Gunslinger of Eridu (Zenless Zone Zero x Male Reader)

Teaser

The scene opens up to the needle of a record player lowering itself onto a record inside of a jukebox, smooth toons, reminiscent of the blues, filling the air soon after. The scene changes to show a man pouring himself a drink at a bar, the amber liquid filling a small glass while a hand cannon with a spade motif is seen resting next to it. He takes a swig before turning his attention to the camera.

The man's outfit could be considered western in taste, if you were to ask anybody. His outfit consists of leather pants, boots with spurs, leather vest with a plain undershirt and a metal chest plate over it, leather gloves, metal vambraces, a leather gun holster with a skull belt buckle and a hat that would shield his eyes from the sun. What brings this outfit together is the red cloak with white markings that is draped over his shoulders and trails behind his back paired with a red bandanna that would cover his face.

"Okay, so I'm in this super boring meeting, about something," the man starts off, "I don't know, wasn't paying attention. Then BOOM!" he exclaims, using his hands to emphasize the 'boom'. The scene briefly shows a flashback where he and a group of others are knocked back by an explosion. Ethereals, monsters of stone with heads that resemble that of a blackhole, reveal themselves and roar towards the camera. The man and his group spring into action, with him shooting the hand cannon seen earlier while others shoot or bash the ethereals away. "It was like an ugly contest where everyone was a winner," the man voices over before the scene changes back to him in the bar.

"This one dude was all, 'RAWR!' so I shot him, 'Pew!" he does a finger gun motion as he makes a gun sound, the scene changes back briefly to the past showing an ethereal being launched back in sync with the sound. "Then I shot this other one, 'Pew!" Quick cut back to the past as another ethereal goes flying. "Shot a couple extra guys just to be safe, 'PEW TSH DSH" Three shots of the past go by in quick succession with each sound effect, each with an accompanying ethereal. As the last ethereal goes down the shot lingers on the man and his group as they brace for another wave.

"I did- I did a lot of shooting, if I'm being totally honest..." The camera cuts back to the man at the bar where he takes another swig of his drink before continuing with his story. "Then, *explosion sound*" he uses his hands as a way to show what happened. The scene fades back to the past to show a larger, more armored, ethereal bursting through a store with a roar. A young woman with silver hair and green clothing dodges out of the way just in time before the ethereal smashes its fists to the ground, where she stood a moment prior. "They destroyed my favorite store!"

For the last time, the scene changes back to the present with the man. "Second favorite, there's that spicy ramen shop- I'm getting side tracked," the man stops himself before he can go on a side tangent. "Look, long story short, I get busy. And I'm thinking, 'I've got this.' You know when you're in that, you go, 'I got this!' But man, I so did not have it," the man finishes off while giving the bar a knock with his knuckles. He looks over to who he was sharing his story with, the camera changing to show that it was a robot sweeping around the bar with a broom, the jukebox still playing behind it. The robot blinks its optics before resuming with its sweeping duties. The man gives a small sigh as he drums his fingers on the bar. "Guess you had to be there..."

Suddenly, a bullet whizzes by and hits the jukebox, startling the sweeping bot. An explosion goes off a moment later and the wall next to the jukebox crumbles down. The explosion shook the entirety of the bar but Y/N was unfazed. The view changes to show the entirety of the bar, all but a ruin, as a battle happens outside of it, people rushing about batting ethereals. The sweeper bot slumps its shoulders before moving to the crumbled wall to clean it up. The man finishes off his glass before grabbing the bottle and chugging that down as well. He finishes with a content sigh as he sets the empty bottle back down on the bar, along with some cash. "Welp, better get back to it," he announces to the bot before getting up from the stool and pulling up his red bandanna to cover his face. He grabs his hand cannon, appropriately named 'The Ace of Spades,' and walks towards the action.

The scene changes to show the man walking and stumbling a little from a stray explosion, the area he's currently in filled with chaos. Nearby, a woman with pink hair, in questionable clothing, wielding a suitcase-like weapon shouts to the man. "Y/N! Any day now!"

The man, now named Y/N, gives a playful sigh. "Jeez Nicole, guy has one drink! I'm coming!" Y/N the picks up his pace and shoots Ace at the oncoming group of ethereals.

Honestly, I've wanted to do a Zenless Zone Zero story for a while now, I just couldn't come around to a solid idea for the MC. At first, it was a cyborg ninja, a mercenary who talked too much, then a wondering swordsman. Finally, I came to this. A gunslinger! You can thank both the recent update to ZZZ and Remnant 2 for the idea. Also yes, this was based off of the 'Last Call' teaser from Destiny 2. I think it works well for introducing both the story and the MC! Anyways, let me know what you all think of this. Cheers!