Author's Note: hello hello~~ miss me? Hahaha. Well first of all, my sincere apologies for not updating for so long. Things have been crazy on my end, and I assure you that I have not forgotten about this story, nor will I give up on this. =] However, I shall warn you dear readers, that things shall go slow from now on. I believe currently I have hit a writer's block.. So instead of my regular one update per week, this shall be a bi-weekly update.

My biggest thanks goes to my loyal readers who leave me with comments, and allow me to know what I'm doing good, and what I need to improve on. 3

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its related characters. I only own this plot and the mastermind behind it =]

Chapter 7

Luffy sat cross legged in the chair, and took his time as he blew smoke out of his mouth. He glanced at the men who stood in a circle surrounding him and smiled. "Yo, Zoro. Don't have to give me such a big welcome party you know!"
The men all tensed at his remark, but didn't dare to move without any instructions from Zoro who sat in the chair across the table from Luffy.
Zoro, who hasn't said much throughout the night since Luffy arrived at Sunny Night Club, only twirled the wine glass in between his fingers, and took a small sip. The Sunny Night Club is one of the biggest night clubs under West-1's territory. Ever since its doors opened in 1963, it has been a huge source of income for the company with hundreds of customers set their feet into the store. The Sunny has also became the biggest loss of income in the most recent months.

Zoro slowly raised his eyes to look at Luffy. But again… didn't say anything.

Usopp stood behind Zoro, and couldn't do anything but getting more and more anxious as time went by. He cautiously eyed the side profile of Zoro's face, and landed his gaze on Luffy's outline under the dimmed light. His hands formed tight fists. Luffy has been coming to The Sunny every night ever since his visit to Zoro's office. And because of his presence in the night club, the number of customers that came decreased every night, and eventually, resulted in what appeared in front of them tonight - no one dared to come anymore. But his young master has been, surprisingly, patient and tolerant towards the intruder. He doesn't understand why hasn't Zoro done anything to the situation yet.

Luffy looked around the place, and shook his head in dismay. "Zoro buddy, this place looks dead man. Seems like you need some help with managing your business."
All men tightened their hands on their hips - under each of their jackets, a bulge can clearly be seen. Zoro raised his hand, while keeping his eyes on Luffy. The men reluctantly removed their grip from the pistols, but all took half a step closer.
"I assume, something you must be superb at."
Luffy rose his eyebrows at the amazement that Zoro finally spoke for the first time of the night, "Why, of course! I mean take a look at this place. It has been so grand and packed when your father was in power, and as soon as he passed away," he dramatically sighed and shook his head in regret, "Would you want to carry your father's success to the far road?"

Zoro only grinned and spoke no more.

"Ah la.. I was wondering who deserved such a big welcome from my leader."
Hearing the voice, Luffy didn't have to turn around to identify the owner. "Miss Robin, what a great time to see you!"
Robin walked towards the table as people made way for her. She is dressed in a black corset under a long silky gown draped over her lean figure. Her black boot came to her mid thighs, showing off her long legs.
She walked closer to the table, and took a seat beside Luffy. She ignored the look from Zoro as she spoke, "Such a rare visitor you are, Mr. Luffy."
Luffy only had a glance at the smile on her face, and he could feel the difficulty of peeling his gaze away. He took a deep breath as he smiled, "It is always a treat to see you."
"Oh..?" She raised a hand to bring hair behind her ear, "And here I am I thought you didn't like me and want to ruin my business."
"Never would I do that to you!"
Robin leaned closer as she spoke softly, "Then why have you been scaring my customers away? I've lost a lot of income tonight, and how are you planning on fixing that?"

Luffy laughed.
So hard that he wasn't able to stop until Zoro slammed the glass onto the table.

"Ahh.. what a babe you have Zoro! So much better than your journalist girlfriend!" Luffy said in between of his laughter and fought hard to breathe.
Zoro's fingers froze around the foot of the glass. He can feel both Usopp and Robin tense up too. He gripped tight around the cup, but didn't even blink at Luffy's last remark.

And just then, the front door of the night club swung open without warning. A herd of heavy boots rushed in, and surrounded the group of them in the centre. The lights of the place was suddenly switched on, "Inspection! Break apart and have your ID's ready!" Franky walked in as he roared his orders.

Even with the officers rushing in, Zoro didn't remove his eyes from Luffy. He can feel his hands trembling, and his body getting cold. As he watched Luffy cooperated with the officer who confronted him for ID, Zoro fought hard against the urge to rush over and pin him down.
"What are we doing guys? Having a tea part?" Franky knocked on the table as he gave a hard look at the two party leaders.
Usopp finally stepped forward and smiled friendly, "My apologies sir, we had some renovation going on recently so we haven't been opening up for business, and Luffy here is just trying offer his assistance."
"A renovation that requires the presence of the leaders of the biggest gangs in the city?" Franky clearly was not convinced at the reasoning being provided to him, he continued as he stood next to Zoro, using a dangerously low voice he spoke, "Since it doesn't seem like you're getting any business anyways, probably a good idea to just close down for the night. Don't you think, West-1?"
"What a great idea!" Luffy clapped his hands on the table.
Hearing that, Franky turned and placed a hand on his shoulder as he leaned down to whisper into his ears, "I'm not stupid, and you're not dumb. So let's cut the crap, and get to the point, shall we? You get your ass out here, or I'll pull your sweet little ass back to my branch and join me for a cup of coffee, GP-8." With his stress on the last three syllables, there was no room for negotiation.

Luffy shrugged, and rose from his seat.
As he was turning to leave, a low voice penetrated clearly through the noise between the officers and the men, "What have you done to her…"

I'm going to be picking up the pace from here... So hooray for action~~ =]
Leave me a line or so, see you next time!