Worry

Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

There was something unsettling about the atmosphere aboard the Polar Tang as they sailed away from Zou. The crew were quieter and Law knew something had happened that they weren't telling him. Subtle probing had been unsuccessful, telling him that he was being deliberately kept in the dark. Usually he would leave it be, respecting his crew's privacy (and the fact that a crew-wide secret normally meant they were plotting something), if it wasn't for one small fact.

Neither Penguin or Shachi, the most unusually subdued of his crew, had turned up for the once-over health check Law had requested. Many of his crew had been reluctant, going as far as to insist he didn't use his fruit (and all looking pointedly at his bandaged right arm as they did so), but they had all eventually allowed him to see their wounds from Zou. As they'd all been treated by Tony-ya, Law was unsurprised to see that they had all been treated efficiently and were healing up well. Bepo and Jean Bart were worse than most, a fact that bothered Law but he didn't press. They, at least, were still behaving normally.

Law didn't ask or expect his crew to tell him everything (how could he when he liked to keep many of his own secrets close to his chest), but one thing he would not allow was hiding injuries, leading him to enter the quarters shared by Penguin and Shachi early in the morning as they were getting ready for the day.

The startled flurry of movement as he was noticed, the pair of them fastening their boiler suits in hurried unison, concerned him and he shut the door behind him, leaning against it to prevent them slipping out.

"Captain?" Shachi asked, fiddling with a sleeve nervously.

"What are you doing?" Penguin demanded. Law stared him down in silence for a few seconds, taking advantage of the fact that neither had put on their hats (and shades in Shachi's case), making reading their faces much easier. They looked defensive.

"Neither of you have been to see me for your check-ups," he reminded them, crossing his arms. He didn't like the stifled flinch from Penguin. "I know you two are hiding something and I won't force you to tell me," he continued, hoping to pacify them. Seeing two of his oldest nakama eyeing him as if he was the threat hurt. "But you know the rule about injuries. Let me check them."

"They're healing fine," Penguin told him bluntly. "Chopper did a good job, and you taught us enough to care for them by ourselves." Law froze. He hadn't entertained the prospect that their injuries would tell him what had a sombre mood tainting the crew, but that was the picture Penguin's words painted. After all, it wasn't like he didn't know they were injured. He sighed, closing his eyes and fighting the urge to Scan the pair of them. He'd told them he wouldn't force them to tell him what they were hiding, and he had no intention of going back on his word.

"So you won't let me see for myself?" he asked, trying to hide his concern. From the way they looked at each other, he hadn't succeeded.

"Captain," Shachi breathed. "What's wrong?" Law abandoned his post by the door and slumped onto Penguin's bunk.

"I left you on Zou because I thought it was safe," he started, lacing his fingers together in front of him. "But I nearly lost you. Everyone got hurt and now you two, who have been my nakama longer than everyone else except Bepo, are hiding something related to your injuries." He gritted his teeth and looked at his clenched hands, the DEATH tattoos standing out starkly against the white knuckles. "You're concerning me."

If the two men in front of him were anyone else, save Bepo, he would never have let that admittance pass his lips. But these two had seen him at his worst, recovering from Cora-san's death, and struggling with the nightmares of Flevance. Were they dying too? Was he going to lose more of the few that had pushed past his walls?

The mattress sank as two bodies joined him, one either side, and wrapped an arm around him. Law looked up to see the gentle, comprehending, faces of Penguin and Shachi beside him.

"It's not serious," Penguin told him. "We're not dying." He didn't promise, which Law was thankful for. The last person that had promised he wouldn't die had died almost immediately afterwards, a fact Penguin was well aware of.

"We'd go to you for help if we thought we were," Shachi added. "We don't plan on leaving your side."

"On the topic of scaring people, though…" Penguin continued, reaching inside his boiler suit to withdraw a vivre card. "How do you think it felt when this started burning?" Law's own vivre card, then. He didn't have a response for that. "It was after the poison gas, when I-" Penguin faltered for a split second. "I couldn't move. Your life was burning away and I couldn't do anything!" Law grimaced. He'd forgotten his vivre card had been in Penguin's possession while he was at Dressrosa.

Shachi started laughing hollowly, causing both Law and Penguin to jump and stare at him.

"We're all idiots, aren't we?" the ginger chuckled humourlessly. "Worrying each other when we were trying to do the opposite."

"Shachi-" Penguin began, but was cut off by his nakama.

"How about a trade, Captain?" he continued. "We'll let you check our injuries if we can give you a check-up ourselves." Penguin sighed and cuffed the ginger around the head, although there was no malice in the action.

"Don't go saying things like that without asking me first!" he complained. Law remained silent, considering it a simple enough trade but not wanting to coerce Penguin if he was truly against it. The oldest sighed again. "Fine. But Law first." Shachi's hopeful eyes turned to him, and Law let a small smile escape.

"Sounds like a fair trade," he agreed. He was fully healed, aside from his arm, but letting them see for themselves was a small price to pay to reassure himself about the health of two of his oldest and closest nakama.

Agreements made, Shachi all but dragged him to the infirmary (he'd offered to Shambles them but they shot that suggestion down before he even finished speaking) where he and Penguin gave Law a thorough check over, finishing with an insistence that he place his arm in a sling. Law thought it unnecessary, but for the sake of their trade agreed to put one on after checking them over.

Shachi was first, and Law's gut churned unpleasantly when he finally saw the full scope of his injuries. They were similar to Bepo and Jean Bart's, although starker against furless and less-scarred skin. His fingers trembled as he treated them, desperately trying to deny what his eyes were telling him.

Penguin, when Law turned to him, was worse. Law had to keep stopping because his hands wouldn't stay still faced with the implications beneath their fingertips. When he eventually finished he sat heavily in the desk chair, silent as the two gently placed his arm in the promised sling.

Teeth clenched and fist white, he decided it didn't matter what Mugiwara-ya and the Minks thought.

Jack was his to kill.

I was asked how Law would react if he found out his nakama were tortured. Here is the answer! As for why Bepo and Jean Bart didn't give it away, it's a combination of 'they weren't acting off so they must have been odd battle wounds' and Law just not wanting to see it. Penguin and Shachi broke his rose-tinted glasses. And while my medical knowledge isn't great (bones yes, flesh no), Devil Fruit healing or not, I'm convinced Law should be keeping that arm in a sling otherwise gravity would be trying to separate it again... It is only held together by threads and what healing Mansherry could give - even if the threads won't break, the flesh around the threads could tear. At least, that's my view on the thing. As I said, medical knowledge isn't my thing. Brook's the only one I'd ever be able to help.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari