The Love of Gold and Star of Silver

*The Star who watches*

Zoro sat down at the table in the middle of the restaurant when he noticed his crew mates come in. For some reason the waiter had insisted that the middle table was the best seat in the house, while not so discreetly asking Zoro to mention him to his lovely orange haired friend in return for his kindness.

"You could have waited for us to come you know, rather than making us look for you." Nami said with annoyance as she pulled out the seat next to him. "Or you could have at least picked out a better seat. I mean do you really want Luffy to be eating in full view of everyone."

Zoro shrugged his shoulders. Honestly it didn't really matter where they were sitting because Luffy had such a way of drawing attention to himself. As Zoro leaned back comfortably in his chair, taking another casual swig of beer, he noticed Nami looking around crowd of people that filled the restaurant, probably thinking the same thing he had just moments ago.

The restaurant was quite packed for the night, something which had surprised Zoro at first. Earlier he had overheard some civilians discuss the arrival of pirates and marines, something that was both dangerous and costly to the businesses in the area as most people wouldn't venture a meter from their house if they heard that pirates were in the neighborhood.

However, strangely, it seemed that either nothing deterred these townspeople from going out or that there was some kind of entertainment was arriving soon, which judging by the festive decorations that littered the restaurant, seemed likely.

As the food orders came round Luffy and the rest started, quite literally, digging into their food. After a week of round-about sailing with little food between them, the strawhats were ravenous.

"Argh close your mouth when you're eating! This is a high-end restaurant not a barnyard!" Nami hissed at Luffy, Usopp and Chopper who seemed more interested in stuffing their faces then minding their manners.

"Yes, this is quite a nice place you've chosen Mr Swordsman" Robin said with a smile.

"Yeah, I heard some folks talking about this place so I thought I'd check it out" Zoro replied in between gulps. "But it's not really my kind of place" he added pointing at one of the decorations. The restaurant was decorated in colorful silky clothes that hung down from the ceiling, while the tables were arranged in a geometric circle.

"Anyway, I heard the booze was pretty good, and the food's not half bad."

"Oh I thought it was a little strange, marimo." Sanji added in from across the table. "I mean, since when does a meatball like you chose to come to a lovely place like this?"

Zoro narrowed his eyes and huffed but was interrupted by Robin before he could make a remark.

"I heard there is a festival coming up" she answered. "It seems that this year there is a special performer coming" she said as she sipped a glass of wine.

Nami who had finally given up on reprimanding the trio, turned in response to Robin.

"A special performer, I wonder who it is..." she said. Almost immediately as if in response to her question, the lights in the restaurant dimmed.

The waiters came quickly as if from nowhere and cleared the strawhats table, while the waiter from earlier winked at Zoro and tilted his chin towards the spotlight that fell on the restaurant owner who stood on a stage. Slowly the chattering that had filled the restaurant slowly died away into silence. Everyone had turned their attention to the pudgy man on the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen" the owner said in a grand voice. "Now, I know that many of you have braved the dangers posed by the pirate forces that have arrived in our town in order to come here tonight, but rest assured, in the end it will be worth it!"

With a grand gesture the owner threw down an object that burst into smoke. As the cloud disappeared a young woman appeared from behind the curtain of smoke.

"The famous dancing star, Rosa Eileen!"

Eileen twirled and bowed to the audience. There was an audible gasp of awe in the audience. Eileen was very beautiful, tall and dark, clad in a long but tight fitting red dress. She smiled coyly at the audience as they cheered.

Zoro raised an eyebrow and faced Robin.

"I'm guessing she's the performer right?" he asked dryly. Robin smiled and nodded before turning her attention back to the dancer. Eileen bowed a few more times in response to the cheers before she stopped abruptly. Her eyes stared straight ahead of her, in Zoro's direction.

At that moment the music suddenly started playing. Eileen smiled and closed her eyes, making Zoro wonder if it was really him she was looking at.

The drum but was soft but upbeat along with the other instruments in play. Eileen dance slowly at first twirling here and there, but steadily sped up. She moved her arms and legs around gracefully, matching the speed and flow of the music. As she danced she got closer and closer to the strawhats table until, she jumped off the stage and onto the table itself.

The sound of the music was almost drowned out the whistles of Sanji and Usopp as Eileen kicked and flipped on the table. As Zoro watched her dance before him, he felt her gaze fall on him once more. Though a few seconds later she had leaped back onto the stage and was dancing and jumping with fervour than before. This must be what the that guy meant by the best table Zoro thought to himself as he glanced over at Sanji, whose heart practically fell out of his mouth.

Once the dance was finished Eileen bowed once more, and disappeared behind another veil of smoke.

End of Chapter.

Eileen is kinda based on Esmeralda from the hunchback so the clothes shes wearing is based on the dancing scene. I'm not too sure about adding Franky or Brooke in here so for now, they don't exist! ^^