Uniform

Characters: Shachi, Usopp, Ikkaku, Uni. Rating: K. Warnings: None.

"Hey…" Usopp picked up a card from the pile in the middle, regarding it for a moment before settling it in his hand and discarding another. His playmates looked at him in askance. "So… I was wondering… Why do you all wear a uniform?"

Ikkaku laughed, picking up his discarded card to replace it with an unwanted one from her own hand.

"You've been in the engine room, right?" she commented, sighing when Uni dove for her own discarded card with far too much glee in his eyes and tossed another for Shachi to claim. "It's too dangerous in there without one of these, and it's just hassle to have to change all the time. They're comfy enough."

"Yeah..." Usopp dragged out, frowning down at his hand as Shachi's discarded card once again did nothing for him, picking a fresh card from the pack. "But why are they all identical? Aside from Bepo, they're all the same colour. Why haven't you guys customised them at all?"

The three Heart Pirates present looked at each other and shrugged.

"Never crossed my mind," Ikkaku admitted, Uni nodding in agreement. "It's been like this since I joined, so I just went along with it."

"And me," Uni added, fiddling with his neckerchief. The two of them turned to their third nakama as Usopp laid a card down from his own hand.

"Shachi?"

The ginger shrugged again, whining when Ikkaku picked up Usopp's discarded card and placed down one of her own before adjusting his hat.

"Honestly? We found these things onboard when we got the Tang," he admitted as Uni went for the pack for his next card. "Well, the originals. We've grown a lot since then, obviously." He laughed, before pouting at Uni's discarded card and picking up a new one from the pack, which was quickly discarded in a huff. Usopp very obviously refrained from lunging for it, picking it up with comically feigned reluctance.

"'Grown a lot since then'?" he quoted, very obviously looking the ginger up and down as best he could in their sitting positions as he casually discarded the latest reject. Ikkaku snatched it up.

"Well, yeah," Shachi said. "The Heart Pirates formed thirteen years ago. We're Grand Line rookies, but not pirate rookies." Usopp's eyes went wide and he looked around the recreation room again, taking in the rest of the present crew.

"Not strictly true," Ikkaku corrected as she discarded a card from her hand for Uni to collect. "Most of us only joined within a year of heading for the Grand Line. Some, like Jean Bart, we only got once we were here. It was just the four of them before that." Shachi laughed awkwardly, claiming Uni's discarded card.

"True, true," he conceded. Usopp frowned at his discarded card and grabbed another from the pack. "But these boiler suits date back to when we were brats, that's for sure." He rubbed at the side of his face, just under the arm of his shades, watching Ikkaku internally debate over the merits of Usopp's own discarded card before deciding against it and picking up a fresh one. "I mean… well, you know a bit about the whole Doflamingo thing. Putting it simply, we were hiding, and we hadn't exactly set out with much stuff, you know?"

Usopp made a slightly confused face, but it could have been attributed to Uni picking up Ikkaku's discarded card – not in the theme of his earlier selections – rather than the idea that they'd left home without much stuff. Shachi barely looked at Uni's discard before picking up another from the pack, discarding it with a sigh.

"Well, anyway," he continued. "These were in the Tang already, and we didn't have much to wear and they were practical so they kinda stuck. By the time Doflamingo left North Blue and we had some breathing room, it seemed stupid to get rid of them. I mean, we did," he said, watching Usopp go for the pack and discard the card immediately, disappointed. "But we'd come to like the design, so we just got ones that fit a bit better. We were only so good at resizing them ourselves, especially Bepo. So we commissioned new ones and stuck our flag on them, because they were ours, you know?"

Uni grabbed at Ikkaku's latest offering with a smug air and discarded a different card.

"Captain didn't stick to it but then again, Captain doesn't go into the engine room. He rarely wore the old ones, anyway. Said they messed with his concentration, or something." Shachi pouted at Uni's discard and grabbed another from the pile, which he stared at for a few minutes. "So yeah, that's basically it. Not exactly an inspiring story."

"Well not quite as much as the time I defeated a gigantic multi-headed cat with a thousand claws with nothing but a single pebble," Usopp mused, collecting Shachi's discarded card. "But still a worthy tale." He discarded a card of his own with a grin. "Rummy, by the way."

Shachi squawked indignantly as the sniper laid down his hand.

"No fair! I was collecting those!"

The others just laughed.

I was asked about the origin of their uniform earlier, so this happened.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari