Sanji doesn't follow Zoro to work that night, or the other nights. Partially out of respect for the man's request (well, order) and partially because he doesn't much care what the grass-brain does for a living.
Sanji considers going to see Zeff in his free time but he doesn't think that he can handle that alone. There are two possibilities, either Zeff will be fine - which would break Sanji's heart a little because though he and the old man never talked about feelings with each other he hopes the man considers him a son, finding out otherwise would be awful. The other possibility is that Zeff is crushed with grief and without Zoro there to translate he won't be able to help, and that would be torture. So, it's best to stay away for now.
Instead he floats about people watching, he sees a couple of other ghosts stuck to things like he had been to the window ledge. They never seem able to see him though so he lets them be. He even finds his gravestone one evening. It doesn't say anything on it except his name and dates but it is nice and there are plenty of flowers, many of them fresh. There're also a collection of kitchen utensils in a vase which are clearly from the guys at the Baratie, which makes him smile.
When he's not at work Zoro manages to compile a list of everyone who was at the party the night that he died and the staff who were working as well. None of the names leap out at Sanji as the person who killed him, he's got a rather irritating mental block about that. Zoro explains that it's something to do with the conversion of short term to long term memory being interrupted by pavement in the brain at high speed. Sanji thinks that he's an insensitive jerk but concedes his point.
Zoro is sitting on the floor with his laptop on a coffee table in front of him and his hand holding his cheek up as he tries to focus on the monotonous task of going through every guest to see if they have any kind of criminal past that might suggest murder. Sanji is behind him lying on the sofa and trying to focus on not falling through it. He's pretty impressed with Zoro, although the man has turned up nothing of importance he's spent ages at it the last few days. Any time that the man isn't sleeping or working he's researching for Sanji. At first the cook had thought that it meant that Zoro wasn't very good but he was starting to appreciate that it meant that Zoro was working very hard and not giving up despite the difficulty of Sanji's case.
Sanji watches the green head working on his laptop as he scrolls through page after page of search results. His face is lit up from the pale light of the screen. The guy isn't pale exactly but Sanji suspects that that's genetic rather than from any time spent outdoors. In fact Sanji has hardly seen the man out during the day. He works the graveyard shift wherever it is that he works so he's asleep during the middle of the day and spends the rest of the time indoors working for Sanji.
"You've been at this for a long time." Sanji says eventually.
"When I find something I'll go investigate, but until then I gotta do this, sorry if I'm boring you." Zoro says dryly.
"That's not it, don't be an asshole. No, I just meant your friends must think you've disappeared off of the face of the earth lately. I appreciate this and all but it's not like I'm getting any deader here." Sanji points out. Really, it's been odd, he's not even seen Zoro call anyone. Unless the guy spends all his time at work calling his friends, which given the hours that he works is unlikely, then the man's been almost a hermit since he started helping him.
"It's fine." Zoro says dismissively and glances at his watch.
"When did you say I should go see Zeff?" Zoro asks suddenly and looks over at Sanji and effectively derailing Sanji's train of thought.
"About nine." Sanji answers trying to work out the best time to catch Zeff between the lull after dinner but before the hectic hour of paperwork set in.
"Better leave now then." Zoro says flashing him a bright little grin and standing up quickly. Zoro quickly gathers his shitty looking things together and leaves the worn out property quickly. It takes Sanji a while to direct him there, Zoro somehow has got to this stage of his life without being able to tell the difference between left and right reliably.
The outline of the Baratie looms into view and Sanji feels nervous. He doesn't know how he'll feel being in there without being able to be seen by anyone. He doesn't know how he'll deal with being home and knowing that he'll never sleep there again, never laugh with his friends, never sit in a comfortable silence with Zeff again. Sanji finds his eyes brimming with tears. God, this whole thing isn't fair, he didn't do anything to deserve to die, he had so much to live for. And now he was separated from his family again, he'd already lost his biological parents and now he had to lose Zeff as well, or rather Zeff lost him, but it meant that he couldn't be part of the man's family anymore.
When Sanji comes back to himself he realises that Zoro has paused by his side and is very deliberately not looking at Sanji sniffling to himself. Sanji can't help but wonder if this reaction is normal, if Zoro knew that he would tear up. He coughs awkwardly and tries to think of something to say.
"So, don't tell him you're a cop or anything. He hates cops. Don't tell him you're a reporter either, he hates them even more." Sanji says loudly to cover his earlier embarrassment.
"What should I tell him then?" Zoro asks flatly, giving Sanji an incredulous look.
"Tell him you're my friend, moron." Sanji shoots back, goodness, is he going to have to do all the thinking here or what?
"But- he's never met me, and I don't think he'd believe-" the green head starts to protest.
"Just do it!" Sanji snaps and kicks through Zoro's back, his leg scything through Zoro's body like butter. Zoro yelps and stomps off to the Baratie sulkily.
The Baratie is just as Sanji remembers it, warm and full of life, just not his anymore. On Sanji's directions Zoro makes his way to the back of the restaurant. Sanji spots Zeff before Zoro does, he's gruffly ordering Patty to do something just as always. If Sanji still had one his heart would be in his throat. Zoro works out who Zeff is without Sanji telling him and makes his way nervously over to the head chef.
"Oi, you lost boy? You're not supposed to be back here, scram." Zeff orders sharply, scowling at Zoro from under his comically tall hat.
"Are you Zeff?" Zoro asks, undeterred.
"What's it to you?" Zeff says narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"I'm not a cop, or a reporter or anything. I'm…" Zoro hesitates, "I'm his friend, I guess."
Sanji groans, of course, Zeff will totally buy that. This weirdo couldn't possibly be a cop because he told me so! Sure. Eesh.
"You guess?" The chef comments, his eyes sharpening.
"I mean, I didn't know him long but… well, we could have- I mean, we were-" Zoro flounders. Sanji smacks his palm against his head, god, this guy is going to be the death of him. AGAIN.
"Tell him you worked at the market." Sanji says confident that only Zoro can hear him.
"I worked at the market! I mean, I still do, not right now obviously because I'm here." Zoro says suddenly and a little more loudly than was really necessary.
"Is that so? What's your name kid?" the old man asks, his voice unreadable. Sanji prays that Zeff actually buys Zoro's incompetent lying, he really needs Zeff's help here.
"Zoro." The moss-brain answers instantly, apparently pleased to have a question that he can truthfully answer.
"He never mentioned you." Zeff says simply with his arms folded across his chest.
"Oh." Zoro says quietly looking down at the floor.
Zeff stands there for a moment and looks at Zoro who, Sanji has to admit, looks a little pathetic. He's clearly awkward and uncomfortable about lying to some nice old guy who's lost someone but Sanji supposes that to someone who doesn't know the truth Zoro looks a little… upset perhaps, lonely maybe. Zeff's expression softens minutely and Sanji beams, he knows that look, Zeff has decided that he likes Zoro.
"Sorry about that. Sanji didn't exactly talk about people much, I wouldn't worry about it." Zeff adds.
"But… I'm sure you're aware, Sanji is… he's not exactly around to see visitors anymore." The old man continues, his voice hardening at the end. Sanji winces a little, he can see that it hurt Zeff to say that, the same way that it hurt him to talk about losing his leg, but worse.
"I know. I talked to the police, I know a guy there. And he said that they think that Sanji killed himself, that's what the papers said too. But I can't believe that, Sanji wouldn't." Zoro insists with certainty. Sanji finds Zoro's faith in him reassuring.
"He didn't. Someone killed him." Zeff says darkly.
"The guy I know, the cop, said that if I could find some proof that Sanji didn't kill himself then he'd reopen the case and try to catch whoever did it. I've been trying to work out who might have done it from the guest list for the last few days but nothing is coming up. So I wanted to talk to you, see if you could give me a lead to try and figure this out." Zoro says quickly, lighting up a little now that he's telling the truth again.
Zeff looks at Zoro quietly for a moment, clearly thinking the same thing that Sanji had been thinking lately. Why was this total stranger working so hard for someone he barely knew? Except Sanji knows it's more than that, Zoro never knew him at all before he died. And if Zoro had kept ignoring him Sanji would have genuinely gone away, but he didn't. Instead Zoro is spending all his time and, frankly embarrassing himself, just to help Sanji out.
"I can see why he liked you. You're kind of cut from the same cloth, can't stand to see a wrong go un-righted if you can do anything about it. Come on, help me load up the van and do my deliveries and I'll answer your questions." Zeff says with a soft little smile on his face.
The old cook gestures for Zoro to follow him as he heads out the back of the building. Sanji frowns, what deliveries is Zeff talking about? It didn't sound like he was expecting deliveries, but making them instead. The Baratie doesn't do deliveries, it never has. When had this started? Sanji drifts behind his adopted father and his unlikely friend as Zeff leads them out the back. There's a white van parked there with the back doors open and crates with lots of empty slots in the back of it.
"What's this?" Zoro asks. Sanji's glad because he's no goddamned idea.
"It's our delivery van. When Sanji was… Sanji used to sneak leftovers from the restaurant after hours and deliver them to the homeless. He was so sneaky about it I guess he thought no one knew, but we did. He was kind of modest about that sort of thing, I guess he didn't want anyone thinking he did it for the praise. Truth is Sanji couldn't stand to know that someone was going hungry." Zeff says with a sigh.
"A week or so ago I decided that Sanji wouldn't want that to stop just because he couldn't do it anymore, so we bought the van and started making deliveries ourselves. I owe it to the kid to keep it up." The old man says quietly as he pats the side of the van.
Zoro walks around to the side of the van with Sanji trailing after him. On the side of the van is a line drawing of Sanji grinning and the words "Sanji's kitchen" written on in blue letters.
"Oh Zeff…" He breathes shakily. He wishes that he could have done this before, that he could have told the old man what he was doing.
"It's amazing. Sanji would be so happy." Zoro smiles warmly at Zeff.
Zeff just grunts at that, apparently having expressed enough emotions for the time being. Instead he gruffly orders Zoro to move his ass and help out. And so Zeff and Zoro load up the van with polystyrene boxes full of food that Patty and Carne are dishing up. Soon the van is filled with about a hundred meals all boxed up and kept warm.
Zeff gestures for Zoro to hop into the van so the three of them climb in and set off. Sanji finds it a little hard keeping up with the motion of the van but he finds that if he holds onto Zoro's arm he can manage it.
"Can you think of anyone that might have done it?" Zoro eventually asks as he climbs back in after the second or third delivery.
"Only that bastard that he was competing against. Sanji got people's backs up a lot alright, but not enough to kill him. But that Creuset bastard had motive, Sanji stomped him on national television. Sanji's just some nobody in the cooking world with everything to prove, it should have been easy for Creuset but Sanji utterly outranked him, a big national chef losing like that's pretty bad. He's who I'd have my money on." Zeff growls, his grip tightening on the steering wheel.
"He had an alibi, his agent." Zoro points out quietly.
"You believe her?" Zeff snorts disbelievingly.
"She could be lying for her client, but... I don't know. I get that Sanji embarrassed him but surely he'd have more to lose from killing Sanji than he would to gain. I mean, it's not like he got anything from Sanji's death." Zoro points out thoughtfully.
"It just means that you're missing something." Zeff grouses.
"Like what?" Zoro asks, hopping out of the van at the next stop and unloading several boxes of food.
"If I knew that you wouldn't have to be here." Zeff shoots back.
Zoro stays silent at that, apparently seeing the old man's point.
Sanji screws his eyes shut and buries his face in Zoro's shoulder. This just isn't fair; he'd give anything to have five minutes to talk to Zeff but even he can tell that the old man would react badly if Zoro claimed that he could pass on messages of the deceased. Zoro shivers slightly under him and Sanji wonders if he's cold to the touch. Carefully Zoro's dark eyes slide down to look at him questioningly.
"I'm fine, it's just this being dead and invisible thing sucks." Sanji says hoarsely.
"Do you ever wish that you could talk to people after they're gone?" Zoro asks quietly. Sanji's eyes snap open at that, Zoro's a goddamned genius!
Zeff states ahead in silence, his brow furrowed and moustache twitching in agitation. Zoro and Zeff unload another large delivery to another homeless shelter and climb back into the cab of the van in silence.
"I regret the last thing I said to him. The last words I said to him were in anger, we argued. You don't think when you argue with someone that it might be the last thing you say to them." Zeff says eventually.
"You argued with him?" Zoro asks straightening up in his seat.
"No, Zoro! It wasn't him, Zeff never would! Argument or not!" Sanji insists fervently and invisibly in the seat next to the psychic.
"I didn't kill him because of that, if you're going to go down the same route the police did." Zeff adds darkly.
Sanji recoils at that, Zeff had to find out that he'd died unpleasantly and then was hauled in as a suspect?
"I wasn't thinking that." Zoro states simply. Zeff and Sanji both watch Zoro carefully at that, Sanji can't see anything other than blunt honesty on the guy's face though. Evidently Zeff feels the same as he relaxes and continues the deliveries.
"So who was it?" Zeff asks after a few minutes of silence.
"Who was what?" Zoro asks confused.
"A man doesn't sympathize with someone who's lost someone this much unless they've been there." Zeff adds by way of explanation.
Zoro stares ahead rigidly and Sanji watches him carefully, he already knows about the guy's parents from overhearing what Smoker said.
"It's... hard to know where to begin." Zoro says quietly, clearly hoping to dodge the question.
"Parents?" Zeff guesses.
"Murder." Zoro answers tightly.
"Shit, sorry kid. So, you were adopted like Sanji?" Zeff sighs sadly.
"Fostered, by a lady called Robin. Her mother was murdered too, she helped people like me out." Zoro says quietly, looking down at his scruffy shoes. Sanji raises an eyebrow at that, Zoro lives alone and doesn't look like he has anyone looking out for him.
"Why the past tense?" The old man questions gently, perhaps sensing that he's on troubled ground.
"Hypothermia." Zoro answers quickly, his fists tightening in his lap.
"Well, do you have any friends that you live with? You're awful young to be on your own." The chef continues looking worried as they pull back into the parking area at the back of the Baratie.
"Arson. Look, this is a long list and I'd really rather not go through the whole thing." Zoro says jumping out of the door of the van before the thing's even parked.
"Oi kid, if... If you need anything, a place to stay or whatever then you can come here." Zeff calls quickly as he gets out of the van too.
Zoro pauses, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Sanji would never forgive me if my bad luck rubbed off on you. I'll let you know if I learn anything new." Zoro answers stiffly.
"Hey, it sounds like you've had a run of bad luck kid, but it's not your fault you know." Zeff frowns at the green haired guy.
"I might have believed you five bodies ago, but not now. I have to go." Zoro says quickly and moves to leave.
"Kid, at least take this. As a thank you, for helping Sanji." Zeff calls, holding out one of the polystyrene boxes to Zoro.
"Take it." Sanji urges Zoro. Awkwardly the green-haired teenager takes the box from the man Sanji considered a father and then shuffles away quickly.
He and Zoro walk back to Zoro's place in silence. He doesn't really know what to say. "sorry loads of people that you loved are dead?" that's not exactly helpful. Maybe it's just best to say nothing at all and let Zoro get on with it.
Zoro opens the door to his flat and strides inside, kicking the door shut behind him. Sanji eases through it and ignores the fact that Zoro technically shut the door through him. Zoro shoots him a hard expectant look, like he's daring Sanji to say something. Sanji isn't going to though, Zoro's past is none of his business, if Zoro wants to talk about it he can but Sanji isn't gonna make him.
"Come on, let's heat that up before it gets gross." He says instead and breezes past Zoro into the kitchen.
Zoro's tiny kitchen looks barely used at all but he talks Zoro through transferring his Styrofoam encased meal onto a plate that he can put in the oven to heat up. By the time Zoro's tucking into an incredible lasagna all the awkwardness seems to be behind him.
"So," Sanji smiles slowly at Zoro, "our first lead."
"Our first lead." Zoro agrees with a small tomato smeared smile.