Resuscitate

Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi, Bepo. Rating: T. Warnings: drowning.

It was just supposed to be a supply stop. No fights, no ruckus, just a simple investigation of what the town had to offer them (nothing Law cared for) before setting sail once more. Penguin was handling the mundane shopping, or so Law had thought until his attention had been caught by a commotion at the harbour. It was almost as far away from the Polar Tang as possible. He'd thought that was a good thing, until he'd recognised the victim, barely visible between the thickset bodies of the rowdy pirates tormenting him.

"Penguin!" he screamed, blowing any and all chances of taking them by surprise, as his nakama was tossed into the water. It shouldn't be a concern, Penguin was the best swimmer out of the four of them, but he was injured, and Law thought he'd been tied up, too. Could he still swim? He charged the adults, uncaring that they were all twice his size and brandishing knives with a glint in their eye.

"Another brat playing at piracy?" one – the one that had thrown Penguin, and probably the captain – jeered. His breath stank of stale rum and Law wrinkled his nose even as he summoned a Room and slashed with his sword, delighting in their startled shouts as their bodies separated.

Penguin wasn't surfacing. That wasn't necessarily a cause for concern, Law tried to tell himself as he wildly slashed again, relieving the pirates of their ability to use their legs; if Penguin was in trouble, they wouldn't need them again. He might not have known Law was there, so he might be swimming towards the Polar Tang, escaping rather than risking another beating. It would be the sensible thing to do.

Law Shambled his nakama's abandoned hat into his hand, clutching it tightly while he continued to dice the pirates that had dared hurt Penguin. Still no sign of Penguin. Law wanted to dive in himself, to check that Penguin was simply staying out of sight and wasn't in trouble, but common sense prevailed. Penguin only might be in trouble. If Law entered the water, he would definitely be in trouble.

He hated feeling so useless. All he could do was distract Penguin's attackers and hope he was getting himself clear, even though a heavy feeling in his gut told him that even Penguin couldn't swim if he was trussed up. He squashed it ruthlessly, because what could he do? Bepo and Shachi were too far away, and he hadn't finished dealing with the drunk pirates. If he left without finishing the job, they might pursue him to the ship, endangering them all, or dive into the water after Penguin, to make sure he drowned.

"Damn it!" he cursed, his next violent slash taking out the edge of the wharf as well as slicing a man's head neatly in half. If Law was in a better mood, he'd have grinned, but all he could think was that it had been over a minute since Penguin fell in, and there was still no sign. The average human could hold their breath for about that long, and while he knew Penguin was above average, if he was injured, or otherwise weakened, he wouldn't be at his peak. Penguin could already be-

"Captain!" Shachi's yell was perfectly timed to stop Law thinking the worst. He risked a glance back to see the ginger sprinting towards him, and bit back the scolding on his lips. Shachi was supposed to be guarding the Tang with Bepo. But Shachi could swim. "Captain, what's-"

"Find Penguin," Law ground out, finishing dicing the lackeys and turning his attention to the captain, whose face had turned an interesting shade of purple. "He's in the water but he hasn't surfaced yet."

To his credit Shachi didn't ask any questions, leaping straight in. Shachi would be fine. He wasn't injured, had entered the water under his own terms. Law kept himself occupied by dissecting the drunk captain, who had started jeering about how the even the 'water bird' couldn't swim 'tied to an anchor'. If it weren't for the words in question, Law would have been fascinated by the fact that his tongue still worked even after he Amputated it.

"Law!" He whirled around in the direction of the cry, seeing Shachi bobbing in the water frantically. In his arms was the limp form of Penguin, whose lips were far too blue for Law's liking. His breath caught in his chest before he threw himself to the ground, reaching an arm out to the pair of them as far as he could without falling in himself. Shachi manoeuvred the two of them closer, and Law's hand closed on the collar of Penguin's clothes, tugging him up onto the pier with help from Shachi below.

He didn't waste time helping Shachi out, hyper aware that Penguin wasn't breathing as he frantically began treatment, ignoring the jeers of the severed heads surrounding them.

"Don't you dare leave me," he growled as he pounded on the unmoving chest, his vision blurring. He couldn't lose anyone else, not when he'd been standing right there. He should have been faster, used his Room before Penguin hit the water, anything to prevent yet another death right in front of his eyes. "Please, Penguin. Please."

He barely registered a dripping-wet Shachi pulling himself out of the water beside him, the ginger uncharacteristically quiet as he started to reach for his friend, only for his hand to stop short, hovering uncertainly. Law didn't have the time to tell him contact was okay, might help. In the end, he didn't need to, Shachi occupying his fingers with removing all the restraints as he bit his lip, before resting his hand on his friend's wet hair.

"Come on, Penguin," he heard him mumble. "Water? After everything we've been through?"

Whether it was just coincidence, or Penguin had heard his friend, Law didn't know, but he didn't question it as sudden coughs wracked the unconscious form. Law hurriedly rolled him over onto his side, into the recovery position, as he vomited water before valiantly attempting to cough up his lungs.

Shachi's murmured relief was clearly audible to Law, who backed off slightly to let the older teen coax the initial responses out of Penguin. When he heard nothing, but saw Shachi's face relax slightly, he furiously wiped at his face with his sleeve, getting rid of the excess moisture forming there before inserting himself into the one-sided conversation. Penguin was shivering badly, although he seemed unaware of it as he apologised for losing the shopping, of all things.

Law agreed with Shachi's outburst. Penguin's life was far, far more important than some replaceable groceries. His heart skipped a beat when the older teen's eyes began to drift shut again, not reassured in the slightest by the slurred attempts to pacify him. Penguin could be in shock, he was already showing symptoms of hypothermia which needed immediate attention, and Law didn't even want to think about secondary drowning. He had to get back to the Tang immediately.

The groan of pain as he got Shachi to help him shift the taller teen was not reassuring in the slightest. He didn't know how badly Penguin had been injured prior to his dunking, didn't know if moving him was making it worse, but he couldn't treat him there on the jetty, and Penguin was easily the tallest and heaviest of the three human Heart Pirates. Neither Law nor Shachi could safely carry him.

Penguin managed some semblance of movement as they half-carried, half dragged him back towards the Tang. Law's breath caught as he didn't quite make it to the Tang before passing out, but as Bepo had sprung from the deck the moment he thought they were close enough and lifted him bodily into his arms, Law supposed that was the best he could ask for.

"Bepo, take him to the infirmary," he ordered, and the mink obeyed without question. "Shachi-"

"I'm going to the infirmary," the ginger cut him off, his voice tight. Law gripped his shoulder tightly, forcing him to a stop once they were on the deck.

"You are going to dry off and get changed," he demanded. "Then bring a change of clothes for Penguin to the infirmary."

"I can dry off later!" Shachi protested, and Law growled.

"I am not dealing with twohypothermic patients. Dry off and warm up." Shachi wasn't visibly shaking, but Law could feel the starting tremors under his hand. He didn't wait to hear any more protests, hurrying down to the infirmary where Bepo had laid Penguin on a bed.

"He's so cold, Captain," Bepo reported, his voice subdued with worry. Law grit his teeth, approaching his unconscious nakama and frowning. He wasn't shaking quite as much as he had been on the jetty, but that wasn't a good sign. Not when his fingertips were going blue.

"Find towels and blankets," he ordered. "As many of both as you can, but leave a couple for Shachi." The ginger hadn't appeared in the infirmary yet, so hopefully he was doing as he was told. Bepo disappeared with a short sound of acknowledgement, leaving Law alone with his patient.

The wet clothes were the first concern, and Law wrestled them off as best he could, using Amputate when his physical strength wasn't enough. Multiple bruises greeted him, as well as gashes courtesy of the pirates' knives. They were probably infected, thanks to the dunking.

The first thing he needed to do was make sure all the water had left Penguin's system, an easy enough feat with his powers, although still time consuming. Bepo returned, almost hidden behind the mound of towels and blankets, and Law set him straight to drying Penguin off. Shachi reappeared, largely dry (his hair was still dripping but Law would throw a towel on his head once Penguin's lungs were back where they belonged, water-free), and helped Bepo without being asked.

Finally satisfied that secondary drowning was no longer a probable concern, Law turned his attention to the wounds. The bruising he could do nothing for, but the cuts were cleaned and wrapped before he utilised Shachi's help to dress Penguin in the pyjamas he'd brought along. The older teen finally treated and dry, he wrapped him solidly in blankets and watched in relief as the shivering returned.

Eyeing Shachi, and tossing the promised towel on his head, he directed Bepo to curl up with Penguin, hoping that the warm fur and the physical contact would help. That done, he wrapped a blanket around the protesting Shachi, who was still colder than Law would have liked, although thankfully not hypothermic, and ruffled the ginger hair with the towel to dry it off.

Finally freeing Shachi and allowing him to sit by the bed, Law mentally ran through everything he'd done, trying to check he hadn't missed anything, anything that might pose a risk to Penguin's recovery. Get rid of the water, dry him, warm him, wrap his injuries, warm him more-

An arm wrapped around his waist and yanked him towards Shachi, who felt marginally warmer than he had a minute previously.

"Stop worrying," the ginger sighed, pulling Law into the confines of the blanket wrapped around him. "He's going to be fine now, just you wait and see." There was a minute tremble in his voice, and Law knew he was trying to reassure himself as well. The effort was appreciated, and Law wrapped his arms around the ginger to a quiet noise of surprise, donating his body heat to help him warm up as they watched Penguin's steady breathing.

At some point, probably when Law had been fussing with Shachi, he'd passed from unconsciousness to merely sleeping, and Law managed a relieved smile. Everything was going to be okay.

"Drown" from Law's PoV. It's pretty much a direct sequel, hence me posting it in sequence. I couldn't fit it in either version, and I think doing the same scene from a third PoV is overkill, so the reason Shachi came over was because he saw Law's Room activate and came to investigate.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari