Ahhhhhh, I'm sorry for the lateness of this story :( I've had to deal with finals for a while and I was getting stuck at parts. Blagh. -sigh- anyways, I have 2 pieces of news for you. It's summer! So I have more time to think of ideas x3 and also, I've never really done this before and I'm not sure if I should but I'm giving you the opportunity to be in this story. Not as a main character but as a background character, someone among the dancing crowd. All you would need to do is describe your dress, outfit, hair, possible a name...and I'll just put you as "A woman dressed in purple walked up to sanji in hope of having a dance with him but she was politely turned down," or something like that, nothing too big... ehe.

I would like to thank D3ATHRAV3N199 for editing this because I was in desperate need for an editor and she was there.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, just my characters :)

Sparkles

Kaida woke up to a horrifying pouding in her head. "Augh." She rolled over in her bed and pressed her forehead against the pillow, hoping to push the pounding out.

"Kaida-san, are you awake?" Robin walked to the side of her bed, Kaida turned over, and Robin tapped her on the shoulder.

"Mhrmph," was the answer Kaida gave. Robin chuckled.

"You seem to have a hangover, Kaida."

"H-hangover?" Kaida looked up from her pillow. "What's that?" she asked.

"It's when you have too much alcohol and you get the biggest migraine in the world." Nami came out of the bathroom, ruffling her hair in a towel as she heard Kaida's question. "But I suppose that's what you get for eating that pie," Nami sighed as she let the towel rest around her neck.

"Pie? What are you guys talking about?" Robin stood up and went back to her bed, took some stuff, and went into the bathroom. It's a good thing she doesn't remember well.

"Last night at the bar, we had some beer and you got a pie, but didn't know that it was rum pie. Do I really have to go through this again?" said Nami, slightly annoyed.

"Well, seeing how I don't remember it would be nice. I hope I didn't do anything stupid." Kaida chuckled a little as she moved up in her bed and faced Nami more, trying to ignore the pounding in her head as she moved. Nami sighed.

"You did, now that I think about it. If he hated you so much, why did he come after you?" Nami thought to herself as Kaida wondered what Nami was talking about.

"Wait, what? Some guy who hated me tried to hit on me? What the hell happened? Ahh…" Kaida pushed her hand against her forehead as it started to hurt again.

"Hold on, I'll get you something to help with the migraine, and then I'll tell you," Nami sighed as she stood up and went to the small fridge in their room. On top of it lay a coffee maker and some other various things, including a packet that Nami picked up. She took a cup and went into the bathroom, and Kaida heard the shower on inside as Nami excused herself for intruding. She then came back out with a glass of water. "Here, drink this and then I'll tell you." Nami tore open the packet and dropped two small pills into the water, causing it to bubble. Kaida didn't care what it was as long as it would help the damn pounding in her head. She drank it, and sighed as she put it on the small table against the headboard.

"Okay, now tell me what happened," Kaida said, and Nami started to tell her. By the time she was done, Kaida was deeply frowning and Robin had just come out of the shower.

"Really? I think I would have remembered that," said Kaida, a bit annoyed. Robin looked at Nami and Kaida.

"Did you tell Kaida what happened last night?" asked Robin as she got her clothes from the day before.

"Yep, from start to finish," Nami sighed. Robin looked at Kaida's frown as she laid her head back down on the pillow. It seems like Nami didn't talk about what Kaida said about her father, but that should be okay, thought Robin as she put her shirt on, shivering from the cold air that hit her skin.

"Nami-san, Kaida-san, don't forget that we have to go dress shopping," said Robin cheerfully.

"Augh, that's so boring," said Kaida, nuzzling her head into the pillow.

"That would make me feel so much better!" said Nami as she smiled and stood up. "Come on Kaida, once we go out, I bet that headache will vanish."

"Auuuuuuggghhh," said Kaida in pain, and Robin chuckled.

"Let's wait for our hair to dry, Nami-san, and then we should go out. It would be bad if we got a cold for tonight," said Robin as she sat down on her bed and took out a book.

"Haha, yea, you're right. I couldn't imagine sneezing all over my partner while dancing with him." Kaida looked up at Nami's comment.

"Ooh, Nami, you have a date already?"

"Well, technically no, but…"

"But…?" asked Kaida, wanting to get more information out of Nami.

"Didn't we talk about this at the restaurant yesterday with Robin? How about I just surprise you there?" said Nami as she smiled.

"Hmm, okay!" said Kaida as she (again) grasped her forehead in pain and set it back down on the pillow.

It was about an hour and a half before Nami and Robin's hair both had air dried, and they were all fully dressed, with the exception of Kaida, who was lacking a jacket because of her power. As the three walked out of the hotel, someone asked Kaida if she needed a jacket, but she said she was fine. They walked aimlessly from store to store, each of them finding a dress but then deciding that it was too short, long, flashy, or revealing.

"Damn, there are like, ten stores and we've been to nine! I hope the next one has a dress for us!" said Kaida sadly as her stomach rumbled. "Ahh, now I'm getting hungry too." Robin laughed.

"If this one doesn't have any dresses for us, I guess we'll just have to go naked, right Nami-san?" Robin said.

"Of course!" she replied. Kaida gaped at them.

"A-are you serious?! I'm not going naked to a formal ball!" yelled Kaida, earning some stares from around her. Nami and Robin couldn't help but laugh.

"Haha, don't worry, we won't. This store will definitely have some dresses for us, no doubt about it," said Nami as they entered the store. It was normal sized, with multiple racks around, and the walls were filled with an endless amount of dresses.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice came from somewhere in dress-land, and a woman with a huge smile came out of a hidden closet. "Hi," she said, shaking off some sparkles from her head that most likely came from a dress. "How are you doing today?"

"Good," Nami answered for all of them. "We're just going to take a look around if you don't mind." The woman, who was supposedly the owner from looking at the tag, nodded happily.

"That's fine! Just some information on the store: the entire front of the store is all from this town and the back of the store is exported from various places around the Grand Line. And if you would like any help, just ask! My name is Tohru." The woman smiled as she put her arm out. Robin, Nami, and Kaida all nodded as they proceeded to check out the store.

It took them a while, gathering as many dresses as Tohru took them and put them in the dressing rooms for them to try on later. A couple more women entered the store, but apparently they had gotten their dresses earlier and just had them altered by Tohru.

Kaida looked at the many dresses; she did not know how to choose them. The ones she had chosen were picked by putting her hand over her eyes and blindly choosing one. Kaida sighed as she shuffled over to Robin.

"Ehmm…Robin?"

"Yes?" she asked as she looked at a long navy dress.

"Ehe, can you help me find dresses again? I…I really have no idea what I'm doing," Kaida confessed.

"Haha, all right." Robin looked around for a bit, her finger on her bottom lip as she held onto her dresses in her other hand.

"Would you like me to take these too?" Tohru came up behind them and startled Kaida. Robin turned around and smiled.

"Yes please," she said as Tohru took the dresses, smiled, and went to add the garments to the rest of the dresses Robin had.

"Now…" Robin was about to say something when Nami interrupted.

"Don't think I'm not gonna help," said Nami, appearing behind Kaida.

"Aww, Nami." Kaida looked pleadingly at her. "Don't pick any really short dresses this time, please!" she asked. Nami's eyebrow twitched.

"Oh, so you don't want me to help you out? Okay, I see how it is." Nami's lips started to fumble. "I'll just go…" she turned around and put her arm up to her face. "I'll go try on my dresses in the fitting room." She was about to go when Kaida stopped her.

"Ah, Nami, no! I don't want you to be alone!" Kaida felt bad and knew that she had to do this. "You can help, just…not too, too short…okay?" Nami immediately turned around with her fist raised and her eyes burning with excitement.

"Okay! Let's find some dresses!" Immediately, she started to pick out a dozen dresses, rushing from the back to the front. Kaida looked at her as she came up to her at random times and put the dress up against her. While they were doing this Robin chuckled; only she knew that Nami's whole "crying scene" was an act…and Kaida had fallen for it.

After about two hours in the store, the three ladies had purchased their dresses and shoes and were heading to the pipe to send their dresses to their hotel. As they handed their bags over to the man, he asked what room number they were in and under what name they had put themselves to the clerk. Nami answered these questions, and the man wrote them down on a piece of paper, attached the paper to the bag with their dresses in it, and then sent it off in the pipe to their hotel.

"Want to go eat lunch?" asked Robin as they exited the pipe 'store'.

"Yes! You have no idea how hungry I am! And let's not go to a bar," said Kaida as she laughed uneasily.

"Haha, like that's gonna happen today," said Nami as she led them to a nearby café, which unexpectedly was the one they had visited yesterday. Nami and Robin took off their jackets and hats as they sat down, putting them behind the chair.

