History

Characters: Penguin, Law, Shachi, Bepo. Rating: T. Warnings: minor injury

Penguin watched the hustle and bustle of the port town with no small amount of trepidation. Experience was a cruel teacher, and he'd learnt the hard way that a place like this would have a dark underbelly that was all too ready to snap up the unwary pirate. Sadly, the island itself had a reasonably large Marine presence, so they didn't have the luxury of blending in with the traders, leaving the dark underbelly their only way to get supplies, and information.

Law was convinced that this town had connections to Doflamingo. While the man himself had long since left North Blue and settled smugly on some poor island in the Grand Line – Dressroba, or something – his influence and information network still held sway in much of North Blue. Shachi, with his disarming attitude and mostly-hidden face, was the one in charge of information gathering on this particular island and had long since disappeared into the darkest depths with nothing but a baby den den mushi for company.

Bepo, as the most recognisable, was left on guard duty on board the Polar Tang, leaving Penguin and Law to procure supplies and listen to the local gossip. Nothing was free, from the food they were gathering to the information they obtained, and as always when they separated, part of Penguin worried for Shachi – his job was the most risky, but subterfuge never worked well with more than one person. They had a rendezvous time and place. Shachi would meet up with them later.

His attention was pulled back to the present by Law, who loaded his arms with more supplies. Penguin half-wondered if his role was only to be the pack mule, as holding their acquisitions seemed to be all he was doing, aside from keeping an ear out for interesting information not said quietly enough. So far, all anyone had mentioned in his earshot was a major auction of a high-ticket item that was supposedly about to start.

What this item was, no-one appeared to know. Besides him, Law quietly inquired of one of the vendors, who laughed and told him it was a secret and that if he wanted to know then he should head to the venue. She did throw in the titbit that there was no way kids like them would be able to afford it, but that they should take a look because it was a rare item they'd likely never seen before, and would never see again.

Not one to leave a stone unturned, Law thanked her politely – Penguin was certain it was an act because there was no way his often-brat of a captain knew actual manners – before heading for the auction. It happened to be not far from their planned rendezvous with Shachi, and Penguin caught sight of his nakama chatting and laughing with a couple of older men, seemingly unaware of the predatory look in their eyes. Penguin had to look away, knowing that it wasn't time to meet up and that Shachi's obliviousness to the potential danger was an act. There was no point tormenting himself by watching Shachi pretend he didn't know he was prey (would be prey, if he put a toe wrong and didn't get out of there at the right time).

He let the crowd press him forwards, surreptitiously gripping Law's sleeve so he didn't lose his small captain in the crush. A small hand gripped his own sleeve, and Penguin was reminded of the other reason for their current assignments – he could pass as Law's older brother far more convincingly than Shachi could, both in appearance and temperament.

Any sort of conversation would be impossible over the hubbub of excitement, so he didn't bother trying, although he did spare a thought for Shachi and his intelligence-gathering. Someone stepped up to the makeshift stage, an item concealed by cloth in his hands, and the crowd went wild. A raised hand commanded silence, and after several moments the noise dulled to a background murmur.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the man proclaimed. "Today we have a rare specimen to present to you. Once prolific, many of these were destroyed in fear that they were cursed. Created in what was once the most beautiful city in the whole of North Blue, I present to you…" He paused for dramatic effect, but Penguin's attention had been stolen by the painfully tight grip on his arm. Glancing at his captain, he saw Law's face twisted in a horrified snarl.

"Too tight," Penguin complained quietly. He went unheard as the man unveiled the item in his hands with great flourish, proclaiming it to be some statue of some historical figure or other.

The word 'Flevance' caught his attention, even without Law's grip tightening even further – a feat Penguin hadn't thought possible as he reflexively dropped the supplies he'd been holding.

Penguin had heard of Flevance. The tales had made it even as far as the sleepy little Swallow Island of a city ravaged by an incurable, highly contagious disease.

"Something so beautiful always has a price," Noona had said sadly at the news. It had been so far away, so outside of his world, that he'd never paid another thought to it.

Now, with Law's grip on his arm painful and cutting off all blood circulation, leaving his fingers a tingling mess, little things fell into place. Things he'd barely registered at the time, and never paid much attention to.

Law's sickness. His medical prowess. The way he hated guns and bullets even more than Penguin and Shachi did. The aversion to the colour white. The fact that he had no-one left from his childhood.

Small things in the grand scheme of things. Minor facts that had had seemingly little bearing on anything suddenly fell together as pieces of a much larger puzzle.

"Law-" he began, only to be drowned out by the excited crowd as they cheered and jeered. They seemed excited to be in the presence of something that had destroyed an entire city, unaware of a survivor in their very midst.

