Liability

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

There were times, Law thought, when some pirates could be really dense. So much so, in fact, that he wished at times that he could gain another title just so he didn't have to have any association at all with the imbeciles he had the misfortune to occasionally cross paths with. Some – most, in fact – were merely glory hunters single-mindedly pursuing the aim of the legendary One Piece with little care for anything else on the way. Simpletons, to be sure, but predictable and required minimal effort to deal with.

But then there were the dumb ones. The ones who, Law was sure, if he sliced their heads open he would find barely had two braincells to rub together, despite the medical improbability of such an occurrence. He was facing one such crew now.

To give them some form of credit, just so Law didn't have to feel so horrid about being classified as the same social class as them, they had decent combat abilities, somehow using techniques to render them difficult to spot, although as best as Law could figure there was no Devil Fruit involved. They were simply very skilled in camouflage.

What they were not so skilled in was keeping their heads when their plans went awry. Law's observation haki was stubbornly refusing to manifest outside of his Rooms yet, and Penguin was still having no luck at all, so they had rather embarrassingly not realised one of said camouflaged pirates was coming up behind him while he conversed with the captain (read: antagonised). But he could always count on Shachi to have his back (and Bepo, but Bepo was on Tang guard duty as per usual while the three humans had gone to gather supplies and information).

While tactfully camouflaged, rendering them for all intents and purposes invisible to the naked eye, clearly observation haki could pick them out just fine, as Shachi suddenly appeared at his back and with a gurgle of blood the man that had been intending to stab Law in the back fell to his knees, a knife wound straight through his throat. Law forced himself not to react, which paid off as he watched the captain's face drain of all colour.

"Y-y-you!" the man blustered, taking a nervous step back as he pointed at Shachi, who was shaking the blood off of his knife and consequently splattering himself with small droplets of crimson. "How… how did you see him?"

"Huh?" Shachi asked, turning just his head towards the man. "What are you talking about? I didn't see anyone." He nonchalantly slid the now clean knife back into its hidden sheath.

"Didn't see?" the man spluttered, taking another step back. Shachi turned around a little more and the sun glinted off of his shades, drawing attention to them. "Wait, you- you're blind?" Shachi hummed noncommittedly, to Law's amusement. To a medical practioneer like Law, Shachi technically counted as blind, but he still had capable vision through his shades.

"Are you crazy?" the man continued, his attention snapping back to Law, and he had to wonder what was the reason for the sudden shift. "You've got a blind man on your crew?" Law merely smirked at him, becoming slightly confused when the man's face took on a smirk of his own. "What captain willingly lets a liability like that on the crew?" He snapped his fingers and the rest of the concealed pirates revealed themselves, descending on Shachi, who instantly drew his katana.

Law's blood boiled. How dare this insolent man call Shachi a liability? Kikoku was drawn in his hand but he had no recollection of unsheathing her as he pressed her against the man's neck, his face twisted into a dangerous grin. His left hand gripped the man by his shoulder so he couldn't retreat.

"I suggest you watch carefully," he said, his voice low as he forced the man's gaze to where Shachi was fighting, and winning, against the crew. "Do you see a liability there? Your men are being taken down by that liability. What would you say that makes them?" The man's face had lost all of the cocky smirk it had had moments before as he watched his crew fall one by one to Shachi's katana.

The only thing the crew had had going for them were their sneak attacks. In straight out combat, they were weak and unsure of themselves. Shachi spent most of the fight diverting their attacks to simply hit each other.

"Captain." Law glanced sideways to see Penguin standing rigidly besides him, one hand curled into a blackened fist.

"Go ahead," he said, watching as Shachi brought down the next pair that charged him, leaving him with only a single opponent left. "But leave some for me." He released the captain and stepped back. The man barely had time to register his newfound freedom before a haki-encased fist slammed into his face, sending him flying backwards. Law heard the satisfying crunch of shattering cartilage and smirked approvingly.

It took a Room and Tact to get the man back in front of him, the majority of his face caved in spectacularly. Not quite dead, though, although it wouldn't be long before internal bleeding overcame him even if Law did nothing. He didn't bother to use any more of his powers – the man wasn't worth that and there were no survivors to show off to anyway – simply severing his neck with a slash from Kikoku.

"Aww," Shachi said from behind them, looping an arm over their shoulders. Law and Penguin both turned to look at him. He was covered in blood, but Law was confident that most of it wasn't his. "If you two keep that up, I might just start crying." He faked at wiping tears from behind his shades before grinning and tightening his hold on them. "Thank you."

Thanks for reading!
Tsari