A/N: I am honestly stunned by the fact that people actually are looking forward to how this story progresses. I can only hope I can meet your expectations. Reviews are much appreciated, so I know what you guys think of this. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy!


Zoro awoke the next morning without so much as a hangover. Which was no surprise, if he was honest, since he'd only drank a bottle or two of sake last night. He checked his phone, and finding that it was already 8:50, he got out of bed with a groan. He had to be at work by 9:15, and it took him a quarter of an hour to get there. That gave him about 10 minutes to get ready and, if he was lucky, eat breakfast.

Zoro padded around his small apartment, stripping his sweatpants off while sticking some leftover Chinese takeout into the microwave and setting it to warm for two minutes on low. He rushed to the bathroom, and showered quickly. He dried himself, and got dressed in his suit and made sure he looked decent, before throwing a glance over his shoulder at the clock. 8:54. He ate his breakfast as quickly as he could without choking on it, and then hurried back to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, and deeming himself acceptable, he gathered his paperwork, put it in a manila folder, and headed out the door, jogging down the stairs that led to the small restaurant he lived above.

The restaurant was called the Baratie, and it was owned by an old man with a prosthetic leg, a strange mustache, and a short temper, named Zeff Kuroashi. In all honesty, when Zoro had first come across this restaurant, he had thought twice about inquiring about renting the room upstairs. Zeff was rude, blunt, stubborn, and swore like a sailor. It was a mystery how this place even had customers, considering the kitchen staff weren't all that different from Zeff. But somehow, the Baratie had a welcoming atmosphere to it, and there were customers who came back regularly despite the boisterous employees.

The restaurant was on the smaller side, and Zoro often wondered why Zeff didn't renovate or move. He certainly had enough money for it. The building itself was old, and the doors were wooden sliding ones, with a rectangular panel of glass passing through the middle of it horizontally. Inside were several tables for two that were against the left wall. The rest of the room was taken up by a long 'L' shaped counter that jutted out from the back right corner, making a bar like place the customers could sit at while Zeff worked behind it. There was ample space behind the counter for at least three people to work simultaneously during rush hour, but the other staff mostly kept to the back kitchen, supposedly out of earshot from the customers. It was a rather homely restaurant. In the back was the stairs that led up to Zoro's apartment, and the doorway that led to Zeff's living area.

After a relatively short discussion, Zoro and Zeff had been able to reach a settlement, and Zoro moved into the apartment shortly thereafter. The rent was cheap, and the location was pretty good. It had been a very reasonable deal.

Zoro entered the restaurant and made his way to the front as quietly and as quickly as possible. The Baratie didn't open for breakfast, so Zeff took the time in the morning to prepare for the day's lunch and dinner rush, and the man hated to be disturbed by anyone who wasn't of his kitchen staff.

"Oi, green haired punk." Zeff's rough voice called from the back. Zoro stopped, and turned to look over at him.

"What?"

"Off to work?"

"Yes...?"

"Hm." Zeff hummed noncommittally. "Take that with you." he said, nodding towards the counter, where a brown paper bag and a cup of coffee, the lid securely snapped on. Zoro peered into the bag, and found two sandwiches - egg, ham, tomato, and lettuce between a warm toasted english muffin.

"Thanks, Zeff." Zoro called over his shoulder. Zeff snorted disparagingly, and Zoro took that as his cue to leave.

On his way to work, Zoro had happily drank the coffee. Freshly ground coffee was so much better than the instant shit that he was used to getting in the breakroom at work, there was really no comparison. Feeling more energized, he walked into the office, and greeted his coworkers. Chaka and Pell were already there, diligently working on their reports at their desk.

"Cutting it close, Roronoa. Woke up late again?" Chaka asked with a smirk. Zoro grinned as he shrugged off his jacket and hung it upon the coat rack beside his desk.

"Forgot to set my alarm. I was out late last night." he said, taking a seat at his desk and pulling out the his own report from the folder. He finished it up, and looked it over, before going to Smoker's office to submit it.

"Sir?" he called, knocking on the doorway as the door was wide open. The captain looked up, and waved Zoro in. Smoker held his hand out, not looking away from his laptop as he scrolled down the screen with one hand. Zoro placed his report in the outstretched hand, and Smoker tore his eyes away from the screen long enough to briefly check over the paper.

"Good." he grunted, and dropped it to his desk for further inspection later. "I need you to go to Syrup Street, and take care of some witness statements to a motoricycle accident. Hit and run, apparently. Forensics and paramedics are there now. Take Chaka with you." Smoker said, leaning back in his chair. "And come back with coffee."

"Yes, sir." Zoro said with a grin, and exited the office. "Chaka, I'm gonna need to borrow you for a bit. Motorcycle accident, hit and run, on Syrup Street." he said, grabbing his jacket from off the rack.

"Right." Chaka murmured, and got up, putting his report to the side for the time being. "I'm driving, right? Who knows how lost you'll get us if I don't." he teased, and Pell chuckled quietly, while Zoro snorted and flipped him off.

"Fuck you, Chaka. I know where we're going." Zoro said.

True to his word, Zoro got the two of them to Syrup Street in a reasonable amount of time. Chaka was obviously impressed.

"Amazing, Roronoa. There's one street you can actually locate." He grinned wolfishly, and Zoro rolled his eyes. He parked the car by the yellow tape that bordered the scene of the accident. The two of them got out, were allowed in by the officers standing guard at the tape, and began taking in the crime scene - crosswalk, where the forensics guys were gathered, with skidded tire tracks leading away from the intersection, single tire mark sets. Paramedics had called in the coroner, so apparently, the victim of the accident hadn't made it. There were a group of bystanders huddled at the yellow tape, and Zoro walked over.
"My name is Detective Roronoa, and I'm looking for anyone who witnessed the accident. Anyone?" he asked. Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"The guy on the motorcycle ran a red light." one teenager piped up.

"He hit her when he was turning right, and just kept going." another added.

"He had a helmet on, so we couldn't see his face." a middle aged woman said.

"Can you give us a description? Height, build... things like that?" Zoro asked, and several people nodded. Zoro waved Chaka over. "Take down the profile of the guy, confirm it, send it to the captain." he said in a low voice. Chaka nodded.

"Sure thing." He turned to the assimilation of people there. "So! Who can tell me about our motorcyclist?"

Leaving Chaka to it, Zoro sighed, and went over to the coroner, a rather short man in a too long white coat, with a yellow suit underneath, and matching gloves. He was writing things down on a clipboard, a stretcher with the body bag resting on it, sitting before him.

"Detective Roronoa." Zoro said briefly showing his ID before pocketing it again. "What can you tell me about our victim?"

"She appears to be in her late twenties to early thirties." Saldeath said.

"Appears to be? Don't we have an ID on our vic?" Zoro questioned, concerned. If she turned out to be a Jane Doe, it would make his job a hell of a lot harder. The short man sighed.

"Well, we're supposed to, but that may take a while, considering her purse was probably flung into the storm drain when she was hit. Basically saying we have no way to identify the victim or notify her family." he muttered. "The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. From what we've gathered, she was crossing the street when a motorcyclist ran a red light and hit her. She hit her head against the curb as she fell, resulting most certainly an instant death." Saldeath explained.

"Alright, I'll get a team to go and attempt to retrieve her purse from the storm drain." Zoro said, dragging a hand over his face.

"It probably won't help much. I'm sure you're aware of how much it's been raining recently. The water must have carried it away by now." Saldeath said flatly, and Zoro groaned. The short bastard was probably right.

"Right, fine, get some photos of this Jane Doe and send it to Smoker." he said. Saldeath looked at him, irritated, and thrust a camera from the forensics unit into his hands.

"Do it yourself." the man muttered, and unzipped the body bag to reveal the victim's face.

With an irritated sigh, Zoro turned to focus on the victim, and raised the camera, ready to simply snap a few photos and get on with it. But when he recognized just who the victim was, his heart stopped. After all, there was no mistaking a face he had known for years. He lowered the camera, earning an unnoticed strange look from Saldeath.

"There's no need to search for her purse. I know her." Zoro said, his voice small. His chest felt tight, and he couldn't seem to draw in a breath. Saldeath's eyebrows shot up. "Age 33, blood type B, lives in a condo on West Blue, mother of two," Zoro swallowed. "Kuina Toyoshima."


A/N: So you all saw that coming, right? I mean, it was in the summary. I guess this was more introductory stuff than anything else. I'm sorry. I think I should have put this in the first chapter, but I thought it might be kind of overwhelming or too much stuff to throw at once or something. I don't know. I hope it was okay. And I hope I didn't disappoint you guys too much.

Also, concerning Kuina's last name, I couldn't find it on the wiki, so I just used the seiyuu's last name. Sorry for being uncreative.