A/N: So here is the next chapter! I'm glad I could get it up without making you wait too long. I want to thank everyone for their reviews and opinions and I definitely took them all into consideration. But you will have to wait and see if I decided to make it a true ZoSan or not. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and would love to hear any thoughts you might have!

He placed the final touches on the meal he prepared and took a step back to admire his handy work. The food smelled amazing and the presentation was exquisite as always, and seeing his creations laid out on the table in their perfection before calling the crew in to eat usually brought him a certain level of satisfaction…but today, just like yesterday, everything just seemed a little off.

Ever since he ran into Lucy two days ago, and they basically said their goodbyes, he hadn't been able to get the blonde woman out of his head. And he couldn't stop himself from wallowing in all the 'what if's' that kept popping into his mind. Like, what if they had met on a different island? Or what if the king wasn't completely insane and these ridiculous laws didn't exist? What if they had the opportunity to spend more time together? Would his feelings for her have continued to grow? Or would they have just spent one passionate night together before saying their goodbyes anyway? Or would she not even have given him a second look if he weren't virtually the only available man on the island?

He didn't like to think about the last question, feeling like Lucy was a better person then to use him simply because he was the only guy around, but in the end he really didn't know that much about her, and he would probably never know for sure. If he was in the same situation as her, and was stuck on an island filled with nothing but men, there was no doubt in his mind that he would try and seduce and use anything with breasts…so he couldn't even blame her if that was her only motive, but still, in his mind he liked to think that they could've genuinely had something if they were only given the opportunity.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, knowing that he shouldn't dwell on things that he can't change. And he hoped whatever little rut he was in didn't last long, and he could put the entire thing behind him. He hated feeling out of sorts, and desperately wanted to regain control of himself and his emotions.

"Dinner is ready!" He shouted through the door after taking one last moment to compose himself. As upset as he might have been, he put on a positive face, not wanting his crew mates to ask any unwanted questions. It was bad enough that Zoro seemed to know about his current situation, and he really didn't want to have to see concerned looks or listen to sympathetic nonsense from the other seven.

Although he had to give the moss-head credit, over the last 48 hours since their run in with Lucy, he was being surprisingly understanding. He had given him his space, and other then still having to share a bed with him at night, he had dropped the act and stopped constantly trying to embarrass him.

"WHERE'S MY MEAT!" A loud voice could be heard, before Luffy came crashing through the door, followed one by one by the rest of the crew. Luffy took his spot at the head of the table, the only spot with two plates placed in front of it.

Sanji had started making Luffy a second plate, as sort of a buffer, to try and slow him down enough for the rest of the crew to try and eat as much as they could before he began trying to steal their food. It seemed to work to a certain degree, but the second plate only slowed him down so much.

But the crew was use to it by now, and they knew if they didn't eat fast, that it probably meant that they didn't eat at all.

Dinner went by as usual, and it wasn't until everyone finished up that Nami made an announcement.

"One of the guards that was keeping watch on the ship today gave me an invitation from the king." She said, instantly grabbing the attention from everyone in the room…all accept Luffy, who was still finishing up any left overs left on anyone's plates.

"What did it say?" Chopped asked curiously.

"Apparently he wants us all to come to some ball being thrown at the castle. I guess it's one of his daughter's birthdays and he's throwing a big party in her honor."

Sanji's attention peaked at the mention of the king's daughters. He knew it wasn't likely that it was Lucy's birthday, her having eleven sisters and all, but she would know doubt be at the party. And if she was at the party then there was a good chance he would get to see her again…although he wasn't sure if that would be a good thing or not. Would seeing her again only make it harder when they had to say goodbye once again?

"And it doesn't really sound like saying no is an option…" Nami sighed, remembering the guards somewhat threatening tone when he had given her the invitation. This was definitely going to make their situation all the more difficult…it was one thing for everyone to keep up their respective 'acts' while the guards were watching from afar, but would they really be able to get through a night right under the king's nose? "So everybody really needs to work on their acts and be on their best behavior at this ball. I don't want any of you being arrested or killed because you're a bunch of idiots."

"Nami-swan! You're so beautiful when you're lecturing us!" Sanji said on reflex, but quickly regretted it when he received a punch to the back of the head. He should've seen that one coming…

"What did I say about the 'Nami-swan' stuff while were on this island! The ball is in two days so you better be prepared by then." Nami snapped, continuing to lecture the rest of the crew, or at least Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, and himself, because they were the only ones that really had to keep up any sort of act. Brook, Robin, and Chopper didn't have any lies to keep up with, and as long as Franky kept his non-robotic junk in his pants then he would be fine…though Franky being the pervert he was, that might be easier said then done.

The same thought must have occurred to Nami, because she was now demanding that Franky wear actual pants, and a shirt, to the ball. Normally he might argue that, but he knew better then to argue with Nami when she was like this, in fact they all did, so everyone kept silent and listened while Nami finished her lecture.

Afterwards conversations erupted around the table again, bringing the noise level in the galley up to its usual ear splitting levels, and providing Sanji with the perfect distraction to slip out unnoticed.

…

The evening had come and brought with it a chill in the air. It was a little colder than he was use to, but it certainly was no winter island, so he could suffer the slight breeze if it meant he could fill his lungs with nicotine in peace.

The crew's volume had continued to increase after Nami had finished her speech, which wasn't necessarily unusual for that group, and normally he could put up with it, but he had a lot on his mind right now and needed to escape to silence before his head exploded.

He couldn't stop thinking about the ball in two days, and the fact that he was likely going to see Lucy again. He had spent the last 48 hours trying to make his peace with the idea that he was never going to see her again, and that they had said their final goodbyes. Even though it had been somewhat of an upsetting thought he had slowly been getting use to the idea. After all they hadn't known each other for that long, and as strong as his feelings had seemed to be, he knew it wouldn't take much longer to move on.

But now karma was playing another dirty trick on him by forcing him to have to see her again. It wasn't bad enough that he had landed on an island full of beautiful women that he couldn't touch, and that he was forced to pretend to be with the Marimo, but on top of everything he had to go and fall for one of the most forbidden girls of all, and now he had to endure a night where he wouldn't even be able to look at her without risking getting arrested. He wasn't sure what he did to deserve such unfair karmic justice, but whatever it was must have been bad.

"You'll freeze out here shit cook." An all too familiar voice said from behind him. He didn't even bother to look up, not in the mood to deal with any of the idiots, let along the biggest idiot of all.

Zoro stopped when he saw that Sanji hadn't even flinched at his remark. Usually he would have turned around and told him to shut his mouth before he shut it for him…or something to that effect.

He knew the cook hadn't been in the best of moods since their run in with that girl the other day, but he still couldn't quite figure out why. Still he decided to give the other man some space, and kept his distance. As much as he loved teasing the cook and getting a rise out of him, it wasn't much fun if the other man was genuinely upset about something and didn't put up a fight.

Whatever the idiot's problem was he had figured that he would be over it by now, but apparently not. Could that woman he barely knew really have such an effect on him? Sure when it came to women the blonde seemed to fall hard pretty quickly, but he was usually over it in a matter of minutes, or by the time he laid eyes on the next woman. So what was so different this time?

"Here," he grumbled, setting a plate down on the side of the ship, next to where Sanji was leaning. "You made it, so I figured I'd better rescue at least one piece from our bottomless pit of a captain."

"Thanks." Sanji muttered, barely looking over at the piece of pie sitting next to him. He wasn't sure he could even eat it if he wanted to.

"Alright, what the hells wrong with you!" Zoro snapped, becoming increasingly frustrated with the cooks mopey attitude.

The cook was supposed to be his rival! His sparing partner! The person that pissed him off more than anything in the world, and he annoyed the shit out of him in return. It might not have been the most functional of relationships but it worked. And as much as he hated to admit it, he missed his rival, he didn't care for this quiet, subdue, melancholy Sanji.

"Nothing," the blonde sighed, annoying Zoro even further.

"Obviously something's wrong. You don't go walking around with a dark cloud over your head for two days if it's nothing. You didn't even spare Robin or Nami any lovesick glances at all the past couple of days…" That had been one of the biggest red flags in Zoro's mind. Even since they had arrived at this island and started their little 'charade' the cook still managed to secretly fawn over his female crewmates, so the fact that he had barely acknowledged them anymore then the rest of the crew meant something was seriously wrong.

"I said it's nothing." Sanji said, a small hint of annoyance starting to appear in his voice, which only spurred Zoro on.

"Is this about that blonde you nearly got us caught for the other day?"

"I don't want to talk to you about this…"

"Did you fall in love with her or something?" Zoro continued, seeing the blonde's stupid curly eyebrow begin to twitch. It was working…

"Shut up."

"How can you fall in love with someone you barely know? Does she have a gold plated pussy or something?"

And there it was, the reaction he had been hoping to get from the beginning…though he hadn't been kicked by the cook in a while and it hurt a lot more than he remembered.

Zoro stumbled to the ground after trying to keep his balance but failing miserably. He fell on his ass, wincing at the pain that shot through him, but didn't really care. He had succeeded in his goal of snapping that idiot out of his funk.

"Don't talk about her like that you moss-headed asshole!"

"So it was the girl," he concluded, pulling himself to his feet, but staying a good distance away from the other man this time. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"Because, I don't want to talk about it!" he snapped, grinding his teeth so hard that he actually bit his cigarette in half, the lit part falling on to the deck, before spitting the other half in the swordsmen's direction.

"I didn't think you were capable of having real feelings…I assumed you were only capable of thinking with your dick."

"Shut up shit-head, before I make you shut up!" Sanji hissed, causing Zoro to smile despite himself. Now here was the Sanji he knew and lo…he definitely wouldn't say loved. The Sanji he knew and…tolerated? Yeah, that was definitely closer…

"You need to stop being such a whiney little bitch and get over this." Zoro said, an idea coming to him before Sanji could reply. He moved forward, catching the other man off guard, pushing him against the side of the ship, and boxing him in by placing his arms on either side of him.

He could see the furry clearly on the other man's face, but knew that he wouldn't do anything. Sanji had caught sight of the guards that had appeared next to their ship just as well as he had.

"We're going to go out on a date tomorrow, just you and me." He said loudly and clearly enough for the guards to hear.

"What the hell is you're problem?" Sanji hissed under his breath. Just because he couldn't push the idiot away because they were being watched didn't mean that he was going to agree to whatever ridiculous idea he was concocting. "Did you break into the booze cabinet again?"

"Yes…but that's beside the point." Zoro spoke a little more quietly this time so only Sanji could hear. "You're starting to annoy everyone with this depressed little act of yours."

"Am I annoying everyone, or am I just annoying you?" Sanji countered, narrowing his eyes at the swordsmen.

"It doesn't matter." Zoro muttered, getting more and more annoyed himself. Didn't the idiot realize he was trying to help? "Tomorrow we are going to get off this ship, you're going to clear your head, maybe even swoon over a few of the other women on this island, and then you're going to go back to your annoying dumb fuck self…."

"Didn't realize you cared so much Marimo, that just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside." He said sarcastically, adding a roll of his eyes for good measure.

Zoro scoffed, pushing himself away from the blonde, before turning away. He didn't know why but he could feel his face begin to heat up, and he didn't want to give the idiot cook the satisfaction of seeing him blush. They might not like each other that much, but they were still nakama…which meant they were obligated to at least pretend to care for each other, and that was all he was doing.

"Be ready to go after lunch tomorrow." He muttered before walking away, leaving a snickering cook behind.

Sanji laughed, for the first time in days, not missing the blush that had crept up on the other man's face, despite his best efforts to hide it. He would have to remember to give him a hard time about that later, but for now he lit another cigarette, before picking up the plate that held a piece of the cherry pie he had made earlier.

As frustrating as that moss-headed idiot could be, he couldn't deny that he had his moments. Whether it was comforting Chopper anytime he was scared or upset, or putting his life on the line to help defend their crew and their ship…saving him the last piece of pie might not have fallen into the same category, but he knew it must not have been easy considering he probably had to fight Luffy for it.

And despite some of the things he had just said and did that pissed him off, he knew what the Marimo was just trying to do, he was trying to make him feel better, in his own, messed up, sort of way. And for whatever reason it seemed to have worked.

The fight that he had lost within him a couple of days ago seemed to come surging back, and all of a sudden he felt like he could do anything. Whether it was tolerating Zoro tomorrow on their so called 'date', or seeing Lucy again at the ball the day after that. That prospect didn't seem so upsetting any more, and he was actually looking forward to it.

Even though he wouldn't be able to touch her, hold her, or kiss her, like he so badly wanted to, he was beginning to feel like simply being near her was going to be enough.

He would have to thank the Marimo for snapping him out of his depression and making him realize that…but who was he kidding, he would never actually humiliate himself by thanking him…maybe he would just thank him by leaving the booze cabinet unlocked for the next couple of days?

He nodded to himself deciding that that was more than enough. He flicked his cigarette over the edge of the ship; 'accidently' hitting one of the guards, before turning back toward the galley to start the long clean up, feeling like himself for the first time in two days.

A/N: So any thoughts? What should our boys do on their 'date'? And who is looking forward to what's going to happen at the ball? Let me know what you think! And thanks for reading XD