Disclaimer: I ownth nothing.
poyochin: Haha! That you so much! :) I got the idea for this story one night in bed. I actaully had it alot different at first, but once I had gotten halfway through the chapter I was like shmeh. This is so so. Soooo, then I did this instead! I hope you like this next chapter!
Guest: its the Victorian era silly! EVERYBODY and their brother had long hair back then. Haha. Actually there was plenty of short haired people, but when I was googling Zoro x Sanji photos for the book cover, I saw the one I chose and was immediately like "sweet Jesus! Zoro looks fucking sexy with hair like that!" And then I was lost. I know that isn't the most persuasive argument i've ever made, but sadly it's the truth. Xp I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Thanks for your support! :3
This chapter is dedicated to my wonder, amazing, totally cool, super great beta reader opens up 4 nobody! Thanks so much for your amazing incite and awesome editing!
Dead Man Walking
Chapter Two
When Zoro woke up the next morning, he was surprisingly well rested. He had no weird dreams, so he hadn't woken up to himself yelling at the crack of dawn; for that he was very grateful. He did have an annoying tendency to do that, but then he did have a rather stressful job so maybe it was to be expected.
He stretched out in his bed, raising his arms high above his head, causing his spine to crack out the fluid in his joints. Then, he sat up, running his fingers through his long green hair, and yawned pleasantly.
It took him a little while to get ready; brushing out his bed head was rather difficult. After he finished knotting the dark green tie around his throat, and tucked the collar down, he made his way down stairs to kitchen.
A pleasant tune floated up the stairs as he silently walked down. He paused outside the door to the kitchen and looked in through the crack to see Mr. Prince moving gracefully through the room, humming and occasionally singing a line to the song he was apparently thinking of.
"Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yoWarera kaizoku, umi wattekuNami wo makura ni, negura wa fune yoHo ni hata ni ketateru wa dokuro..."* the cook sang softly and thereafter transitioned back to humming.
Zoro listened to Mr. Prince's baritone voice, deciding that he liked it; it was a sound he could appreciate. He must've made some sort of noise because the cook tensed up, and fell silent as waiting for another sound to come.
Zoro quietly backed up and purposely hit a squeaky spot on the floor before shoving the kitchen door open. He placed the half empty bottle of sake on the table with a bang.
The cook looked at him with that weird fucking curly eyebrow raised.
"What?!" he asked defensively.
"Nothing," the old geezer said nonchalantly, and turned back to his cooking. "I was just not expecting you to only drink half of it."
"I might not be a gentleman, wonder brow, but I'm not a drunkard! I know my limits! " Zoro scoffed.
Mr. Prince barked a laugh, shaking his head of long hair. "Well, a gentleman you are not, that's for sure," he laughed again, and placed a bowl of oatmeal in front of his partner.
"Hurry up and eat, Garp wants us for an assignment, marimo."
"Who the fuck are you calling a marimo?" Zoro grumbled, and shoveled the oatmeal into his mouth.
"You, duh! There's no one else here I could be talking to," Mr. Prince said, then turned away frowning.
Zoro watched him scrub the already spotless counters and mumble under his breath. Zoro rolled his good eye, and ate the entirety of the oatmeal. When the young swordsman was done, he slammed his bowl down and stood. Mr. Prince looked up in disapproval of the abuse of the china.
"Alright, let me grab my swords, and we can go," he said, and raced up stairs, eager to show off his new weapon.
When he returned, Mr. Prince was waiting for him by the door. He remained there up until Zoro was ready as well, he then opened the door and strode out.
Zoro couldn't help but admire the way Mr. Prince's long legs moved as he walked, the way that the man smoked a cigarette was down right alluring.
He shook his head. Where the hell had that thought come from? The dude was at least forty years Zoro's senior. Not to mention a man. That was just gross. Ugh, best to ignore that whole line of thought.
Zoro scrunched his nose, and followed Mr. Prince down the street. He always hated to walk to work. The streets were constantly changing places on him, but the gray haired geezer had no problem finding his way around. Confident bastard.
Mr. Prince was not much of a talker, and neither was Zoro, so they walked in an awkward silence together until they reached headquarters.
The door was held open for them, and Zoro handed the butler his coat and hat. The somber man waited utill he was sure that Mr. Prince would not hand over his coat, and then led them to Garp's office.
They took a few steps in, and waited as Garp polished off a whole ham, clean to the bone, with vigor. The old man smacked his lips and and belched loudly. Then he promptly fell asleep.
