A/N: This started out as a prompt from Candy-of-Doom and then a few others asked for more (all the prompts can be found here under the title Death Zoro) and I promised that one day it would be a fully, multichapter project, and here we are!
This is co-worked project between Candy-of-Doom and I. Doom provided the original prompt, and helped develop the ideas, and asked all the right questions. This is our work combined as a fic.
It wasn't often Zoro had to go to the human world to collect a soul in person. Usually it was only the darkest of souls, those truly evil and corrupted, that required his personal attention. Souls like that couldn't be expected to find their way into hell by the usual methods.
Though, that didn't seem to be the case in this particular situation. In fact, from what Zoro could tell, the guy was relatively good. He made about as many mistakes and committed just as many wrong doings as any other human. It was a pain to have to come here in person to collect such a simple soul, but the poor fellow had ended up on the wrong end of a nasty curse that demanded his immediate and untimely death. The poor guy had refused the advances of a woman that admired him very much, and once she realized she couldn't have him, she'd decided no one else could either.
Zoro sighed. They should really do away with the old spell books entirely. They only created more work for him.
From the shadows he watched his victim work, whisking and chopping, stirring and frying until a dish that smelled so good it almost made Zoro's mouth water had been created. Then, by himself, the blond haired victim sat down at his small dining room table and ate his meal for one.
Zoro wasn't sure why he didn't kill the man over his breakfast that morning.
He followed his victim down the sidewalk. Zoro withdrew a little deeper into his hood. It was bright here, sunny and warm already despite the early hour. The heat didn't bother him, he'd spent time in places far hotter, but the sun never failed to irritate him. It was too bright, almost blinding, and he definitely preferred the night when he had to be in the human world.
He followed behind the blond for several minutes before the man entered a large building constructed of metal and glass. It was the last building on the street, and the front of it faced out towards the open waters of the ocean.
Zoro couldn't explain what stopped him from killing the blond on the street either.
Zoro watched the blond work. His name was Sanji, and he was a dive instructor, which seemed to mean he put ridiculous looking equipment on people and forced them to go through exercises in a pool. It didn't look particularly fun or amusing. Zoro wondered how many souls he'd claimed doing such a thing. None that he'd collected personally, not like the blond's that he was here for, but lives would end and souls would be collected whether Zoro was there in person or not.
He watched the man work. He seemed friendly enough, a poor guy that had simply ended up on someone's bad side. He was encouraging and supportive to his students, and all of them looked very pleased to be working with him.
Sanji was tall, close to Zoro's height but maybe just a slight bit taller, and slim, with packed muscles from years of pushing his body through the water. His blonde hair was longer than necessary, almost reaching down to the tops of his shoulders when it was wet, with stupid chin-length fringe that he kept over one eye, even when it was dripping.
He had a charming smile; one that melted the hearts of the women he worked with, from the young kids to the old women, all of them seemed thrilled to be rewarded with that smile. Zoro couldn't blame them, it was almost dazzling; sincere and warm and brimming with life.
He watched the blond through his work day. There was no rush to kill his victim, the man would die before the day was over. Zoro didn't feel like traumatizing the people Sanji worked with by making a corpse of him so soon, it wouldn't be very fair for them to have to suffer that way. He would wait until the blond was alone again, he had time for that.
About midway through the day a young woman reported for Sanji's diving class. She came dressed in pieces of red fabric secured only by strings that left little to the imagination. She greeted Sanji warmly and looked eager to learn more about diving.
The blond's reaction was enough to make Zoro reconsider not killing the man right then and there, if only to save him the embarrassment.
After a few hours in the water with his students, Sanji pulled himself out, using a nearby towel to capture most of the water from his body. He waved to one of his coworkers and stepped out the front doors, the ones that overlooked the beach and sea.
Zoro followed stealthily behind. Now was his opportunity. The blond was alone, so no one would question his very sudden death, and aside from the unfortunate person who would have to discover the body, no one would have to witness the death either.
Zoro slipped out the door behind the blond. Sanji stood a little off to the side, a cigarette in his lips and his hand on his lighter, but his eyes were staring out at the water. He lit the cigarette with practice skill and inhaled a lungful of acrid smoke, exhaling it in a cloud above his head.
"You've been hanging around me all day," Sanji frowned, his eyes flickering over to Zoro. Zoro found himself locked into a blue gaze, the depths of the ocean threatening to crush him in that one look. His intense blue eyes trapped Zoro for a moment before turning back to the sea and freeing Death from his bonds.
"Aren't you hot, dressed like that?" Sanji wondered.
But Zoro wasn't listening. He was distracted, lost in his own thoughts and still feeling the remaining effects of those eyes. He'd never been so affected by a human before. It wasn't the first time his victim had spotted him before their death, but it was the first time anyone had managed to stop Death with a single look alone.
"So?" Sanji prompted, finally pulling Zoro from the tangled web of his thoughts. "What's your story?"
Those blue eyes were on him again, endless and deep and so very honest… Zoro couldn't complete the simple task of reaching out and placing a hand on the blond's shoulder. One touch of death was all it took… but Zoro couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Nothing," he responded instead. "Just be careful today."
He left the blond then, standing before the ocean in a haze of smoke.
It was the first time in all of his time as Death that Zoro had been unable to take the life of his victim.
