Sanji took a deep breath, trying to stay calm and not get himself worked up.

"You'll do fine Sanji," a young boy encouraged from behind him.

Sanji turned his head to look at the other, giving him a nod of thanks, as he watched him finish adjusting the ties on his clothes.

"And next up, we have a young man from Syrup Village. Usopp will be riding Thunder Weed..."

Sanji stiffened as he listened to the announcer, he'd be up really soon.

"All done" the brunette stood up with a smile, "now come on, it's almost your turn."

The blonde followed the boy toward the tall, white fencing.

Sanji stopped in front of one of the corrals and stared into it.

"This is Lightning Rod," came a sweet voice from above.

Sanji looked up to see a pretty redhead sitting on top of the fence.

Sanji gave a weak smile and turned back to give the large bull another look. The beast was quite large; larger than what Sanji had seen before. He was dark gray with jet black eyes that seemed to bore into him.

He knew the animal was normally quite gentle, but once angered, you didn't want to be anywhere near it.

"Alright Sanji, after the clown does his skit, you'll be up," the brunette clapped him on the shoulder and smiled up at him.

"Thanks Luffy" Sanji gave him another nervous smile as he watched the boy turn and climb the fence.

The blonde followed his lead and reached up to take a hold of one of the top rails of the fence, so he could lift himself up.

Two pair of hands reached out and took a hold of him, helping him up.

Now up high, the blonde could see the entire field before his very eyes. It was early evening, so the lights had come on, like a spotlight on the show ring.

He could hear laughter from the crowd and looked out to see the clown running around, earning smiles from the children.

"You have about five minutes Sanji," Nami softly notified the nervous cowboy.

She enjoyed watching the shows and was happy to finally be able to help work them. Luffy and herself were assigned to their college friend, Sanji. The three of them had met in college, and it was great to see them doing something exciting together.

"It's just like practice," Luffy reassured his blonde friend, "... well this one's a bit bigger, and I heard he has quite a record of-"

"Luffy shut up, you're not helping," Nami leaned over and smacked the boy on the back of the head.

It was true, he had done this before, but Luffy was right... that was quite a big bull down there.

"Alright Sanji" Nami smiled warmly at him.

The blonde nodded and slipped down on top of the dusty gray beast, taking a hold of the rope that was tied tightly around the front of the animal. Luffy leaned down to check the ropes on the back of the bull, they were the ones that created the action these people were waiting for: hooves flying into the air, attempting to get rid of the ropes and rider.

Nami checked over everything and gave the thumbs up.

Sanji took a deep breath and took another look out over the field.

The clown made his way toward the side of the show ring, allowing two horse and riders to come back out. They rode around a bit before turning toward him and the others to wait.

Sanji lost his breath as he saw one of the cowboys look over at him. He stared back into one dark, blazing brown eye and Sanji's heart began to race even faster. He turned away but didn't miss the smirk on the other's face.

"Sanji look, Zoro's out there," Nami giggled, teasing the blonde. She grinned as he blushed, she knew of his crush on the strong handsome cowboy. This would be quite interesting.

"And now back to the action, we have a new rider in this competition, ready to show us what he's got. We have Sanji, from the East Blue representing One Piece Academy, and he will be riding Lightning Rod."

Luffy and Nami placed their hands on the gate waiting for the go signal from the blonde.

Sanji nodded and the gate was thrown open, and he was out.

The bull snorted and leapt about, bucking and kicking. Sanji threw his hand up and held on tightly with the other.

His head whipped around violently and his hat flew off, hanging on by the string around his throat.

A few seconds ticked by before the whistle blew and Sanji flew off and landed on his ass in the thick dirt.

Before Sanji could pull himself up, the still bucking bull made his way straight toward him.

"Oh shit" Sanji cursed, scrabbling up.

Suddenly a hand grabbed him and threw him forward toward the fence. Sanji scrabbled up and turned in time to watch as one of the bull fighters turned the bull away from where he just stood.

The two horse and riders helped herd the bull into the exit pin, so they could safely remove the ropes.

Sanji finally caught his breath and was able to catch on to what the announcer was saying "... these bullfighters put their lives on the line to protect our cowboys, give a round of applause to Ghin and Law.

Sanji looked over and watched as the bullfighters made their way back over to wait for the next rider.

The blonde jumped down on the other side and nodded his thanks toward the one who saved him.

The man grinned and lifted his hat in return.

Sanji then turned and walked back over toward Nami and Luffy.

"That was a really close call Sanji," Nami said worriedly as she brushed off some dirt from his clothes.

"Yeah, I owe it to Ghin for saving me."

"I want to be a bullfighter."

"Hell no Luffy," Nami snapped as she pulled Sanji's hat back on.

Luffy frowned and decided this argument could continue later, "anyway you got a great score, you stayed on for five and half seconds."

The blonde's eyes widened, "really?"

"Yup" Nami smiled crossing her arms and leaned back against the fence.

"Ah, here he comes," Luffy informed excitedly as he walked around the two.

Sanji turned and watched as Nami and Luffy helped some other people put a horse into his pin.

When the other's walked away and his friends climbed the fence to work, he moved over to join them.

Sanji wasn't paying attention to what Nami and Luffy were doing, for his eyes were on the field again.

He was hypnotized... watching Zoro's every move. It was amazing what these herders could do. Zoro leaned down, riding beside the bull, and with one hand ripped the rope free from the animal. He quickly turned his horse before almost hitting the fence and herded the bull into the exit pin.

Suddenly Zoro was right there in front of him, Sanji hadn't noticed his station was right next to the exit pin. Sanji gulped at the intense stare he received from the other cowboy. A grin spread across the one-eyed man's face and he gave a wink before riding away.

The blonde didn't realize he was holding his breath till he saw Luffy giving him a worried glance while Nami just grinned mockingly at him.

Sanji finally let out a deep breath and tried to calm his breathing again. Gawd, he simply couldn't control himself around this man. He wanted to know what else those big strong hands could do... what they could do to him.

"You alright Sanji?"

"Oh he's fine Luffy," answered the red head, "he's just worked up about his next ride."

Sanji blushed and decided to turn his attention toward the horse he would be riding soon.