"-Rich bastards!"

"-Gonna sell for so much money-"

"Good thing they all died. Makes the relics worth so much more!"

Law snapped so fast Penguin got whiplash. A Room expanded over everyone, unnoticed by the frenzied crowd until the knife was drawn. Greedy exclamations were replaced by screams as everyone present found their torsos separated from their legs. His hand clamped tightly on Law's arm, Penguin found his torso being pulled along as Law surged forwards, slashing indiscriminately at anyone and everyone in his path. His legs stayed where they'd been standing, until he felt someone collide with them and push them to the ground, burying them under writhing body parts.

"Law!" he tried again, but it was as if his captain couldn't hear him as he diced up everyone in range on his quest to get to the statue, sitting innocently amongst the carnage. Penguin thought he'd break it – certainly, he seemed angry enough, but he simply swept it up into his arm before returning his attention to the crowd of human jigsaw puzzles in front of him and gesturing with his fingers. Everyone present was rearranged, jumbled up into creatures that could barely be called humanoid, before Law pushed through, heading back blindly to the Tang, and Bepo.

"My legs!" Penguin protested, feeling them shifting with Law's victims. "Law! Hey! Law!" His complaints fell on deaf ears, and shaking Law's arm did nothing to help as he was dragged back towards the Polar Tang. He felt his legs shifting, something tugging one way and the other, and winced.

They reached the ship and Law Shambled himself on board, almost losing Penguin in the process, and making poor Bepo jump out of his skin.

"Captain, what-" the mink started, but Law barged past him, provoking a 'sorry'. Penguin found himself dropped on the deck as his grip, weakened by the Shambles, finally failed. The white lead statue landed next to him and he glared at it, hating it for what it had caused. Law was suffering and he didn't know how to help. It was as if the younger boy had shut himself away from the world in his own private bubble. The fact that Penguin's legs seemed to be lost for good, even though he could feel them being shunted around still, did nothing to improve his mood.

Law reappeared a moment later and slashed down with Kikoku, the cursed blade still too big for him to use properly. Penguin failed to roll out of the way fast enough and found himself with a deep gash in his arm, which burned. Kikoku had bitten him before, but it was nothing like that and he cried out.

Bepo hurried to his side, helping him out of the nodachi's range and a paw pressing down on the wound automatically even as they both watched their captain mutilate the statue with Kikoku, the cursed sword somehow finding the ability to slice the lead up. Breathing heavily, Law dropped the blade after he was done, the sword landing on the deck with a loud clink, and grabbed at the remains of the statue, hurling it frantically overboard handful after handful. Only once he was done did he seem to calm, his chest heaving slowly and steadily as it slowly returned to a more regular rhythm.

"We're leaving," he said, turning to face them before freezing, eyes wide in horror. "Penguin!" he exclaimed, falling to his knees and gently yet firmly shifting Bepo's bloodstained paw out of the way to view the damage. "What did I-" he started, trembling, and Penguin had to force a grin onto his face despite the pain and uncertainty inside, his uninjured arm reaching out so he could grip Law's shoulder reassuringly.

"It's okay," he lied, hiding that his arm burned as if it was on fire and that his legs felt battered and bruised, wherever they were. "Nothing serious, right? Just a cut. It'll heal up in no time." Law had produced some sort of antiseptic and a roll of bandages from somewhere and was dabbing at the wound gently. Penguin fought to hide the wince, and thought he succeeded well enough as Law bandaged up the gash tenderly.

"I'm sorry," he managed. Penguin waved the apology away.

"I said it's okay," he reminded him. "Although I wouldn't mind getting my legs back," he admitted.

"You mean these?" Shachi asked, and Penguin turned his head to see the ginger huffing and puffing on the deck, a pair of legs clutched in his arms. "What happened to our rendezvous?" he demanded, setting the legs down by Penguin, and from the sensations Penguin felt they were definitely his legs. That was a relief. "Do you know how hard it was to get away from those guys in all that commotion?"

"Sorry," Law repeated. "I… It brought up some unpleasant memories." He helped Penguin reattach his legs, and the older teen sighed in relief at the sensation of being put back together.

"I figured," the ginger huffed, but not unkindly, before pulling Law into a hug. Penguin realised that Shachi had made the same connections he had. Bepo looked confused, but if there was one thing the mink knew (aside from fighting), it was hugs and before long all three humans had been pulled into his embrace, Law firmly in the centre.

Law wasn't going to open up to them then and there. Penguin knew that, but he hoped that maybe, one day, he'd be able to talk about it. In the meantime, all they could do was show him they were there for him, no matter what happened.

Someone asked for the Heart Pirates coming across something made of white lead from Flevance, and this happened.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari