Character(s): Shachi
XIV
"Just one shot? Not as tough as you thought you were, huh?"
A small man crouched next to a still body, poking it experimentally with the barrel of his gun. His lips were parted slightly and his eyes were wide behind films of tinted glass. The corpse stared up at him, face eternally set in an expression of surprise as rivulets of blood trickled like thick honey from around the bullet lodged on his forehead.
"But didn't you say you were gonna kill me with your bare hands?"
His mouth formed a smile around the words he uttered. The thrill of the fight was dying now, and in its place, all that was left was bliss. He wanted to laugh out loud, stand over his fallen enemy, and throw an underhanded kick or two at him, but he stopped himself.
He wouldn't go that far. Even if holding his own in a fight and winning them and killing anyone who had thought he was easy pickings made him feel so very strong, he wasn't so full of himself as to disrespect the dead. After all, their deaths granted him that happy little feeling of being above them, even for just a while – that feeling that the mere thought of in days long past made his insides twist in deep-rooted jealousy of all the things, all the basic human things, he thought he would never have.
"Well then," Shachi said out loud to his still and silent companion as he stood and hid away his weapon. "That was fun, but I really need to go now." He paused as he pulled his hat low over his face, then grinned at the lack of a response. "See 'ya."
A/N: It doesn't have a very clear location, does it? Uh, let's see... They're in a secluded and closed-in space in the more sleepy hours of the afternoon, probably some sort of warehouse at the docks. Yeah, let's go with that.
How the fight started? Anyone's guess is as good as mine. I just wanted to write the aftermath. ^^;
I confess I don't see the Heart Pirates as just a happy little crew that overly adores its captain. They look shady so I indulge in the theory that they have something to hide. I mean, why not? Law worked with this 'underworld' so what are the chances they might also be involved in it somehow? (Although it remains to be seen whether or not he was a pirate back then...)
EDIT: [4-24-13] Version 2 finished
REVIEWS REPLIES:
To 10th Squad 3rd Seat, CherishCherries & Guest.124:
Thank you for the reviews. :) I have an affinity for Shachi, but I will try to have something similar for the other crewmates, too.