Accident
Characters: Bepo, Law, Penguin, Shachi. Rating: K+. Warnings: Implied animal experimentation
One of Bepo's favourite things was to watch; to lay back in the open air on the deck of the Polar Tang, and simply watch his human nakama's antics on those occasions they had surfaced and raised the sail to glide on the waves rather than under them.
Law, of course, would protest at the implication that he was getting up to 'antics' and the immaturity that implied, but as Bepo was careful to never say the world aloud, and also offered himself up as a comfortable pillow whenever Law sought one, that was rendered a non-issue. (Penguin and Shachi most certainly got up to antics, and hijinks, and pranks, and whatever other childish terminology Law would come up with, usually with a small fond smile playing at his lips, but that was hardly a surprise to anyone that knew them).
What Bepo privately termed Law's own antics, in the safety of his own mind (because Law couldn't read minds, no matter how much he liked to pretend he could sometimes), could also be called experimenting. The abilities of the Ope Ope no Mi were numerous, and even years after he'd eaten the fruit he was still finding new ways to use it.
One occasion in particular would always sick in Bepo's mind with fondness. At the time it had been terrifying, all four of them fearful that irreversible events had occurred (none of them dared call it damage, because how could they when nothing was actually broken), but hindsight offered a new lens through which to view the events, and Bepo had heard Penguin and Shachi loudly recounting it to new nakama as if it hadn't been one of the most unnerving things they'd ever experienced.
It had been like any other day out on deck; the sun was shining, the wind was a calm breeze – enough to caress Bepo's fur in a soothing manner, but not enough to threaten the security of hats on human heads – and Law was using Bepo as a willing backrest while he poured over documents pinned down with old bottles that once housed tablets but had since been repurposed as paperweights.
Penguin and Shachi were lounging around, keeping half an eye on their sail and all but ignoring the fishing rods they'd set up to try and bolster their food supplies as Penguin good-naturedly teased Shachi about his inability to tan, shrugging the shoulder of his tank top down to show a very definite tan line. Shachi was scowling half-heartedly as he prodded at the sunburn he'd gained on his own bare shoulder after attempting to gain some colour to his skin (Bepo wasn't entirely sure what he had against being so pale, but he'd long since discovered that humans had some very un-Mink-like views on many subjects). Law had plastered the burns with ointment earlier before barking out an order to keep the area covered if he wanted to stay out on deck with the rest of them.
"Cover up or go inside," their captain muttered, shifting some papers around without looking up. The ginger's scowl morphed into a pout before he sighed and shifted his clothes around so they returned to Law's specifications. "If you do that once more I'm forcing you inside," Law threatened, holding one hand up in the semi-clawed position that indicated a Room.
"I'm done! I'm covered up again, see!" Shachi spluttered, leaning into Law's personal space to gesticulate wildly at the part of his body in question. Law held out his other hand, palm up, still focusing his gaze solidly on the papers in front of him. "Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"The fish," Law said bluntly. "And the crab. Give them here."
Bepo looked over at the bucket by the reclining Penguin. Despite only half-watching their rods, the other two had accumulated some catches, two of which a very confused Shachi fetched for his captain. Curious, Penguin followed him and the pair of them squatted down by the aquatic creatures, watching the poor fish flop around limply on the deck as the crab tried to scuttle away. Law caught it and dumped it on its back to stop it escaping. Bepo winced slightly at the sight. He wished Law didn't play with their food sometimes, although he understood that it was better to use unknown and unrefined techniques on their food rather than each other. Did they still have to be alive, though?
A twist of Law's fingers inside the Room that covered half the deck, and… nothing happened.
The fish still flopped helplessly, and the crab still struggled to right itself in order to flee. Bepo saw Law frown, and deduced that whatever he'd been trying to do hadn't worked.
"Ow, my arm!" Shachi whined, reaching up with one hand to subconsciously touch the fabric over the sunburnt area.
"That's what sunburns do," Law snapped, the failure leaving him on edge as they often did. He prodded at the fish moodily, only succeeding in making it flail more desperately.
"But Shachi's the one that's sunburnt, not me!" Shachi complained. Bepo felt rather than saw Law freeze.
"Yeah, but whatever Law did, I like it because my arm doesn't hurt anymore," Penguin said, sounding far too smug.
"…Shachi?" Law asked, raising his head away from the poor hapless sea creatures for the first time since they'd been presented to him.
"What?" Penguin asked, or as Bepo realised, Penguin's voice asked.
"Penguin?" Law continued, as if no-one had answered.
"Yes?" Shachi's voice responded.
There was a moment of stunned silence, before a single expletive slipped from Law's mouth, shattering the suspense.
"What the hell?" both older humans yelled at the same time, leaping backwards and pointing at each other aggressively. "Who the hell are you?" Bepo saw Law place his head in his hands despondently.
"Captain?" he asked tentatively, shifting his position slightly so he could place a gentle paw on the other's shoulder.
"Fuck," Law bit out again, his fingers clenching in his hair. Penguin and Shachi – or was it Shachi and Penguin now – paused to look at him in concern.
"What's up?" they asked in unison. That hadn't changed.
"It was supposed to swap the fish and the crab," Law bemoaned. "I only know the theory, I wanted to test it to see how it worked before I tried it on humans." The unspoken on you hung in the air. Once Law knew his newly researched abilities didn't kill or irreversibly harm the animal test subjects, he'd taken to using a usually willing Penguin and Shachi to trial them on humans.
"You swapped our bodies?" Penguin yelped – or was it Shachi? Bepo wasn't sure which was which any more. That was more of a Shachi reaction, so he decided to assume it was Shachi, even if the hat on the man's head clearly said 'Penguin'.
"Is that even possible?" Penguin-in-Shachi's-body asked, frowning. He poked at his shades, lifting them slightly before pulling them back down with a hiss of pain. "Okay, that was snow blindness. Not my eyes."
"Don't just take my shades off like that!" Shachi-in-Penguin's-body complained. Penguin-in-Shachi's-body flapped a hand at him in what Bepo understood was supposed to be a pacifying gesture. The currently-not-ginger-ginger was not pacified at all, from the way his (or rather, Penguin's) chest puffed out and he crossed his arms.
"Look-"
"Can you two stop?" Law asked, sounding miserable enough to incite automatic obedience.
"Law?" the pair asked, crouching down beside him.
"I don't know how to fix this," the youngest human admitted, his hands curling into fists. Penguin and Shachi took hold of them and unfurled them gently.
"Hey," Shachi-Penguin said gently.
"It'll be okay," Penguin-Shachi told him. "You'll work it out."
"I can live in this guy's body for a few days," Shachi-Penguin grinned. "No sunburn and I can get a tan now!" Penguin-Shachi shoved him lightly.
"I'll take better care of Shachi's sunburn than he would, you know," he told Law. "It's going to be fine. Don't stress yourself."
"But-" Law started, only for the two humans to simultaneously press their fingers to his lips, indicating that he should stop talking.
"It'll be fine," they repeated. "We trust you."
Law still fidgeted, until Bepo heaved himself fully into a sitting position and enveloped all three of them in a massive bear hug.
"Don't worry," he told them, watching his frail-looking nakama sag slightly in his hold. "I'll keep everyone safe, Captain."
He couldn't help Law switch them back, and he couldn't help them adjust to each others' bodies. But they couldn't fight properly like that, and if there was one thing Bepo had always been able to do, it was fight.
Just as the silence after his words got too heavy to bear, he nuzzled them all affectionately, refusing to let them squirm away until he was certain the tension had defused.
Panic would do none of them any good at all. Law would fix it, and Bepo would have their backs like he always did.
I was asked for the first time Law performed the Mind Transplant Operation. Obviously here it's very unrefined and therefore doesn't quite go to plan... He'll figure out how to target the individuals he meant to later!
Considering pre-Flevance!Law used to experiment on frogs, using animals definitely wouldn't be beyond his morals to trial the Ope Ope abilities if there are no non-nakama humans around.
Thanks for reading!
Tsari