SPOOKTOBER // A V1NSMOKES ONE PIECE EVENT

WINE & DIE // SHANKS X READER ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!AU

Gunshots echoed in the abandoned mansion's third floor, along with the sound of boots on the cracked, wooden flooring. How did you even get here? It's been a solid six months since the virus began to spread, turning majority of the population into mindless, flesh-devouring zombies. One wrong move, one single misstep and you're a goner. You didn't survive all these weeks alone, you, yourself and your gun just to get infected here.

After days of just eating canned corn and an almost moldy bread, you finally managed to find a huge mansion in the woods. The garden was unkept, the withered plants signaling that the owners were likely infected some time ago. This seemed like the perfect place to loot, given its size and that the place was isolated deep in the forest.

Well, it wasn't. Because here you are now, running for your life after you ran out of the small amount of ammo you had preserved for so long. Panic takes over you as you do everything to get away from these creatures, sprinting in hopes of finding your way out. You reach the end of the hallway, and now you're facing a dark, wooden door in front of you. You hesitate for a moment, thinking twice if you really should open it or not, afraid that even worse horror await you on the other side. Seeing no better option, your hands grasp the handle, and you run trough it.

You find yourself on a stretched balcony, a good twenty metres above the ground, with your only way to run is back trough the door. But that wasn't possible now, with the zombies catching up to you, clawing at the door, ready to break trough it at any moment. You lost your pocket knife a few days ago, and you ran out of ammo back at the hallway, meaning you were now unarmed. But you needed to make an escape anyway, so you had to make a plan.

You look down from the balcony, but quickly come to the realisation that you were way too high up to jump, given that it was the third floor. If you jump down from here, you would likely break all your bones, and then you won't even be able to get away from the zombies. Maybe, just maybe, if it was from the second floor...

The sound of the three zombies on the other side of the closed door gets louder, and suddenly you hear as the door slams open, the creatures immediately noticing you. You gulp, legs shaking as you try to come up with a way to get past them. You turn around, grabbing a rusty nail from the floor, then quickly impale one of them in the head with it. The injured zombie falls to the ground, his blood splattering all over the balcony's marble flooring, slowly reaching your boots.

But now you ran out of the only weapon you managed to find, and there were still two of these creatures left. You try to back down, taking slow steps backwards. You could only hope that the rickety roof falls on them.

Just then, you hear the sound of metal slicing trough flesh, and a few moments later the zombies lay there, cut in half. You stare in shock, then up at the person who just saved your life.
"Thank y..." you start, but then notice who you are talking to. "Shanks?!" You say with a shaky voice.

You freeze at the sight of your old friend, of the same guy who was presumed dead a week after the apocalypse broke out. Of course, you knew he was stronger than that, but you couldn't find him anywhere after these news aired, making you believe that it was true. But there was no way this wasn't him, the hair, the scar, the weapon, everything matched.
"Don't stare too long sweetheart, or I might just assume you-" he doesn't finish what he wanted to say, as he feels your arms wrapping around him, embracing the man in a tight hug. He's stunned for a few seconds, but a soft smile makes its way onto his face, and he hugs you back. Well, as much as he could...
"Is this really you?" You quietly ask, your mind still trying to process the events.
"Who else would hug you like this?" He chuckles, and you two pull away. That's when you notice.
"Shanks, your arm... what happened?"

He looks down where his left hand is supposed to be, then answers.
"I got bitten there, so to stop the infection before its too late, i cut my arm off. Crazy, right?"
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry for, it wasn't you who bit me. But-" a mischevious smile takes over him, but before he can say more, you cut in.
"No, stop it. You never change, do you?" You lean on the balcony's railing, admiring as the setting sun paints the sky an orangeish hue. Shanks slowly approaches you, and mirrors your position.
"Nope, looks like not even an apocalypse can change me. But you like me this way, I know." He sighs, still smiling.

The two of you stare at the sunset for a few minutes, a comfortable silence between you.
"I found a wine cellar. And you know me, I can't just let such a good drink go to waste! Here, I took this. Want some?" He pulls out a wine bottle from under his cape, and offers it to you. You think about it for a few moments, while he opens the bottle and chugs down almost half of it.
"Here you go. I'd prefer a whiskey, but oh well." He hold out the bottle, and take a few sips.
"Thanks."