lta9
Despite Sanji’s insistent pushing on the barrier around Zoro’s home he can’t get in at all. No amount of kicking, clawing or swearing at the thing will make it budge. He’s got no idea WHAT Zoro did to put this thing up, all he can hope is that it’s not taking too much out of Zoro to keep it up. He decides that he knows when he’s beat and flies off to where Zoro works, he know that the moss head has work today so he should turn up there sooner or later.
He waits patiently, because patience is now something that he’s very good at, and sure enough Zoro does turn up. Sanji hesitates from his vantage point above the rooftop though, Zoro looks worn out, stressed and tired. He doesn’t want to piss the guy off further, nor does he want Zoro pulling the same trick twice and kicking him out of this building too. Sanji watches mournfully as Zoro’s lousy co-workers leave, no doubt after foolishly ignoring the brilliant man again.
He feels stupid about embarrassing Zoro, not that he’d intended to, but clearly Zoro took his surprise as… judgement? Mocking? Who knows. He doesn’t… feel anything for Zoro. At first he’d thought that it was because he wasn’t interested but then he thought of all the pretty ladies that he’d been interested in over the years and their memories didn’t elicit a mental reaction from him either. He could recognise in a disinterested observational way that they were pretty but he could also do that when thinking of Zoro’s honest eyes, his smart mouth and interesting piercings. It comforts him though to know that he’s not repulsed by Zoro’s reaction, and he knows that he could be, the mental image of Patty or Carne experiencing a similar thing for him makes him feel queasy. Which, considering as he presently lacks a stomach, is impressive in its own horrifying way.
It’s all tied to him not having a body. If he had then he could feel something for Zoro, and he’s sure that he would if he could. If he was still alive and in possession of his own body then he and Zoro could… well, they could do a lot. But he’s not in possession of his body, or anyone else’s for that matter.
Wait…
Hm, that isn’t a bad idea.
He looks down at the parking area in front of the shop and sees a fairly decent looking guy getting out of his car. Ghosts could possess people couldn’t they? You saw it in movies and TV all the time.
He glides down until he’s in front of the guy and gives him an assessing look. It wasn’t going to be as simple as just flying through him, after all he’d stuck his hand through Smoker and kicked through Zoro enough times to know that just doing that didn’t land you a body.
Instead he turns his body so that he’s facing the same way that this guy is and with a focused sigh he lets himself slide backwards through the air until he’s occupying the same space as this guy. He tries to think about it like putting on a coat, he thinks of it like wearing this guy.
His knees buckle from under him and he catches himself just in time with his hand on the roof of his car. He pushes himself up on shaky legs and stares. No, not his hand, not his legs or his car either. But still, a hand. He wiggles the long blunt fingers before him in disbelief, feels the skin alternately bend and stretch as he moves, he feels the steady pulse of blood rush through the living flesh at his command. A buoyant laugh escapes him. He’s alive!
He crouches suddenly and takes in the face in the car’s wing mirror, it’s not his face but he hadn’t really been expecting it to be. He touches the skin of the face that he’s wearing in amazement as a shuddering awed breath escapes real living lungs. He’s really alive again.
Zoro!
The thought snaps him up like a puppet with its strings yanked on. He needs to see Zoro! He takes a couple of fast steps until he can see Zoro slouched in the chair at the till with his feet on the counter. Oh god. Zoro is… gorgeous. Okay, not in the conventionally attractive sense, he’s no Calvin Klein model but his face is structured around defined cheekbones and deep soulful eyes. As he sees him Sanji is struck by a wave of lust that hits him and coils in the pit of his stomach like an aggressive snake. He wants to burst in there and grab Zoro by his stupid work shirt, fling him to the floor and divest him of his scruffy clothes. He wants to hold Zoro down and run his hands over his lithe naked body, he needs to feel him burning up with heat from excitement. He wants to make Zoro whine and moan, he wants to hear him beg for release, he wants to- oh boy.
He steps back and leans on the hood of this guys car whilst he tries to catch his breath. Okay, well… that answers the question about his intentions towards Zoro. But, whilst all those things sound like brilliant ideas he should perhaps… ease into this. Zoro’s not going to know its him and he doesn’t want Zoro to panic thinking that some stranger is trying to molest him or something. That would probably end badly for both of them. No, he needs to keep it in… well, in this guy’s pants for the time being.
He has to go in there though and he finds his feet walking him in there like a moth must be drawn to a flame. As he enters the shitty shop he sees that Zoro has moved from his position at the till and is instead stacking a shelf with an air of boredom so thick around him that you could cut it with a knife. Zoro has his back to him which gives Sanji a fantastic view of Zoro’s ass. Sanji’s hadn’t ever especially been an ass guy- hell, he hadn’t even until now been a guy guy but wow.
“Zoro.” A reverent voice says. Oh, it was him. His voice, well, this guy’s voice. He’d spoken without really realising it.
Zoro turns and levels him a suspicious and uncertain look, probably wondering how this stranger knows his name.
“Uh, do I know you?” Zoro asks with a frown. Oh wow, Zoro is sexy with a frown, he looks all strong and determined with his jaw set in that contemptuous way. Sanji wants to kiss him, he wants to know what Zoro’s tongue tastes like and hear the excited little gasp of surprise as it flows past Zoro’s lips onto his. His whole body is tingling with touch him, touch him, touch him. Before he can stop himself he’s stepped right into Zoro’s space and bracketed him up against the shelf. He’s a little taller than Zoro in this body and he doesn’t like that much, they’re supposed to be the same height, but he’s not going to complain about the delicious sight of Zoro’s lips parted in surprise.
“Zoro- I…” he starts trying to explain himself. But where does he start? He reaches up and touches the side of Zoro’s face, his skin is so warm to the touch. Not that he gets to experience it long as Zoro jolts away and grabs Sanji’s borrowed hand by the middle finger and pulls back until Sanji either has to go with it or have his hand snapped off.
“Ow, hey! That hurts asshole!” He snaps, snatching his hand back.
“Sanji?!” Zoro accuses angrily, scowling up into Sanji’s eyes. Or rather… this guy’s eyes.
“Zoro, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t… didn’t mean to react like… well, I didn’t mean to not react. It’s kind of hard when you’re dead to get this stuff but believe me, now that I’m alive again I’m more than-” He starts excited by the prospect of all that he can do with Zoro now that he’s not a ghost.
“You’re not alive again! You’re still dead, you’re just stealing someone else’s body!” Zoro snaps shoving him away.
“What does it matter? I’m trying to tell you about how I feel! It’s still me in here Zoro, isn’t that what’s important here?” Sanji demands angrily. It’s pure torture being in a real live body again and not being able to touch Zoro.
“No, what’s important here is that this body isn’t yours! Look!” Zoro retorts and steps forward back into Sanji’s own personal space. Zoro’s arm wraps around his waist and his whole body relaxes into Zoro as the feeling of oh God yes permeates his entire being. Zoro’s hand slides down into the back pocket of his jeans and Sanji wonders how Zoro went from fighting him to trying to grope him. That is until Zoro’s hand pulls back and he steps out of Sanji’s space again with a wallet in his hand. Zoro flicks it open angrily.
“Mr Rob Andrews, aged 23, oh look here; a picture of his wife, it matches the wedding ring on his finger. You’re just gonna steal this guy’s life? Break his wife’s heart? Look at her, how is that fair?” Zoro demands, holding the opened wallet up to Sanji’s borrowed face. Inside is the guy’s driver’s licence and a picture of him and his pretty wife at a restaurant, the guy isn’t even aware of the camera, nuzzled as he is in his lady’s neck. The pretty woman herself though is smiling up at the camera and Sanji with all the happiness and love in the world written on her face. Guilt wells up and chokes Sanji in his new throat.
“I… I don’t want to be dead. I want…” Sanji trails off, his hand tangling in Zoro’s cheap work polo shirt. He tugs at it and Zoro obligingly steps a little closer, it’s obvious what he wants and obvious as well that Zoro wants it too.
“I don’t want to be a ghost. I don’t want to be dead, not when I can see everything that I’m missing. Can’t I just-” He chokes himself off because there’s no solution to this. It’s not like he can just borrow someone else’s body either. Even if he tried to pick someone who wouldn’t be missed that person still had some kind of right to their body. Hell, Zoro himself fit the criteria for someone that Sanji might pick, someone with no one to miss them, someone with lots of free time and an unimportant job. He couldn’t do that to Zoro, so he certainly couldn’t do it to anyone else.
“Sanji, if I had the power to make you alive again I would, I’d do anything to. But I don’t, all I can do is help you find who killed you. Even if this wasn’t horribly immoral,” Zoro says gesturing to Sanji’s stolen body, “it wouldn’t stop you from decaying. It’s not fair but…” Zoro stops searching for words.
“But that’s life.” Sanji finishes for him in a hollow voice. Zoro sighs but doesn’t disagree.
“I’ll put him back where I found him. But before I go… could I?” He asks hopefully as he catches the corner of Zoro’s strong jaw with his hand and tilts Zoro’s face up, running his thumb across Zoro’s lower lip. Before he goes he would at least like one chance to kiss Zoro.
“No.” Zoro answers flatly. Sanji hates it but he understands, he doesn’t want to be kissed by some stranger, in a strange jealous way he doesn’t want to kiss Zoro via this strange married man either. But he does want to kiss Zoro, so much. He settles for snagging the back of Zoro’s neck and leaning in to press their foreheads together for a brief moment.
He drags himself quickly away from Zoro and stumbles back outside, he doesn’t look back, he’s not sure that he could resist temptation if he saw Zoro standing there watching him with sad eyes. He climbs into the guy’s car and sits down in the drivers seat. He breathes slowly out and feels himself slip free of the man whose body he’d borrowed. The guy shakes his head disorientated but apparently none the wiser. He unsteadily gets out of his car and, looking a little confused, enters the shop and distractedly buys a tub of ice cream, some peanut butter and the biggest packet of cheese Doritos that Sanji’s ever seen.
“Pregnant wife.” The guy laughs self consciously as Zoro rings him up.
“Congratulations.” Zoro says simply and shoots Sanji a quick look. Not that he needs to, Sanji feels bad enough about what he nearly just did as is.
After the guy leaves he settles down on the counter by Zoro in silence.
What can he say? What is there to say?
“I’m sorry that I exorcised you.” Zoro apologises quietly, resolutely not looking at Sanji.
“That’s what that was?” he says surprised as he looks down at the marimo.
“What did you think it was?” the psychic frowns up at him.
“I don’t know, magic?” he shrugs, he’s got no idea about this ghost stuff, Zoro’s the expert here.
“Pft, there’s no such thing as magic.” Zoro snorts.
“Said the psychic to the ghost.” Sanji retorts flatly, making Zoro snigger.
After that the two of them fall into easy chatter for the rest of Zoro’s shift. They talk about inconsequential shit, they talk about the Baratie, they talk about the customers that Zoro has and argue about who would beat who in a fight between famous people. Sanji finds himself smiling happily, dead or otherwise there’s no doubt in his mind that he and Zoro just work together. When Zoro’s different, but apparently equally shitty, co-workers come to relieve him in the morning Zoro leaves with a smile on his face and Sanji striding along invisibly at his side.
That day Zoro sleeps for a long time and lets himself be coerced into cooking a real meal again by Sanji. It’s over the duck stir fry that Zoro brings up the current topic of conversation.
“I’ve been thinking,” He starts thoughtfully.
“Don’t hurt yourself.” Sanji adds automatically, Zoro ignores him and continues anyway.
“We should go to the Baratie, to see if Zeff has your suspicious little bottle. If not then it’s likely that Creuset guy took it, which makes him our top suspect.” He finishes, clearly proud of his deduction and his plan.
“I don’t think Zeff is gonna just let you rifle through his cabinets, even if he does have it I don’t think he’d give it to you if you asked. You’re gonna have to break in if you want to try and find it there.” Sanji points out. Zeff might be willing to help with Zoro’s investigation, but he’s a private man deep down and Sanji suspects that if Zeff has in his possession one of the last things that Sanji touched before he died then he’s not going to give it up.
“I can get you in there. I used to sneak in and out of that place at night all the time, I’m the only one who ever locked up properly.” Sanji grins cheekily.
“Okay then.” Zoro nods in agreement.
That night they walk there together, long after the Baratie is usually closed. The night is still and quiet, leaving them both illuminated by the stars and the waning moon. Sanji wonders if he’s like the moon, his cycle slowly waning until he disappears completely. But he supposes not, the moon eventually reappears and over and over again runs through its cycle. Where as he’ll eventually go, or decay.
“Zoro,” He asks quietly as they walk. The green head grunts in response.
“What happens after you die?” he asks with trepidation.
“I’m assuming you mean after the ghost bit?” Zoro says with a raised eyebrow at him.
“Ha ha Mr. Pedantic. Yes, after this. When I turn into shiny light and vanish like Usopp did, what happens then?” Sanji clarifies with a roll of his eyes, God Zoro is so annoying sometimes.
Zoro shoves his hands awkwardly in his pockets at this and looks up into the night sky. He seems to study the stars and the moon himself for a few long moments before beginning to answer.
“Honestly? I don’t know. No one’s ever come back to tell me. But, if you really did see Robin then there’s something after this. A next life maybe, who knows?” Zoro muses wistfully.
“Hm, I wouldn’t have had you down for the type to believe in reincarnation, that kind of thing never made sense to me. I mean, there are more people alive now than there used to be. Besides, I think with your selfless behaviour you’d probably go to heaven.” He smiles at the marimo who for a split second looks touched before his face splits into a sneaky grin.
“That’d be nice, but it’d get boring for a while without you there.” He says smugly, Sanji’s eyes widen at that.
“Did- did you just imply that I’m gonna go to hell? You shitty bastard! I’m gonna kick your ass!” He screeches and chases after the manically laughing Zoro.
The psychic probably looks like an escaped lunatic, running down the road away from no one and laughing to himself, but Sanji doesn’t care how this looks because Zoro is happy and Sanji is too for the moment.
Zoro isn’t happy however when he sees Sanji’s sneaky entrance to the Baratie. He doesn’t know what the guy is complaining about, all he has to do is climb the fence, balance off of the top for a moment before jumping on to the very edge of the conservatory roof, shimmying over to flick the window open and then smearing his foot off of the wall to get the traction to haul himself into the building. Sanji’s done it a million times, it’s not even hard.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Zoro gapes. Sanji’s already explained the simple method of getting into the building but it’s just left Zoro looking at him like he’s got two heads or something. Sanji supposes it might be a practice thing, he’s done it a million times so he can get in there almost on autopilot, but Zoro’s completely new to this. Even if he makes it he’ll probably be as loud as all hell and wake Zeff, which is never a good idea.
“Hey,” He says as the idea hits him, “I could get in there!”
“Great for you, but I’m the one who needs to get in there.” Zoro responds in a flat unimpressed voice.
“No, stupid. I mean that I could get in there as you, possess you I mean.” He adds excitedly.
“Promise to give me back? And to keep your hands to yourself?” Zoro asks levelling him a suspicious look. Sanji feigns outrage at the accusation but now that Zoro’s mentioned it a chance to get his hands on the man’s body is appealing in more ways than one. But, alas, they have bigger fish to fry so he nods his agreement.
Zoro gives a resigned groan and waits. Just as before Sanji tries to back into Zoro’s space and occupy the same space that he does and reuses the mental analogy of sliding on a piece of clothing. He slips into Zoro’s form far easier than he had the other guy and in a way that suggests is nothing to do with practice. He almost feels like he belongs there, but equally a large part of him is insisting that he shouldn’t be doing this at all. That part of him wants this to be over quickly so stealthily he climbs the chain link fence and hops across the rooftop and off of the wall, through the still unlocked stairway window in the Baratie. He lands gracefully and quietly and slides the window shut behind him.
He shimmies his way out of Zoro’s body and isn’t surprised when Zoro’s legs go a little weak before his own auto-pilot kicks back in with Sanji’s absence. The green-head shakes his head to disperse the disorientation before following Sanji’s lead down to the kitchen.
Sanji guides Zoro over to where they keep the torch in case of power cuts, helpful also for night-time break-ins. Zoro swings the beam of the torch across the clean, glittering kitchen. Everything is put away for the day and the place is pristine, it makes Sanji’s heart a little sore to see it and to think of the others coming in here tomorrow to cook and the fact that he won’t be joining them.
“Where would Zeff keep it?” Zoro asks in a hushed whisper as he creeps across the kitchen and curiously opens a cabinet. Although Zeff is asleep above them they don’t want to wake him up, so they have to be quiet.
“I’m not sure, we keep the spices over here mainly.” Sanji suggests in his own whisper, although no one but Zoro can hear him.
He leads Zoro over to the spice rack, filled as it is with a staggering variety of spices and herbs. It’s mounted on the wall, and though each cook usually takes enough for what they’re doing when cooking, this is where everything is stored at the end of the day. The beam from the torch slides over all the assorted bottles and jars but none of them are Sanji’s black bottle from the competition.
“Maybe his desk?” Sanji suggests and slides through the locked door into Zeff’s office. He can’t see all that well in the dark but Zeff was always very clean and militaristically minimal with his spaces, Sanji doesn’t need much light to see that the bottle isn’t there either.
“The fridge?” Zoro mumbles to himself and opens the wide door to the refrigerated room.
“Zeff wouldn’t keep it in there, shitty-moss-head.” Sanji chides him, Zoro is lucky that the door didn’t squeak horribly when he opened it, it always used to unless someone had opened it recently.
“What is it with you and calling people shitty cook? It’s always shitty-this and shitty-that, get some new words.” Zoro shoots back under his breath.
“Don’t you have a safe where Zeff might have kept it?” Zoro asks, lighting Sanji in the glare of the torch and making the cook squint.
“Sure, this way. Open that cabinet door.” He instructs. Zoro does so and with a little moving around of a flour sack Zoro comes to the secret place where they keep the safe. Sanji reads him off the combination out of memory and Zoro is just about to pull the handle open when they both hear a distinctive metal clicking sound. Zoro freezes but Sanji turns to look.
Zeff towers behind them both, he’s got a sawn off shotgun pressed into the back of Zoro’s neck threateningly.
“Stay still, green thief.” Zeff growls.
“I’m not stealing.” Zoro says, slowly raising his hands.
“I… I forgot to mention that he can walk like a ninja sometimes.” Sanji confesses, earning him an angry sideways scowl from the marimo. As he realises that if the fridge didn’t squeak when it opened then it probably meant that someone had indeed opened it recently and that someone might have been Zeff.
“You’re in front of my safe, about to open it no less. Turn around.” Zeff orders, jabbing Zoro in the back of the neck. Zoro winces but complies, turning slowly to face Zeff.
“I was trying to find the bottle that Sanji had on him at the competition, the… the black one? With herbs and stuff in it. Do you, I mean… did he give it to you?” Zoro questions shakily, his eyes trained on the barrel of the gun pointed in his face.
“You couldn’t have asked me for that?” Zeff presses irritably.
“Well, you could have lied!” Zoro says flustered, still staring at the gun instead of Zeff.
“Why would I lie? Do you think I did it, brat?!” the old man demands angrily.
“No!” Zoro yelps, clearly feeling threatened. Sanji doesn’t blame him, if Zeff shot right now Zoro would be a goner.
“Well, since you brought it up… did you?” the moss-brained moron asks stupidly.
“WHAT?! ZORO!” Sanji yells angry at both Zoro’s audacity to ask his old man such a thing and his stupidity to rile a man holding a gun to his face.
“No.” Zeff grits out dangerously.
“I didn’t think so but, you know, you should always… check. Um.” Zoro flounders.
“How did you even get in here anyway? The door is locked.” The old man asks suspiciously.
“Look, Zoro, you’re terrible at this. Why not just tell him the truth?” Sanji sighs, trying to be the voice of sanity here. Zoro glances to his side at Sanji is a horrified ‘are you stupid’ sort of way. Sanji supposes that Zoro has a point, the last person he tried to tell threw a phone at him and had her guards shoot at him, probably not wise to pull on someone with a shotgun in their hand.
“I got in through the window, Sanji told me how. Uh, before he died I mean.” Zoro says unconvincingly with a nervous grin.
“I find it pretty hard to believe that Sanji told you how to break into his home. Who are you really?” The old man questions him, clearly displeased.
“Zoro! Just tell him, you’re sounding more and more suspicious by the second!” Sanji insists. At this rate Zoro is going to get himself shot!
“You- you know who I am. I told you last time.” Zoro lies obviously. Zeff’s eyes narrow, he doesn’t like liars as Sanji well knows.
“You can thank me for saving your life later, idiot.” Sanji snaps and sides sideways into Zoro’s body, again it’s far easier to do so than it was to the man outside Zoro’s shop.
“What?!” Zoro stammers out just as Sanji takes control. He stumbles a little, but his wariness about making the heavily armed Zeff jumpy keeps Zoro’s legs straight under Sanji’s control.
“Look, I’ll tell you what’s going on. Just… get that gun a little further away, yeah?” He says with calmness that he doesn’t feel. What if Zeff loses his temper and does shoot Zoro? Then they’d both be dead and he’d be completely boned.
Zeff looks at him suspiciously but obligingly pulls the gun a little closer to himself and out of Sanji’s borrowed face.
“You’re not going to like this old man, but just let me explain and I can prove to you that I’m telling the truth.” Sanji says slowly. The old geezer raises an eyebrow in a gesture that Sanji over the years has learnt to interpret as ‘go on but I’m not making any promises’.
Sanji huffs a breath in and out, even in his panic he’s able to relish the feeling of having lungs again, he needs to think about how best to explain this to Zeff.
“Zoro is psychic, he sees dead people. The reason that I’m telling you that Zoro sees them is because I’m not him, I’m Sanji. This idiot couldn’t lie to save his life and I’d rather you didn’t shoot him so I kind of… borrowed his body. It’s me old man, it’s Sanji.” Sanji rushes out, he’s grateful that Zeff seems shocked enough to have let him get through all of that. The shock on his face quickly turns to rage though and the sawn off shotgun is quickly jabbed back into Sanji’s, or rather Zoro’s, face.
“You sick bastard, I oughta-” Zeffs growls dangerously low, his finger wrapping around the trigger of the gun threateningly.
“I can prove it! Let me cook! If you’re gonna shoot me then what difference does it make if you give me ten minutes or not?” Sanji bursts out desperately.
Figuring that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than wait for permission he decides to act. In two quick strides he makes his way over to the kitchen counter that he’s spent so many hours at and starts pulling ingredients out. His borrowed hands fly over his ingredients making the dish that Zeff used to make him when he was kept awake with nightmares about his childhood traumas and the dish that when he was older he used to make for himself to chase nightmares away. It’s a particular spiced hot rice pudding, it’s a recipe never written down anywhere, just altered and perfected over many sleepless nights between the two of them.
He has to focus a little more than usual in his new body as Zoro’s fingers aren’t quite as nimble and delicate as his own, but he knows his skills inside out and he knows his dish. He tries desperately to force every ounce of himself into what he’s making because if he can’t convince Zeff that he is who he is then Zoro is going to get a shotgun to the back and there’s no overstating how awful that would be. Zoro’s saving his soul, the least that Sanji can do in return is save Zoro’s life.
Sanji chances a glance over his shoulder at his old man, Zeff isn't pointing the gun at him anymore, which is a good start. In fact the gun is hanging limply and forgotten at Zeff's side. The old man's face is a picture of anguish though, so much so that Sanji takes his pan off of the burner to properly look at him.
"Old man?" Sanji asks uncertainly, his voice sounding strange through Zoro's deeper timbre. Zeff lets out a choked gasp and drops the gun fully, he stumbles back unsteadily.
"Old man!" Sanji exclaims catching his shoulder and guiding Zeff to lean against the adjacent counter before he falls clean over. Zeff is shaking under his fingers and staring at him in something close to horror.
"What are you doing here eggplant?" Zeff asks brokenly.
"I thought you'd be pleased to see me, shitty old geezer." Sanji grumbles as the relief that he’s convinced him spreads under Zoro’s skin. Still, he didn't really know what he'd expected from the old man as this hadn't been planned, but he would have hoped for a tearful hug or a joyful exclamation at his return. After all, didn't people always have things that they wished they'd said to the deceased? Especially when they'd died unexpectedly like he had.
"I'm not pleased! You're dead!" Zeff snarls furiously at him.
"I'd noticed that." He says rolling his eyes at Zeff. Zeff kicks him sharply in the shin for that, making him swear and grab the battered limb. Poor Zoro is gonna have one hell of a bruise there tomorrow.
"You're supposed to be somewhere else, in a better place. Not hanging around on earth like a bad smell!" Zeff snaps. The old man seems to deflate at that and presses the heels of his palms into his eyes with a shaky breath. Sanji realises with a terrible start that Zeff must have been comforting himself that even if he was dead he was happy in heaven or something.
"I'm trying to get there, that's why Zoro and I were here tonight. We're trying to piece together who killed me." Sanji says gently as he rests a comforting hand on his old man's shoulder.
Sanji turns back to his cooking, feeling uncomfortable at having this much talk of feelings with his old man, who he'd always loved deeply but had an incredibly stoic relationship with. He stirs the gently heating dessert in the pan and adds a sprinkle more of cinnamon whilst he's at it.
"Is there anything that I can do? To get the bastard that killed you?" Zeff asks after a moment.
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Zoro, he’s the expert. He helps people like me all the time you know, dead people I mean.” He clarifies awkwardly and stirs a little more.
“We think Creuset did it. My herbs were missing and from the footage of the show he became really twitchy when I brought them out, Zoro thinks that he might have suspected I was cheating. Maybe he stole them and killed me. I can’t remember.” He explains slowly as he serves up the pudding into two bowls. Zoro’s stupid body could probably use the calories anyway.
“I’m sorry by the way.” Sanji adds as he slides Zeff’s bowl towards him.
The old man looks up at him with a puzzled expression; and since Sanji can guess that it’s not the dessert he’s confused about he’s going to take a wild leap and guess that his last statement confused the man.
“You warned me before the competition about not being too cocky, and I didn’t listen. So I’m sorry, not that it makes up for-OW!” Sanji yelps as Zeff kicks him again.
“You didn’t do this! Don’t you dare be sorry or I’ll kick your ass right into the afterlife myself!” Zeff orders fiercely.
“OKAY! Shit, that hurt old man!” Sanji retorts rubbing Zoro’s ever more painful shin.
Zeff flashes him a warning look anyway and goes about eating his pudding in manly silence. With a grumble about shitty old geezers Sanji joins him. Sanji muses over the fact that both Zoro and the old man have insisted that his death wasn’t his fault. He knows that really, if he’d have leapt out of the window it’d be his fault but he didn’t. He knows that it’s really the fault of whoever pushed him, which is likely to be Creuset, but it doesn’t change the fact that if he’d behaved differently or not joined the competition then he’d probably still be alive. It might not be his fault but he could have done something to stop it.
“So. Where did you find this Zoro kid?” Zeff asks eventually, his moustache twitching in the darkness of the kitchen.
“He found me actually.” Sanji answers, deciding to neatly sidestep the issue that until Zoro had walked by and… untethered him or whatever from the place that he’d died, he’d been stuck there. That’d probably upset Zeff to hear.
Still, he thinks with a smile, Zoro didn’t have to help him but he did.
“You’d actually really like him, you know? When he stops being so awkward he’s actually pretty cool to be around. He’s smart and kind, he’s really honest and fair about people, he’s annoying as hell though and he’s even more sarcastic than I am.” Sanji grins into his dessert. Zoro irritates him endlessly but it’s in a really weirdly great way, it’s fun to piss him off and fun arguing with him.
“I don’t believe this, you’re dead and you’re still being an idiot.” Zeff says in a voice that’s edging more towards his usual affectionate despair about anything that Sanji does.
“What?” he blinks looking up at the old man.
“You. You’re being stupid again. Just like you always are with girls, you act like a wet noodle around them; and you’re doing it about this boy too.” Zeff accuses, pointing his dessert spoon at Sanji like a weapon.
“I- I’m not!” Sanji denies, his cheeks heating. And, okay, just because he does like Zoro doesn’t mean that he wants his old man teasing him about it!
Zeff makes a dismissive noise through his moustache, leaving Sanji to his burning cheeks and his dessert.
They finish their dessert quietly but as Sanji goes to put his bowl in the sink a sense of light-headedness comes over him, he feels as if he might faint. His, or rather Zoro’s, legs stumble under him and he just manages to catch himself on the lip of the sink with his palm.
“I guess there’s only so long that I can do this for.” He says weakly as Zoro’s legs fold uncooperatively under him. He tries to force himself to stand but Zoro’s body is having none of it. Zeff is at his side right away, his face a picture of concern and questioning.
An idea occurs forcefully in Sanji’s mind and he grabs Zeff urgently by the sleeve. He looks up into Zeff’s old eyes and tries to force all of the urgency that he can into his voice, he needs Zeff to understand how important this is.
“Promise me that you’ll take care of Zoro, he needs a family, Zeff. He needs the Baratie, just like I needed it, just like you needed it.” He pleads, clutching the old man’s arm. Zeff stares at him wide eyed but nods sharply all the same.
Zoro’s body shudders around him and for a second he feels unattached from it, as if it’s slipping from him. He’s being forced out of Zoro’s body in the same way that an infection might be. He snaps back into place but when he does he can’t feel anything below his- Zoro’s, waist.
He rests his head against Zeff’s collarbone, against the chef’s whites that he’s always associated with the man. Zeff has his arm around him, as always seeming to understand him without needing telling or needing words to express that understanding. They’ve never been big on words but perhaps now of all times they need them.
“I- I love you old man. You’re a father to me. Th…thank you.” He manages as his throat chokes up with emotion. He needs to tell Zeff this, he needs to say it.
Zeff says nothing for a second until Sanji hears him sniff quietly.
“My boy.” Zeff says simply, holding the back of Sanji’s head with a shaking hand. And that’s all he needs to say.
Zoro’s eyes fill with tears and Sanji finds it an immense relief to finally be able to cry. He sobs into Zeff’s chef’s clothes and cries in gratitude and love, in love and loss.
Zeff’s chin touches the crown of Sanji’s head and Sanji feels a single warm, wet tear slide down his neck.
Zoro’s body judders again, like a car engine starting and then Sanji feels nothing. He’s floating in the air behind Zoro’s body, which is lying limp on the floor and in Zeff’s arms.
He feels nothing, just coldness and emptiness. His gaze though is drawn to something that wasn’t there before, Zoro. Or rather… a sort of see-through version of Zoro. It’s Zoro’s… ghost. Zoro is staring down at his body with an expression that Sanji can’t read, something between confusion and horror.
Panic clutches at his soul, surely he’s not killed Zoro has he?
“Zoro!” Sanji yelps, reaching up and grabbing Zoro’s hand. He actually makes contact this time and Zoro feels as solid as the world had when he was alive. Zoro startles and looks down from where he hovers in the air to Sanji.
“You-!” Zoro starts, his eyes wide as he reaches suddenly for Sanji. But whatever it was that he was going to say and whatever it was he was going to do Sanji will never know. Zoro suddenly blurs to the left, as if he was painted and smeared by an artist’s hand, and all that makes up Zoro snaps back into his body. Zoro’s unconscious form seems to gasp slightly and then relax.
Zeff strokes a hand through Zoro’s hair after a moment and looks down worriedly at the unconscious young man before carefully picking him up and carrying him upstairs, leaving a shell-shocked Sanji to follow.