Warnings: Violence, language, AU.
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda-san. I make no profit.
I'm gonna go ahead and call this supernatural!verse. Or maybe, Sanji's stuck in a horror movie!verse. meh
Theme 25 Horror
His heart was pounding; sweat was making tracks down his neck. He could feel the thing's breath ruffle the hair at his nape.
It started off like his usual night, walking home in the dark with a cigarette between his lips. The restaurant had closed later than usual and his car was in the shop for the week. His apartment was only a mile away, so he didn't see a reason to call a cab or a friend for a ride.
He had been minding his own damn business, lighting another cigarette, when that thing jumped out of the bushes a few feet ahead of him. It was at least five feet tall, with a large, snapping jaw and a mouth full of sharp-as-all-hell teeth. There was no way that thing was a dog; it was too fucking big.
It had taken one little step towards him, growling hungrily, with slobber dripping from its bottom lip to the cement. Sanji had immediately booked it out of there, but the thing had followed him, all four of its giant paws pounding the pavement.
Thinking back now, maybe he should've called a cab.
Sanji dove behind a car and squirmed underneath it, his breath pounding in his lungs. The beast lunged at the tight opening between the street and the bottom of the car, its jaw snapping in the general direction of his body. There was no way that thing was going to get him. No fucking way. The car was too damn heavy.
The monster growled throatily at him, one large paw sweeping out and slashing at his leg. Pain burst over the spot of contact, the wet slide of blood staining his socks and shoes. Sanji slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming so he wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention to the beast.
Sanji's head snapped to the side when he heard another pair of footsteps coming towards the car and the beast froze in its movements and backed away from the car.
"I knew I'd find you here." The new voice said almost cheerfully. The beast backed up further, snarling and shuffling its great paws against the cement. Sanji swallowed around the lump in his throat and ducked down low to the ground, so he could catch a glimpse of who was talking. All he could see were their feet, which oddly enough, were only covered in a flimsy pair of sandals.
This guy was insane.
"Okay, big guy. Playtime's over!" The man said, laughing to himself as he took a few steps closer to the monstrous creature. It reared back on its hind paws and lunged at the man, knocking him to the ground. Sanji scooted back against the curb and watched in awed horror as the man held the thing back with only his bare hands, not even breaking a sweat.
The idiot just laughed louder and swung a fist into the side of the creature's head, stunning it for a few short seconds. It gave the guy enough time to scramble out from under the monster and back onto his feet, where Sanji's vision cut off. The creature lunged again but the man stood upright, his posture twisting slightly under the beast's weight.
What the hell is he? Sanji thought in a daze, sliding a little closer to the edge of the car's bumper so he could see more of the scuffle. The creature was bearing down on the man with all of his weight and the guy was grinning like a fool.
"It's a shame I hafta kill you. You'd make a nice pet!" The man – Jesus he was thin – said lightly, kicking out against the monster's belly, and following up with a solid punch to the underside of its jaw. It growled and snapped its teeth in the man's face, its claws sinking deep into his shoulders. The pain should've been unbearable, but the crazy guy just punched the thing again.
He had to get away from them. What the hell-
Sanji jumped and banged his head on the underside of the car when a gunshot went off somewhere near him, and the thump of a body hit the pavement hard. He suddenly found himself starting into the eyes of the now dead creature, its tongue flopping out of its mouth.
There was a messy gunshot wound in the middle of its forehead, translucent light escaping around the bullet hole. Sanji breathed a sigh of relief and fell back against the pavement, his heartbeat finally slowing down.
"You can come out now." The voice startled him into bumping his head again, and Sanji hissed as he pressed a hand to his forehead. He slowly crawled out from under the car, and let the strange man pull him to his feet.
Now that he had a closer look, his savior was nothing but a lanky teenager dressed in some kind of farm attire. He wore a red vest with dull gold buttons, cut-off shorts, the sandals, and a ridiculous straw hat. The only flashy thing about him was the black and silver piece tucked into the front of his jean shorts.
"What the hell was that?" Sanji breathed out, wincing down at his leg as blood slowly oozed out of the cut on his calf. The teenager looked at the wound as well and whistled out, long and low.
"You're infected." he informed the blonde, frowning now as he reached into the fanny pack – seriously, who carried those around anymore? – strapped around his waist, pulling out a syringe filled with yellow, viscous liquid. It looked menacing in the dull light of the street lamps, but the teen was looking at it like the thing itself held all of the answers to the universe. "Hmm." The raven grunted, plucking the plastic tip off the needle and giving the syringe a tap with his finger.
"What is that?" Sanji asked, slowly backing away from the teen and almost tripping over the giant beast sprawled over the street. "What the hell is going on? Who are you and what is that monster?" he babbled, his eyes darting around for a way out, but all the only option he had was booking it the hell out of there.
The strange teen cocked his head to the side and pointed down to the beast, "That's a werewolf." he said matter-of-factly, like Sanji should've known that already. "It scratched you, so now you're infected with the virus. This," the teen jiggled the needle in his hand, "is the antidote and I need to give it to you before it's too late."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sanji barked at him. He looked back at the creature on the ground and felt a shudder go up his spine. "Werewolves don't exist! That's just a scary story you tell your friends while you're camping so they're too anxious to sleep."
"Werewolves are real! So are vampires, demons, ghosts, Gods, trolls, and faeries." The teen said adamantly, taking another two steps forward until he was hovering just in Sanji face. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to stick you with this needle so you don't turn into that." he said tightly, grabbing Sanji's arm and stretching it out.
Sanji watched as the teen pulled a long strip of rubber from the fanny pack and tied it tight around his forearm, to bring the veins closer to his skin. The blonde felt like he was about to be shot up with heroin or something.
"I don't understand. How are werewolves real?" Sanji whispered, wincing as the needle pierced his skin and the teen pushed the plunger down. It felt like ice water was being pushed through his veins; like his body was just starting to go into hypothermia.
"They don't usually bother humans, but this one was under the control of a vampire." The raven said nonchalantly, grinning up at Sanji as he pulled the needle from his skin and recapped it. He pulled the rubber strip from his arm and stuffed it and the syringe back into his fanny pack. "This is going to hurt a bit, so you might want to shove something in your mouth."
"What do you mean?" Sanji bit out.
The teen rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, revealing a silver pocket knife engraved with the name Luffy.
"Bite down on this so you don't lose your tongue." Sanji snatched the knife away and stuck it in his mouth, and the taste of copper and iron on the thing nearly made him gag.
His knight in crappy sandals grinned briefly at him, but then the pain started – immense and burning pain – and Sanji lost consciousness.
When he came to, a dark skinned teenager was hovering over him, a stethoscope hanging around his neck. He muttered something under his breath before moving out of Sanji's line of sight to check the bandages wrapped around his calf.
He was completely disoriented; his head was pounding and he couldn't shake the dizziness away. It must've been the blood loss from that creature –
Sanji bolted upright in the cot he'd been lying in, startling the small teen prodding at his wound. He tripped over the clothes on the floor and fell into the table in the center of the room, sending tools and the like crashing to the floor. The blonde sprung up to help him clean, but the minute he stood up, the dizziness intensified and he found himself sinking to the floor on legs that felt like jelly.
"Y-you shouldn't try to get up. The virus is still working its way through your bloodstream." The small teen piped up, slowly picking up the surgical instruments strewn over the floor. When he was finished, he helped Sanji back onto the cot and tucked the quilt around his chilled body.
"I thought that guy used the antidote?" he murmured, his voice scratchy from disuse. It made him wonder how long he'd been out
"He did, but -" The teen trailed off, tapping his fingers together with a nervous jerk. He looked anywhere but at Sanji as the words left his mouth. "The virus you contracted is different from the antidote I created."
Panic climbed up Sanji's throat, but all that came out was a whimper. If the virus wasn't gone, then did that mean he was going to turn into one of those things? He didn't want to go around trying to kill people hiding under parked cars.
The door on the far side of the room opened and a familiar face peeked into the room, his mouth pulled into a tight frown. He noticed Sanji was awake and quietly slipped in through the crack in the door.
"We didn't think you'd make it through the night." Sanji's savior mumbled, grabbing a chair and falling down into it. The blonde noticed the teen had stains on his shirt and crumbs along his top lip, like he'd just eaten something and couldn't be bothered to keep himself clean.
"He's not out of the woods yet, Luffy." The darker teen admonished him, reaching for the stethoscope around his neck so he could check Sanji's heart. The metal was cold on his skin, but it was welcome. "Your heartbeat is accelerated, which means the virus has already infected your organs. It'll be harder to purge from your body."
The one called Luffy – Sanji's savior – grunted and reached down to brush the blonde's bangs away from his eyes. The raven froze for a second, his expression closing off.
"His left pupil is already turning yellow, Chopper. It's too late if it's in his brain."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sanji panicked, trying to rise up on the bed but both teens held him down. "Let me go! What the fuck do you mean it's too late? Why is my eye yellow?" he yelled, struggling in their grip.
He didn't have to ask what they meant, but he was terrified. He'd only wanted to go home to sleep, but somehow he had ended up in a horror movie where werewolves were real and he was turning into one.
Luffy touched a hand to his forehead, murmuring something under his breath in a strange language. Sanji wanted to stay awake – he really did – but he found his eyes sliding shut against his will, lost to the conscious world.
Twenty-four hours later, his transformation was complete and his life as he knew it burned away with his humanity.