Swim

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

Penguin had always been a good swimmer. Better than good, if his family were to be believed (there was a reason everyone called him Penguin, his real name long since forgotten to the realms of obscurity, and it wasn't just because his favourite food was fish). The sea, even frigid in the depths of winter, held no fear for him and he could often be found taking a dunk, sometimes dragging Shachi in with him. The ginger could swim too, but he didn't have the effortless glide that Penguin exhibited and preferred boats.

Law was an enigma in several ways – physically small and frail, yet capable of landing both older boys flat on their backs in less than a minute; pale blotches of skin that slowly faded with time; aloof but afraid of being left alone – but to Penguin the most bizarre thing was that he couldn't swim.

Devil fruits, while not especially uncommon among North Blue pirates, were not something Penguin had had much, if any, interaction with before Law, so the old wives' tales about superhumans cursed by the sea were merely a story to him. After all, there was no way curses and stuff like that actually existed, right?

Then Law fell into the sea.

It was nothing major, just a minor skirmish with a few low ranking marines, but Law's footing hadn't been steady and an awkward lunge by one of the marines had startled his precarious balance, tipping him off of the wooden boat and into the frigid water. Forgetting the old wives' tales, Penguin had continued to fight, taking down the marines with relative ease, with the help of Shachi and Bepo, before turning to face his captain. Or rather, where his captain should be.

There were some bubbles, small but there, popping on the surface of the water where Law had fallen. The water was frigid, small chunks of ice resting sporadically above the waves as if they belonged there, and Penguin knew that the sudden temperature shift could startle the body enough to send it into shock.

The knowledge, combined with the fact that Law had clearly not resurfaced since his tumble, had Penguin diving straight into the water, a redundantly-barked reminder to Shachi to get some towels and changes of clothes ready. Even he could barely tolerate the extreme temperature change in the area, and he feared for Law's life. The kid was too skinny to have enough reserve fat to stop himself shrivelling up.

Finding Law was easy; he had fallen straight down, unmoved by the current gently caressing his black hair. The short locks framed his head like a dark halo, freed from the usual confines of the cap to dance in the water, and his piercing golden eyes were closed. Terrified, Penguin wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, pulling the limp form tight to his chest as he kicked for the surface, praying that he wasn't too late.

The instant he had hauled himself and his cargo back on deck, the pair of them were swathed in any and all materials they could think of to keep them warm. Law's breath – slow, unsteady but there – returned following an impromptu coughing fit of water erupting from his mouth, and only Penguin's own sopping wet state stopped him from joining Shachi and Bepo in the impromptu embrace one of them had started.

When golden eyes had finally blinked open, looking around dazed and unfocused for several seconds before settling on Penguin, Law had managed a small smile, a mere echo of what he was usually capable of.

"Thank you, Penguin," he rasped, his voice fainter than usual, but as he'd just almost drowned, Penguin figured that was an understandable weakness to show and didn't comment, resting a damp, mostly-dried, hand on his captain's shoulder.

"Try not to make it a habit," he scolded lightly. The idea that someone genuinely could not swim was still foreign to him, and would remain so for several years, but his captain had just given him indisputable evidence that people like that existed.

Haunted by visions of a rag doll helpless in the currents, Penguin decided he didn't like it.

As much as I like seeing Luffy and the other Devil Fruit using Straw Hats falling into the sea, I'm impatiently waiting for a similar fate to befall one of the other non-antag characters (especially Law)...

Apologies for the delay, FFN was throwing a hissy fit and wouldn't upload anything last night.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari