US TO DINNER!" This time, Usopp, Franky and Chopper had joined in. "And not only just dinner!" Usopp piped up.

"A home-made one is super!" Franky agreed enthusiastically. "Catered to all our requests," He added as an afterthought.

"Yes, I want lots of sweet stuff!" Chopper squeaked out, eyes sparkling.

"I WANT ALL THE MEAT!" Luffy bellowed. "MEAT! ALL MEAT!"

"No, Luffy, that's not healthy –" Usopp began to protest, but Luffy held a hand up.

"I introduced Sanji, so I shall decide! You'll treat us to a home-made dinner if you lose!"

"Ah, alright, just listen to the annoyingly stubborn one…" Nami let out a deep exasperated sigh. "I don't have the energy to quarrel with him anymore."

"I'm okay with that," Sanji smiled, "But I'm just saying this beforehand. I'm not gonna lose, so don't expect much."

"Zoro's really strong," Chopper informed.

"And you don't seem strong at all. No offence, curly-bro," Franky agreed. "You should see him fight. Even without his three swords, he's like a fighting demon or something. But with his three swords, the only person I saw him lose to was freckles-bro."

"Yes! Ace is awesome!" Luffy bounced up and down on his feet, beaming widely. "Ace is really awesome! I never could win him in any fights!"

"As shocking as it seems," Usopp told Sanji, "Luffy's actually quite the fighter. He jumps around and flails around a lot, so maybe that's part of his strategy. Anyway, it's almost impossible to win Zoro." Usopp shook his head. "I hope you won't take it too hard, but it's the truth."

"I'll know it when I see it," Sanji answered irritably. He was annoyed that they all seemed to look down on him, but then again, he understood their reasoning. Fighters were often bulky and muscular, and he was neither. "Anyway, who's Ace? You've been mentioning the guy quite a lot."

"Oh! Ace should be somewhere around the school right now too!" Luffy began screaming for Ace to come out, and Nami shook her head.

"There he goes again," She sighed. "I bet Luffy's told you about Shanks. Well, besides Shanks, the only person Luffy can't seem to get enough of is Ace. I don't even know why. Ace's a year older, by the way."

"Luffy's really upset now that Ace isn't hanging out with us that much anymore," Chopper clarified. "I mean, Ace has always been quite popular around the school, but it's only until about a few months ago that he had gotten a girlfriend!"

"Yeah, that girl is really pretty," Franky nodded his head. "And she's super nice too! Of course, she's not as pretty as Hancock –"

"Oh, oh, oh! Do you know about the Hancock incident?" Chopper interrupted enthusiastically.

"I don't even know who Hancock is," Sanji told them, "And how can there be someone prettier than Nami-swan! If there is, that must completely be a miracle!" Usopp laughed at Sanji's exaggeration.

"Well, if you ever thought Nami was pretty, think again. Hancock's the prettiest girl in the school – supposedly." Usopp laughed, "She's in our year, but unfortunately not in our class."

"Usopp doesn't think that Hancock's the prettiest because we all know that he's eyeing on Kaya ~" Nami sang-song loudly, "He's been chasing her for years, and she's just entertaining him for the sake of it. If I were her, I'd have long gotten rid of him."

"O-Oi, Nami, don't go about leaking people's secrets – and I haven't been chasing her for years! I have never chased after her! I just –"

"Ooh, what's that? You don't like her? You haven't been chasing after her?" Nami teased, and Usopp flushed red.

"I – h-hey, we haven't told him about the Hancock incident!" Usopp changed the topic in a fluster. Meanwhile, Luffy was still screaming for Ace.

"SANJI, LOOK!" Chopper yelled, grabbing Sanji by his finger and pulling him to the right, "That's Hancock!"

The most beautiful girl Sanji had ever seen walked past, her skin a pale ivory, her hair a deep, lustrous black that seemed to flow like liquid behind her as she moved. Her eyes were like molten chocolate – rich and sweet, seemingly able to penetrate into one's very soul. In one fluid motion, she turned, her strong gaze fixed momentarily onto Sanji's cool blue eyes, but it soon left his gaze as she looked around near him for something.

"Thank God Luffy's run off somewhere to find Ace…" Usopp hissed in Sanji's ear. "Hey, you hear me?" He hissed again when Sanji didn't reply.

Sanji stood there, transfixed, his mind in a whirlpool of mess. She looked… breathtakingly stunning, of course but… there was something in her eyes that he caught, a glint of something that he recognized so well.

"Hey, she's gone!" Chopper yelled, and Sanji jumped. "I can't believe she was so pretty that you were petrified!"

"A-Ah, yes… I can't believe there's someone prettier than Nami-swan!" Sanji shouted, but his mind was elsewhere. There was something off about the girl. He knew it instantly. It was that familiar glint in her eyes, one that he had always seen when he was younger. So often was it mirrored on his own face, his own expression, that seeing the look on another's face felt alarming and disconcerting. Sanji shook his head. He wouldn't go back there.

He was here to make a new living, wasn't he?

"Let's tell him about the Hancock incident!" Usopp said, "Okay, so it's really funny…" Sanji finally looked up, and forced a grin as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Let's hear it, then," Sanji told them.

"Basically…" Usopp began. "It happened…"

"It happened about half a year ago," Chopper interjected, "Where Zoro had challenged Ace to a battle, since Luffy was always non-stop praising Ace and his brilliant fighting skills," Usopp looked defiant at the fact that he had been interrupted, but nobody cared.

Franky laughed, "Freckles-bro really is a super fighter!"

"AND," Usopp jumped at the opportunity to continue the story, "Many girls watched the fight for Ace. I mean, some girls were there for Zoro, but y'know, he's really scary sometimes, and most girls dare not speak to him. Ace, however, is really friendly and nice, so he garnered more 'fans' over time, not that he's ever happy about it, he pretty much doesn't care, actually…"

"So Hancock, who is still the most popular girl in school at that time, was curious," Nami suddenly joined in the conversation, "Because plenty of guys chased after her, but she had never seen or heard of Ace before. So she –"

"So she," Usopp tried to interrupt, but Nami gave him a smothering glare. Usopp backed down instantaneously.

"So she decided to find out who Ace was. That time, Luffy was with Ace outside the toilet, but she didn't see Ace. Based on the description, she thought Luffy was Ace, and so she did her usual flip-hair-lock-eyes thing that usually gets all the guys hyped up…"

"Some people even gave a name for that action!" Chopper squealed, "The 'Seduction' trick, even though she never does it on purpose!"

"Yes, that 'Seduction' trick," Nami affirmed, "And Luffy apparently just blankly stared at her and said…"

"Wait, let me do this one, Nami-sis!" Franky laughed. "I've always wanted to do this! It's super awesome!"

"Yeah, I'll be Hancock!" Usopp piped in. "Okay…" He took a deep breath, and then he turned his back to face Franky. Usopp flipped his curly mane and turned his head slightly to face Franky so that only his side profile was seen, and then his eyes, which were slightly closed in an attempt to be seductive, met Franky's.

Beside them, Chopper's face was red from trying to stifle his giggles, and Nami was not even trying to hide her laughter. She was laughing loudly even before Usopp had turned around. Sanji was laughing too at the awkwardness of the entire situation, and especially at the fact that Usopp and Franky were too immersed in their own acting to realize what was going on.

"Oh, Hancock, hi," Franky said, imitating Luffy. "Girl toilet's upstairs. I thought only I mixed that up."

Immediately following that statement, the whole gang of them burst out in laughter.

"Eh, what, what, what..? Did I miss some joke?" Luffy stumbled upon the scene, a perplexed expression etched on his face. "What's this? Oi, someone tell me what's going on!" Luffy whined, but the moment they caught sight of Luffy's face, they burst out laughing again.

When they had finally calmed down, they continued their explanation. "So since Luffy was the first person to treat Hancock like that – like a normal student – she became utterly smitten with him."

"She thought that his name was Ace for a month, until someone finally corrected her," Nami laughed. "And Luffy and Ace had no idea what was going on! When Hancock thought that Luffy's name was Ace, and heard that 'Ace' had a girlfriend, she was so mad!"

"She kept going about Vivi's locker and glaring at her, didn't she?" Usopp added, "Vivi was so frustrated, because if Hancock wasn't there keeping an eye on her, it'd be her group of lackeys. Granted, they didn't do anything to her, but they made her feel extremely uncomfortable."

"Hey, you all, don't leave me out!" Luffy complained, pouting. "I finally came back, and now you're ignoring me!"

"Oh, straw-hat-bro! Sorry, didn't see you, too busy re-enacting…"

"The 'Hancock' incident'," All four of them (Usopp, Nami, Sanji and Chopper) said at the same time, and then burst out laughing again.

"Hey!" Luffy protested again.

...

"Zoro, we found a new competitor for you! We bet on your winning, so you'd better not lose!" Luffy grinned. The man, who was heavily-muscled with cropped short green hair, turned around, smirking.

"A competitor..? Is he any good?" He asked.

"Well, he's on the other side of the ring preparing now," Usopp answered nervously, "I don't know, Luffy said he was strong…" The long-nosed teen thought briefly about Sanji's lean physique, and sighed. "I don't know."

"Maybe he's like an acrobat!" Chopper piped up. "I mean, he's really lean and all, and he's got long limbs!"

"Sanji, is it?" A new voice piped up from behind. The four of them turn around, with Luffy breaking into a huge grin.

"Robin!" He laughed. The older female smiled back, her olive skin looking even darker under the dim lighting. Her enigmatic, piercing deep blue gaze fixed themselves on Zoro.

"He's quite a mystery." She told him. Zoro frowned.

"A mystery..? That shouldn't be something you can't solve," He answered, and Robin chuckled.

"But since he's our new friend, I don't think it's right for me to go checking up on him," Robin replied smoothly. "Besides… it's really… curious."

"As in..?" Usopp asked, intrigued. Anything that caught Robin's interest was worth knowing about.

"He's similar to Nami in the sense that his parents died when he was younger," Robin frowned, "And it said that this man took ownership of him when he was 10. The weird thing is, between his ages of 6 to 10, there's a complete void. There's nothing on where he was at that point in time, whether or not in the orphanage, which should have records of such information. In fact, he was never recorded to have entered an orphanage."

"Hm…" Luffy cringed his eyebrows, "So it's a mystery Sanji."

"Ah, well, Sanji will tell us if he feels like it," Usopp answered simply. "Anyway, Zoro, if you win this guy, we'll all be getting a dinner treat."

"Yes, Zoro, please win!" Luffy begged, his eyes already sparkling with the promise of meat. "I want to eat lots and lots of meat!"

"… Like I said, Luffy, that isn't really healthy –"

"Wait a second," Zoro interrupted, "So this guy… he's new? You want me to beat up a new student? That really isn't too friendly, is it?"

"Well, he accepted it…" Chopper shrugged. "Because of Nami…"

"What has that witch done now?" Zoro laughed. "She's always getting me funny competitors. Remember that one time, she even got Usopp to fight me!"

"H-Hey, it was behind my Sogeking mask!" The man protested.

"Yeah, well, only Luffy and Chopper couldn't recognise you," Zoro retorted.

"W-W-Well, that's because I usually keep my insanely brilliant shooting skills under wraps! You don't know how much trouble I would get otherwise!" Usopp shook his head solemnly, "I have stepped out of the pugilistic world in order to avoid further conflicts… if anyone were to know that the almighty Sogeking was still alive! Everyone would be in danger! And of course, it is only I who can save them…"

"Wow, Usopp, really..? You are that amazing?" Chopper was sitting on Usopp's shoulder, fervently admiring the long-nosed man. Usopp nodded his head.

"Ah, well, Zoro, it's time for us to go," Luffy said. "The competition's gonna start soon, and I can't wait!"

"I'll give you a good performance," Zoro answered, dismissing them with a wave of a hand. "Don't worry."

"You'll never let us down!" Luffy agreed, and with that, they left the waiting room noisily.

...

"Yo, curly-bro, you really up for this?" Franky asked, downing a cola in one gulp.

"Who're you calling 'curly-bro'?" Sanji hissed, but he wasn't really angry. He was stretching his legs as he grinned at Nami, "I'll win for you, Nami-swan!"

"Ah, well, I sure hope so," Nami sighed. "Then Zoro will finally be appeased… or not. No matter, it'll be good for Zoro to experience defeat once again."

"Only Ace has won him before?" Sanji asked, and the caramel-haired girl nodded her head. "That's… interesting."

"Hey everybody!" An emcee appeared in the centre of the ring, grinning widely. "I'm the emcee for today, Johnny! Finally, another person has appeared to challenge the man with the nickname of a 'demon hunter', Roronoa Zoro!" The man yelled into the crowd, "With me, there's the referee, Yosaku! Of course, we're known as the infamous Yosaku and Johnny duo!"

"I've never heard of them," Franky commented, and Nami laughed.

"Well, they made themselves the emcee and referee of all Zoro's matches," Nami shrugged. "I don't know who they are, but I know that they are the same age as Ace."

"Let us cheer…" Johnny continued, shouting through the loud chattering of the crowd. Sanji had to admit he was shocked. He didn't expect such a large number of people to turn up for this impromptu after-school fighting competition. In fact, he had expected there to be nobody at all. This Zoro guy was more famous than he had expected. "For Roronoa Zoro, the swordsman who fights with three swords, the demon hunter!"

The loud ovation and cheers from the audience drowned out Johnny's words as a green-haired man walked out from the side of the ring, with an over-enthusiastic boy screaming at the top of his lungs and a tan-skinned, dark-haired woman standing calmly beside the overzealous Luffy. Sanji widened his eyes slightly in surprise – the head of green hair that he had seen… wasn't from his imagination? He laughed.

"So that's Roronoa Zoro?" He asked Nami. The girl nodded her head.

"He's really strong, even without his three swords, you'll see. The only person he ever fought with his three swords was Ace, because only Ace was worth him going all out." Nami replied. "I don't think he'll go too harsh on you, so don't worry."

"Please do not underestimate me, Nami-san," Sanji answered, his blue gaze fixed on Zoro. "I'm not as weak as you think. Watch me."

"And now, let's give it up for the new student, Sanji!" The crowd clapped, but not too enthusiastically. When Sanji entered the ring, he could hear the crowd jeering.

"What? Someone like that..? He doesn't even have muscles! Get off the ring!"

"You're gonna get murdered!"

"Tch, I'm being underestimated," Sanji said under his breath. Zoro eyed the new student curiously. That man… didn't look strong at all. Zoro frowned. Luffy said that Sanji was strong, didn't he? So… he had to be strong. But no matter how much Zoro looked, he couldn't see even an ounce of willpower or determination in the man's slouched posture and heavy-lidded eyes.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Zoro called out to Sanji. "I can beat you in just a punch."

"You may want to reconsider your words," Sanji replied smoothly. Zoro merely laughed.

"I hope you'll be able to keep your words then," He replied, his eyes glinting. Meanwhile, the audience were still screaming at Sanji to go off the stage, but the blond didn't seem to care. "Hm, maybe I should give you a handicap? I told Luffy I'll make it interesting… why not I blindfold myself, huh?" Zoro was belittling the guy. No matter what Luffy claimed, he couldn't believe that the thin lanky body of Sanji's could be enough to be on par with him, much less defeat him.

Sanji let out a deep sigh. He was getting undermined, again and again. Why did everyone need to judge a book by its cover? He didn't care, however, until he heard Zoro's sarcastic words. He looked up at Zoro, meeting his gaze steadily, his eyes narrowed. He lifted up his hand and…

Flipped Zoro off.

"Oh! What has Sanji done now?" Johnny said into the microphone in utter shock. "I can't believe he has the guts to give Zoro the finger!" Zoro surged with fury and a tinge of excitement, and he smirked at the blond.

"Let us begin," He growled.

...

AND YES, please do review! It will be much appreciated :D