"Hello, ah, weren't you guys here yesterday?" asked the waiter. All of them looked up and smiled.

"Yes, we were, waiter-san," Robin smiled. He laughed.

"I forgot what you had yesterday…if you want the same thing, could you repeat them, or would you like to have something different?" The waiter looked at all of them.

"I'm gonna have the same thing which was…Caesar salad," said Nami.

"Instead of what I had yesterday, I would like to have chicken soup," said Kaida.

"I'll try the Caesar salad too," said Robin.

"Okay, would you like any drinks?" he asked.

"No thanks!" said Nami, as if she was the carrier of all their money.

"Okay, I'll send your orders in," the waiter said as he was about to leave, but Robin stopped him.

"Waiter-san, you never told us your name." The waiter turned around and smiled.

"My name is Ray," he said as he walked to the back of the kitchen.

"That's a very simple name," said Kaida as she picked up a fork.

"It's probably a nickname," said Nami. They all sat there in silence, each of them thinking about something different. Kaida was looking around at other peoples' tables, eyeing their foods when she noticed something. Everyone was a couple. They were all smiling about something, and once in a while a couple would kiss. She sighed as she realized that Nami, Robin, and herself were the only ones without any guys at their table.

"I wonder if I'll get anyone…" Kaida said to herself.

"What was that?" asked Nami, overhearing her.

"Oh, nothing," Kaida said, a bit embarrassed and relieved that Nami didn't hear it. Robin, on the other hand, smiled. Soon, their food came and they finished it quickly.

"I think it may be better for us to rest now," said Robin.

"Really? I'm not that tired," said Kaida.

"When you get to the hotel and into the bed you might be," Robin smiled.

"Ugh, fine, so you're saying that we are going back to the hotel, then?" Kaida asked.

"Yea, that's a good idea. We need lots of energy for tonight anyways," said Nami.

"But dancing shouldn't be that hard…right?" asked Kaida as the three of them got up, Nami placing the money owed on the table.

"Hard? It shouldn't be…unless you don't know how to dance?" asked Nami.

"Umm…not really, I wasn't ever taught," Kaida said, embarrassed. The three of them were now outside and walking back towards the hotel; Nami zipped up her jacket a bit more.

"Your mother never taught you?" asked Nami curiously. Kaida looked to the side, biting her bottom lip.

"No…"

"Nami-san, I wasn't taught by my mother either, I just taught myself," said Robin, catching Nami's attention.

"Oh…" said Nami, though she felt curious about Kaida, especially since the night before when Kaida yelled 'father' and then went out. She glanced at Robin, again? She wondered again if Robin was hiding something from her about Kaida. If she was, it might be really important. "Robin?" Robin looked over at Nami. "Ar—"

"Ah, it started to snow again," said Kaida looking over her shoulder. On the side the dome wasn't covering, snow started to fall to the ground. "I hope the room where the ball is is not on that side; that'll mean we would have to trudge through the snow." Kaida pouted. Nami smiled and then looked ahead, seeing the hotel just ahead.

"Nami, you were going to ask me something just now?" said Robin.

"Oh," Nami glanced towards Kaida, "never mind about that, it wasn't important." She smiled as she shrugged it off. She'll find more about Kaida later; she didn't want to get her head too full.

The three girls reached the hotel and entered it. The hotel manager called their names and told tem that the dresses that were sent to them were automatically sent to their room. Robin thanked them and went upstairs, followed by Nami and Kaida. Nami opened the door, and Kaida closed it; she threw the hotel key onto the table where their dresses were placed neatly.

"Ahh, this feels good." Nami took off her coat and hat, and placed them onto the floor next to the bed. "I'm taking a nap." She fell onto the bed, and pulled the covers over her as Robin took off her coat and proceeded to do the same thing.

"You'll feel a lot better after you take a nap, Kaida," Robin said to her as Kaida stared at Robin and Nami from her bed. She sighed.

"Okay, but it's a lot harder than it looks to force oneself to sleep," said Kaida as she got under the covers. Robin laughed. Kaida closed her eyes as she tried to sleep, but it wasn't working well. She turned the other way and saw that both Nami and Robin were already asleep. Whoa…how did they fall asleep so fast? She thought. Kaida closed her eyes once more and calmed her senses, trying to think of becoming one with the bed, but thinking that made her laugh and once again, she was awake. Okay, one last try. Kaida turned some more before finding a position that was the most comfortable. She thought of the ball and people dancing. Turn turn spin spin turn turn spin spin twirl catch spin…partner, close, dance, lover, boy, man, dance, Luffy…

Without knowing it, Kaida had fallen asleep.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

"Ahh, I want another pizza," said Luffy, rubbing his stomach.

"You ate the whole thing!" yelled Usopp and Sanji.

"Yea, but that's because it was good," said Luffy. Usopp grunted as Sanji calmed himself enough to not kick Luffy.

"Haha," Franky laughed at Usopp's expression.

"Gah, I wish I had made a medicine for hunger," said Chopper, shaking his head.

"Oh, you're a doctor, Chopper?" asked Raid.

"You didn't know?" Raid shook his head.

"This little fella is the best doctor around!" said Franky, picking Chopper up and giving him a nuggie before putting him back down and laughing.

"I'm not the best doctor around, asshole~!" said Chopper, dancing. Raid laughed.

"Does Chopper do that a lot?" he asked Franky.

"Haha, yep."

"Oi Raid, what are we supposed to do now?" asked Zoro.

"You don't know?" said Raid, his eyebrows raised.

"No…was I supposed to?" Raid laughed.

"We still have to get shoes," he said.

"Ooo," said half of them besides Raid and Sanji.

"Are you guys seriously retarded? Why do you guys think we came out?" said Sanji, inhaling his cigarette.

"A walk?" said Franky, scratching his head. Sanji sighed.

"Haha, it's useless for you guys. It's gonna be quick, here's the store," said Raid, going toward a store labeled "Shoes".

"Simple name," said Usopp.

"Yep, that's cause all this place has are shoes." They entered and were met with a huge amount of shoes, all different sizes, types, and colors.

"I never knew there were such things as rainbow colored shoes," said Chopper, picking up a pair.

"Well, the seller here is nice, but…he doesn't really like to move, so just pick shoes that match with your suit, and then we'll be out of here quick," said Raid. Everyone nodded, and went back to work on finding their shoes. It was hard for some and easy for others, but soon they all had their shoes and were walking towards the pipes.

"Is picking black shoes really that difficult?" Raid asked Franky.

"Well, some were more comfortable than others, and one was blacker than another."

"Hahahahaha!" Raid couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Darker than black, huh?" said Raid as he chuckled and then gave his and the others' pairs of shoes to the pipe man.

"Thank you," Raid said as they left the pipe man.

"You're welcome!" he yelled after them.

"Is it really getting darker already?" said Sanji, looking up towards the sky.

"I guess so," Raid sighed.

"I'm kinda tired," said Usopp, lightly yawning.

"How about we go back to my place and rest then we can get ready to go to the—"

"Hey! You guys over there!" Everyone turned around as they saw a man in a light brown jacket with a brown hat running over to them.

"Hey, Jim…is there something wrong?" asked Raid, coming up to him.

"Kind of, we were just wondering if you can help us with one thing really quickly for the Winterball Building, 'cause we're putting some pillars up, but the second one is too much for only three people. Do you think you guys can help?" Jim looked at the people behind Raid.

"Sure, are you guys okay with it?" Raid looked at them.

"Yea, we've done nothing in the past couple days anyway," said Zoro, sighing.

"YAY!" Luffy yelled excitedly.

"Why are you excited?" asked Usopp.

"Because we'll get to see what the building looks like!" he said back to Usopp.

"Oh, yea," Usopp said. Jim smiled.

"Great! Okay, follow me." Jim jogged back from where he came from and the others followed; going just outside the dome before everyone saw two guys resting against a huge log.

"Whoa, this is huge!" said Franky, looking at the size of it. "How many guys got the other one?" he asked.

"About thirteen; they're covering it now, so they can't help with this one." Jim got on the other side of the log. "Hey, Tom, Sid, come on, I got some people to help us." The two guys sitting on the other end of the log looked up at Jim.

"We're not stupid! We saw them comin'!" said the one with light brow hair and a weird accent that Sanji noted. The two of them got up. "Okay, we need to split it evenly so one doesn't get more pressure than the other side. See how Tom and I are?" the light brunette, now known as Sid, nodded his head towards the blonde Tom, who was opposite him.

"Okay, let's do this!" said Luffy as they each split it evenly. Starting from the back side right side was Sid, Franky, Usopp, Sanji, and Luffy. Across from them was Tom, Chopper, Zoro, Jim, and Raid.

