Sanji was almost reluctant to actually revel in their current situation, lest he jinx it. After all the bad luck they had been having he had difficulty believing that they were on a real run now. These two women who had come up to them were shamelessly flirting and flaunting their pretty fit bodies in front of the two pirates. Admittedly they weren't quite as nice as the two girls they had been chatting to earlier in the evening, but both parties knew that they weren't out to do anything nice once the night proceeded. That these two were out for some action was incredibly obvious and made the situation even easier to handle. Even the stupid marimo wasn't making an ass of himself flirting. Naturally he wasn't as skilled and charming as Sanji was but the way the taller of the two was hanging off the swordsman's arm indicated that there was nothing he could say to discourage her. They clearly had this one bagged. And even though they weren't necessarily the sharpest tools in the shed, the short blond he was now flirting with was definitely up to parry in their sexy banter.

''Excuse me boys,'' she suddenly interrupted his thoughts, ''I'd just like to go to the ladies room, what do you say we head to my place to celebrate our fresh acquaintance when I get back?'' She smiled coyly leaving no doubt in the pirates' minds as to what she was planning.

Zoro looked over at Sanji and nearly had to laugh at the excited gleam in the cook's eyes, though he only saw it because he new his Nakama well, there was no other sign in the blonde's manner that betrayed in anyway that the short girl's proposal had affected him. Zoro let the corners of his mouth twitch in just the slightest way and knew that the cook would catch his message.

''Of course, my dears, that sounds like it could be very entertaining. Let us just pay the bills while you go freshen up''

''Great! You coming?'' the blond girl turned to her taller friend, who dislodged herself from Zoro's arm and after hesitating for a small moment pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek before following her friend to a door leading away from the main room of the tavern.

The second the door swung back closed the two men started grinning maniacally at each other.

''You son of a bitch ero-cook! This 's actually working. I could kiss you!''

''Urgh! Please don't or that beautiful pixie won't want to look at me anymore if I have marimo slobber all over me!'' Sanji replied, but was in too good a mood to keep the humour out of his voice. Between him and Zoro they managed to cram out enough crumpled up bills to pay for all the drinks they had consumed in the course of the evening and those of the two ladies' as well. Zoro bought one more bottle of beer for the road and when he was just lifting it to his lips, they were interrupted for the second time that night by a clearing of a throat, though this one was substantially less feminine.

The two men turned around, away from the bar, to come face to face with three of the most brutish guys they had yet to encounter in this tavern.

Nami was having the time of her life. At this moment she was calculating the price she would be dangling over her two horny Nakama's heads for getting them laid. But really she was just relieved that there would be a lot less tension aboard the Sunny for the next couple of weeks after tonight. Robin was chuckling across the table, amused by her friend's glee with cheating her friends out of some more money. Nami was still going on about how she had should bring in a sex-fee on the ship and organise some action for all her male crew and make sure she got some compensation for her troubles, when she noticed the uneasy look on the archeologist's face.

''What is it, Robin?''

The archaeologist nodded her chin in the direction of the bar, where, Nami noticed, the swordsman and cook weren't busy entertaining the two fawning tarts any longer but were now facing off with a small group of ruffians who were obviously annoyed about something. One of them started grinding out something at her two friends, though what he was saying Nami couldn't hear over the noise in the bar. But the last part was not lost because his volume had risen considerably. Our girls...

''Oh dear.'' Robin sighed on the other side of the table.

Zoro gave the three men glaring at them a quick once over and new instantaneously that either Sanji or himself could handle them with absolutely no difficulty, but they had plans for the night and not even his battle hungry persona was going to give that up for a brawl. So he waited patiently for the men to do something putting a lid over his annoyance and giving off nothing but collected calm. He could feel Sanji tensing up for a very short second before slipping back into nonchalance, obviously going through a similar line of thought as Zoro had.

''Gentlemen, can we help you?'' the blond cook drawled out past the cigarette between his lips.

The men tensed up at the missing unease in the two youngsters. That wasn't the reaction they usually received when they were trying to intimidate someone.

One of them got past his stupor and took a step forward, ''What do you think you're doing with our girls?!''

''What do you mean?'' Zoro ground out in a low tone, contrasting the high volume the other man's voice had taken on.

''Those two you were just molesting belong to us!'' the man on the left barked.

''Excuse me? Molesting? We were merely providing them with stimulating conversation, something they'd obviously be lacking if they had you to engage with on a regular basis. Though I have to object your alleged ownership, because I really can't imagine them actually stooping that low!'' Sanji elaborated calmly.

He dodged the blow aimed for his chin with absolute ease. What ensued was a short scuffle that had the two flanking men down in mere seconds and the third one only just managed to scramble away. What the two pirates hadn't taken into account though, was that they were in a bar filled to the brim with patrons and townspeople who, if put to the decision would most likely side with their own and not some travelling youngsters, no matter who had thrown the first punch. And that was exactly what happened. For a tense moment Zoro and Sanji watched one customer after the other getting up and occasionally cracking their knuckles in a threat.

''If these morons ruin my chances at sex, I swear I'll come back to haunt them!'' Zoro growled his hand hovering over Wadou's hilt.

''Let's make sure then that we punish them right now just in case we don't get any tonight, which I hope to god won't be the case!'' Sanji replied lighting another cigarette.

The next moment all hell broke loose.

AN: So this chapter is a little short but I have everything I wanted in it so there's nothing I could add to make it any longer and still be halfway entertaining. Yeah, still no nookie for Zoro and Sanji. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to see whether they'll ever get any. That, by the way, will probably be at least another two weeks before I'll get to write it because I'll be up to my eyeballs in exams. Also that will most likely be the last chapter. Then again I've started on another fic due to a bit of inspiration I got when reading an author's note from Amethyst Turtle (it was in 'Satirical Lulz', go read it it's hilarious!), it's called 'The Tale of a not so evil Stepmother' and it's all about Bellemere (Yes, I also plug myself). Reviews will make me happy!