"Ehem," Zoro coughed loudly.
The noise seemed to startle the director awake.
"Oh! Erm... well, good thing you are early today, Mr. Roronoa," the old geezer began, picking a booger from his nose and flicking it toward Mr. Prince. Said man dodged it with ease, and his face remained unchanged, though he pointedly refused to look at the director.
"There have been a series of compliants in the downtown area. At the Royal Theater, to be exact. Apparently, there have been incidents of rigging braking at ill opportune moments, fires catching spontaneously, even ghostly figures seen on the stage of actors long passed. There has been a report of two deaths and seven injuries in the past week."
Zoro nodded. "Alright, sir, we'll look into it," he said, then added in his head, 'It will probably only be me coming back to report, though. That old geezer is never going to be able to keep up with me.'
Garp nodded with a yawn. "Good. Now, Mr. Prince," he said, adressing the other old man directly, "I need you to look into something else for me too. It's about... You-Know-Who."
Then Garp handed the other man a small envelope, stamped with a red seal.
Mr. Prince reluctantly took it, and placed it in his pocket. Garp dismissed them, and Zoro couldn't help but ask.
"What's the extra job?"
"Che. That's way above a little marimo's pay grade," he deflected.
Zoro scowled at him. "What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?"
Mr. Prince flicked the ash off of his new cigarette before answering. "It means that you are not in the need to know; that it's classified information."
"Classified?!" Zoro said insulted, as he snatched his coat from the butler, "I'm a fucking senior member! What the hell do you mean 'Classified'?"
The old geezer held the door open for a group of ladies, smiling a pervy smile, before passing through himself.
He shrugged as they made their way down the now bustling street. "Well, it's a case that is extremely sensitive. Not many know about it. In fact, I probably know more then anyone alive right now, and thats not much. Don't worry, Mr. Roronoa, I'm sure you'll know soon enough," his tone was rather ominous in a way that left no way to argue, but still an annoying need to know what the hell was going on. Damn cryptic old jerk.
With that, the rest of the walk to the theater was silent. Zoro couldn't help but dwell on what the old man said. Why was he being kept in the dark? Were the other's being restricted as well? If he was going to find out anyway, why not let the cat out of the bag now?
Eventually, they came to the place Garp had sent them.
"The Royal Theater," Zoro scoffed, trying to act unimpressed by the sheer height of the theater, let alone its renowned design.
He glanced over to find the gray haired man fondly viewing the building. He seemed lost in thought for a moment before composing himself, and turned to Zoro.
"Shall we go in?"
Zoro nodded and lead the way in. Inside, the ornate building was just as fancy as the exterior. Zoro appreciated the wonderful architecture and beautiful guilding along the ceiling.
The partners introduced themselves at the door and were promptly showed to the back of the stage.
"The owner will be with you in a moment, I'm sure-"
"SANJI-SAN?! Yo ho hoooo! Is that really you?" a high voice exclaimed from behind them.
They turned and Zoro just managed to see a black and orange blur hurl itself toward Mr. Prince. He went to draw his sword when he heard laughing. Real, honest to God laughter, from the stoic face of Mr. Prince.
"Brook!" he cried, clutching the taller man in a tight hug.
Then he pulled himself back, smiling broadly, and started to talk animatedly to the tall black man in Japanese. The other man talked back just as rapidly.
Shit, Japanese was Zoro's native tongue, but he couldn't understand them, they were talking so fast. They made it all sound like gibberish.
"Oh, Sanji-san! How good it is to see you again!" the tall man, Brook, said happily, switching back to English.
Mr. Prince nodded joyfully. "Yes, Brook! It's very good to you again! It must have been thirty years since we last saw each other! Toulouse, right? I had no fucking idea you owned Franky and Robin's old theater now! Talk about a small miracle that I came today!"
Then, Mr. Prince stopped speaking abruptly. He turned Brook's attention toward Zoro, finally seeming to remember him.
"Mr. Roronoa, this Brook Skeller, owner of this theater and an old friend of mine. Brook," he said, a hint of warning in his voice, "This is Mr. Zoro Roronoa. He is an investigator of BPRD, I'm his temporary partner."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Zoro!" The man exclaimed, taking Zoro's hand and shaking it vigorously.
