Party

Characters: Heart Pirates, Law. Rating: K+. Warnings: Alcohol consumption.

Like any self-respecting pirate crew, the Heart Pirates were always looking for reasons to throw a party. Nothing beat the flow of rum and subsequent drunken singing and dancing, safe hundreds or even thousands of metres below the surface. A new crew member, a successful raid, or a victorious fight were popular reasons to break out the alcohol and throw their inhibitions out of the metaphorical window for the evening (the next-morning hangovers were totally worth it, even if their stubborn captain refused to accelerate the recovery in a vain hope that they'd stop drinking quite so much).

The favourite occasion, by far, was a birthday.

A calendar sat on the wall of the mess hall, carefully inscribed with the birthdays (and ages, if disclosed) of every member of the crew. Parties were always personalised, because there was nothing worse than celebrating in the wrong way on someone's birthday. For many of them, alcohol was ripe, but there were a few who preferred a more sedate celebration.

Penguin and Shachi, the presumed instigators of the original party planning (long since transformed into a crew-wide activity), liked it loud. For them, no party was over until at least one of them passed out cold from over-consumption (if they drunk too much, Law would always save them from the dangerous side effects, no matter how much he grumbled in the process and pointedly left the hangovers intact). Many of the younger members followed their lead, singing off-key songs from their hometowns in North Blue as a little bit of home.

Others, generally the older, more mature members of the crew, preferred something slightly quieter where no-one got so smashed they couldn't remember what they did. Favourite games were brought out and played over and over again, late into the night until the friendly buzz of alcohol coaxed them all to sleep, sprawled all over the recreation room with no-one leaving for the safety of their bunk rooms (even Law would stay, curled up awkwardly in his favourite chair and watching over them all fondly until sleep claimed him, too).

Bepo had no real love for alcohol, but aside from that his party was the same, with games and good cheer taking them long into the night. His was the only one to happen on deck, out in the fresh air he craved so much.

It was totally unsurprising that Law's birthday was a subdued affair, in comparison. Many of the crew didn't even know how old their captain was (questions got answers anywhere between twenty and thirty five), but the general feeling was that it didn't matter. For Law, a birthday celebration was less a celebration of his age, and more marking the achievement that he'd survived yet another year. He liked to spend it with his crew, listening to them exchange stories over and over again, curled up in the centre of the room, amidst them all, with a single mug of rum and a slice of his (gluten-free) birthday cake.

That was one more night in the year where no-one retired to their bunk rooms for the night, instead curling up in blanket nests on the floor of the recreation room, with their captain firmly in the centre.

It didn't matter how much alcohol was consumed (or not). It didn't matter if they sang, played games or swapped tales. A party brought them all together, time and time again, no matter what the world threw their way.

Really, was it any wonder they loved them so much?

Thanks for reading!

Tsari