Life

Characters: Penguin. Rating: T. Warnings: Mentions of torture.

Penguin was no stranger to pain. Even before his parents had been killed, he and Shachi had always been getting into scraps, and it had only escalated after they were orphaned. Then, of course, they'd met Law, losing horrifically to him before forming a pirate crew together, opening them up to a new world of fights where even victory could come at a painful price and the victor was judged by who was still alive, rather than the number of wounds each side obtained.

Being defeated by poisonous gas, then strung up on a wooden X and tortured for information he couldn't give? That was new, and easily threatening his pain tolerance. Seeing his brother in all but blood in the same position beside him did nothing to ease the situation; if anything it made it worse.

His wrists were not designed to bear his weight for so long – how long had it been? Penguin had lost track of time in the perpetual fog that clouded his sight yet not his mind. It could have been hours or days that he had hung there, listening to the pained groans and cries from the others, and intermittently contributing as one of Jack's nakama decreed that it was time to question him again. His burning nerves had long since passed into agony, and occasionally a noise would escape his gritted teeth without any further convincing. Beside him, he could occasionally hear Shachi's own noises of pain, filling him with a helpless rage.

A new burning began in his chest, hot and sharp and nothing like the burn of his nerves. If he didn't know better, he'd have said it was an actual fire, but that was a torture method he had yet to see their tormentors use, perhaps because the gas was likely flammable and the pirates had no wish to blow themselves up in their quest for information.

He was probably hallucinating. Either that or his nerves had decided to use a new signal to needlessly inform him that he was being tortured. Not helpful, he mentally groused. He didn't need more reminders, particularly not odd ones in yet-uninjured places. That was where his captain's vivre card was nestled snugly. He wasn't too keen on phantom pains there. It felt as if-

Oh. Gods, no. That was not Law's vivre card burning up. It was not. Penguin shut his eyes, attempting to block out the pain to feel the vivre card tucked against his skin.

The burning didn't go away. If anything, it got stronger. His captain's vivre card really was burning up. Law was in danger – Law was dying – and they were in no position to help him. Penguin had known it was likely – he knew that Law had been living for revenge only – but to feel it actually happening, with him unable to even tell anyone as his captain's life force burnt away against his chest, broke something within him.

His head was already hanging, his face shadowed by his hair. Hidden from sight, silent tears welled in his eyes and trailed down his cheeks, born of frustration and grief.

A hand fisted in his hair, forcing his head up, but Penguin simply stared forwards, unseeing.

"We broke one!" a muffled voice declared, sounding both close and so very far away. More hands grabbed at him, tugging him one way and the other, but Penguin barely felt anything, continuing to stare ahead blankly, numb to the world as meaningless words passed over him.

His captain was dying.

He missed the terrified way Shachi looked at him, and the concern on the faces of the rest of the crew.

What, then, did he have left?

I'm convinced the Heart Pirates must have had Law's vivre card (and probably intended on following it if they ever saw it flare up), even if they were probably under orders not to use it. While Bepo having the card makes more sense as the navigator, I thought it fit Penguin better in this scenario (burning fur would have been a problem). Timeline wise, we know that Jack's attack on Zou coincides with the events in Dressrosa, so if they did have Law's card, they wouldn't have seen it flare up (and likewise with Bepo's card - Nami must have seen it start to burn, but Law was a bit too occupied to Doflamingo to probably notice it and by the time he had time to look at it again Sanji and co. would have reached Zou and treated Bepo), or be in a position to do something about it if they did, as per this drabble. There's no way Law's vivre card wouldn't have flared up in Dressrosa...

Thanks for reading!
Tsari