Reassure

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

Penguin looked up from where he'd been consulting with Bepo over their course – a distraction as much as a practicality for the pair of them – when the door of the control room opened. Shachi entered, finally clean and Penguin grinned until the depressed slouch of his friend's shoulders caught his attention. The grin slid away as if it had never been there and he was on his feet in an instant, Bepo following suit.

"Did something happen?" he asked, crossing the room to him and noticing that his hair was still wet. He'd only just cleaned up, and Penguin plucked the hat off of his head – Shachi knew better than to wear a hat on wet hair, and Law would complain about him setting himself up for a cold if he didn't dry off.

"Is Captain okay?" Bepo piped up just as Penguin registered the dried tear tracks streaming down Shachi's face. His heart sunk in his chest.

"He's fine," Shachi reassured them both, leaving Penguin very confused as to why the ginger had clearly been crying. "The fever broke about half an hour ago and he's awake now, although he won't be getting up any time soon."

"Thank goodness," Bepo sighed, glancing at the puzzled log pose and his own navigational notes. "I'm going to go see him!" The Mink was out of the door before Penguin could protest, not that he planned to. Knowing that Law was awake and okay was enough for him for the moment. He waited until the door closed before he returned his attention to Shachi, reaching out to ruffle the wet hair.

"You need a towel," he pointed out, only for Shachi to pout. "Did scolding Law not go too well?" If Law was recovering fine, there was nothing else he could think of that would upset his friend. Shachi's posture slumped further, and he shook his head numbly.

"I thought he was going to throw me off the crew," he mumbled, and Penguin froze, disbelieving. "I just got so wound up and started shouting and-" he broke off with a hiccup and Penguin realised he'd started crying again. "A-and he said I was pushing too far and I've never seen him t-that angry at anyone in the crew." Penguin wrapped his arms around him and let him sob the story out – how he'd been angry at himself but it had spilled over and he'd ended up lashing out at the crew and then Law himself and Law had been furious.

From what Penguin gathered, Law had eventually worked out what was actually going on and Shachi was forgiven, but while Shachi knew it, he was still too shaken by everything that had happened over the past few hours – from not noticing Law was struggling, to Law's collapse, to Law's awakening and subsequent argument – to properly calm down.

"Come on, you," he murmured once Shachi finally finished gulping out the story, sobbing quietly into his shoulder. "Go get some rest." He guided him out of the room (snagging the unfortunate Uni as he wandered past to direct him to the control room and the navigational notes Bepo had left) and over to their shared bunkroom, where he deposited the trembling ginger on his own lower bunk. Mussing his hair with a towel, he got rid of the worst of the water before he pushed him to lie down and kick off his boots.

"I'll be back in a minute," he told him, knowing full well that Shachi was never going to relax enough to sleep without some medical incentive, but also knowing that he was going to be a wreck until he slept the worst of it off. Shachi nodded weakly, rolling over onto his front and burying his face in his arms. Penguin mussed his hair gently once again before slipping out of the room and towards the infirmary.

True to Shachi's word, Law was awake, if clearly exhausted and unlikely to be moving any time soon.

"I wondered when you were going to drop by," his captain commented from where he'd clearly been shifted to curl up against Bepo, who was draped around him protectively. "Where's Shachi? He's been gone longer than I thought he would be."

Penguin could hear the concern in his voice, and that was enough to reassure him that his surmising had been correct and Shachi's insubordination had been forgiven at least enough that his place in the crew was secure.

"He was a wreck so I sent him to bed," he said, rummaging through the cupboards to find the sleeping aids he knew Law kept in there somewhere.

"How bad?" Law asked, and the guilt was clear to Penguin's ears. He was having none of that.

"It's not your fault," he said firmly, turning around to look at uncertain yellow eyes. "Like you collapsing wasn't his fault. So if the pair of you could stop blaming yourselves for the other's condition that would be great." Law managed to let out a small chuckle, which he counted as progress. "He's not great, but he just needs to calm down and then it'll be fine. You know how wound-up he can get." At Law's fond nod, he turned back around to hunt through the cabinets again – had Law rearranged everything recently? He could have sworn they were in that cabinet over there…

"Middle-right, bottom shelf in the corner," Law told him, and nope, that had definitely not been where the sleeping aids used to be, but when Penguin obeyed he found exactly what he was looking for. "Just one tablet in a glass of water will do."

"Got it," Penguin affirmed, already knowing the required dose but recognising Law's need to make certain everything was as it should be. "I've left Uni in charge of navigating for now, so I'll have to get back once I'm done with Shachi," he told his captain as he shut the cabinet door and turned to face him. "I'll be back later, though." He felt bad that he couldn't dedicate his time to either his captain or Shachi, but the crew needed someone to keep them in order and right now he was the only one up for the task. Law gave an understanding smile.

"Before you go," he said, shifting against Bepo – either the Mink was asleep or pretending to be, because he hadn't stirred at all the entire time Penguin had been in the room – "could you pass me a glass of water?"

Penguin did so, helping him upright enough to drink it easily before settling him back down against his Mink-pillow and adjusting the covers over him.

"Just so you know," he said as he put the glass back on the side, because while he wasn't angry like Shachi had been but he still had opinions on Law's recklessness, "I hope you realise we're never obeying orders to leave you to finish up a fight by yourself again." Law let out a soft sigh, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I expected nothing else," he admitted. "Now don't you have Shachi to tend to, and then a ship to command? I want everything and everyone still in one piece when I get out of this bed."

"Yes, Captain," Penguin grinned, accompanied by a brief salute before he left the room, bottle of tablets held firmly in his hand.

By the time he made it back to the room he shared with Shachi, the ginger's breath had lost its hiccups and the tears had dried, although from the way he shifted at the closing door Penguin knew he wasn't asleep. He had, however, changed out of his boiler suit and into lighter clothes more suitable for sleeping in.

"How is he?" Shachi asked as he watched Penguin drug his water before accepting the glass, although not lifting it to his lips.

"Recovering," Penguin said truthfully, perching on the edge of the bed and looking at the glass meaningfully. "Worried about you. I swear, you two are both idiots, blaming yourselves for the other's stupidity." Shachi managed a chuckle at that and finally tipped the water down his throat.

Penguin turned off the lights, drawing the thick fabric of a makeshift curtain across the porthole just in case they surfaced while Shachi was still resting, and heard the familiar sound of shades landing on the table by the bunk in the darkness.

The ginger said nothing else, but Penguin hung around until he heard his breathing slow into sleep and pulled the covers over him properly. Fondly ruffling his hair one last time, he left the room quietly, heading back to the responsibilities awaiting him in the control room.

I hadn't originally planned to make this a three-parter, but I couldn't leave Shachi like that, and Penguin deserved his chance to scold Law as well, so it happened. That is it for this particular plot, though, unless someone specifically requests something else related.

Concerning one of the previous chapters, it's been pointed out to me that North Blue actually borders the New World, rather than Paradise as I'd thought, so chapter 70 (formerly Bypass, now Crossing) has now been rewritten because I specifically decided to make this a canon-compliant series so I couldn't leave such a large error in here. It still focuses on the Calm Belt, but no longer as their entrance to the Grand Line. I'll readdress their entrance to the Grand Line in a later chapter.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari