Tattoo

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

Despite humans being merely furless minks, there were many things about them that just made no sense. Bepo had always been aware that there were cultural differences, not a difficult thing to notice as a young mink hunted by them, but after meeting Law, Penguin and Shachi he'd thought that he'd found a few that largely did. Of course, there were some things, like willingly shutting themselves up in an overheating metal box underwater for hours at a time, that Bepo failed to see the appeal of (he went along with it after Law mentioned the word 'hiding' and Bepo understood hiding and that it wasn't meant to be fun), but largely the three humans behaved as he expected.

They'd play games with each other, like jumping on the other's shoulders just to make them start, which would often devolve into some sort of sparring (mainly Shachi and Penguin, although Bepo had caught Law in the act once or twice). Stealing clothes while one of them was in the shower was a common ruse to begin with, until Law had proven that his Room could reach far enough to Shambles his clothes back to him without leaving the bathroom and Penguin and Shachi ceased caring if they were wearing anything. They may not have cared, but Law did, and Bepo thought the whole thing was silly.

Small human-quirks aside, they quickly became a family, and Bepo found himself adjusting to the human way of doing things (except eating mammals – a fact which threw the humans on dinner duty for quite some time until Bepo pointed out that fish were not mammals and they were easier to catch, anyway). Just when he thought he'd finally got the hang of furless minks (or at least, his three, which were the only ones that mattered), they decided to go and dye their skin.

Dying fur, Bepo understood. It washed out after a time, and was useful for disguises (not that he ever did it but he'd watched Penguin play with fur-dye one a few occasions, and added to the absence of his hat it made him look very different very quickly). Dying skin made no sense at all.

For starters, it was permanent.

Their jolly roger, a dye ("tattoo," Shachi corrected) all three of them shared, although in different places – Law's back, Shachi's shoulder, Penguin's hip – made some sort of sense. They were a family, and would always be a family. But then Law and Shachi had to go and get more. Bepo never asked what the swirls on Law's chest were for, almost but not quite their flag, nor the circles on his arms. DEATH, stamped across the knuckles of one hand, he had to question.

Law had just shrugged and said it was a reminder that no-one was immortal. There was a heaviness in the air, feeling almost like it hadn't quite been what he'd wanted to say, but Bepo didn't push any more. He hadn't expected an answer at all, in all honesty.

Shachi had dyed ("tattooed, Bepo. Tattooed!") a complex mass of squiggles on his forearm, trailing further up his arm and finishing just shy of the jolly roger on his shoulder. Bepo couldn't see anything distinct in it at all, although Penguin had sighed when he'd seen it – a strange exasperated-but-not-unhappy sigh – so maybe it was a Swallow Island thing. Again, Bepo didn't ask.

Not to be left out, he'd dyed some of the fur on his chest, with the help of his nakama, in the pattern of their jolly roger. Unlike their skin-dyes ("Tattoos! Tat-Too!"), it wasn't permanent – the supplier had claimed it was but it still needed redoing every few months as it began to fade with his shedding fur – but Bepo could live with that.

A little bit of dye couldn't accurately describe their bond anyway, no matter what the humans thought.

Bepo is really hard for me to write - balancing his intelligence with his different culture is quite a delicate balancing act - but I thought he'd be the best voice for this. Aside from Law, we don't know much about the other two's tattoos so this is purely headcanon and likely to be disproved by Oda later, but until then I'll go with this. Penguin may not even have any tattoos, and I'm still waiting for a clear look at the tattoo on Shachi's forearm...

There won't be an update tomorrow (computers are banned on Christmas Day in my family), but I may get another one out before I go to bed, or a double update on Boxing Day. We'll see.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari