Comfort

Characters: Law, Heart Pirates. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

Law didn't know what to expect as he finally followed Bepo's vivre card into the forest, leaving the Straw Hats to their own reunion. He'd been gone so long, were his crew even all still together? And if they were, from the state of the country and Nico-ya's assessment of when it had happened, were they still alive? His crew would have been on Zou at the time of whatever attack it was took place, and he knew Bepo too well to know he wouldn't just sit back and let his home be decimated. That his vivre card seemed intact was a small mercy; at the very least, his navigator was still alive, and in no immediate danger.

The call of "Captain!" and the large polar bear mink launching himself at him brought more relief than Law had expected, especially when he counted the entire crew standing behind Bepo, a fact confirmed by Bepo's own tearful report of "everyone's here, Captain."

The injuries his entire crew were sporting were not such a welcome sight. Several of them, Bepo included, had bandaging around their heads, while others had wrapped arms, legs, or a ripped suit implying torso injuries. Penguin and Shachi in particular drew his attention; on the surface they appeared to be less injured, but their usual enthusiasm wasn't quite there, nor was the spring in the step the two always had. He'd expected them to join Bepo in dogpiling him, but both hung back.

"What happened to you?" he asked them all, unable to keep the apology from his voice. I should have been here sooner. The uneasy glances his crew shared did nothing to placate his nerves, but in the end Bepo spoke up, as Law knew he would. It was almost the last thing he wanted to hear.

"Jack came here," the mink said, looking at the ground. "Kaido's right hand man." Law's heart skipped a beat in his chest. Kaido? He'd sent his crew to Zou because only a mink could find it, or someone with a mink's vivre card. They should have been safe from Kaido's reach on Zou, of all places, yet one of the Calamities themselves arrived? There went any plans he had of staying safely on Zou to recuperate after Dressrosa. "They were looking for someone, but they didn't find him," Bepo continued. "We helped the minks defend themselves. I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologise," Law reassured his navigator, the knot in his stomach loosening slightly. He'd feared Kaido had known his crew were there, but they'd just been caught in the crossfire. It was a lucky escape, but next time they wouldn't be so fortunate. Jack must have recognised the jolly roger his crew all wore.

"Who's got the worst injuries?" he asked, automatically stepping back into his role as the ship's doctor and activating a Room around his crew. It was shakier than normal, but Law ignored that in favour of assessing his crew's injuries more thoroughly. As one, the crew backed off and he frowned. "What are you doing?"

"What happened to your arm, Captain?" It was Penguin that spoke, but the gaze of his entire crew had focused themselves on his bandaged right arm, which was beginning to tremble from Kikoku's weight.

"It's nothing to worry about," he told them, expanding the Room further and beginning a Scan.

"Dressrosa was a week ago," Shachi piped up, frowning behind his sunglasses. "With your abilities, only a serious wound would still need bandaging a week after it happened. Even Mugiwara's injuries from Marineford only took a couple of weeks."

"I don't always use my fruit on myself," Law reminded them, although he could tell he was losing the battle. His crew could tell it too.

"You have no other injuries at all," Jean Bart rumbled, crouching down to be at a closer height to his captain. Before Law could retort that that meant nothing, Bepo reached out and tapped Kikoku lightly, dislodging her from his grip. Caught off guard, Law couldn't contain the hiss of pain as the long nodachi toppled out of his grasp. Bepo caught her before she hit the grass.

Law's Room had dissipated.

"You were saying, Captain?" Shachi asked, although there was no triumph in his voice. Law sighed and sat down on an exposed root. His crew would never let him treat their wounds now. They followed his lead, finding seats on the grass around him.

"It's healing," he allowed, gesturing for Bepo to return Kikoku. The mink wavered, torn between his captain's order and his captain's injuries, before pointedly resting the sword by Law's left arm. The message was received loud and clear and he allowed himself a fond smirk.

"What happened to it?" Penguin asked. He'd sat himself to his captain's left, and was eyeing the bandaging with an air that betrayed his desire to remove them to check the damage himself. Law knew that he'd do it, if he thought Law was lying. There was a rule in the Heart Pirates that no-one hid injuries, and while Law himself often flouted it, his crew considered it well within their rights to enforce it if they caught him.

