Identity

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

"Hey, Law," Penguin said, entering the control room of the Polar Tang with Shachi hot on his heels. The younger boy looked up at them from where he'd been fiddling with the monitors, perched on Bepo's lap to gain the extra height necessary. The mink cub didn't seem to mind.

"What?" he asked, rubbing at his cheek distractedly. The pale patches were slowly disappearing, far darker now than when Penguin had first seen the boy a month ago, but they obviously still bothered the kid. His captain. Whatever.

"What are we?" he asked bluntly. He'd had the nagging impression, back when they first set sail, that they were headed for piracy, but a month later all they'd done was steal a ship – and kill four men, but he was trying to forget that one; he still saw phantom blood on his hands from time to time.

"Pirates," Law responded, in a tone of voice that made it clear he thought Penguin was being stupid. "What else?"

"That's what we thought," Shachi spoke up from Penguin's side, rubbing the palms of his hands on the sides of his boiler suit in a way that was probably supposed to be surreptitious but failed miserably. Penguin didn't comment though, knowing the ginger still wasn't over the killing. "But we don't have a flag."

Law frowned, appearing to finally take them seriously as he slipped off Bepo's lap to stand on the floor, losing his height advantage. The mink cub blinked blearily a few times before straightening up to join the three humans, turning it from a triangle to a circle.

"We don't," he admitted, bringing a curled hand to his chin in a thoughtful pose. "I wanted to keep under the radar until Doflamingo left North Blue, but I suppose we do need a flag, at the least." They'd torn up the world government flag they'd found on board the Tang weeks ago and their mast had been bare ever since, although they could hardly fly one underwater anyway. "And a name," he continued. "Otherwise eventually the Marines will name us themselves, and I refuse to let that happen."

By this point, Penguin had at least some idea just why Law was so anti-Marine, so he just nodded in agreement. He wasn't overly fond of them either, for failing to protect Swallow Island when they'd needed it most…

He jerked himself back to the present, away from memories he didn't need resurfacing, as Shachi withdrew several sheets of paper and pens from his pocket and offered them to Law.

"You're the captain," he said when Law looked at him in confusion. "This whole piracy thing was your idea."

"I seem to recall three hangers on refusing to let me leave the island without them," Law replied dryly, but he took the offered sheets and knelt on the floor, spreading them out. Penguin pretended he hadn't said anything, and from the silence of the other two as they knelt as well, he wasn't the only one.

He'd heard talk that pirate flags had a skull and crossbones, but that wasn't what Law drew with a precision far too advanced for a regular thirteen year old boy. Penguin supposed that his surgical training had something to do with it.

First came a circle, which Law bisected viciously before turning it into a smiley. It looked a lot like Doflamingo's, from what little Penguin knew of it, but he held his tongue. Law knew far more about the whole pirate thing than he did, and certainly knew Doflamingo's flag better than he did.

"Will this do?" Law asked after a few moments, his bored tone failing to distract from the way his hands were trembling now they were no longer touching pen to paper. The design meant something to him, but Penguin clearly didn't know his captain well enough yet, because he wasn't sure what was so emotional about it.

He glanced at Shachi, and the two shrugged.

"Nice and simple," Shachi agreed, nodding. "I like it."

Simple, and nothing like the flag burned into Penguin's memory. If Law wanted a flag that looked a bit like his enemy's then that was Law's call. Penguin wanted nothing to do with the flag that had ruined his and Shachi's lives, and that was really all he cared about.

"I like it too," Bepo yawned, a paw reaching out to touch it. "It's smiling at us."

"Good enough for me," Penguin admitted when Law's golden eyes focused on him, and the younger teen's posture slouched slightly. "Does it have a name?" The way Law had barely hesitated when he drew it meant he'd been thinking about it for some time, probably. He knew he was capable of coming up with something like that on the spot, but the pen had been sure in its strokes. One day, he'd ask what it meant, when he was ready to open up himself.

"Heart," came the unexpected, yet sure, answer.

"Who's going to take that seriously?" Shachi asked, ignoring Penguin's elbow as it made sharp contact with his ribs. Law didn't seem offended.

"If they don't take us seriously, it's easier to hide," Law reasoned, which made sense, but surely he didn't plan on hiding forever? Penguin enjoyed the underwater views, but he also liked being able to breath non-stale air every once in a while. "And once we're ready, it won't matter what their first impressions are. We'll make them take us seriously." The grin on his face was slightly alarming, and Penguin was suddenly reminded of the sick kid that floored him as if he were nothing.

"Better than Law Pirates," Shachi grinned. "Or Trafalgar." Law swatted at him, and Shachi fell backwards trying to dodge. He escaped the hand, but let out an 'ow' as his head hit the metal floor of the room instead.

"People took the Roger Pirates seriously, didn't they?" Bepo pointed out. "Besides, Captain knows how to cut out hearts."

Penguin had forgotten that one, mainly because he'd been trying to forget all of the darker things he'd seen and done since leaving Swallow Island, but it was true. None of them knew everything Law could do with the Ope Ope no Mi, but it was obvious in the way he'd been setting up the infirmary that medical knowledge was hardly new to him.

"So we're the Heart Pirates?" Shachi clarified, dragging Penguin back to the present. "I guess we can make that work." He pulled himself back up into a sitting position and reached forwards, resting his hand by Bepo's paw on the drawing. Penguin followed suit, and felt cool fingers brush against his as Law joined them.

"The Heart Pirates."

Law had been thinking about it already, but he'd been waiting for the others to bring it up so he knew they were actually interested in it as a concept, bearing in mind their earlier reluctance to steal the Polar Tang. We see with the Strawhats that even though the crew are close, the jolly roger was solely Luffy's design (even if Usopp was the one to draw it properly), and it's heavily implied that the Heart Pirate's flag is inspired by Cora-san, so Law's probably the one that designed it. Unlike the Strawhats, who I believe were named by the Marines, 'Heart' again has a personal meaning to Law (and not quite as obvious as the straw hat is to Luffy), so I don't think that was a Marine creation.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari