The Curse (Shanks X Mihawk)

Chapter 5: Hidden Identity

4 days remaining until it was the night of the full moon. Mihawk was slightly anxious, fearing that someone might come at the wrong time to witness his Vampire self. It'd be bad if he accidentally killed another person.

Because he couldn't control himself when the curse took place, Mihawk usually woke up unaware of what he has done. Sometimes he was lucky to find himself lying on the ground with nothing around him. But other times, he woke up covered in blood, with dead corpses of animals and humans around him. It wasn't something people would be so happy to see first thing in the morning. At first he'd vomit at the sight of them, but slowly he grew up getting adjusted at the horrible sight. Wasn't exactly the greatest accomplishment though.

Every night, Mihawk's symptoms got worse. He had a chest pain every minute of the night, along with the slight red glow of his mark. He also had craving of blood more often, causing him to prey on animals that lived on the island. At this point, anyone could clearly tell that Mihawk was a Vampire. There was no hiding from that.

Meanwhile, Shanks was slowly making his way to where Mihawk was. He thought about his decision about going to him over and over again, but couldn't fully convince himself that what he was doing was right. Maybe the real reason why Mihawk left was because he wanted privacy - go away for a while after being around a crowd of people asking to fight him everyday. But something in his mind told him that that wasn't it. It was definitely something else, but Shanks was unsure of what it was.
Whatever it was, it was making Shanks feel uneasy.

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For 3 days, Mihawk spent his time in daylight to familiarize himself with the island. Small but lively with varieties of animals and plants, this island was perfect for hiding out during the full moon. There was no sign of civilization and there would be no point in people visiting the island, making it much safer for Mihawk. Still, he didn't know if anyone would come by during his stay, so Mihawk stayed low hidden under the large leaves of the trees in the forest, watching out for anything suspicious in the shores. He spent his first 3 days carefully watching out for himself.

On the morning of the fourth day, Mihawk walked deep into the center of the forest to get away from the shore as far as possible. The forest was a great hiding place with multiple levels of thick leaves blocking out most of the sunlight. Since he had great vision, it wasn't really that big of a deal to be in the dark. He just hoped that the night would pass like any other nights.

Shanks saw the faint outline of an island as he saw the sun rest just over the horizon. It was almost nightfall, but he finally made it to where Mihawk was. But what would he say to the swordsman when they meet? That he secretly stalked him with the Vivre card? No, that would creep him out. Maybe just saying he got bored of the island would do. But as he got closer and closer to the island, Shanks felt like something was wrong. It was as if his brain was in a panic mode, warning him that there was something dangerous up ahead. He didn't know what, but he knew that his body didn't lie when it came to this kind of stuff. It did save his ass in the past, and it was definitely something he shouldn't be ignoring. But knowing that Mihawk was on the island was the only reason why he kept going. He had to know what the hell was going on.

When he finally landed on the shore of the island, the sun was almost gone from the sky. There was a reddish glow in the water, indicating that the sun was still there, but it slowly diminished, allowing the moon the show.

Following the Vivre card, Shanks walked towards the direction of the forest while taking in the surroundings. Why would Mihawk be on an island surrounded by trees and animals like this instead of being in a city? Well whatever it was Mihawk's decision, so there was no point in wondering about that anymore. Resuming his search for the swordsman, Shanks walked deeper into the forest. It was extremely dark, since not even the slightest bit of moonlight made it through the thick roofs of the forest. Because of that, Shanks couldn't even see where the Vivre card was pointing to. He was on the verge of giving up when he heard a scream that sent chills through his body. Mihawk.