"Good God! I didn't know that you can turn into something bigger!" said Tom in the same accent as Sid as he stared at Chopper, who was now in his heavy point.

"Ehe…sorry if I scared you," Chopper said, smiling as he positioned the log more comfortably on his shoulder.

"It doesn't matter how anyone looks at the moment, we just have to get the pillar to the building," said Jim, not turning his head around to see Chopper. "Raid, do you know where the building is?" asked Jim.

"Is it in the same place it's always been?" asked Raid.

"Yep!"

"Then I know it, let's go!" And then the ten of them started walking. It was after twenty minutes that Usopp started to complain.

"Ah, this is starting to get heavy, where is this building? It doesn't seem anywhere near the town!" he said, looking around.

"If it was it wouldn't be as exciting," said Raid from the front.

"Is it far?" asked Sanji.

"Not really, we're almost there, though." Raid pushed the log through the small space. "You okay, Luffy?" he asked.

"Huh? Yea," he said. Luffy wondered what he was thinking about. He knew he was daydreaming about something before Raid interrupted…was it food?

"Whoa!" a large clearing suddenly opened to them and everyone besides Jim, Sid, and Tom marveled at the sight. In front of them was a huge white building, looking like it was made out of ice and snow. "It's HUGE!" said Usopp.

"Heh." Jim was used to it, but still couldn't help smile every time he saw it. On one side of the building, in the front, they could see the pillar that Jim was talking about before. A bunch of men were throwing snow and ice onto it, and then using scalpels against the tree.

"Why do they need scalpels?" asked Franky.

"So they can sculpt the water and snow in there; it's to give it more of a fancy look," said Tom in the back.

"This is a lot different from last year, Jim. It's marvelous," said Raid.

"Ha, thanks," said Jim. "Okay, you two in the front, you see that little ditch up ahead?"

"Yea?" said Luffy and Raid.

"Put your part of the tree in there and then automatically go to the other side. We need to put this vertical like the other one," said Jim.

"L-like that?! How the hell are we supposed to do that?!" said Usopp.

"Heh, it'll be easy Usopp, just make sure you don't get squashed," said Zoro, teasing Usopp.

"S-squashed?!" Usopp said, high-pitched.

"Shut up marimo, if you say that we can't do this right," said Sanji, though Zoro ignored him.

"Okay, we're here!" Raid and Luffy stopped, as did the others behind them. "Ready?" said Raid.

"Yea!" everyone yelled behind them.

"One, two, three!" Raid and Luffy tilted the log down into the ditch as everyone started to bring their side up.

"Come on…come on…got it!" Raid and Luffy got the tree into the ditch and then stood behind it as the rest of the crew started to push it upright.

"Don't let it fall now!" yelled Tom. As Chopper pushed it too hard, it tipped over a bit, but Raid and Luffy got it just in time and set it straight again.

"Phew, okay, hold onto it on that side while the others get it at the top. RILEY!" Jim yelled to the other column. A man with short black hair looked over and ran over with some other men. Everyone was holding the column at the bottom while they watched Riley and some other guys put something around the top of it.

"Okay! You guys can let go now!" Riley said as some other people came from finishing the other column to help with this one.

Everyone sighed as they let go of it, and started to walk away.

"Hey, don't walk away without our thanks!" Sid, Tom, and Jim ran over to them.

"Thanks for the help, haha, we really needed it," said Tom.

"That's fine! We haven't done anything in a while so it was a good mini workout," said Luffy, smiling.

"Haha, mini workout, okay. I may see you at the ball tonight, so keep a lookout!" Jim patted Raid on the back.

"Haha, okay, see you tonight then!" Raid said as they all left the way they came.

"You know the way we came from?" asked Usopp.

"Are you stupid? Our footsteps are still on the ground," said Sanji.

"Ooooo," said Usopp, feeling stupid. For most of the time through the trail, it was unusually quiet, with everyone thinking of the same thing—the Winterball.

Soon they were out of the trail and heading back into town.

"Raid, what time is it?" asked Franky.

"Almost seven," he said, checking his watch.

"What time does that ball start?" asked Chopper.

"Eight, but it's nice to be a little late," he said.

"Ahh, so we should go get ready then," said Sanji.

"Yep, and a little rest may do some good, too. I haven't carried something that heavy in a while." Raid chuckled lightly as they all left towards his house.

After about an hour and a half, all the guys had taken a quick shower and were dressed in their full tuxedo outfits. Franky had used some of Raid's gel and pushed his hair back and so did Usopp, only he used it to keep it more down.

"Eh Usopp, can you help me out with this?" asked Chopper, trying to put on a bow tie.

"Sure." Usopp bent down and helped him.

"I still can't get used to this," said Franky, walking out awkwardly.

"Haha, you better for the night though. If you strip, you're gonna be kicked out," said Raid.

"Yeah, you won't be much of a show anyways," said Sanji, chuckling.

"What was that, Cook?!" Sanji just laughed as Franky swung at him.

"Hey! Seriously, I don't want anything broken," said Raid as he went in between them.

"Ah, sorry Raid," said Franky.

"Okay, should we go now?" said Zoro, getting a little antsy.

"Hmm, why does Zoro want to go so badly?" said Sanji, straightening out his tie in Raid mirror.

"Actually, we should go now, the girls may already be there," said Raid, standing up.

"Uh, okay, but won't our shoes get ruined on the way?" asked Usopp.

"Not really, they'll just get a little wet, and you can dry them off there. Plus, they clear a path so there's not too much snow we would be walking on."

"Oh, okay, woohoo! We're finally going!" Raid opened the door and was about to leave when he looked at Luffy.

"Are you sure you want to wear that? It doesn't go well with your suit," said Raid, pointing at Luffy's hat.

"Of course I'm gonna wear this! There's nowhere that I'm not going to wear it!" he said, putting his hand over his hat.

"Haha, okay, just asking." The seven of them started walking to the ball.

"It's a good thing it's not too cold tonight," said Zoro.

"You get cold?" asked Chopper.

"N-no!" said Zoro.

"Owaa, there are so many people going!" said Usopp, looking at the couples everywhere.

"The ladies are so beautiful, uwaa!" Sanji said with heart eyes, eyeing a woman in a turquoise dress.

"I told you the entire town goes to this, right? That's why the palace is so big," said Raid.

"Palace?" asked Luffy and Zoro.

"Oh yeah, haha. On this night we call it a palace because it's the closest one we can make and think of. Not onl that, it's lit up and…well, you guys will have to see it for yourselves." They were now walking through the forest, everyone hearing the excitement.

"From where we were, it didn't look that big," said Franky.

"From the front it doesn't, but the inside is huge. There are two floors, the first one being the dancing floor, and the second one being a balcony all around the wall so you can look at the dancing down on the first floor, and also for the food. Not only that, but there is a huge ice garden in the back; you can call it kind of like a maze, but it's filled with ice sculptures from the best sculptors around here!" said Raid happily.

"Oh, I can't wait to see that!" said Franky.

"Me too!" said Usopp.

"I can't wait to see the girls there; they must be so beautiful, uuwaa~!" said Sanji in a daze while walking. Luffy suddenly felt like his stomach was being tickled. It tried to itch it a little…but it seemed like it was inside his stomach. He thought about how the girls looked, but he couldn't because it made his stomach tickle a bit more…but it wasn't a good tickle.

"Oh, by the way Sanji, no smoking," said Raid.

"What?!" he almost yelled.

"Haha," Zoro laughed.

"You can't smoke in the palace! It's…disrespectful to everyone else," said Raid.

"I see, I do not want the ladies to think of me as a disrespectful man."

"They already do," Zoro said to the side.

"What was that, marimo?!"

"Don't fight, you'll get your suits dirty," said Raid in a bored voice, already used to their fighting.

"Ooo, I can see the lights ahead!" said Luffy, excited! He ran ahead, hoping to get the tickling out of his stomach by the run.

"Oi, Luffy!" said Franky.

"Ahh, let's go," said Raid as they started to jog after Luffy, trying not to push other people.

"Whoa!" Usopp stopped as they exited the path and now stood in front of the palace.

"It's…it's amazing!" said Franky.

"Beautiful," said Sanji.

"It looks magical!" said Chopper, staring up at it. Raid smiled at everyone's reaction to it.

"I think it is magical!" said Luffy, who was standing next to them. The tree columns that were white just three hours ago were now carved with swirls around them from the ice and looked to be sparkling gold. Steps that led up to the door sparkled wonderfully as did the walls around the door. Designs were carved into the wall of dancers twirling around and everyone looked at them in awe. The doors were huge and open; you could see a bit of the inside.

"Ahh, it looks so great! Let's go inside!" said Luffy happily and was about to run off if it weren't for Zoro grabbing his collar.

"Aha, yea, let's go inside. They are gonna close these doors soon to keep the cold from coming in," said Raid. They all then followed the line of people into the ballroom.

"Whoa! They did an amazing job! This is…"

"Perfect!" said Franky, finishing Usopp's line for him.

"Haha, yea!" The inside of the ballroom had the walls colored gold with large glass windows facing the garden on the other side with colorful paintings. On one side was an orchestra playing a soft tune for the people just coming in. People were already dancing, their hands in each other while one was either on a shoulder or on a waist. Over them was a balcony that outlined the wall, filled with people talking to others and drinking or eating something.

"Franky…I'm feeling a little nervous," said Chopper, trying to hide his face.

"Don't worry, Chopper! It'll be fun, who knows, someone may ask you to dance with them for the whole night!" said Franky.

"Really?" said Chopper, feeling happier.

"Definitely!"

"Chopper, don't worry, I can guarantee you that all of you will have at least one partner by the time tonight ends!" said Raid, smiling at him.

"Yay!" said Chopper.

"I wonder if they are here yet," said Sanji, looking around.

"I don't see them," said Zoro.

"I-I think—" Usopp was getting more and more nervous about the amount of people dancing. "Hey, you guys, wanna e—"

"Umm, excuse me?" everyone looked over to a pretty brunette wearing a one-strap brown dress with designs of sparkling swirls going around it. Her hair was up in a bun with sparkles in it that weaved through each other.

"M-me?" asked Usopp, looking at the other than at the girl. She looked to the side shyly before looking back at Usopp.

"Y-yea, umm, would you like to…dance?" she asked. Usopp froze in an instant, as did Sanji.

"M-me? D-d-dance w-with you?" he asked, somewhat estranged.

"Umm, it's fine if you don't want to," said the girl. "I'll just go then." She turned around. Sanji immediately went up to Usopp and shook him from behind.

"Never say no to a beautiful lady!" he said and then he pushed Usopp towards her.

"Whoa!" Usopp caught the girl's shoulder. She stopped and then turned around in surprise as Usopp lifted his hand in defense and looked back at Sanji and the others as he gulped. "Um-umm, actually, I would like to dance," he said. The girl's eyes instantly lit up.

"Okay, let's go!" she said. Usopp started to gain more confidence and held his arm up so she could put her arm around it, and both of them went into the crowd of dancers.

"Whoa, Usopp got a pretty girl really fast!" said Franky, smiling as he watched them start to dance.

"Tch, whatever. I'm gonna go look for the girls," said Sanji as he started to go through the crowd of people.

"I'm gonna go get a drink," said Zoro, heading to the stairs that lead to the balcony.

"Wait, we're coming too!" said Franky and Chopper as they followed him. Luffy looked around, wondering what he should do when he saw something red and juicy on the balcony.

"Food!" he yelled before running up the stairs to the man who was serving it. Raid sighed and looked around the crowd of people with his hands in his pockets. His eyes caught another person's eyes, but ripped his own away from them. Tonight he wouldn't know what to do.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

"CRAP!" Nami woke up and looked at the watch next to her bed.

"Hmm?" Kaida slowly woke up from her sleep as she heard Nami curse several more times. "What's wrong?"

"It's almost nine!" Nami said as Kaida heard her close the door to the bathroom.

"Nine? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kaida.

"Oh no," said Robin.

Kaida turned around and looked at the other side of the room. "What do you mean, 'oh no'? Did we miss something?" she asked, getting up on her bed.

"Yes, the ball started almost an hour ago."

"Seriously?!" said Kaida, jumping out of her bed. "Damnit! We better get there fast!" said Kaida as she ran over to her dress.

"And we better get ready fast!" said Nami, coming out of the bathroom. "I'll do your hair," she said.

"What?!"

I'm sorry about the chapter name...I couldn't think of anything besides that cause it related to the building :3 hehe. If anyone out there notice, there was some specific things I put into words...but those are hard to find, :3 And yes, Tohru is from Fruits Basket :D

Anyways, check up on my offer at the top with the character thingy. Also, thanks for everyone who has reviewed so far! I would love if you keep reviewing too! It's so great! :D I'll try to get the next chapter out asap! I can tell you now that there is going to be intense dancing, I'll put up music that may be in it in my profile when it comes out ;D hehe. Review! 8D