They were getting good at catching him.

"Doflamingo cut it off," he admitted, not wanting to risk his crew's overzealous attempts to find out what happened themselves. It would do more harm than good, a fact he knew they were aware of and relied on to get him to confess to injuries of that calibre. "The users of the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi and Nui Nui no Mi reattached it."

There were various low growls from his crew, most of which promising death if they ever got their hands on Doflamingo. Law hoped the former Shichibukai never got out of Impel Down. He'd kept his crew away from him for a reason.

"Jack used poison gas, eventually," Penguin sighed, turning the conversation back to where Law wanted it. "The Minks are good fighters." Here he turned his head towards Bepo with a grin – after spending so long with a Mink, they were unsurprised at the fact. "He couldn't win, although we couldn't quite drive him out, either, so he used one of Caesar's poisons."

Law was going to kill that scientist.

"It was lucky the Straw Hats turned up when they did," Shachi picked up. "It was the day you defeated Doflamingo, and Jack had headed for Dressrosa, but by then the poison had us all. The Straw Hats saved us. Caesar removed all the poison and helped Chopper with antidotes."

Maybe Law wasn't going to kill the scientist just yet.

"Willingly?" he asked, doubtfully. The crew all chuckled.

"Kuroashi threatened to pate his heart if he didn't," Jean Bart informed him. Law couldn't help the satisfied grin that tugged at his mouth. He'd helped his crew, indirectly though it was. That thought soothed all the negativity he'd been carrying about the trade with Doflamingo failing. If everything had gone to plan…

His crew would be dead.

Never before had Law been so thankful a plan had gone so badly wrong. He leant back against an outcrop of the solid root protruding behind him, although if he was honest it was more of an exhausted slump than the casual lean it was supposed to be. The way his crew all surged forwards, once again invading his personal space to crowd around him, told him it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"We're all okay," Penguin told him quietly, actually going as far as resting a hand on his shoulder. Bepo pressed against his back, and Shachi his other side. He wasn't surprised those three had read him so easily. Being nakama for thirteen years left him an open book to them. "No-one died. We're all okay." Law let out a breath, shakier than he'd have liked, and submitted to their reassurances. There was a time when he'd have pushed them away, denying anything was wrong despite being so clearly shaken. In front of the entire crew like this, he still felt he should have done, but the physical contact helped to ground him, to prove that they really were there. That no-one had died because of his plan.

Shachi gently took hold of his injured arm, running light fingers along the bandages. He wouldn't remove them, Law knew, not when he knew what they were hiding. It was Shachi's way of reassuring himself that Law's arm really was intact, and gently probing to satisfy himself that it had been well-treated. Law let him, pulling Kikoku to him again with his left arm, partially so that Penguin could move closer if he wanted. The older man didn't, but a brief squeeze on his shoulder let him know the gesture was understood and appreciated.

While those three – the original members of his crew – knew him best, it in no way meant that the rest of his crew didn't know him. It was difficult for all twenty to reach him but somehow they managed it, with backs pressed against his legs, hands on his knees, shins, thighs, wherever they could reach. The large Jean Bart settled by Bepo, a broad hand on his back.

Law was the captain. He was supposed to be the one reassuring his crew that everything had worked out fine, but as he tugged his hat down over his eyes in silence, it was his crew comforting him.

He couldn't quite deny he needed it.

I think I died a little inside when I realised that if Law's plan had worked, the Heart Pirates (and Minks) would probably have died on Zou. Chopper and Law are good, but I don't think they'd have saved everyone without Caesar's reluctant co-operation (and their own post-Dressrosa exhaustion), and the plan didn't intend for Caesar to reach Zou. While we don't know for certain the entire crew were poisoned (I believe some of the Minks in the forest escaped), we saw Nami treating Bepo, so I don't think it's a stretch that the whole crew were there as they were all in the initial fighting.

I have a few more Zou-based ideas that'll probably appear in this series eventually. So much potential!

Thanks for reading!
Tsari