Brook was a tall, skinny man who had a rather distinctive face. He had a slight goatee on his chin and some wicked side burns. And his hair! Good God, it looked like he had been struck by lightning, it was so puffed out! He also wore shades over his eyes, even though he was indoors, which Zoro found odd, and on his forehead was a scar that slightly resembled a diagonal omega sign.
His height was staggering, probably nearing nine feet, and was dressed in formal attire, complete with top hat and cane. His clothes were that of a gentleman, consisting of a coat, top hat, and trousers which were black, while the inner linings of his coat were a yellow-orange. He had a blue cravat that was tied in between his coat and around his neck and he held a cane, the outer covering of which was purple. His light chocolate skin glowed, seeming a little unearthly to Zoro, but he chose to ignore it for now. He had a job to do, after all, but he couldn't help but think that the tall man looked too young to be more then thirty years old. And, yet, he must be if he and Mr. Prince were close enough friends to be on a first name basis.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said formally, bowing stiffly.
"Yo ho ho!" The man cheered.
"Now, Brook, tell me. What the hell has been going on?" Mr. Prince questioned.
"Well, Sanji, I've been seeing... ghosts!" he whispered to the old man, fearfully.
"Yes, we are aware of that, Mr. Skeller, but could you tell us exactly what kind of ghosts you are seeing?" Zoro asked, already annoyed with the man.
"Well... trapped spirits, Mr. Roronoa. I think that they are the spirits of the dead from the fire of forty years ago. They are always wailing about how terribly hot they are, and that they need to escape the flames..."
"Yep, that sounds like something a burn victim would say. Wait, you can hear them as well as see them?" he asked in disbelief. He had sensed the same, if not less, spiritual energy from the puffy haired man as he had with Mr. Prince.
"Yes," Brook nodded, "I was also able to speak to them. They said that the fire was no accident, and that they couldn't leave because the flames would burn them," the man sounded so sad as he continued, "I am so ashamed that I can do nothing to help them."
Zoro was a little taken back. Only those with strong spiritual energy and focus could talk to ghosts successfuly and still remain sane. He had absolutely no idea how to proceed.
"You say they said the flames burn?" Mr. Prince asked.
Brook nodded. "Does that mean something, Sanji-san?"
"Do you know where their bones are buried?" asked Zoro, catching Mr. Prince's train of thought.
Brook shook his head. "Their bones are buried in a community grave yard. The bodies were so charred that they couldn't even identify the victims. "
Zoro nodded in thought, but before he could collect those thoughts, he was knocked to the ground. He looked up in confusion, and found a young raven haired boy ontop of him.
"Zoro! Shishishi! You're here too?" Luffy laughed.
The young man shoved the teen off of him and got his feet.
"Damn it, Luffy! What the hell have I told you about doing that?!" He snapped, dusting off his suit.
The teen investigator just laughed, rocking back on his heels. "Ah, Zoro, do you have any meat? I'm starving!" he declared.
The green haired teen groaned, "No, Luffy, I do not have any meat."
The raven pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Awwww... well, you should," he mumbled bitterly at Zoro.
The green haired man huffed in annoyance, "Che, whatever, Luffy. Anyway, Mr. Skeller, do you think you show Mr. Prince and I-"
"And me!" Luffy shouted, bouncing up and down.
"Why are you even here?" Zoro asked, frustrated.
"'Cause Gramps told to get out of his hair," he replied simply, picking his nose with his pinky finger, then flicking it on the floor.
Zoro saw Mr. Prince cringe.
"Well, gentlemen, if you will kindly follow me, please..." Brook motioned with his cane, then expertly twirled it through his long fingers.
Zoro had to grab Luffy by the collar of his coat to keep him from bounding after the tall man as they followed him out a back exit and and into a small wooded area.
"Your hair is so cool~!" gushed Luffy, stars in eyes.
Brook laughed and thanked the teen, leading the way through the underbrush.
Zoro rolled his eye again.
"Hey, Zoro, is that a new sword?!" Luffy asked suddenly.
The green haired investigator puffed out his chest as he displayed the white katana to Luffy.
"Yep," was all he said, but he felt a happy bubble in his stomach as Luffy 'oohh'ed and 'ahhhhh'ed over it. A new sword was defiantly something he could get excited about.
"Awesome~!" the raven haired boy breathed in admiration. The sword was beautiful after all and it deserved it's rightful moment of awe, but Luffy, having a short attention span, was soon distracted by the unfamiliar presence of Mr. Prince. "Who's he?" he asked, eyeing the old geezer.
"I'm Mr. Sanji Prince," the said man replied, introducing himself, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. D."
"Shishishi! I like your eye brows, Sanji!" Luffy said happily. "Are you Zoro's partner?"
Zoro thought that Mr. Prince would be miffed or annoyed at the familiarity that Luffy used, but the old man just smiled, his teeth gleaming.
"Yes, Luffy, Mr. Roronoa and I are partners for the time being," Mr. Prince said, using Luffy's name as well.
Luffy gave a wide grin, "I hope you make it, all of Zoro's other partners died. But you seem pretty cool, so don't die, okay?"
"I'll do my best," Mr. Prince nodded, "And what, pray tell, happened to all the other partners?"
"They can't keep up, so Zoro lets them die," Luffy hummed.
"Wow, that very inconsiderate of him," Mr. Prince said, arching a swirly eyebrow.
"If they can't handle this job, they shouldn't show up," Zoro grumbled.
"That's something only an inconsiderate asshole would say," Mr. Prince said wisely.
"Che, what do you know?"
"I know that you should feel bad about causing the deaths of a bunch of weak people. You're supposed to protect the weak, idiot."
"Well, it's too late to be sorry now, they're already gone."
"They were some's family, just think about that, you murder."
"Stop trying to make me feel guilty! And I didn't kill them, so don't call me a murderer."
"Oh, no, you're not a murderer, you only stood idly by while your partners were killed."
"You fucking-" he was sick of this line of discussion, "Can we cut the crap and get a move on, already?" Zoro asked, exasperated. From now on he decided that he wouldn't contribute to the conversation even if asked.
"LUFFY!" Zoro heard a familiar voice call frantically.
He turned as his long nosed friend bounded over toward their small, and apparently growing, group.
"Damn it, Luffy, you can't just run off leaving me all alone! What if one of those ghosts were to get me?!" Usopp cried.
"Shishishi," laughed Luffy. "You're fine, Ussop, so what is there to worry about?"
The long nosed man sputtered until Zoro interrupted.
"Alright, already! Christ, is the queen going to join us as well?" the tone in Zoro's voice was dangerous, "Mr. Skeller, could you please proceed?" he asked, everyone fell silent.
The owner gave a 'yo ho hoo!', before proceeding, talking while he walked. "Well, forty years ago, this theater was subject to a horrendous fire. What caused it, though, remains a mystery to this day. From what I heard from the ghosts, the fire was intentional and it succeeded in killing over a dozen people."
Zoro looked at Mr. Prince. The man was smoking another cigarette, and the smoke curled around in lazy spirals over his head, but he could see that the old geezer was stiff as a corpse. No pun intended. (But I fully intended it! Xp)
"Is this the grave site?" he asked, bending down to inspect the ground beneath his feet when they had stopped at a small patch of earth several yards from the theater.
"Yes. The victim's families thought it best to bury them all together," answered Brook.
Zoro looked up at the grave stone, noting the long list of names engraved into the mossy marble.
He brushed the long hair back from his forehead as he stood, and looked toward his partner.
"What do you think, swirly brow?"
The old man scowled around his cigarette, and snapped, "Well, it's obvious what we are going to do first, shit head!"
Zoro cocked an eyebrow at him, and clutched the hilt of his newest sword. That bastard cook was starting to really piss him off.
"What's that?" asked Luffy, who was looking at Mr. Prince like the man was the best thing since cooked meat.
The old man stepped up to the grave and brushed away the lichen and the dirt from the stone. "We have to dig up the bones and burn them. It's the only way to help their souls find peace.
"BURN their BONES?!" shrieked Ussop fearfully, "Why should we do that? They died over forty years ago, and they were properly mourned, so I dont get why they are ghosts in the first place! And why are they acting up now? They were the victims, weren't they? They shouldn't be hurting people!"
Zoro watched as Mr. Prince snub out his cigarette on the damp trunk of a nearby tree before speaking.
"Because the killer was buried along with them, Mr. Sogeking. Can't you see the dark aura surrounding the site? And as to why they ae are acting up now? Well, there is something happening, something that is very dangerous and needs to be stopped-" Mr. Prince stopped himself short.
It was then that the screaming reached their ears.
*Its one of the stanzas to the Japanese version of Bink's Sake. If you want a pretty good English version, then go to YouTube and type in " english 'bink's sake' one piece". Its by shadowlink4321