Tall

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

Shachi cursed Bepo for putting away the salt on top of the cupboard, just out of reach. He was by no means short, but the Polar Tang's kitchen cupboards were high, and even on his tip toes Shachi's fingertips barely brushed the container, giving him absolutely no purchase to grasp it. In all fairness, the Mink had a habit of forgetting that his human nakama weren't as tall as he was, although Penguin could usually reach things if all else failed.

There was no way Shachi was asking the older teen – wait, Penguin was twenty now, wasn't he – to get it down for him. Nakama, best friends, brothers, whatever they might be, he had his pride and the other would still tease him mercilessly about that stupid two inches difference and how Shachi was too short to even get the salt. Maybe he could guilt Bepo into retrieving it for him? Or he could just grab a stool, which would work best as long as no-one walked in on him standing on it.

Settling back flat on his feet in preparation to check for potential intruders before fetching something to stand on, he was startled by an arm reaching past him to grab the salt. Damn it, Penguin was never going to let him live it down! He turned to face the owner of the arm, only to freeze.

How the hell did Law reach that? The younger teen was shorter than Shachi, and there had definitely been no Room activated, so he hadn't cheated with his devil fruit. He blinked at his captain, numbly accepting the salt as it was handed to him.

"Something wrong, Shachi?" Law asked, his face unreadable. With a start, Shachi realised he was having to look up at the younger teen. He immediately looked at the floor, expecting to see a step or something, but no, Law's feet were firmly on the ground. He wasn't even wearing boots with a heel.

"Wha-?" he spluttered, springing back and pointing accusingly at his captain. "How- what- when did you get taller than me?" Law raised an eyebrow, and Shachi's pointing arm fell to flail by his side, gesturing to around his waist in an exaggerated show of how tiny his captain was supposed to be. Had been. "You're supposed to be the short scrawny one!" he protested. "Why did you grow? Why aren't you a midget? Why are you taller than me?"

A smirk had appeared on Law's face, amused as he leant back against the counter and crossed one leg in front of the other. His trousers stopped several inches short of his ankles.

"I can give you a lesson on somatotropin and the biology of human growth if you want, Shachi," he commented, in a tone that clearly said he knew Shachi had no wish to be subjected to such a lecture. "But as your brain appears to have short circuited, I won't waste my breath. Suffice to say, I am currently in the middle of a growth spurt, and it so happens that I overtook you in height."

"But- but-" Shachi whimpered, looking his captain up and down. "That means-"

"You're the midget now!" A hand landed heavily on his head, shoving his hat down over his eyes, which in turn painfully dislodged his shades. Penguin laughed from beside him, not relenting his grip on the hat even as Shachi brought his hands up to try and dislodge him. The forgotten salt container fell to the floor, only to be caught by a quiet Room.

"Penguin!" he whined, resorting to slapping the other's hands in an attempt to get him to let go. "Get off me!" With one last chuckle, and ruffle of the hat, Penguin released him and Shachi fussily rearranged his hat and shades, rubbing at his nose where the shades had dug in. He scowled up at both the taller males – Law was not supposed to be tall, dammit! – before sulkily returning his attention to the meal he'd been attempting to cook before he was interrupted.

Law placed the salt in front of him, and Shachi glowered at it as the others left the room as if it was the salt's fault he was now the shortest. In his defence, if it wasn't for the salt, he probably wouldn't have realised.

So really, it was all the salt's fault.

Well, Law was shorter than Penguin/Shachi on Swallow Island, but he's now taller than them by a reasonable amount, so I figure at some point this realisation would have happened (as the older sister yet also the shorter sister I have some experience with the tiny one suddenly getting taller and it sucks). It took some hunting to find a scene that actually showed their comparative heights in the manga, though, which I wanted to find just to prove to myself I wasn't making it up. Normally, Law's sitting down or not in the same frame as these two, but I did find two frames that proved he is taller - one on Zou and one when Hancock boards the Polar Tang in the Post-War arc.

Because of the White Lead Poisoning, I've got Law going through a late growth spurt (like Coby clearly did in canon). Ages in this snapshot are 18 (Law), 19 (Shachi), 20 (Penguin).

Thanks for reading!
Tsari