Feud

Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi. Rating: T. Warnings: blood, injury

Raised voices was the first sign that something was wrong. Law paused in his tracks, outside the recreation room, cup of coffee clutched tightly between his palms. He needed to get back to the control room, having left Bepo there alone while he went to make himself a drink, but the distorted echoes of two people screaming at each other reverberated through the submarine and drew him to a worried stop.

"-sick of you bossing me around!" came Shachi's voice, almost unrecognisable in its squeaky pitch.

"I wouldn't have to tell you if you-"

"Just 'cause you're a year older doesn't mean you're better than-"

"Someone's got to tell you-"

"Well someone isn't you!" Shachi roared, completely overpowering whatever Penguin was yelling about. "It's not like you're my big brother!"

"Damn straight I'm not your brother!" Penguin shouted. "And I'm glad! Who'd want a brother like you?" The description that followed was full of many words that would never be uttered in polite company, including blatant implications about Shachi's parentage and genealogy. Law had never heard Penguin use even half of them before.

The explicit tirade was cut off suddenly by the loud thump of a body striking something larger and solider than itself, and Law's limbs suddenly remembered how to work as he barged into the room to see Penguin dragging himself back to his feet with heavy assistance from the wall behind him. From Shachi's posture, that same wall had been the one he'd been flung into.

His presence went ignored as Penguin heaved himself upright to launch himself at Shachi, words lost in a pure roar of rage, knocking the ginger back into the table behind him. It toppled over, one leg breaking off and spilling the playing pieces it held onto the floor.

"What are you two doing?" Law demanded, finding his voice again. He may as well have been in Cora-san's bubble of silence for all the notice either teen gave him as they charged at each other, grappling fiercely.

Horrified, Law found himself frozen again. He didn't know what to do, had never had to play peacemaker before in his life (if anything, he'd always been one of the antagonists), and if Penguin and Shachi didn't stop fighting soon they were going to cause some serious damage, either to themselves or the ship. Neither were acceptable in any form.

"Stop it!" he tried, only to be forced to dodge out of the path of another table as it crashed over. Those tables were supposedly bolted to the floor. That was concerning. "Sto-"

His voice died in his throat at the flash of a blade. He'd given them those knives months ago, something to defend themselves with if their brawling wasn't enough. They were only to be used in self-defence, he'd told them firmly as he'd handed them over.

They weren't supposed to be used aggressively. They weren't supposed to be used on each other. The shoulder of Penguin's jump suit tore open, a sluggish red dying the fabric to let Law know that the blade had reached his skin. A similar thing occurred to Shachi's right arm, blood oozing out as he aggravated the injury with more swings of the blade.

When had they got so proficient? They'd barely known how to hold them properly when Law had given them the knives. The two were evenly matched, as they always had been, perfectly in sync like they truly were brothers by blood, but for once Law could find no comfort in that fact.

It was the matching slashes across their abdomens that snapped him out of it, realising that this was real and they were going to kill each other if they didn't stop immediately.

A Room, a Shambles, and the knives were replaced with playing cards. An additional Tact got the weapons over to Law's hands, where he placed them carefully behind him, out of sight of both the older teens.

"Stay the hell out of this, Law!" Shachi spat. The pair of them had stopped when they'd lost their weapons, but neither had looked away from glaring daggers at the other. Law was mildly surprised he'd been acknowledged at all.

"Enough," he ordered, walking over to the pair of them. His Room remained active, in case they turned violent again. He wanted to be able to subdue them without hurting them if they didn't back down peacefully. "No more fighting. You're going to kill each other."

Shachi was breathing heavily, bleeding sluggishly from the numerous wounds Penguin had inflicted on him. Penguin himself was in a similar situation, swaying slightly from what Law assumed was a concussion courtesy of his first encounter with the wall.

Neither made any move to continue the fight, but nor did they stand down. Law glowered at them, unimpressed.

"If you two don't go to the infirmary right now I will make you," he threatened, twitching his fingers. Both staggered forwards slightly from the minor Tact Law had used to get his point across before deflating, pointedly now looking everywhere except each other. Law felt a surge of disgust course through him at his own actions, reminded briefly yet all too clearly of the way Doflamingo could make anyone dance to his strings.

To his relief, the threat had been enough. They shuffled forwards, past the carnage that was once their recreation room, and Law firmly shepherded them into the infirmary, his toe nudging the sherds of what had once been a cup of coffee he didn't remember dropping, and barely getting them to sit before they collapsed.

Their injuries were severe, Shachi passing out completely during treatment and Penguin only failing to do the same because Law wouldn't let him, not with that concussion.

"What was that all about?" he demanded of the elder as he wrapped his shoulder snugly. Penguin huffed, making a movement to swat Law's hands away before apparently thinking better of it. Good. Law was not in the mood to deal with mutiny on top of their spat.

"Stupid egotistical idiot," Penguin muttered, but refused to elaborate. Law sighed and stood.

He really needed that coffee now. And then he needed to go and help Bepo in the control room.

But first, he had to make sure Penguin wasn't going to kill Shachi in his sleep the moment he left the room. Just the way he'd planned to spend his day.

I was asked for a serious argument within the crew. I'm fairly sure the person in question was trying to kill my heart with that request, and almost succeeded, but I somehow survived enough to write this. Two hot-blooded teenagers with weapons plus bruised egos equals a dangerous combination...

Might do a follow up at some point. We'll see.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari