Gunshot.
If it weren't for Sasa's swift movements, the bullet would've made its way home in Penguin's left lung. The two Heart Pirates dropped down the ground with a loud 'thud', the girl being on top of him. She rolled off of him without a word and the dark-featured male quickly produced a pistol from his side, shooting the enemy without hesitation. Their assailant fell but quickly recovered and scuttled away with a limp. Penguin probably hit the latter on the leg.
He stood up and moved to follow until he noticed Sasa still on the ground. Thinking that she might've gotten herself hit, the male turned his focus on her an called for her name. The girl looked up at him with a grin and gave him thumbs up, signs of assurance that she was okay. Penguin sighed with relief then nodded when she reminded him of their assailant.
Running quickly and turning to a dark alleyway moments later, Penguin looked around cautiously in search for the enemy. Another gunshot sounded and he hid himself behind a pile of crates, glad that his companion didn't choose to follow after him. With the safety lock of his pistol off, Penguin darted to the side and quickly pulled the trigger, shooting and hitting the ruffian square on the chest with precision. Their assailant fell dead, a patch of crimson slowly spreading on the man's shirt. As the Heart Pirate moved to inspect the enemy's body, muffled footsteps pricked his hears and he hid himself again for precaution.
"Shit, dude's dead!"
Penguin peered through the spaces between the crates and saw two other men looking at the corpse. One was holding a sword while the other, a rifle.
"Those thugs in them boiler suits must've done this to 'im. Let's find 'em and kill-"
The man with the rifle never really finished talking as Penguin shot him on the back of his head. With his pistol's still smoking barrel, the Heart Pirate aimed his weapon at the man wielding the sword who now looked terribly shaken. The ruffian let out a primal roar and charged, only to join his dead companions as Penguin shot him, too. The pirate moved to deposit his pistol back to its holster when he noticed for the first time a red splotch on the left side of his clothes. He was hit? But there was no pain, not even a hole on his suit as an indication that he got shot.
In his mind's eye, he saw how Sasa jumped and pushed him down the ground to dodge their earlier assailant's attack, making him fully remember what happened minutes ago. Did she get hit? But she said she wasn't... The Heart Pirate cursed himself for his blundering stupidity. Of course she lied!
With a sinking feeling in his chest, Penguin rushed back to where he left Sasa, afraid of what might happen to her if he came too late. As he ran, he clutched the stained part of his boiler suit. Her blood, actually... Damn!
The captain's form met the Heart Pirate as he reached the place where he left Sasa. Trafalgar Law looked at him sternly in an accusing manner. Penguin swallowed nervously then stepped forward, about to ask when a fist greeted him, smacking him square on the face. The dark-featured male dropped down the ground, head spinning because of the surprisingly strong punch he received. He clutched his now bleeding nose and wondered how his captain managed to send a jab on his face that he failed to see it coming.
The Heart Pirate rolled on his side and saw his captain standing a few steps away from him, seemingly remaining where he stood. The captain didn't hit him? Then, who...?
Penguin looked up and saw Shachi glaring down at him with rage. The latter then bent down and roughly grabbed the collar of his boiler suit, pulling him up harshly on the process.
"Damn it, Penguin, you're supposed to protect her!"Howled the auburn haired male angrily. "If it wasn't for the captain...!"
Penguin looked away, ashamed. He failed. Miserably.
- X -
Penguin opened his eyes slowly as sleep left him in an instant. He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, wondering why the dream pestered him again. The Heart Pirate did not know what it meant the slightest, and he was eager to find out who he girl in his dream was. This time, she finally had a name.
The Heart Pirate moved and stood up, briefly checking on Shachi who was sleeping on the top bunk before making his way to the study table. He sat on the chair, flicked the lamp on, and fished for his journal in the drawer. Once more, he glanced at his crewmate to check if he was still asleep. Penguin sighed with relief upon seeing so.
Flipping through the pages in search for a blank space, Penguin couldn't help but notice the previous posts in his private journal. With a start (mainly because he was still sleepy), he found out that he had been writing the same log for five straight days. The Heart Pirate blinked and rubbed his eyes rather sleepily. This night was different, though, he reminded himself as he feebly grabbed a quill from the corner and gently dragged the bottle of ink just beside his journal. Before he could start writing, however, he heard a light groan from behind him. Penguin turned to look at the top bunk where Shachi supposedly was but he did not find his crewmate there. Alarmed, he moved to stand up from his seat but was stopped when the back of his chair collided with something.
"Ow!"
Shachi stood behind him, hopping on one foot. Penguin watched as the redhead nursed his foot, muttering a string of curses that he dared not speak when in front of the captain no matter how tough the situation was.
"I'm sorry, Shachi!"He quickly apologized and stood up. Penguin then raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on his hip. "But really, you did deserve that for sneaking up on me. You know I hated it." The Heart Pirate's voice was stern, but the gleam of amusement in his eyes betrayed it. Shachi grimaced at him then settled his injured foot down, peering over the dark-haired male's shoulder to look at the journal on the table. He scratched his head and lightly pushed Penguin aside. Penguin let him pick the journal up and read one page. It had been Shachi who listened to him when he felt the need to talk about the recurring dream in its third occurrence (well, he was always talking to Shachi, so it actually made no difference). When he noticed that the redhead was flipping through the pages not concerning about the dream, Penguin quickly snatched the journal from him and sat back on the chair. He gave Shachi a severe look when the latter snickered.
"I read romance over there," he teased, mildly annoying Penguin.
"Pff, liar. I know what I'm writing in my journal," the dark-haired male snapped rather indignantly.
Silence followed. Penguin's eyes were trained on the words written on the pages of his journal and Shachi looking down at his friend with mild worry.
It was the redhead who decided to break it. "So, wanna talk about it instead of just writing things over? You know I'm all ears." He then wriggled his eyebrows when Penguin fixed his gaze at him. "Ya know, she might just be your future..."
"No, Shachi,"Penguin said, cutting his friend off. He gave out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "It's still the same dream. No romantic feelings involved."
"Well, you told me that I got really angry at you in your dream. Maybe she's gonna be my future girl!"
The darkhaired male shook his head as a 'no', earning a pout from his friend. "The captain was angry, too, and no, she's not romantically involved with him too," he said before Shachi could even add his captain in on his ideas. "I don't know why, but you two looked like overly protective...brothers. Me, too, and every time I wake up the disappointment I'm feeling in the dream just won't leave that easy."
Shachi lowered his gaze, fully understanding what his friend meant. He didn't know why, but when Penguin was too preoccupied with that recurring dream of his, the redhead can also feel the depression. He had never dreamed of the girl Penguin was talking about and when he asked if he had seen her from before, the reply was a sad "no". Shachi asked his captain about it, without divulging his friend's affliction of course, and the Surgeon of Death replied that it was impossible to dream of something or someone a person have never seen in his past. "The face or thing is not yet imprinted in your subconscious, so there is no way you can dream of something you still haven't seen," he remembered the captain told him. The redhead looked at his somewhat distressed friend when he called his name.
"There is a difference this time, though," Penguin muttered. Shachi knelt in front of him, brown eyes searching his friend's emerald ones. To the redhead's surprise, Penguin gave him a small smile.
"Penguin...?"
"She had a name this time."
"What is it?"Asked Shachi with a smile, trying not to look to eager.
"Sasa."
The redhead feigned a grimace and shook his head with disappointment. "Of all the cute girl names out there, Penguin...!" His friend's smile widened. Shachi smiled in the end.
Well at least there was indeed a difference.
I don't know why I came up with this again. It was originally my dream (I saved Penguin and got shot! OW! XD), and I just wrote it down it Penguin's point of view.
Author's note: This one shot and the one entitled "Starting Line" are originally chapters from an alternative universe sort of fiction I was typing up in my phone. I was finding it hard to decide if I should type it up here and publish.
Oh, and 'sasa' is a dwarf bamboo found mostly in Japan.